Let's settle this. Do you think of Duncan as a PF or C?

[ceiling raiser]

Positions don't matter all that much, but haven't seen a thread on this in a while.

What do you think?

[JimmyPlopper]

He's a center that can play PF in matchups that don't require extreme off ball perimeter action on defense against a guy like Dirk

[DaPessimist]

He played PF. So I think of him as a PF.

[JimmyPlopper]

PF at one point was designated to the more perimeter oriented of the two big men and Duncan's skills in that range, rather than his lack of size at center, were - in combination with being drafted next to the Admiral - what caused him to be labeled as more of a PF than a C.

[Statlanta]

Peak Duncan happened when he swung between PF and C.

He is a PF in my eyes.

[LAL1947]

I am going to be voting Center. Why? There are many people who downplay Kobe for being a lesser version of MJ at the Shooting Guard position. These same people then laud Tim Duncan for being "the greatest Power Forward", while neglecting that there has never been a Power Forward who is on the same level as MJ, ever. It's a very disingenuous thing that these people do... dismiss Kobe for being slightly less than Mike, the greatest player ever... but don't dismiss Duncan for being even further away from bigs like Wilt/Kareem/Hakeem who were less than MJ themselves... all by using the "best Power Forward" thing as an excuse.

No longer. Timmy shall be classified as a big/Center AFAIC.

If people want to classify Duncan as a Power Forward, then Hakeem Olajuwon should also be classified as a Power Forward from this point on too... so that Hakeem will be rightfully elected into every Top 10 as the best Power Forward.

[SHAQ32]

Sometimes I think people forget/don't really know how athletic young Tim Duncan was. And it's a pretty common belief that he came into the NBA already in his 'prime.' He also shot more from midrange and better from the line earlier in his career. So I don't really see the problem with him being considered a PF.

[watpho71]

The NBA has evolved into a more position-less game, although in Duncan's playing career positions were defined and he was a power forward.

[CIN-C-STAR]

He was a big

[Baddy Chuck]

He played PF. So I think of him as a PF.

I mean......




(I'm not taking these as gospel, but he certainly played a ton of center, maybe even more than PF.).

For the record I remember him as a power forward. The best one of all time.

[FreeThrowLine]

To me it doesn't really matter what you classify him as, it's not like he was always strictly guarded by the opposing PF or C and vice versa. Depending on matchups he could have been viewed as either and he filled the on court requirements of both

I think of him as one of the most underrated players of all time, there are just 6 other guys I would take to start a team if I get a chance to draft any player at 18, yet I often see him left out of top 10 lists.

[DaPessimist]

He played PF. So I think of him as a PF.

I mean......


(I'm not taking these as gospel, but he certainly played a ton of center, maybe even more than PF.).

For the record I remember him as a power forward. The best one of all time.

He won 4 of his 5 titles as a PF. Even in '06/'07 Oberto and Elson were starting at Center.

[Mogul]

1997-2004: PF
2005-2016: C

Easy enough

[Myth]

In today's NBA, 100% a C. But the first half of his career, PF and not simply because Robinson was there at C. He often was PF with guys like Nazr on the team, just because that was the era. But in this era, even KG would be mostly a C.

[Eric Bieniemy]

Center. After Robinson retired, he was a starter at PF in name only. He finished games at center, because when it mattered Pop dropped the charade of the placeholder starting center and ran Duncan in the middle.

[AussieBuck]

Even when he was actually playing PF in the early days, he was still the backup C most of the time as well and was already playing a good chunk of his minutes at C. Then he was almost exclusively a C for majority of his career. PF was just marketing which is why dudes like Matt Bonner and DeJian Blair were named as starting C playing next to him.

[LAL1947]

I think Tim Duncan being classified as a PF is the first time the NBA ever saw a 7-foot, 250lb Center being referred to as a Power Forward. Timmy was smart and called himself a Power Forward too, because he was scared of having to defend Shaq by himself when he came into the league, and could leave the thankless job of defending that Shaq to poor David Robinson... who would get absolutely hammered instead... while Timmy got to feast on guys like Robert Horry.

Here's a video of true prime, mobile Shaq dunking on David Robinson. This video needs an R or XXX rating for how badly he abused that man. You can see why Timmy wanted no part of a job that involved defending Shaq by himself until 2002-03, when Shaq had the toe surgery and lost the mobility... and after the reintroduction of Zone Defense in 2001-02.

Watch on YouTube

[Tor_Raps]

He started his career at PF when playing with Robinson/Rasho and then transitioned to Center afterwards.

It's pretty simple but there's a crowd that wants to take the greatest PF title away from him. Unfortunately for them he had his best years at PF.

[ceiling raiser]

I think Tim Duncan being classified as a PF is the first time the NBA ever saw a 7-footer being referred to as a Power Forward.

Nate Thurmond (next to Wilt)
Willis Reed (next to Bellamy)
Bill Cartwright (next to Ewing)
Ralph Sampson (next to Hakeem)

[BostonCouchGM]

he's definitely a center. The only reason PF even comes up is because they had David Robinson early on in his career and sometimes liked having a scrub center be a banger and guard the opposing center so Duncan didn't get in foul trouble, later on.