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And how do you rank them just as PFs and all time?

Imo all 3 top 25 players of all time. All 3 from the 15-25 range.

Dirk 1 year peaked the highest, Barkley the second highest followed by KM.

All 3 primes are very close, very comparable and not separated by much.

Barkeleys Suns pushed MJs Bulls to 6 games. He won an MVP over MJ, and whether he deserved it or not, he had at least be in the conversion. That's big considering the other talent in the league at the time.

KM did it twice, but also with John Stockton.

If I were a betting man, I bet that Karl Malone was viewed in the 90s by NBA fan on overall impact as KD has been this past decade. If you take away GS Championships, I think their careers are VERY SIMILAR in terms of skill/impact


I think IMO. It's 1A, 1B and 1C.

I have

Dirk
KG/Malone
Barkley

Careers:

Malone
Dirk
Barkley

Malone's longevity is absurd and he was quite close to the two peak-wise. By far the best defender of the three, better shooter than Barkley and better passer than Dirk. Very well-rounded player who unfortunately wasn't great at creating his own shots, but played very hard within the system and his passing ability is extremely underrated.

Barkley and Dirk are close for top ~8 seasons, but Dirk destroys Barkley with his longevity.

I'd also consider Bob Pettit on their level. Pettit was extremely good and we shouldn't forget about him.

Karl Malone is really the best one. His defense is by far the best and his midrange jumper was the best of the three. He was the quickest and ran the fastest, both full court and half court. He had the best physical attributes and the highest bball IQ, though Barkley was close.

For the offensive load he carried year after year he is underrated on this forum. All three, Barkley in Philly, had quite bad teams for a few years in their careers. Nowitzki had good teams until Nash left but had players around him that provide what was needed from then until at least 2011, which is why his teams won as they did.

migya wrote:Karl Malone is really the best one. His defense is by far the best and his midrange jumper was the best of the three. He was the quickest and ran the fastest, both full court and half court. He had the best physical attributes and the highest bball IQ, though Barkley was close.

Malone had nice midrange game, but it wasn't even close to Dirk's one.

I feel like Karl is the most dominant over his career, but it's hard for me to ignore that at the end of the day, all 3 are being selected for their ability to put a lot of points on hte board. They all do a lot of other things well, but they are ATG because of their ability to score...

And I trust Karl the least to hold up his scoring prowess late into the post season. Probably Dirk, Barkley, and Malone in that order. All 3 can be great, MVP level regular season players that take you to a high seed. Playoff scoring will matter here for 3 guys whose primary value is as a scorer.

Dirk slightly above Malone, Barkley is a tier below for me.

Definitely Dirk at 1

Malone, Dirk, Barkley.

I can't see any case Barkley over Dirk and certainly not Malone.

Malone, Dirk, Barkley. In that order.

Dirk
Karl
Chuck

Dirk has a better peak and prime than Karl while having great longevity of his own. Barkley has a better peak and prime than Karl, but his longevity is just way worse.

70sFan wrote:

migya wrote:Karl Malone is really the best one. His defense is by far the best and his midrange jumper was the best of the three. He was the quickest and ran the fastest, both full court and half court. He had the best physical attributes and the highest bball IQ, though Barkley was close.

Malone had nice midrange game, but it wasn't even close to Dirk's one.

Yeah, his statement about Karl's mid-range shooting puzzled me too, so I looked it up. Dirk's 10-16ft % was MUCH better. In fact, the only reason their shooting %'s were even close is because 32% of Karl's shots were inside 3 feet vs. about 14% for Dirk. Sure, it's great to be able to get that many point-blank shots, but it also shows that he wasn't that great from past 3 feet, unlike Dirk.

Malone would be rated the highest for me. As great as Dirk's longevity is, its not Mailman's. I think Dirk is probably slightly better in the average prime season, but Malone has enough years where he contributes more than some of Dirk's latter years(and his first 2) for me to give him the nod. Chuck a clear last of the three for me, but still firmly a top 20 of all-time guy so no shame.

Texas Chuck wrote:Malone would be rated the highest for me. As great as Dirk's longevity is, its not Mailman's. I think Dirk is probably slightly better in the average prime season, but Malone has enough years where he contributes more than some of Dirk's latter years(and his first 2) for me to give him the nod. Chuck a clear last of the three for me, but still firmly a top 20 of all-time guy so no shame.

I love your objective approach here, despite being a huge Dirk fan. Especially since it's a very close comparison, not something obvious like "Dirk isn't as good as LeBron".

All time
1.Dirk
2.Malone
3.Barkley

Peaks
1.Barkley
2.Dirk
3.Malone

migya wrote:Karl Malone is really the best one. His defense is by far the best and his midrange jumper was the best of the three. He was the quickest and ran the fastest, both full court and half court. He had the best physical attributes and the highest bball IQ, though Barkley was close.

For the offensive load he carried year after year he is underrated on this forum. All three, Barkley in Philly, had quite bad teams for a few years in their careers. Nowitzki had good teams until Nash left but had players around him that provide what was needed from then until at least 2011, which is why his teams won as they did.

The difference is that Karl had little to no pull up game. He had his favorite spot near the baseline from 16-18 ft out that he could shoot it from very well from but he couldn't just shoot it from anywhere the way Dirk could. Karl had definite limitations in how he could score though if he got the ball on the low block he was either gonna score or draw a foul then he ran in transition better than anyone who was over 6-8. He did not have the sort of skill of overall skill on offense that Chuck had though imo who could go from move to move and score with either hand. Karl had to be in specific spots or else run the pnr with Stockton. I mean Karl was one of my favorite players from the 90's but I have to be honest when it comes to what he could and couldn't do which is a big part of why he had a lot of playoff struggles.

Cavsfansince84 wrote:

migya wrote:Karl Malone is really the best one. His defense is by far the best and his midrange jumper was the best of the three. He was the quickest and ran the fastest, both full court and half court. He had the best physical attributes and the highest bball IQ, though Barkley was close.

For the offensive load he carried year after year he is underrated on this forum. All three, Barkley in Philly, had quite bad teams for a few years in their careers. Nowitzki had good teams until Nash left but had players around him that provide what was needed from then until at least 2011, which is why his teams won as they did.

The difference is that Karl had little to no pull up game. He had his favorite spot near the baseline from 16-18 ft out that he could shoot it from very well from but he couldn't just shoot it from anywhere the way Dirk could. Karl had definite limitations in how he could score though if he got the ball on the low block he was either gonna score or draw a foul then he ran in transition better than anyone who was over 6-8. He did not have the sort of skill of overall skill on offense that Chuck had though imo who could go from move to move and score with either hand. Karl had to be in specific spots or else run the pnr with Stockton. I mean Karl was one of my favorite players from the 90's but I have to be honest when it comes to what he could and couldn't do which is a big part of why he had a lot of playoff struggles.

in some ways karl malone is kind of what lebron would be without his handle and body control or finishing ability inside (kind of, i also thinl karl had shorter arms?)

Cavsfansince84 wrote:

migya wrote:Karl Malone is really the best one. His defense is by far the best and his midrange jumper was the best of the three. He was the quickest and ran the fastest, both full court and half court. He had the best physical attributes and the highest bball IQ, though Barkley was close.

For the offensive load he carried year after year he is underrated on this forum. All three, Barkley in Philly, had quite bad teams for a few years in their careers. Nowitzki had good teams until Nash left but had players around him that provide what was needed from then until at least 2011, which is why his teams won as they did.

The difference is that Karl had little to no pull up game. He had his favorite spot near the baseline from 16-18 ft out that he could shoot it from very well from but he couldn't just shoot it from anywhere the way Dirk could. Karl had definite limitations in how he could score though if he got the ball on the low block he was either gonna score or draw a foul then he ran in transition better than anyone who was over 6-8. He did not have the sort of skill of overall skill on offense that Chuck had though imo who could go from move to move and score with either hand. Karl had to be in specific spots or else run the pnr with Stockton. I mean Karl was one of my favorite players from the 90's but I have to be honest when it comes to what he could and couldn't do which is a big part of why he had a lot of playoff struggles.

Malone didn't have the guard like moves that Barkley had, though it wasn't that many, but he scored very smartly and his jump shot was very good from many spots. He generated the offense most of the time. He was scoring well early in his career before Stockton was starting, though obviously he developed alot after that. It was his great coordination and smarts that made him that good.

migya wrote:

Malone didn't have the guard like moves that Barkley had, though it wasn't that many, but he scored very smartly and his jump shot was very good from many spots. He generated the offense most of the time. He was scoring well early in his career before Stockton was starting, though obviously he developed alot after that. It was his great coordination and smarts that made him that good.

idk about the smarts. What he had obviously was great size, strength, stamina and worked very hard on his jump shot and ft shooting. Which is all a credit to him. As the years went on he did become a craftier player and much improved passer. Early on he was very raw.