Who's the most athletic PF of all time?

mdonnelly1989 · Post #1 » by **mdonnelly1989** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 1:42 am

Imo it's probably between these 4

KG
Kemp
Rodman
Giannis

JimmyFromNz · Post #2 » by **JimmyFromNz** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 2:13 am

Blake Griffin would near the top of any list for me, the jumping ability is the obvious, but the physique and speed at his size was phenomenal.

If we consider Josh Smith a power forward he's another at the very top, unfortunately he balanced that out with some seriously poor decision making.

falcolombardi · Post #3 » by **falcolombardi** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 2:18 am

Duke zion must be up there

The jumping ability and explosion at that body mass is just off the charts wild

mdonnelly1989 · Post #4 » by **mdonnelly1989** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 2:43 am

JimmyFromNz wrote:Blake Griffin would near the top of any list for me, the jumping ability is the obvious, but the physique and speed at his size was phenomenal.

If we consider Josh Smith a power forward he's another at the very top, unfortunately he balanced that out with some seriously poor decision making.

Forgot about Blake. He's def in the convo.

Post #5 » by **penbeast0** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 4:33 am

mdonnelly1989 wrote:Imo it's probably between these 4

KG
Kemp
Rodman
Giannis

You are assuming your conclusions again. I would say probably LeBron James, maybe Elgin Baylor, Connie Hawkins, or Shawn Marion if you are talking purely run/jump/coordination. All played a great deal of PF. You at least need an OTHER option for those that don't agree with your hot takes.

mdonnelly1989 · Post #6 » by **mdonnelly1989** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 5:00 am

penbeast0 wrote:
mdonnelly1989 wrote:Imo it's probably between these 4

KG
Kemp
Rodman
Giannis

You are assuming your conclusions again. I would say probably LeBron James, maybe Elgin Baylor, Connie Hawkins, or Shawn Marion if you are talking purely run/jump/coordination. All played a great deal of PF. You at least need an OTHER option for those that don't agree with your hot takes.

Alright sure. Normally I do, not sure I didn't think of that. Also Lebron James is and will go down as a SF in history. It's why you don't ever see him compared to Tim Duncan or KG. He's compared to Larry Bird who was dominantly a SF.

Eagle4 · Post #7 » by **Eagle4** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 5:25 am

Malone was more athletic than Rodman.

LukaTheGOAT · Post #8 » by **LukaTheGOAT** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 5:58 am

falcolombardi wrote:Duke zion must be up there

The jumping ability and explosion at that body mass is just off the charts wild

This is the answer to me. I would even have him ahead of Miami Lebron who also played some PF.

Post #9 » by **tsherkin** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 9:19 am

Pre-surgery Amare should also be in this discussion, among the other additions others have rightly made.

HeartBreakKid · Post #10 » by **HeartBreakKid** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 9:40 am

Surprised Charles Barkley isn't a candidate.

SpreeS · Post #11 » by **SpreeS** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 11:37 am

Kemp

Watch on YouTube

Griffin

Watch on YouTube

Amare

Watch on YouTube

These are TOP3 for me. Size/speed/leaping/fluidity

HM

McDyess

Watch on YouTube

Owly · Post #12 » by **Owly** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 12:53 pm

Depends
1) What you mean by power forward, where the parameters are there (eras matter here too, now many playing the 4 don't fit the conventional 4 archetype but are just the largest wing).
2) What you mean by athletic, where the parameters are there.
3) Do you need to have been good at basketball? (All or most of the names here seem top 100 candidates [or high profile plausibly might get there for Zion]).
4) Is it versus peers or time travel?
5) At athletic apex? Over their career?

If strength is part of it that gives an advantage to Karl (and perhaps, to a lesser degree, the compact wrecking ball types: Zion, Charles).

If we're looking at explosive leapers Kemp and McDyess pop. So might Stromile Swift or Ty Thomas among lesser players. Or you could go through a list of dunk contestants and decide who counts as a 4 (LJ? Kenny Williams? Tom Chambers? .... if Larry Nance Sr is a 4, which I think he mostly is historically - though more a 3 in Phoenix, I would say he warrants some place in the discussion - Hakim Warrick was a 4 but takes us back to do you need to be any good at basketball). This is probably the most visually striking aspect of athleticism.

If end to end speed matters ...
If engine (how long) and motor (how active) matters ...
If lateral quickness matters ...
Depending on what counts and what counts most you could get very different answers.

If Bobby Jones is a 4 (I tend to mentally categorize as a 3, don't know if that's justified) I'd mention him though that might be influenced by liking his game more generally (and of course while he went hard, asthma limited his minutes).

LAL1947 · Post #13 » by **LAL1947** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 4:57 pm

Some good options mentioned in the thread but the most athletic PF is Giannis IMO.

Post #14 » by **trex_8063** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 6:41 pm

HeartBreakKid wrote:Surprised Charles Barkley isn't a candidate.

I was going to comment the same thing. Am shocked it took until post #10 for anyone to even MENTION him.

Post #15 » by **trex_8063** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 6:51 pm

Owly wrote:
If Bobby Jones is a 4 (I tend to mentally categorize as a 3, don't know if that's justified) I'd mention him though that might be influenced by liking his game more generally (and of course while he went hard, asthma limited his minutes).

I suppose he's ok to mention, but not remotely in the running, imo.

He's got pretty good length......but not as good as Garnett, Giannis, Duncan, or probably Kemp either.

He's got excellent end-to-end speed.......but certainly no better than [or perhaps even as good as] KG, Giannis, or perhaps Kemp or Barkley either.

He was a good leaper, but not as much as Blake Griffin, Barkley, perhaps Kemp again (maybe others, too??).

Overall grace, body control, agility, hand/eye coordination, others.....idk, somewhere around the middle, or lower-middle, I would say.

In terms of motor/endurance, he's arguably the worst of all names mentioned thus far [due to his asthma].

In terms of strength/power, he's arguably the worst of all names mentioned thus far.

idk, this is my impression anyway. He's a very good athlete; just not an all-time tier, imo.

EDIT: Oh, and the answer [imho] is Giannis.

henshao · Post #16 » by **henshao** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 8:47 pm

this candle burned half as long, but you may argue it burned twice as bright:

Watch on YouTube

mcraft · Post #17 » by **mcraft** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 10:15 pm

Tom Grover said Charles Barkley is the most athletic player he trained. Consider who he trained that is impressive if he’s not exaggerating.

DNice68 · Post #18 » by **DNice68** » Thu Jul 14, 2022 10:33 pm

Larry Nance was a better athlete than everyone here including Giannis!

Watch on YouTube

SpreeS · Post #19 » by **SpreeS** » Fri Jul 15, 2022 3:19 am

DNice68 wrote:Larry Nance was a better athlete than everyone here including Giannis!

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Not impressed

DNice68 · Post #20 » by **DNice68** » Fri Jul 15, 2022 3:25 am

SpreeS wrote:
DNice68 wrote:Larry Nance was a better athlete than everyone here including Giannis!

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Not impressed

6'10, mobile, fast, and getting his head at the square consistently. Don't make me show Giannis's horrible dunk contest! You were impressed with that?

Most Athletic PF of all time?