What is the 2nd strongest position in NBA history?

[Franco]

It's pretty well-established that the 5 is the most stacked position of all time, but think about it made me question what would be the runner-up. What do you guys think?

[SpreeS]

Two most important position are C and PG or players with playmaking skills. For example point fowards - Lebron/Pippen

[MMyhre]

Bigger guards/forwards with playmaking. Specific "position" less important, if you go by which position after C with the best talent, I'd probably say players usually listed at SF is pretty stacked. Usually they have the best mix of size and mobility, which gives you more options on both offense and defense from the perimeter to the paint - LeBron, KD, Bird, Erving, Baylor, Barry, Leonard, Melo, Wilkins, Pippen, Pierce, Worthy etc.

[migya]

Top 10 ever has many Centers but after that it's mostly no Centers.

[70sFan]

Top 10 ever has many Centers but after that it's mostly no Centers.

Not true - Robinson, Moses, Ewing, Gilmore, Mikan...

[Colbinii]

Top 10 ever has many Centers but after that it's mostly no Centers.

Huh?

11-20 David Robinson, Moses Malone, George Mikan
21-30 Patrick Ewing
31-40 Artis GIlmore
41-50 Willis Reed, Pau Gasol
51-60 Dwight Howard, Dave Cowens, Bob Lainer, Dikembe Mutombo
61-70 Robert Parish, Alonzo Mourning, Nate Thurmond, Wes Unseld

This is 15/60, which is 25% as in, 1/5 positions = 20% and this is more than 20% as it is 25%.

There are more centers than you would expect in the 11-70 range than an even distribution. This means there are more centers than at least 1 position but likely two positions.

[Colbinii]

As someone who really hates the archaic label of PG, SG, SF, PF and C, the SF/PF tweeners is probably the 2nd strongest. LeBron, Bird, KD, Erving, Pippen, Baylor, Havlicek and Kawhi round out the Top 50.

[penbeast0]

Although many players can guard 3 positions, most are stronger at one or two. I think of the NBA positionally as:

Giants -- guys like Yao Ming, Embiid, etc. that will almost always guard the opponents biggest or slowest player

Post Players -- guys like Duncan who can play center or forward in a pre 2015 offense but are better defending the post than chasing guys out on the floor

Combo Forward -- Guys like Bobby Jones who can guard the post or chase wings out on the floor but who you would rather not put on the real giant centers for long stretches. Draymond Green fits here to me rather than post even though Golden State frequently uses him as center to close out looking for offensive mismatches

Wings -- guys like Scottie Pippen who you prefer guarding on the floor than in the post but who have the size to guard the 6'9 guys if needed as well as the 6'3 ones. This includes guys like Magic or Oscar who were rarely asked to guard the Calvin Murphy types despite their offensive role.

Combo Guards -- guys like Derrick White who can guard the smallest fastest guy on the court or
move up on a 6'7 scorer

Jets -- guys like Chris Paul who guard the opponents smallest fastest guys, usually too size challenged to guard bigger wings.

In this set of defensive focused combinations, the centers divide pretty much in half and the distribution in the top 100 smooths out except for the Jets and Giants who as outliers are less common.

[ManyaWarrior]

I think its PG. Players like Billups, Payton, Tony Parker, Cousy or Lillard may not even be top 10 pgs of all time, theres no other position so deep outside centers