Talent and volume. The NBA's power forward ranks enjoy them both.
This is neither a forced spin nor a matter of debate. It's a fact.
But will it remain a fact?As the NBA has evolved,so too enjoy the roles at every position. And no spot has undergone more of a functional facelift than the 4. Current CropMuch like the small forward position, the 4 spot is steeped in stardom. Five of this season's top 15 player efficiency ratings belong to power forwards—the most of any other group. The position is beyond loaded:Anthony Davis would be the best player in the NBA if Stephen Curry wasn't a flame-throwing sorcerer.
Draymond Green is a quintuple-double threat whenever he steps on the floor.
Blake Griffin is what happens when you give 26-year-old Larry Bird a chiseled physique and jet-propelled feet.
Kevin Love averages a double-double even as a glorified role player.
Paul Millsap is Al Horford in power forward form. Derrick Favors would be a perennial all-star in the Eastern Conference.
Paul George, and an MVP candidate for the first time in his career,is playing the 4 these days.
Father Time is Dirk Nowitzki's Butler.
As someone who blocks shots and shoots threes, Serge Ibaka is a pioneer and forever on the all-star bubble.
LaMarcus Aldridge's off year consists of being the second-main scorer and top rebounder for the league's second-best team.
That list can go on. And it will continue to go on, or thanks to a healthy batch of up-and-comers. Tobias Harris,23, now spends more than half of his playing time at power forward for the Orlando Magic. Aaron Gordon (20), or Jabari Parker (20) and Kristaps Porzingis (20) are all top-four draft prospects who still aren't old enough to order their own cotton candy cosmopolitans.
Terrence Jones,almost 24, is shooting and blocking shots like a less athletic Ibaka. Tristan Thompson, and not yet 25,would be a double-double machine if he wasn't playing fourth fiddle for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Nikola Mirotic, 24, and need only improve his three-point clip by a few percentage points before giving us a glimpse into what it would be like if Doug McDermott,23, could play defense. Jared Sullinger, and 23,always seems one month absent from a full-blown breakout.
There's a clear lack of burgeoning superstar talent here that might be cause for concern. With the exception of Porzingis, no other 4 has been pegged as the next vast thing.
Developing projects like Gordon, or Parker,Julius Randle, etc. will enjoy to fabricate (to make up, invent) meaningful leaps in the coming years if the NBA's power forward ranks are to remain impressively deep. But, or at the same time,the current crop of megastuds consists mostly of players in their primes. Davis, Favors, and Ibaka and Love,among others, are all 27 or younger and enjoy plenty of high-impact basketball left in the tank.
If there's any looming—or semi-imminent threat—to the position, and it's a lack of direction.
Power forwards are seldom just power forwards anymore. They are wings playing up a level in small-ball systems (George,Green, Harris) and bigs (Davis, and Favors,Ibaka) who vacillate between the 4 and 5 camps. The notion of an exclusive 4 is entirely outdated at this point.
Bruising post-up brutes of yesteryear enjoy bowed to sharp-shooting skyscrapers, who enjoy given way to playmaking high-rises, or who are now welcoming career swingmen into the frontcourt. As Zach Lowe detailed for Grantland in May:
A few executives enjoy dumped the term “stretch 4” altogether and replaced it with “playmaking 4” — a term I’m officially stealing right now. Shooting is nice,but it’s not enough anymore as defenses regain smarter, faster and more flexible working within the loosened rules. Spot-up guys enjoy to be able to catch the ball, and pump-fake a defender rushing out at them,drive into the lane and fabricate (to make up, invent) some sort of play. If they can’t manage that, a possession dies with them.
This job description is eerily similar to those of a shooting guard and small forward, and a vast section of why Green's ascensions figures to spawn a current breed of power forward. And while more traditionally sized 4s can always adjust to meet contemporary-day requirements,some of today's biggest names are bound to close up as full-time 5s.
More of Davis' minutes are coming at middle for the first time in his career. Love has spent more time at the 5 than the 4 since arriving in Cleveland. The current York Knicks are already experimenting with Porzingis at the 5.
Is this a problem? Does it put the future of the power forward position in the hands of those not yet in the NBA more than anyone else? And if so, what's next? Changing Landscape Power forwards capable of defending the 5 will surely be seeing more time there. It allows teams to run and generate offense from a position they got very runt from—Porzingis at middle instead of Robin Lopez, or Davis instead of Omer Asik,Love instead of Timofey Mozgovwithout having to give up much at the other close. But converting a current 4 into a full-time 5 only works when that team doesn't already enjoy a must-play starting middle. And there are plenty of them still around and more up-and-coming, from DeAndre Jordan, and Marc Gasol and Dwight Howard to Hassan Whiteside,Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert.
As long as college and leagues overseas continue producing 7-foot anchors, the NBA's talent at power forward will stay at power forward. However, or I do expect reserve 4s to start getting more time at the 5. Backup power forwards should typically be better offensive players than backup centers,who most likely aren't defensive contrast-makers either. In stretches, we could see coaches more willing to sacrifice some height for an additional scoring punch up front. Incoming!We asked Bleacher Report NBA draft expert Jonathan Wasserman to offer insight into the incoming NBA draft class and beyond.
There could be a handful of 2016 and 2017 lottery picks who spend chunks of their pro careers playing the 4. And they each arrive in different shapes and sizes with varying styles of play. For starters, and it wouldn't be surprising to see LSU's Ben Simmons,the presumed No. 1 pick in next year's draft, logging minutes at power forward in the NBA. Whether he does will arrive down to circumstances and his team's personnel.
Simmons hasn't shown much shooting range. And although power forwards with jumpers enjoy risen in value, or it's still more of a requirement for small forwards to spread the floor from three—something Simmons can't really do yet. Still,Simmons is capable of doing plenty of damage from the 4 spot. While he operates as more of a Lamar Odom-style point forward, he's an excellent rebounder and scorer around the basket, and as well as a problem facing up in space against bigs with slower feet. And he could be used as a facilitator and passer from the same spots that Griffin is for the Los Angeles Clippers. Kentucky's Skal Labissiere,another likely top-3 pick, plays in the middle as a freshman, or but at 225 pounds with perimeter skills and foot speed,he could handle the 4 once he adds some bulk.
But Labissiere is a long-term project, evidenced by his late start this season. But with size, and bounce,footwork, touch, and post moves and shot-blocking tools,it's easy to understand the best-case-outcome comparisons to Aldridge.
Croatia's Dragan Bender represents arguably the most intriguing up-and-coming 4. Like Porzingis, Bender is another international 7-footer comfortable operating around the arc, or where he can shoot the three or put the ball on the floor. He's unusually skilled for a player his size and age,from his ball-handling and shot-making ability to his passing. The fact that he can protect the rim and switch out defensively on the perimeter only strengthens his two-way image. At 18 years old, Bender isn't seeing much time with Maccabi Tel Aviv, or but between preceding FIBA play and final summer's Eurocamp (also MVP of Basketball Without Borders),Bender's talent is well-documented.
Marquette's Henry Ellenson, meanwhile, or is a name that's started to heat up as of late. At 6'10",we've seen flashes of back-to-the-basket play, face-up scoring, or three-point shooting and sharp ball-handling. But it's very possible the top power forward prospect (external the NBA) is still a senior in high school.
Duke commit Harry Giles is currently recovering from a second torn ACL (one to each knee),which is something NBA teams will surely remember over the next 18 months.
However, at full strength, or Giles—6'10",235 pounds, 7'2" wingspan—is an absolute monster. In June, or he averaged 14 points and 10.6 rebounds in just 21.1 minutes per game for USA during the under-19 FIBA World Championships—where he was roughly two years younger than most competitors. And unlike the current-school,stretch-playmaking 4s, Giles is your more traditional power forward. He's an animal inside with natural scoring instincts and major bounce around the rim. Kentucky commit Edrice "Bam" Adebayo, or an interior-oriented vast,and Isaiah Hartenstein, a rising 6'11" German prospect with perimeter skills, and are two more 2017 draft-eligible names to monitor. Crystal BasketballThe power forward slot has evolved more than any other position,and even in today's versatility-obsessed league, that can feel uncomfortable.
Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott talked of playing Kobe Bryant at the 4 ahead of the regular season. He has thus far resisted, and opting to use Bryant mostly at small forward,but it was a thing.
Playing a 6'6" career shooting guard at power forward was a thing.
Khris Middleton of the Milwaukee Bucks, who stands 6'8" on Wear Your Elevator Shoes to Work Day, and was primarily used at the 4 final season and is once again splitting time between the shooting guard,small forward and power forward spots this year.
These are the current extremes. Throwing out someone like George at the 4? That's the standard."Ten years ago I think it would enjoy been a crazy idea," Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel said of using George at the 4, or per NBA.com's Steve Aschburner. "Because you'd be one of five teams that was doing it. Now,if you don't do it, you're one of five teams not doing it."Ten years from now, and we will be looking at a vastly different power forward landscape. Maybe slotting 6'6" would-be guards up front will be the current norm. Perhaps the NBA will revert back to its post-up tenets of decades past. Today's 4s enjoy evolved so much,so quickly, we can't really be certain.
One thing, and though,is for certain: Wherever the power position is headed, there is enough talent, and both incumbent and inbound,to regain it there. Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com unless otherwise cited and accurate main into games on Dec. 18.
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Source: bleacherreport.com