I thought about that for a second and outside of the elite and really solid players, the position doesn't possess stalwart talent and exceeding depth. I pull this piece from an ESPN NBA Draft ranking by positions. It basically talked about the lack of depth and not only center, but also small forward. SFs who posses PER 15.0 and higher First Tier (elite group, typically over 20) LeBron, Carmelo, Durant, Pierce Second Tier (very good group) Rudy Gay, Danny Granger, Andre Igoudala, Third Tier (Solid to good group) Danilo Gallinari, Nicolas Batum, Gerald Wallace, Shawn Marion, Thaddeus Young, and Kawhi Leonard Fourth Tier (Borderline group, a few head scratchers in this list) Marvin Williams, Mike Dunleavy, Steve Novak, Jon Leuer (limited games), Kevin Seraphin (tweener), Dorrell Wright, Matt Barnes, and Jared Dudley Surprising players without 15.0 or higher PER and Players (mostly rookies and bench players) with higher PER than expected: Luol Deng, Hedo Turkoglu, Grant Hill, Michael Beasley, Chandler Parsons (rookie) (13.3), Caron Butler, Chase Budinger (14.9), Metta World Peace (Ron Artest), Dante Cunningham (14.9), Trevor Ariza, Derrick Byars (14.9)
Top-20 off the top of my head: LeBron Durant Carmelo Pierce Iggy Granger Gallo Gay G.Wallace Deng Batum P.George Parsons Leonard Dudley G.Hill Hayward Marion MWP W.Chandler
Does this go back through history, or just recently. Because if SF is the least >15 PER position throughout the history of the NBA, then maybe it has something to do with the nature of the position -- a typical SF is not big enough for low post play (rebounds, fouls, high efficiency) and not charged with running an offense (fouls, assists). imo, the SF position is the least important one in basketball -- albeit, the two MVP candidates are SFs...sorta. So, I don't find this to be surprising.
Have to be a subscriber. http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/blog...-nba-draft-breaking-top-10-prospects-position
Lebron and Durant can both play effective minutes offensively/defensively as a 1,2,3, or 4. They are not even small forwards to me.
Did you say, "P.....E......R?!?" <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BpgDtoj73DQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
More or less what my first thoughts were. I can't think of many championship teams led by their star SF. Not that there haven't been great SF's historically. And not that looking at only champions should be the criteria, because the NBA is so lacking in parity there may have been some otherwise all-worldly SF's that just never won a championship because a team like the Bulls or Lakers were so dominant for so long... but even considering that, still not many pop to my mind. Lakers, Spurs, Bulls, Rockets, Heat, Mavs, Pistons, etc. Only two come to mind: Larry Bird, and Dr. J. But then you're talking about the 2 greatest small forwards ever.
John Havlicek, may not have any qualms about not being included, but he did win lead Celtics to a few titles and was the best player on the team. I'm sure Rick Barry would little pissy as usual, he lead two teams to the Finals and won in 75 with what sometimes people call very little help. You've got more modern players, like LeBron, Dominique, Pierce, or Durant Notice two things about great small forwards who win a title: 1) Good to great scorers 2) Versatile players offensively, and above average defensively (maybe except Barry) 3) Their teams have good rosters Even with Larry Bird and Dr. J, they did not win titles on teams you could characterized as lacking talent, not like you would a team that has a go-to center.
