the difference between a power forward and a center... The way I coach (high school level) i don't have a difference between my 2 and my 3, and no difference between my 4 and my 5. whats the difference in their responsibilities?
There's ambiguity across all the positions. As much differences as they try to distinguish between players, they all still end up having more similarities. I think its about assigning certain roles to players, so that its addressing as many different game elements as you can. Like 1 player focuses on post defense, 1 rebounding, 1 shooting, 1 perimeter defense, 1 passing... and then they incorporate their other skills on top of the primary role. Mostly because there's just 1 ball to go around so it creates a structure to the flow.. But yeah there doesnt need to be some rigid differentiation between positions. A team can have have 2 Lebrons, 2 Amare Stoudamires. It can have 3 Kobe Bryants, why not.
In a general sense, centers usually play closer to the basket on both ends of the floor than power forwards. There are clear exceptions in the NBA, especially on the offensive side of the floor. On defense, this general rule holds true almost always. In half-court offense, there isn't any difference between SF and SG in the NBA that I can think of. But I'm sure someone here will come up with a good explanation of the difference. As I see it, there are really only two distinct positions in the NBA. PG and C. We all know what a PG is and I've broad-brushed the definition of a C above. SG & SF overlap a lot and SF & PF overlap more and more as big/tall AND skilled players come into the league.
In today's basketball, there are really only 3 kinds of position: the bigs, the wings, and the PG. BTW the all-star voting putting 2s with 1s and 3s with 4s is just senseless.
It does make for some potential weird line ups... You could have Chris Paul and Steve Nash as your guards, and Dirk Nowitski Amare Stoudemire as your forwards. I agree with your pg/wing/big statement for the most part. AFAIK basketball is the only sport in which the positions are this un-unique.
There really is no difference. What position you play on the court may or may not define your responsibilities on the court. LeBron for instance plays Small Forward, but sometimes shifts his role to that of a point forward for his team. Your position does not define you.
Y'all are crazy. At the pro (and even college) level there can be some huge differences depending on offensive schemes. If you generalize it then it seems similar but if you go on an offense-by-offense basis you will see plenty of variation. Hell in High School I was once in a high post offense where the ball moved through the 5 in halfcourt sets.
It depends entirely on your roster, do you have a true center, or two PFs? They are close to interchangeable but not quite. DD
POWER FORWARD (Olajuwon when Sampson was here, Otis Thorpe) vs. CENTER (Olajuwon when Sampson left): Usually these are the differences: The CENTER is taller, hence the CENTER is the shotblocker. The CENTER is not only the pivot off the low blocks, but he patrols the area to protect the rim and get the rebounds. The power forward sets high picks for pick-and-rolls (see Dream's injury which made Kenny Smith and Otis Thorpe improve it to lethal perfection). When Ralph Sampson was here, he was the center while Olajuwon was the Power Forward (he wasn't a strong PF, only a next-to-the-tallest player relegated to PF even though he was the center in college). When it was Olajuwon with no one else, even the taller players we drafted or picked up in free agency were backing up Olajuwon (see Chuck Nevitt, Charles Jones, Czan Tabak -- although I think this last one was PF, etc.) played Center substituting Olajuwon for relief. If you really have 2 really tall dudes, just play them as TWIN TOWERS. I would if I was the coach and they were both really good and you could exploit their skills and you had no other "good" power forward. Heck, even your SMALL FORWARD might be taller than your POWER FORWARD, but your "POWER" forward might be strongest, so you can match him up with the stronger power forwards in the opposing team: I wished I could coach.
Classically: Centers (offense) - back to basket, low blocks Power Forwards (offense) - face the basket, high post (free throw line), primary screen responsibilities, need some semblance of a mid range jumper That said, it's good to use a PG, Wing, Wing, Post, Post coaching philosophy if you aren't at a high level. There's no point in entrenching a 6-4 kid at the center position - versatility is always valuable.
Have to disagree with the bolded part. Olajuwon, Robinson, and Ewing all had "facing the basket" moves in their arsenals.
Well, in today's NBA everything is mixed up. Lebron pretty much plays PG for the Cavs. Mo Williams plays more of the SG role. Big Z and Okur play pretty far from the basket, In another era they might be considered power fowards. Dirk does alot of slashing and shoots alot of jumpers, he plays like more of a prototypical small forward. There are very few players in the NBA I would call true centers. The league has tried very hard to speed up the game and make it more perimeter oriented, the term center is almost obsolete. On lower levels I think the GGFFC or GGFFF type of lineups actually work better than the point-wing-wing-big-big lineups we see in the NBA - it isn't as necessary to have two post players. The disparity in size isn't as great and there isn't as big a gap in rebounding ability. Many teams play two power forwards together that doesn't mean that one of them is a center.
