That's not a useful definition. The last 4-5 years Duncan has spent the majority of his minutes guarding and being guarded by opposing centers. That's a more important criterion than what position he has listed next to his name. I believe Matt Bonner was/is listed as a center in their starting lineup. Does that mean I should compare Bonner to other centers?
i respect duncan, yao, and hakeem because of their focus on fundamentals technique and not just their BIG BODY as an advantage over other basketball players and dunk and layups only....
It's true that some PF's and C's have diverse games (most notably the European ones), but Duncan's game is that of a traditional center. There's no sense in trying to compare apples and oranges when all you have are apples.
Actually, the argument started with someone saying that Duncan cannot be called the Greatest PF of all time because his "style has always been that of a center." So the fact that he played mostly PF for the majority of his career (up until the past four seasons) is relevant.
But, he plays the exact same way. He is still a power forward, unless he was never a power forward. What has really happened is that the Spurs are just playing 2 power forwards...like most of the rest of the nba.
I'm not sure about that. I think he's always been a center, and during his twin towers years with Robinson, the Spurs simply had two centers on the court.
Your argument leaves an important scenario out. If Duncan played in the Jordan era, he may not have been the best power forward "of all time".
He had 4 rings as the alpha dog. A health Yao is closed to him. But DH is far away from them. Yao abused DH every time they met.
Well it's difficult to argue whether or not a player of Duncan's caliber is a specific position. Is Lebron a SF or a SG or a PG? He can play all positions quite well and there's a decent argument that he plays all of them from time to time. Duncan is such a great big that you could play him in the low post or high post and he'll be effective. My point is, whatever position Duncan is he has been that position his entire career. If he's doing the exact same things, I don't see how his position changes based on who is playing around him. IMO, a player's position is based on his positioning, his style of play. While with the Warriors, Al Harrington played nearly all of his minutes as the biggest guy on the court - did that make him a center?
Lebron is a SG/SF b/c those two position are interchangeable. No one is denying his greatness. I just question the tag of "greatest pf of all time". I agree that a player's position is based on his style of play. Therefore, the fact that Harrington was the biggest guy on the court does not necessarily mean he was the center.
Ok. I was responding to the guy that said Duncan mostly guards forwards rather than centers. That hasn't been the case for years. Some are saying that the Spurs are playing two PFs right now. I think its more correct to say that, earlier in Duncan's career, the Spurs played 2 Cs. Duncan and Robinson played more alike than Duncan and Bonner. There's no question about that.
Was Ralph Sampson a center or a power forward? Was Hakeem a center or a power forward? The answer is, there is really not much difference between the game of a center and the game of a PF. If you are a great low post player, as all these guys are, you play at the low post most of the time. It doesn't matter whether you are listed as a "center" or a "power forward."
DH sucks. I mean other than the being DPOY and taking his team to the finals against the chosen one. I mean he only has 2 all-nba first teams. Give me yao anyday of the week. The spurs were supposed to be real good this year with all their depth, but they suck. Usually they heat up after the rodeo road trip, but Tim duncan is their horse. If they have to play him big minutes to win they are screwed.
You're right. We have a need to categorize players for these "best of" lists. In the end, it really doesn't matter all that much. If I had to pick one player to be my starting C for a playoff series, I'm taking Duncan over pretty much any other player available right now. It doesn't matter much to me if he has a "PF" next to his name. He fills the C role just fine.
I know! Why should I take a DPOY, 2-time All-NBA first team over a guy that's injured all the time and isn't even as good as the other guy even when he's healthy?
He should call himself a SF. Part of why there are no great centers is because 7 footers don't want that label anymore.
Since you feel so strongly about it, how about a tipjar wager? I'll argue that Duncan is a center and you argue that he's a PF (in terms of his overall career). I'll bet $20 that my argument will be stronger than yours.
