You certainly could argue that both Barkley and Malone were the two best regular season performers at the power forward position Charles Barkley was a beast and the eye popping .581 fg pct rivals that of the great centers that have ever played the game But we should not sleep on Tim Duncan's defensive prowess. He played the position like a center. No other power forward was that dominant in the paint.
I watched a ton of Malone and much of Barkely and both were really good if not great defenders. Not huge shot blockers and neither is Duncan. I wouldn't give Duncan the edge because of defense because I feel they were all about the same in that area.
Barkley was my favorite player after Magic retired. However, he was often criticized for his defense and I don't think compares with Duncan in that area. On the other hand, Barkley was a menace on the offensive glass and it would take a team effort to box him out. He also became a decent 3 point shooter late in his career and seemed to hit them when needed. Even after he lost some of the spring in his legs when he went to the Rockets, he was a fan favorite and playing at a high level until blowing out his knee. I was crushed when his Suns lost to the Bulls in the Finals but Barkley always played at a higher level when needed. When Bob Petit retired, I think he was known as the greatest basketball player ever. Even though it was so long ago, maybe he should be considered the best PF of all-time. When I see him at LSU games, it looks like he could still play a little.
I don't remember Barkley being criticized for his defense but not saying wasn't talked about. Rebounding is apart of defense and he was better than most on that list.
Not to mention Jordan, by most accounts is a giant A-hole. He has made some really dumb statements at really high profile times. I haven't heard much of that from LBJ after that stupid decision thing and at least he regrets that.
When you're the Greatest of All Time AND you didn't live in the internet age, you get away with being a massive prick like Jordan w̶a̶s̶ is.
Barkley is still probably my all-time favorite basketball player. I just looked up his wiki page to see if anything was mentioned about his defense. Bill Walton praised him as being a great defensive player and it also mentioned that Barkley has the 2nd most steals for Power Forwards (and most per game). Since I followed him so closely back then, I recall at least some criticism but maybe it wasn't the general consensus. I also recall some people saying Larry Bird was not good defensively but more recently have heard him get some credit (hustle, rebounding, defensive position). Barkley made zero All-Defensive NBA teams. Karl Malone made three 1st Team All-Defensive NBA, which were all very late in his career (think during Jordan's 2nd 3-peat). I think my opinion is now that Barkley was an average defender that would gamble often, leading to highlight reel fast breaks. Malone was an above average defender. Barkley was much more creative on offense and even became a good passer while Malone became more of a robot in his later years. In the late 90s, when Malone would face up about 18 feet out on the wing, there were only two things he woudl do. Jab step-shot, or jab step-shot fake-drive to the goal (which would lead to lay up or him throwing himself into the defender to draw foul). In summary, you could probably make a case for Barkley, Malone, or Duncan as best PF of all-time.
Pels pick up Omer Asik and Russ Smith. They give up PJackson. RSmith will be fun to watch, and Jackson was lighting up D-league. What do y'all think about this? Sounds like a lot more moves on the horizon for the Pels. Trying to build quickly around ADavis before his contract is up in 2016.
I think Davis and Asik together means one of the best defensive and rebounding front lines in the history of the NBA
I think Asik is a step in the right direction; with Ajinca as his backup, that's a nice 1-2 combo of guys who can clog up the middle, get some second chance points and won't demand the ball all that much in the offense. However, it took 49 wins to make the playoffs in the West this year, and they're nowhere near ready to approach that mark.
