Lebron is a pretty good shooter, not a great one. His bread and butter is his ability to drive to the basket and finish. He's a good defender and good passer. Doesn't have much of a post game.

Kevin Love has a good post game. He doesn't have the size or athleticism of Dwight Howard, he just gets it done with skill. He has a great turnaround hook shot, it's actually more like half of a hook shot. He has the ability to put the ball on the floor, take it to the rim and slam it down. He's a dominant rebounder, and he's an amazing shooter. The only other big man who can shoot like that is Dirk. He has the shooting ability of Dirk Nowitzki and the rebounding ability of Charles Barkley.

I think it's pretty close between these two when it comes to being to most complete player. Blake Griffin is a great ball handler for someone of his size, I think that gets overlooked. When he actually dribbles the ball, you can tell he has good handling skills. He has a pretty decent jump-shot as well. I've seen him take it full-court and cross some people over.

The all around most skilled big in the league is Pau Gasol; Howard, Love, Bynum, Z-Bo, Aldridge and his brother a bit behind. If I could choose one to have, it'd be Howard easily.

Love is a excellent rebounder, having said that, there a certainly that are better at it. He tries harder to get boards on a nightly basis to get boards, but come playoff time I wouldn't count on him vs a few of the people I've named (big Gasol, Bynum, Howard).

Blake Griffin can't shoot a jump shot to save his life (36%).

****. Kevin Love would dominate Gasol all night and any other forward you mentioned. Can't really compare him to Bynum, since Bynum is a center. Although, he can rebound better than Bynum. Love averages 14 per game. I'd take Love easily over anyone you mentioned except Howard. None of those bigs can score as good as Love, and the only one who can rebound better is Howard.

Dirk is one of if not the most all around skilled big man, next to Love. He had a slow start to this season, but his knees weren't 100%. Over the last 11 games, he's averaged 25 and 9. And right now he has 20 and 9 with 7 minutes left.

He can't back you down and slam on you, but he can still take it to the rim. Since you didn't already mention him, I'm sure you're going to say: "All he can do is shoot, he has no post-game, he's soft, etc." If that's what you think, you clearly didn't watch the playoffs last year. Dirk was taking it to the rim all the time in the playoffs last year.

In the Mavericks sweep of the Lakers, Dirk averaged 25 points and 9 rebounds a game; shot 72% from the three-point line, and 57% overall.

Gasol averaged 12.5 points and 9 rebounds a game; and shot 42% overall.


Perhaps you need a reminder.

Here he is on the biggest stage, taking it to the rim from the three-point line and finishing with a beautiful left-handed lay-in. He's not even left handed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMGObegToPY

Show me another 7 footer who has done that in such a clutch situation, in the finals.

In Pau's defense, he's probably the best big at passing in the league.

Am I the only one who has noticed better officiating this year? I'm seeing travels being consistently called, and their letting the players play, not giving them automatic fouls just for driving to the hoop every time.

It's been a few seasons since I've really watched basketball, but I swear the NBA stepped it up due to the negative publicity of the lockout or something.

If you swapped Bynum for Love, I'm pretty sure Gasol would have better stats. Who else scores or rebounds for the Twolves?

pekovij
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...mberwolves.jpg

Bynum might score a point or two more a game. And Love might score two or three points less.

On your previous post...

You can't just exclude Bynum whilst including Dirk. Dirk is a 3 in a 5s body. I usually lump PFs with Cs into a larger group called "big men".

I think you are underrating defense. I said all around. Pau and Bynum are two of the best post defenders in the league. Conversely, I consider Dirk slightly below average on D. Love is average but will improve.
I saw the playoffs last year yes. Something was wrong with Gasol in the playoffs. I consider it an aberration. I think truer to form was his performance vs the Celtics in the finals, where he was an absolute beast at both ends.

Another thought: I think this season from the Lakers is a nice big fuck you towards Phil Jackson. He considered them done, but they still have some life in them. They aren't the prohibitive favorite but anyone counting them out as a contender is bad.

Also, I don't think you realize what a black hole Kobe can be offensively.

http://i.imgur.com/jvX7S.png