Erick Blasco's Top 30 Small Forwards

The small forward position is the most diverse position in the NBA, mainly because the job descriptions of small forwards vary with each of the NBA’s 30 franchises.

Peja Stojakovic and Jason Kapono are three-point marksmen with no other appreciable skills. Bruce Bowen, Shane Battier, and James Posey are premier defensive specialists with little appreciable offensive talent. Gerald Wallace and Andrei Kirilenko are athletic high flyers on offense, and especially, on defense.

Paul Pierce, Brandon Roy, Hedo Turkoglu, and Caron Butler are asked to do everything for their teams, and they do it well. Carmelo Anthony needs the ball to be explosive, Matt Harpring does all his work without the ball, and Boris Diaw is at his best when he’s delivering the ball to someone else.

This list does not take into account a player’s future prospects or past salad days. The criteria is simple, and framed as a question it is: Which NBA small forward is best suited to being an integral part of a championship team this year?

Due to the way some NBA lineups are presently constructed, a handful of potential small forwards will be asked to play different positions this year. For that reason, Ron Artest, Shawn Marion, and Rashard Lewis are listed as power forwards.

No rookies made the list. We haven't seen them play in meaningful games against meaningful competition, so we can't know where they should be ranked.

With the formalities taken care of, the list.

1. LeBron James—Cleveland Cavaliers

Spectacularly athletic, James is easily the best small forward in the NBA, and has a chance to be one of the best ever. James is exceptionally quick with an explosive first step, but it’s his linebacker strength that allows him to discard contact and finish in hostile crowds and enables him to be the premier finisher in the league.

James is also blessed with tremendous court vision which allows him to spot open teammates when defenses are converging on him. His defense has improved considerably from his first years in the league, as he is no longer a defensive liability, and he has actually become a well above-average defender.

James’ jumper tends to abandon him, and he rarely plays off the ball, two characteristics that hold him below Kobe Bryant as the best player in the game. Nonetheless, given James' talent and the fact that he’s steadily improved each year in the league, it's clear that there is every possibility that James will someday be mentioned among the basketball immortals.

2. Paul Pierce—Boston Celtics

Pierce was Mr. Everything in Boston’s most important games last season. He was the one with the ball in his hands in crunch time, when the Celtics needed somebody to deliver a key score or a key pass. He was the one who defended opposing teams’ best players, often shutting them down.

Aggressive enough to finish in contact, unselfish enough to defer to teammates with better matchups, and clutch enough to always come through when it matters, Pierce is a complete and total basketball player.

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