Ranking the League's Best Power Fowards: Where Does Kevin Love Fall?

Where does Kevin Love rank amongst the league’s power forwards? After his hot start to the season, the debate continues amongst fans on which team’s four-man is better or worse than Minnesota’s third year stud. Broken up into several different tiers, here’s my ranking every team’s starting power forward and how they’ve performed three weeks into this short season. 

For the purposes of the exercise, players qualified as reserves (most notably Paul Milsap, Thaddeus Young, and Lamar Odom) were not included but can certainly be considered as one of the league’s thirty best. 

Note: Stats used here are current as of January 10^th, 2011 from NBA.com   

The Bottom of the Barrel:

		Team	Age	PPG	REB	AST	BLKS	FG%
30	Ersan Ilyasova	Milwaukee	24	6.6	6.3	0.9	0.4	40%
29	Channing Frye	Phoenix	28	6.8	7.6	0.8	0.5	35%
28	Andray Blatche	Washington	25	12.1	7.1	1	1	39%
27	Boris Diaw	Charlotte	29	10.9	7.1	5.2	0.8	48%
26	Jonas Jerebko	Detroit	24	10.1	6.4	0.7	0.2	45%

These are the league’s worst starting power forwards this season. Blatche, Diaw and Jerebko’s stats show some signs that they are off to good starts, but the majority of that  can be credited to the fact they are on poor teams, thus inflating some statistics. “Stretch” fours like Ilyasova and Frye pride themselves on shooting lower percentage outside shots and round out the bottom of the league’s power forwards

The Jury Is Still Out:

		Team	Age	PPG	REB	AST	BLKS	FG%
25	Ryan Anderson	Orlando	23	18	7.3	0.9	0.3	44%
24	Derrick Favors	Utah	20	8.9	7.4	0	1.5	53%
23	DeMarcus Cousins	Sacramento	21	14.6	10.1	0.6	1.8	43%
22	Kris Humphries	New Jersey	26	13.3	10.6	1	0.6	46%
21	Serge Ibaka	Oklahoma City	21	7.5	6.1	0.9	2.2	54%

Most of these guys are young prospects, some of which are just starting to come into their own. Anderson is off to a tremendous season with the Magic. Favors and Cousins have showed flashes of promise but there are some signs of inconsistently (and immaturity with respect to Cousins) in their games. Despite being 26 years old and a vet in this league, Humphries is still an intriguing player, picking up right where he left off from last season's career year. It will be interesting to see how high Humphries' ceiling will go. As for Ibaka, he’s talented and improvement continues to show on a title-hopeful Thunder team that will surely lean on their young forward's production to reach that goal.

The Dependables :

		Team	Age	PPG	REB	AST	BLKS	FG%
20	Carl Landry	New Orleans	28	15	6.2	0.9	0.3	47%
19	Elton Brand	Philadelphia	32	8.1	7.1	1.6	1.1	43%
18	Antawn Jamison	Cleveland	35	16	5.9	0.9	1.2	42%
17	David West	Indiana	31	10.9	7.6	2.4	0.8	41%
16	Andrea Bargnani	Toronto	26	23.7	6.7	2.1	0.8	51%
15	Nene	Denver	29	12	7.9	1.6	0.9	49%
14	David Lee	Golden State	28	16.6	9.7	0.9	0.3	46%
13	Carlos Boozer	Chicago	30	14.9	8.3	1	0.6	54%
12	Luis Scola	Houston	31	16.5	5	1.5	0.2	49%
11	Josh Smith	Atlanta	26	15.6	8.6	3.1	1.8	48%

Without going into too much detail on this tier of players, this group has been a model of consistency over the past few years. Bargnani, the youngest of this group, still has some potential to move up the ranks, especially after his impressive start this season. Same could be said for Josh Smith because of his age. But the majority of these forwards have spent at least five years in this league, some of which are in their prime (Lee, Nene, Boozer) while others will soon be nearing the end of their All-Star performances of years past (Jamison, Brand, West).   

Oldies But Goodies.

		Team	Age	PPG	REB	AST	BLKS	FG%
10	Tim Duncan	San Antonio	35	10.9	5.7	2.4	0.8	42%
9	Kevin Garnett	Boston	35	12.9	7	2.9	1	52%

At one point, these two dominated the position in the league, but their statistics this season have truly shown a regress in their impact to their team. What Duncan’s and Garnett’s stats don’t show this season is just how important they are to their team’s success. Although age has caught up with them, the two are still defensive stalwarts, clutch performers, and big time leaders making them cornerstones for their respective teams.

On The Cusp:

		Team	Age	PPG	REB	AST	BLKS	FG%
8	Amar'e Stoudemire	New York	29	21	8.9	1.1	0.6	42%
7	Chris Bosh	Miami	27	20.1	8.2	2	1	53%
6	Zach Randolph	Memphis	30	14.8	7.5	1	0.5	47%
5	LaMarcus Aldridge	Portland	26	22.6	7.8	2.1	0.8	49%
4	Blake Griffin	LA Clippers	22	24.7	10.3	2.3	0.5	56%

This is easily the most debatable group of rankings amongst power forwards. All these guys have the potential to climbing this ladder and being mentioned as one of the leagues elite.

Amar’e once again has become second fiddle on his team, before with Steve Nash in Phoenix and now with Carmelo Anthony in New York. Despite the monster numbers he puts up on the offensive end in coach Mike D’Antoni’s system, his inability to improve on the defensive end has kept him out of elite status. 

Bosh’s decrease in production from his prior seasons in Toronto is credited to him playing with two of the league’s elite in all stat categories, Dwayne Wade and LeBron James. He’s still a talented, versatile big who can stretch the floor but his play on a nightly basis is not necessarily crucial to his team’s success. 

Randolph is the most interesting to rate on this list. Historically, he’s always been penciled in as a 20-10 guy, but his prior teams never succeeded quite like his Memphis Grizzlies did last season. Following his dominate performance in the postseason, he’s most certainly moved up a tier entering this year.  Unfortunately for he and the Grizzlies, his injury four games into this season has made him an afterthought moving closer to the All-Star break. 

Aldridge has finally come into his own now that the spotlight once shared with he and the recently retired Brandon Roy is now on him alone. The Blazers are off to a hot start. On a Blazer team compiled of mostly role players, Aldridge is the one shining star and is most likely headed to his first All-Star game this season. 

Griffin is the hardest to rank. Coming off one of the more impressive rookie seasons in recent years, his highlight-film dunks and explosive nature on the court, all at the age of 22, has given every indication that he’s going to be one the league’s best. Yet, with a sample size of only last season and the first three weeks into this season, it’s too early to crown him as one of the league’s elite power forwards. Come the end of this season, though, that might all change.

Best of the Best:

		Team	Age	PPG	REB	AST	BLKS	FG%
3	Pau Gasol	LA Lakers	31	16.7	9.3	2.3	1.8	58%
2	Kevin Love	Minnesota	23	24	14.9	1.8	0.6	44%
1	Dirk Nowitzki	Dallas	33	19	5.2	2.8	0.2	44%

Despite his playoff woes last postseason and his slow start this season, Gasol still ranks among the league’s elite at his position. His versatility as a passer and shooter in addition to being an above average defender and scorer has helped the Lakers reach the finals three of the last four seasons, winning back-to-back titles during that stretch.  Once the Lakers buy into new coach Mike Brown’s system, I expect Gasol’s numbers to improve significantly. 

Dirk tops number one my list for multiple reasons. His postseason run to a title last year was nothing short of brilliant. Although he plays the power forward position unconventionally, his strengths at shooting, getting to the rim and running the floor makes him one of the few players in the league that are considered to be “unguardable.”  Coming off his Finals MVP and championship with the Mavs, it’s quite difficult to put anyone above him this early into the season. 

Where’s the Love?

Love ranks number two on my list, a smidge below from Nowitzki. The slimmer, more versatile Love has been a terror thus far against opponents this season. We all know about his rebounding title from a season ago and that he’s on pace to repeat that award again this season. What puts him ahead of the pack this year are the improvements to his overall game including his improved three point range, face-up game, and transition play. His rebounding and scoring have put him in the league’s top 10 in each category.  The scary part about Love’s improvement is that he will only be turning 23 this season.  The sky is the limit for the talented Minnesota forward.