Malik Rose was recently on Fan Duel’s flagship NBA Show, ‘Run It Back’, sharing a plethora of amazing hoop stories from his playing days in the NBA. Rose is best known for his campaign with the Spurs, where he spent eight seasons of his career, winning two championships. While on the show, Rose was asked to chip in with his opinion on the greatest power forward of all time. Choosing his former teammate Tim Duncan as the best power-forward, Rose explained,
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“There are a lot of greats out there. This subject is very subjective…I think Tim is the greatest power forward. Where you want to put him in history, I don’t care and I know he doesn’t care. I am just happy that I had a chance to play with him and get to know him both on and off the court.”
“I think Tim [Duncan] is the best power forward of all time.” @MalikRose with high praise for Tim Duncan #Spurs
: https://t.co/oxMs3CAEGu pic.twitter.com/iZrMX3I8JC
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) April 4, 2024
Understandably, the younger generation might not know who Malik ‘Jabari’ Rose is, as he spent the majority of his time playing in the shadows of Spurs legend, Tim Duncan during the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Coming off the bench for the Spurs, Rose averaged 7.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 0.9 assists. He might have had an entirely different career trajectory, had it not been for Duncan. Even Rose himself admitted to wanting more minutes on those Spurs teams,
“There were plenty of times when I wanted to push him down a flight of stairs, so he could sit on the side and I could get some minutes..that’s what I remember.”
Rose isn’t exaggerating his frustration playing behind Duncan, as The Big Fundamental might have been one of the most consistent, injury-free players in NBA history. It also didn’t help that Rose’s time with the Spurs coincided with Duncan’s most productive seasons with the team, with the 15-time All-Star, averaging over 39 minutes during the first six seasons with the Spurs.
Charles Barkley also chose Tim Duncan
Charles Barkley is one of the most established power forwards of all time. He even beat out Michael Jordan, to win the 1993 regular season MVP, solidifying his case for being one of the greatest at his position. But Chuck doesn’t believe himself to be the greatest at his position, not even close.
During a 2017 appearance on ‘The Dan Patrick Show’, Barkley named Tim Duncan the greatest power forward of all time.
Even though he admitted to Duncan having more help, the NBA analyst also pointed out that the Spurs legend won much more. Furthering his point, Barkley said,
“You have to understand something, there’s some guys who we call them studio gangsters. Because they’re on a bad team and average a lot of numbers. It’s just the best player on a bad team and get the ball more.”
Even though Barkley might come off as unnecessarily humble, it’s important to remember that Duncan won five championships in the Kobe-Shaq era, possibly one of the most difficult tasks ever achieved in NBA history. Unlike his peers, Duncan played in a system, with personal accolades taking a back seat. Even then, he managed to bag two regular-season MVPs, a testament to his monstrous potential.
