[Thespiralgoeson]

Originally Posted by kingmalaki

This is a very good post. I don't think Malone's offensive game was limited but he did have the advantage of playing with a great PG for his entire career.

Well, I only mean he was limited comparatively speaking; i.e. compared to Dirk. I think the player in today's NBA whose offensive game reminds me the most of Malone is Amare. Absolutely lethal off the pick and roll, and an excellent mid-range shooter for his position. But Amare (like Malone) isn't going to consistently create something off the dribble and hit an array of pump-fakes, turn-arounds, up-and-unders etc... EDIT: Don't get me wrong, Malone was a far, far better player than Amare. I'm just saying Amare reminds me a bit of Malone.

However, Barkley and McHale were just as good at creating their own shots as Dirk is. Their offensive games were just different.

They were both very, very good, but not quite as good as Dirk (just my opinion of course.) The McHale comparison is an interesting one. Kevin McHale happens to be one of my all-time favorite players, and indeed I think I'm the only one in this thread who even mentioned him, let alone had him in my top 25. Flat-out amazing low-post scorer. However his career numbers/accolades just don't hold up to Dirk's. He only made the All-NBA team once in his entire career (first team in '87). That's a far cry from from Dirk's eleven all-NBA selections, four of them for the first team, not to mention that Dirk has played in an era full of great forwards. Although in fairness, there was no third team when McHale was in his prime. Still, when it comes to individual accomplishments, McHale falls a bit short of the other three guys on the list (Dirk, Malone, and Barkley.)

In the case of Barkley, he didn't always have good PG play and he had crazy efficiency. Although I will admit his peak wasn't as long as Dirk's.

Barkley was truly a unique player. To this day it both amazes and puzzles me how he was able to dominate the game the way he did being so undersized for his position. And yes, crazy efficient. Still, as far as scoring ability goes, I would once again give the edge to Dirk. Barkley, like Malone, was not someone who had a massive arsenal of unguardable shots, or go-to moves. Nor could he score from anywhere on the floor like Dirk does. He wasn't someone whom teams would gear their entire defensive gameplan just to try to slow down, as so many teams have done so (unsuccessfully) against Dirk. Never was this more profound than the 2006 semifinals when the Spurs, one of the most dominant defensive teams in league history, went small for almost the entire series because they were terrified of having a big man stuck guarding Dirk. I don't think any team, let alone a truly great defensive team, threw out their entire defensive philosophy to guard Barkley.

However, what Sir Charles did have over Dirk was rebounding and passing skills that put Dirk's to shame. Again, his rebounding was truly amazing considering how small he was. And his passing skills were phenomenal too. Easily as good as Kevin Garnett's or Chris Webber's.

It's a tough call for me on Dirk vs. Malone/Barkley, but in the end Dirk gets my vote simply based on my own opinions of how he impacts the game, and moreover the nature of the game itself (same with the Hakeem/Shaq argument.) Totally subjective, and an argument for either of the two, or both, over Dirk would be perfectly valid. Objectively though, McHale has to be a little bit lower on the list than any of the other three. And that's tough for me to say because I've always loved his game, but any way you slice it his accomplishments just don't quite measure up to the others'.