Power forward (basketball)

Power Forward (English to German "big winger ", literally " force ( full ) Forward " ) is a position title in the sport of basketball. It is part of the front Courts, which also includes small forward and center.

History

The term "forward " comes from the time when the sport of basketball than you, the players - one hurried to attacker ( forwards) and defender ( Guards ) - as in football. The Forward was mainly responsible for the points and in the first instance by pulling to the basket. The division into small and power forward exists in this form only since the 1970s. Previously, we did not distinguish the two wingers, but gave them similar tasks, which more resembled the task field of today's small forwards. For the majority of NBA teams of the 1960s and earlier therefore usually two very similar on the 3 and 4, such as the Philadelphia 76ers with Chet Walker and Billy Cunningham.

Since the 1970s they began to make a filigree center a beefy Forward to the side, so to speak, as Enforcer ( for example, Maurice Lucas next Bill Walton or Spencer Haywood, Bob McAdoo next ). From the game that originally were rather small geratenen center, the position of power forward developed. It scores as well as the center with his back to the basket and is responsible for the rebound work on the offensive and defensive. In general, power forwards are a little smaller than the center, according to today's NBA scale but at least 2.05 m (where there are exceptions now and then ). Note, however, that this type player had their prototypes in the 1950s and 1960s. So Vern Mikkelsen, Dolph Schayes and Maurice Stokes played a today's power forwards very similar game. Nevertheless, this style of play began to enforce only in the 1970s.

In the 1970s, nearly every team had an enforcer in their ranks. And just as in hockey ( hence the name " Enforcer " originally comes ) the game was characterized brutalized. On 9 December 1977, he had the game of the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets to a drastic event: Lakers Enforcer Kermit Washington met Rockets player Rudy Tomjanovich with a punch so hard on the head that this skull was smashed the front. Tomjanovich survived this injury only slightly, and then the NBA was forced to stop the fist fights.

With Kevin McHale came at the beginning of the 1980s, the prototype of a Power Forwards in the NBA. With its large repertoire of attack movements McHale has long been one of the best players in the NBA and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999. As McHale were among the many who followed him to the offensive power forwards strongest players in the NBA, beginning with Charles Barkley and Karl Malone on Derrick Coleman and Chris Webber to Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki. Especially the latter are distinguished by exceptional versatility in attack.