Best passing big man of all time

[jlip]

Whom would you consider to be the best passing big man of all time?
Russell, Wilt, Kareem, Walton, Sabonis, Webber, KG?
Include someone else if you deem him worthy.

P.S. I don't consider Bird to be a "big man". Let's keep this between power forwards and centers.

[PurpleChuck]

Pau Gasol gonna hit that list too.

[west]

Not sure about the best, but KG is my favorite.

[steve]

Alvan Adams.

[Warners0]

Sabonis, Divac Webber come to mind. I think Tim Duncan is also a very underrated passer.

[ronniec]

Yao Ming

[Monta_Ellis]

Arvydas Sabonis

[Hagbard]

Sabonis. Not close.

[Harison]

Sabonis
Walton
Russell
KG

<Gap>

Wilt
Divac
Webber
Shaq

[KNOW1EDGE]

Sabonis and its not even close

[Droid101]

Sabonis was the best, but damn, Webber is being underrated.

Webber averaged around 5 assists per game his entire prime. That's pretty epic for a big power forward.

[Styles p]

sam dalembert.

[Samvt]

Darko. sort of reminds me of webber, but better.

[New York Knicks]

Gasol passes like a guard. He should definitely be on the list. How many PFs do you see throwing alley-oop passes to the Center?

[Sakkreth]

Sabonis best, I haven't seen all of the guys that much but i'll mention the ones i have seen playing quite some, so at second spot for me is Webber then there is Divac at third, Gasol is fourth and KG is fifth, but Sabonis is just rank one for me easily and it's really not even close.

[Peteballa]

Darko

[Niquesports]

Sabonis and its not even close

Lets see how can we measure this well there is one and only one "big man" that has lead the league in assist and that would be Sabonis right hell naw it would be Wilt. Why is Sabonis so overrated on ish. He was a bum .

[LastChanceToWin]

Lebron James

[jlip]

Darko. sort of reminds me of webber, but better.

LOL! Who was that during the summer league that told Webber that Darko's passing game seemed to favor his? That was funny as heck. Webber was doing everything within his power not to slap that man.

[Sakkreth]

Lebron James

He's SF or even PG. What's next, u'll put Magic cause he was big PG ? :facepalm

[Eldrunko247]

Divac is up there

[juju151111]

Shaq and Noah

[33teeth]

sam dalembert.

GOBB is gonna come neg rep you for uttering that name. GOBB was, unfortunately, turned down in a bar when he made advances on Dalembert. He's still haunted by it.

:cry:

[AItheAnswer]

All the hoes jockin, beat steady knockin
middle of the stage got the whole club rockin
***** you can hate but ya ***** steady watchin
bet she cant do it on a dick, she poppin
we bottle poppin, you **** blockin
told ya gurl you rap, but ya CD floppin
you say you gettin money man, we aint seen nothin
ya gurl is persistant, she aint stoppin

(hook)
Man she say she want a hood nigg@
I keep the purp by the pound
the trunk stay bumpin, yall know we run the town
hood nigg@
and i keep a bad b!tch around
thick b!itch, long hair, yellow, white, red, brown
hood nigg@
and my chevy sittin on 24's
flats look like flapjack, pancake you aint know
hood *****
im a play the game how it go
they can take me out the hood
but im a keep it hood folk

[AItheAnswer]

Shaq and Noah
wat da hell dat 'pose ta meen?!

[artificial]

Just to throw a couple of oldtimers, Wes Unseld and Bill Walton. No, I didn't see them play, but I've read they made nice passes. Especially Unseld, guy was supposed to be the ultimate outlet passer.

Also, Garnett is an underrated passer IMO. Loved to see Chris Webber.

[Hotbullets]

Not nearly the best, but Z can throw a mean pass.

[LosBulls]

Brad Miller is pretty good.

[Niquesports]

Just to throw a couple of oldtimers, Wes Unseld and Bill Walton. No, I didn't see them play, but I've read they made nice passes. Especially Unseld, guy was supposed to be the ultimate outlet passer.

Also, Garnett is an underrated passer IMO. Loved to see Chris Webber.
You are right about Unseld. He was the best outlet passer I have ever seen. He would Grab the rebound turn his body and throw an outlet that would reach half court all in one motion. All this at 6'7. He also set a mean pick in todays game he would foul out every game the way they are calling these sissy offence of fouls on picks

[thejusman1]

It's Pau Gasol, without a doubt. The Spaniard is so SMOOTH. Anyone who disagrees is just a hater.

[G.O.A.T]

Sabonis
Walton
Russell
KG

<Gap>

Wilt
Divac
Webber
Shaq

I'm gonna edit this slightly

Top Tier
Russell
Sabonis
Walton
Mo Stokes (about 6'7" but played power positions)

Second Tier
Wilt
Webber
KG
Red Kerr
KAJ
Divac

Third Tier
Connie Hawkins
Shaq
Duncan
Cowens
Unseld
Lanier
Lucas

I know I am missing some obvious guys too.

[steve]

Like Alvan Adams maybe?

[G.O.A.T]

Like Alvan Adams maybe?

Exactly, though he wasn't really a big man, just a tall guy.

[steve]

Exactly, though he wasn't really a big man, just a tall guy.
He was the Suns starting center for most of his career.

[sh0wtime]

Vlade Divac

[Jasper]

I did watch Wilt play , but it was his tail end of his career.

Sabonis if there ever was one , was a point center.
he always looked to get his teammates involved , and took the shot 2nd.
Using his height as a weapon to read defenses , his passing skills has to be ranked as high or higher than Wilt.

But 2a has to be Divac , post presense on the Sac teams was awesome to watch , which imo made Webber a legit passer.

But if we go back to stats - Wilt has it.

[thomaspynchon]

This might surprise you, but Dirk Nowitzki. He has guard-like passing talent.

[Niquesports]

This might surprise you, but Dirk Nowitzki. He has guard-like passing talent.
Yes I am surprised I must have missed them games.

[thomaspynchon]

Yes I am surprised I must have missed them games.

Yeah, watch him closely. Obviously he isn't operating in the low post like traditional big guys but his passing ability on the break and on the perimeter is insane for a 7 footer. I think only Mavs aficionados know about it since he isn't really hyped up by the NBA

[Papaya Petee]

Andrew Bynum

[BlueandGold]

Sabonis
Walton
Russell
KG

<Gap>

Wilt
Divac
Webber
Shaq

What? How is Russell a better passer than Wilt when Wilt absolutely blows him away in career assists not to mention being the only center much less PF to lead the league in assists for an entire year. And yea shaq shouldn't even be on that List.

Real List:
Sabonis
Walton
Wilt
Webber
KG

Rest

[G.O.A.T]

He was the Suns starting center for most of his career.

Just speaking of his build and his lack of rebounding. The Suns were a pretty small team through most of the 70's I think too.

The rest of the guys on the list were their teams top rebounder and physical presence in most cases.


What? How is Russell a better passer than Wilt when Wilt absolutely blows him away in career assists not to mention being the only center much less PF to lead the league in assists for an entire year.

Wilt's career average is 4.4 best all-time among centers
Russell's career average is 4.2 2nd best all-time among centers

Russell averaged more assists than Wilt in 6 of their 10 common regular seasons and seven of their nine common postseasons.

Russell touched the ball about 1/3 of the time Wilt did to get hose assists.

Many more of Russell's teammates have called him a great passer than Wilt's.

Russell never tried to lead the league in assists.

Russell has the highest postseason career assists average of any center as well as the highest assists per game average in the NBA Finals of any center.

Of yeah and per 48 minutes Russell's apg is 4.8, Dippy's 4.6

[Round Mound]

1-Sabonis
2-Walton
3-Wilt
4-Kareem
5-Russell

[steve]

Just speaking of his build and his lack of rebounding. The Suns were a pretty small team through most of the 70's I think too.

The rest of the guys on the list were their teams top rebounder and physical presence in most cases.
His career rebounding percentage is slightly above 14%, which is right where Stoudemire's is and it's also close to where Divac's is, but they're both considered a bigs. He started at center for the majority of his career, but because of wasn't a great rebounder he's not considered a big man. By that rational, Dirk Nowitzki is a guard.

[Mr. Jabbar]

delete

[NuggetsFan]

"Darko. sort of reminds me of webber, but better"

http://www.thesportsbank.net/core/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/David-Kahn.jpg

Fixed.

[Psileas]

My top-12, not necessarily in order:

1. Walton
2. Russell
3. Wilt
4. Sabonis
5. Garnett
6. Maurice Stokes
7. Unseld
8. Webber
9. Boerwinkle
10. Kareem
11. Divac
12. Bird ;) --OK, that's cheating a bit, since we're talking about PF's/C's. Barkley may be cheating as well, since he wasn't really a big man, either. Anyway, Alvan Adams wasn't bad at all. A poor man's Walton, let's say.

[G.O.A.T]

His career rebounding percentage is slightly above 14%, which is right where Stoudemire's is and it's also close to where Divac's is, but they're both considered a bigs. He started at center for the majority of his career, but because of wasn't a great rebounder he's not considered a big man. By that rational, Dirk Nowitzki is a guard.

Though I think that's quite a different jump, actually Dirk's a good example. He is someone else I would not consider a big man.

It's semantics and if someone was to call Alvan Adams a big man, I wouldn't say they were wrong, I was just making an observation, technically I'd have to say you're right.

[jlip]

My top-12, not necessarily in order:
9. Boerwinkle
.

I just observed that at 7'0 260+ lbs he managed to average 4.8apg in '71 while playing only 28.9mpg. That's impressive. I'm going to have to read up on him a little more.

[jlip]

...

[Kblaze8855]

Some of Vlades full court passes came to mind:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgHun-PwZTs

[Mr Exlax]

I thought I would see Gasol on here more.

[DaHeezy]

Brad Daugherty was the best passing center I've seen is my lifetime

[bizil]

I think I gotta go Webber. Webber's handle at 6'10 and 250 set him apart from some of the other bigs who were great from a stationary position. But how about Sir Charles? Just like Webber, he had a great handle for a big man. I know some are gonna say Chuck is only 6'5, but Chuck was also as big as 285 pounds in the NBA. At his lightest he was around 255. So I would say Webber and Barkley because both had point forward or perimeter player type handle.

[Pointguard]

KG
Sabonis
Walton
Webber

Wilt or Russell. They both had it hard back then and were able to maintain some impressive number.

[rwfletch22]

http://youtu.be/m7CdWF9Unco


http://youtu.be/5xO0nqUSF0g

[swi7ch]

Oliver "Pig" Miller

[lakerspng]

1-Sabonis
2-Walton
3-Wilt
4-Kareem
5-Russell

agree on this list.

KAJ being very underrated.... everyone loved showtime, the Lakers fast break and it always started with a KAJ rebound and outlet pass... a lost art today.

[pegasus]

Arvydas.

[ILLsmak]

Depends on what you mean by passing. If you mean changing the defense and getting someone a score then you gotta focus on players who score more like Duncan and Shaq. Hakeem...

But there are some guys who would look to pass first who are much better pinpoint passers and understand the way the defense offense moves better.

-Smak

[LA Lakers]

Bill Walton. Shouldnt even be a debate.

[Mr. Jabbar]

Andrew Bynum

i loled

[Kobe 4 The Win]

Walton, Gasol, Kareem, Divac

[L.Kizzle]

All the hoes jockin, beat steady knockin
middle of the stage got the whole club rockin
***** you can hate but ya ***** steady watchin
bet she cant do it on a dick, she poppin
we bottle poppin, you **** blockin
told ya gurl you rap, but ya CD floppin
you say you gettin money man, we aint seen nothin
ya gurl is persistant, she aint stoppin

(hook)
Man she say she want a hood nigg@
I keep the purp by the pound
the trunk stay bumpin, yall know we run the town
hood nigg@
and i keep a bad b!tch around
thick b!itch, long hair, yellow, white, red, brown
hood nigg@
and my chevy sittin on 24's
flats look like flapjack, pancake you aint know
hood *****
im a play the game how it go
they can take me out the hood
but im a keep it hood folk
This

[Round Mound]

I think I gotta go Webber. Webber's handle at 6'10 and 250 set him apart from some of the other bigs who were great from a stationary position. But how about Sir Charles? Just like Webber, he had a great handle for a big man. I know some are gonna say Chuck is only 6'5, but Chuck was also as big as 285 pounds in the NBA. At his lightest he was around 255. So I would say Webber and Barkley because both had point forward or perimeter player type handle.

Good Observations :applause: Among PFs Barkley and Webber are the Best "Pure Passers"

[Suckafree]

Blake Griffin will be a top 5 PF in terms of passing when its all said and done.
He already averages 3.5 assists for his career. Quite suprising too as passing is one of the last skills bigmen tend to develop.
He may not eclipse the likes of Webber/KG/Barkley as such but he'll be floating around there by the time he hangs it up


Gasol passes like a guard. He should definitely be on the list. How many PFs do you see throwing alley-oop passes to the Center?

BG does this alot, quite often on the break too.

[IGotACoolStory]

Sabonis. (this guy never watched Walton play outside of some highlights)

[dyna]

Sabonis
Webber
Walton
KG
Divac
Yao
Daugherty
Gasol
Unseld
Wilt
Kareem
Shaq

[swi7ch]

Vlade Dade or Sabonis or CWebb

Scary 2 of the above played together!

[TheBigVeto]

Sabonis and Walton.

[BlueandGold]

Sabonis
Walton
Russell
KG

<Gap>

Wilt
Divac
Webber
Shaq
For all the wilt stans: Wilt was/is the only C to lead the league in assists. His 8 apg for a season (might be higher) is still a record for centers, much less PFs. I feel like this deserves a mention.

[DatAsh]

1. Russell
2. Sabonis
3. Chamberlain
4. Walton
5. Webber

[fsvr54]

Chris webber

[Lakers Legend#32]

Bill Walton.
End of Discussion.
Close this thread.

[RoseCity07]

Sabonis, and I hate to use this cliche, but it's not even close.

[kNicKz]

Sabonis

[Pushxx]

I'll say Walton.

[Freedom Kid7]

Well, I'm not sure who is this best. Walton was great, Sabonis was great, Russell was great, Wilt was good when he decided he wanted to do it.

So yeah. Sabonis/Russell/Walton all played on teams though where the pass first mentallity was the prevelant one. Walton and Russell were the leaders of those teams and were one of the reasons why that was though

[therammingman]

the marlboro man.....divac