Continuing with our Nuggets core player rankings, we move to the final rankings with the power forward position. Last season on NBA TV’s The Association: Denver Nuggets George Karl was quoted saying, “Everybody says you’re gonna have three superstars on three or four teams. Well, I’m not sure Denver’s gonna be one of those teams. So why should we build on that philosophy? My philosophy is why don’t we get a top-10 player at every position and have a top-10 bench?”
Well, Andrew Feinstein, Jeff Morton, Colin Neilson, and I decided to take a look at the Nuggets core of Ty Lawson, Andre Iguodala, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Kenneth Faried, and JaVale McGee and see how the team is developing in terms of having top-10 players at each position. Click here for our point guard rankings, click here for our center rankings, here for shooting guards, and here for small forwards.
Let’s see where Kenneth Faried’s name bounces around in this poll …
The Stiffs Crew will give you our rankings of the Nuggets core in regards to where they stack up with their NBA counterparts. We won’t be ranking every player at every position, just until we get to our Nuggets player(s) and a few guys after to give you a little perspective. You’ll also get our take as to why we have the player ranked where we do. To the power forwards …
NBA Power Forwards:
| Andrew | Nate | Jeff | Colin | |
| 1.) | Kevin Love | Dirk Nowitzki | Dirk Nowitzki | Pau Gasol |
| 2.) | Blake Griffin | Pau Gasol | Pau Gasol | Dirk Nowitzki |
| 3.) | LaMarcus Aldridge | Chris Bosh | LaMarcus Aldridge | LaMarcus Aldridge |
| 4.) | Dirk Nowitzki | Zach Randolph | Chris Bosh | Chris Bosh |
| 5.) | Pau Gasol | LaMarcus Aldridge | Zach Randolph | Zach Randolph |
| 6.) | Zach Randolph | Kevin Love | Kevin Garnett | Kevin Garnett |
| 7.) | Chris Bosh | Blake Griffin | Blake Griffin | Blake Griffin |
| 8.) | Amar’e Stoudemire | Josh Smith | Kevin Love | Serge Ibaka |
| 9.) | Kevin Garnett | Anderson Varejao | Serge Ibaka | Amar’e Stoudemire |
| 10.) | David Lee | Serge Ibaka | Amar’e Stoudemire | Kevin Love |
| 11.) | Serge Ibaka | Nene | DeMarcus Cousins | Paul Millsap |
| 12.) | Paul Millsap | Paul Millsap | Kenneth Faried | Kenneth Faried |
| 13.) | Carlos Boozer | Kenneth Faried | Nene | Carlos Boozer |
| 14.) | Luis Scola | Amar’e Stoudemire | David Lee | David Lee |
| 15.) | DeMarcus Cousins | Luis Scola | Paul Millsap | DeMarcus Cousins |
| 16.) | Andrea Bargnani | Andrea Bargnani | Andrea Bargnani | Andrea Bargnani |
| 17.) | Nene | David Lee | Carlos Boozer | Nene |
| 18.) | Kris Humphries | David West | Luis Scola | Luis Scola |
| 19.) | Elton Brand | Kris Humphries | David West | Elton Brand |
| 20.) | Kenneth Faried | Taj Gibson | Kris Humphries | Kris Humphries |
*Nate ranked KG and Cousins at the center position. Andrew, Jeff, and Colin all ranked Josh Smith as a small forward.
Andrew’s Take: Faried had a terrific rookie season, but he will have to amp up his production in a big way if he’s to ever crack the NBA’s Top 10 power forwards, currently featuring a very elite group of players (and not yet including first overall pick Anthony Davis). I’d rather have Faried than Nene, Humphries or Brand right now, but the veterans’ experience and consistency puts them all a few notches above Faried for at least one more season.
Nate’s Take: I was glad Faried got some love for the Rookie of the Year voting, I thought he should have received more. Looking back, I still have a hard time believing the Nuggets make the playoffs without Faried, he was that important to the team. He outplayed guys like Kevin Love head-to-head, but he also had major issues against Pau Gasol in the post-season. His athletic ability will take him far, but he must continue to focus on his fundamentals and skills. It’s easy to see why the Nuggets traded away Nene and Al Harrington, the future is bright for Bounce and he could rank even higher, in a stacked group, next season.
Jeff's Take: One thing that stands out when looking at the list of power forwards is how much the Nuggets' depth at the position is rather thin. Relying on a raw and (at the moment) offensively challenged Kenneth Faried at the 4 is interesting to say the least. Faried, I feel is outside the top ten until he develops a better offensive game. Maybe Anthony Randolph can blossom in that role. Outside of that, my list is pretty much standard. DeMarcus Cousins has the potential to move up if he continues on the up-swing. Nene is on the decline but still affective. Pau and Dirk are clearly the head of the class again.
Colin’s Take: Kevin Love #1? Kris Humphries and Elton Brand above Kenneth Faried? Surely you jest, Andy. Controversial opinion: Kevin Love is very overrated. There, I said it. He puts up great numbers on a bad team and routinely makes horrible defensive plays. Much of his rebound numbers can be attributed to his own clanks off the rim underneath the basket. He’s a solid, top 10 power forward to be sure, but lets see him get the Timberwolves to the playoffs once before we say he’s number 1 in the NBA. Kenneth Faried is without a doubt just barely outside the top 10 of all PFs. If he can develop a short jumper from the elbow to keep defenses honest, he’s going to make prime Amar’e look like old Antoine Walker.
We couldn't have come up with more different lists, but somehow two of us ranked Faried at No. 12 (Jeff and Colin), Timmons at No. 13, and Feinstein comes in with the second-year guy ranked at No. 20. The power forward spot is pretty loaded and in today's NBA, there are a lot of variations at this spot. You will see monsters like Gasol and Cousins play at the four and then you'll have the undersized guys like Millsap and Faried. Different kinds of guys are getting the job done and Faried is a rising star among them.
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