Charles Barkley

Charles Barkley played his entire career at six feet six inches in an era where power forwards routinely stood three to five inches taller. His rebounding numbers — a career average of 11.7 per game, peaking at 14.6 in 1986-87 — were not a product of height. They were the product of positioning that he had to learn precisely because size alone would not get him there, combined with a leverage and strength that made him functionally immovable once he had established a rebounding angle.

His 1992-93 MVP season with Phoenix was the statistical argument in the clearest form: 25.6 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game on 52.0 percent shooting. Barkley was the only player in the league that season combining 25 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists per game at that efficiency. The Suns went 62-20 and reached the NBA Finals. He shot 58.7 percent from the field in his 1987-88 season in Philadelphia — the most efficient season any power forward had produced to that point.

The absence of a championship is the fact that follows his career statistics wherever they appear. Barkley reached the Finals once in 1993 and lost to Jordan's Bulls in six games. He finished with 23,757 career points, 12,546 rebounds, and 4,215 assists — the last category reflecting a passing ability that opposing defenses frequently did not expect from a player categorized as a power forward. His assist totals were not incidental; they came from double-team recognition, interior kick-outs, and an understanding of how a ball-handling big could distort defensive rotations.

He was drafted 5th overall by Philadelphia out of Auburn in 1984 and played for the Sixers, Suns, and Houston Rockets before retiring in 2000. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.