> Klay Thompson says he and Steph Curry are the best backcourt in the NBA today. My question for you, then, is who’s the best frontcourt in the NBA today?
David Aldridge, NBA.com: I’ll go with the Spurs (Leonard, Aldridge, Duncan) in a photo over Cleveland (James, Love, Mozgov). The addition of Cousin LaMarcus puts San Antonio’s three over the top; his offensive repertoire is just as effective as Love’s, and while Kevin is a better rebounder, LaMarcus is, to me, a little better defender (not that either is a lockdown guy). Duncan’s a Hall of Famer, to be sure, but at this stage, it’s Leonard whose game is otherworldly. We’ve seen Kawhi, in consecutive Finals, be able to slow LeBron’s normal dominance while also producing himself at the offensive end. (Of course it’s a team effort guarding James; no one player does it alone. But like Joe Dumars was the head of the Pistons’ defensive snake against Michael Jordan, Leonard is the effective first line against James.) The Warriors’ threesome of Barnes, Green and Bogut is in the conversation, too.
Steve Aschburner, NBA.com: Cleveland. And since I didn’t see the adjective “starting” anywhere in the question, I’m going to fine-tune my answer as LeBron James, Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson rather than Timofey Mozgov, because that’s the Cavaliers’ best finishing frontcourt. Thompson is a mobile beast on the offensive boards. Love is much more his old self this season and, uh, no other frontcourt in the league can throw LeBron at the opposition.
Fran Blinebury, NBA.com: San Antonio. A legend, an MVP candidate and just a guy named LaMarcus.
Scott Howard-Cooper, NBA.com: The Bulls. This isn’t the best time to say so, with Joakim Noah just sidelined, but what depth. And that’s with Jimmy Butler starting at shooting guard. When Butler moves to small forward, the Chicago frontcourt can beat opponents in so many different ways.
Shaun Powell, NBA.com: The Spurs with Aldridge, Leonard and Duncan. I realize Duncan is a part-time player from November through mid-April, but we saw last spring in the playoff series against the Clippers how he can still transform when money’s on the line. Aldridge is an All-Star and Kawhi might be the best two-way player in basketball and could finish in the top 5 in MVP voting if he keeps this up.
John Schuhmann, NBA.com: The Warriors — Harrison Barnes, Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut, with Andre Iguodala and Festus Ezeli off the bench — have a case for having the best frontcourt, too. It’s hard to argue against LeBron James, Kevin Love and a whatever rebounder/defender you want to put out there with them. But right now, the best frontcourt belongs to the Spurs. Kawhi Leonard and Tim Duncan (still) are impact players on both ends of the floor, while LaMarcus Aldridge is a guy you can run the offense through. And then you have Boris Diaw‘s passing and David West‘s rebounding coming off the bench.
Sekou Smith, NBA.com: Klay Thompson was right, by the way. The top honors in the frontcourt resides in San Antonio, where the rise of Kawhi Leonard, the addition of LaMarcus Aldridge and the eternal force that is Tim Duncan overshadows the rest of the contenders. No team covers the frontcourt bases the way the Spurs’ trio does, on both ends of the floor. The best power forward of all time paired with arguably the best two-way player in today’s game and a 7-foot double-double machine thrown in for good measure makes this an easy pick.
Ian Thomsen, NBA.com: Clearly that honor goes to the retro-frontcourt of the Spurs. Which is why their anticipated conference final against the Warriors would be ideal: Would the traditional big lineup of Tim Duncan, LaMarcus Aldridge and Kawhi Leonard prevail against the perimeter-driven champions of Curry and Thompson? My hunch is that the winner would be the team most able to adapt to the opposing style, because neither the Warriors nor Spurs are going to be able to have it their way throughout a seven-game series.
Lang Whitaker, NBA.com’s All Ball blog: It’s easy to try and get cute with this answer. I mean, you can argue that the Sacramento Kings have two gold medalists in their frontcourt, while the Atlanta Hawks have a couple of All-Stars out there. Any frontcourt with Anthony Davis involved has to be rated highly, no? But of course, the easy answer and the answer that might be overlooked, at least initially, is in this case probably the right answer: The frontcourt of the San Antonio Spurs, with Tim Duncan, LaMarcus Aldridge and Kawhi Leonard, is nothing short of tremendous, all the way around.
