Chris Webber -- one of the all time great Power Forwards?

In a matter of weeks, the Philadelphia 76ers have managed to drop two potential Hall-of-fame candidates from their roster. Allen Iverson was traded before 2007 came, and this week, we saw Chris Webber being bought out of his contract.

Mayce Edward Christopher Webber III, was drafted 1st overall by the Orlando Magic in the 1993 Draft, then subsequently traded to the Golden State Warriors for Anfernee Hardaway (3rd overall) and three future 1st round draft picks. That trade seems to have been a precursor to what would happen in his career, as he would be traded three more times.

On a side note, number 1 picks are supposed to be franchise players, those who would stay on with the franchise until they retire. But we see a couple of them being bounced around in the league:

Number One Picks with Multiple Teams
Player Glenn Robinson Pervis Ellison Derrick Coleman Joe Barry Carroll Joe Smith Chris Webber Danny Manning John Lucas	Teams 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 8

*Joe Smith had 2 seperate stints with Minnesota, Webber's six teams include Orlando (who traded him away)

Back to the main topic, can Chris Webber be considered as one of the greatest power forwards to be play in the NBA? We compared him with other PFs in the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players, and here are their raw statistics:

Name	G	MP	FG	FGA	FG%	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	FT%	ORB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Wes Unseld	984	36.4	4.4	8.7	0.509	0.0	0.0	1.9	3.0	0.633	3.5	14.0	3.9	1.1	0.4	1.9	2.8	10.8
Chris Webber	761	38.0	9.1	18.9	0.480	0.3	1.1	3.2	4.9	0.650	2.8	10.1	4.4	1.5	1.5	2.9	3.3	21.6
Nate Thurmond	964	37.2	5.7	13.6	0.421			3.5	5.3	0.667	2.8	15.0	2.7	0.5	0.6		2.7	15.0
Billy Cunningham	770	34.9	8.0	17.6	0.452	0.1	0.1	5.2	7.1	0.730	2.2	10.4	4.3	1.8	0.1	4.4	3.7	21.2
Charles Barkley	1073	36.7	7.9	14.5	0.541	0.5	1.9	5.9	8.1	0.735	4.0	11.7	3.9	1.5	0.8	3.1	3.1	22.1
Karl Malone	1476	37.2	9.2	17.8	0.516	0.1	0.2	6.6	8.9	0.742	2.4	10.1	3.6	1.4	0.8	3.1	3.1	25.0
Willis Reed	650	35.5	7.5	15.7	0.476			3.8	5.1	0.747	2.5	12.9	1.8	0.6	0.0		3.7	18.7
Kevin McHale	971	31	7.0	12.7	0.554	0.0	0.2	3.7	4.7	0.798	2.4	7.3	1.7	0.4	1.7	1.9	2.8	17.9

* Thurmond and Reed did not have 3p and TO statistics, as they were not officially recorded when they were playing

Breaking down the numbers above in a fantasy ranking manner, we came up with:

Name	G	MP	FG	FGA	FG%	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	FT%	ORB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS	Value
Charles Barkley	7	5	5	4	7	6	6	7	7	5	8	5	6	7	6	2	5	7	105
Karl Malone	8	6	8	7	6	3	4	8	8	6	2	3	4	5	5	3	4	8	98
Chris Webber	2	8	7	8	4	5	5	2	3	2	6	2	8	6	7	4	3	6	88
Billy Cunningham	3	2	6	6	2	4	2	6	6	4	1	4	7	8	2	1	2	5	71
Nate Thurmond	4	7	2	3	1	2.5	2.5	3	5	3	5	8	3	2	4	2.5	8	2	67.5
Kevin McHale	5	1	3	2	8	2	3	4	2	8	3	1	1	1	8	5	6	3	66
Wes Unseld	6	4	1	1	5	1	1	1	1	1	7	7	5	4	3	6	7	1	62
Willis Reed	1	3	4	5	3	2.5	2.5	5	4	7	4	6	2	3	1	2.5	1	4	60.5

Using their regular season statistics, Webber is in third place, behind Barkley and Malone. But regular season stats alone are not the measure of a greatness of a player, let us adjust that by including the playoff games played of each player:

Player	Games	Pts
Charles Barkley	123	6
Karl Malone	193	8
Chris Webber	64	2
Billy Cunningham	54	1
Nate Thurmond	81	4
Kevin McHale	169	7
Wes Unseld	119	5
Willis Reed	78	3

Player	Reg.Season	P/Offs	Adjusted
Charles Barkley	105	6	111
Karl Malone	98	8	106
Chris Webber	88	2	90
Kevin McHale	66	7	73
Billy Cunningham	71	1	72
Nate Thurmond	67.5	4	71.5
Wes Unseld	62	5	67
Willis Reed	60.5	3	63.5

Webber has been called “soft” and has been mocked during the past few years -- as he has been injury-prone. His statistics prove otherwise. For his entire career, Webber never managed to complete an 82-game season. His career averages (as of 1/13/07): 21.6 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 4.4 apg, 1.5 spg and 1.5 bpg are nothing to scoff at. Defensively, he is ranked 54th overall in blocks per game, and 80th overall in career steals per game. He is also ranked #76 in total career points, #70 in total career rebounds, #47 in total career blocks, and #82 in total career steals. One might wonder how high in these lists Webber could have been, if he hadn’t missed more than 200 games due to injuries.

As to if he is one of the greatest, it’s highly debatable. He has never won a championship, let alone reached the NBA Finals. Prominent power forwards who entered the league after him are Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki. Duncan has won a couple of rings, Nowitzki entered the finals last year. It’s up to Webber to prove is he is one of the greatest, so let’s see how much more he can contribute at the end of his career to a contending team.

Hans is an IT professional in Manila, Philippines and a long time fanatic of NBA and NBA statistics. He got hooked by playing NBA fantasy sports for the past 7 years, oftentimes being accused of cheating by his league-mates of exploiting system deficiencies. You can reach him through email at hansjuy@gmail.com.