text: who was the best point forward of yesteryear?   karl malone must be considered one of the greatest power forwards in the history of the nba in his very long career. he was formidable in posting up, a very good low post scorer, a rock solid defender and nobody else could play the pick and roll quite like him.  charles barkley must be one of the greatest undersized power forwards to ever play the game. he was only 6"6 but you couldn't tell it from his amazing leaping ability that made him a rebounding machine, not to mention his athleticism and ability to read the game.  kevin mchale was also one of the great power forwards (and one of the 50 greatest players in the nba) and formed the most famous frontcourt trio in the nba with larry bird and robert parish.  going further back, bob petit who played most of his career with the hawks was a perennial all-star and all-nba selection and had huge scoring and rebounding numbers.  elgin baylor was also a legendary power forward for the lakers and is one of their all time leading scorers.