It's really a worthless distinction IMO, only argued so vehemently on the "

I swear 'fore god he's a power forward" side of things so they can be arbitrarily deemed the GOAT power forward...in practical terms, since the day D-Rob retired there's really not been much of an argument to made on points that mean much of any fukking thing in terms of what he actually does on the court...that distinguishes Tim Duncan's game or style of play from what is typically and almost exclusively considered by everybody to be that of a traditional NBA center...on offense he's been the Spurs unquestioned low post
#1 scorer...on defense he's their chief rim protector and the anchor of the defense...I mean, we're at a point now where the pf/c distinction is almost completely done away with...but if you're classifying it by like traditional archetypes, to me Duncan more closely resembles the "prototypical center" than he does the "prototypical power forward"...anchors the defense...has a good jumper, with range...but whose offense is still mainly based on a pivot post game and just overall hooks and what not in the paint...malone and barkely both strike me as more purely traditional 4's, with more a focus on a face up game that advantage of their athleticism whereas Duncan relied more on his size and footwork via the post game

...we like to use the ambiguous term "big man" today...and have no qualms throwing Duncan in there under that umbrella...but nobody really considers Chuck or Malone "bigs", or at least I don't and don't see a lot of others doing it either...it's because it ain't really shyt but a euphemism for a modern day "center"