VOTE:
At the defensive end, we have the versatile Bobby Jones who made 1st team All-Defense more than anyone else in history in his 1st 10 seasons. An extremely efficient shooter who regularly made top 10 in fg% despite not being a center, a good shotblocker who racked up steals, and a very good passer and coach on the floor as well -- the man Larry Brown called Superglue. At the opposite end of the spectrum we have Shawn Kemp, one of the greatest basketball bodies ever with sometimes dominant impact but whose immaturity kept him from reaching his potential.
For scorers, Chris Webber put up 20/10+ for his 5 year peak. Adrian Dantley's raw numbers put everyone except maybe prime Shaq and Barkley in the shade for his combination of scoring and efficiency, while David "Skywalker" Thompson was the man Michael Jordan says he modeled his game after. Hal Greer was a solid second banana to Dolph Schayes then to Wilt Chamberlain for more than a decade. Mark Price was an accurate sharpshooter and solid offensive PG. Finally, Nate "Tiny" Archibald combined great scoring and high assist totals, only man to ever lead the league in both in the same year.
I will go with Bobby Jones here, he led a team of weak defense scorers to the best record in either league as a rookie star and he was superb in a variety of roles from F/C in his early years to F/G in his final ones, from starter at 2 different positions to sixth man of the year. This is a guy who gladly sacrificed minutes and numbers for his team and who could be a key part of virtually any contending team.
Doctor MJ wrote:Denver's rise to prominence came Jones' rookie year, and their fall away from elite SRS status came in '77-78.
How did that fall happen?
Denver's DRtg in '76-77: #1 in the league
Denver's DRtg in '77-78: 15th out of 22
The big difference? Denver went from being amazing at generating turnovers, to not so much.
We look at steals and see they went down a ton, and that much of that was Jones getting less steals (though steal leading the team in steals).
We consider that the lack of steals might be due to inability to recover from perimeter gambling and look at blocks. We see that blocks when down quite a bit, and that much of that was Jones getting less blocks.
Of course even if you're convinced, you might say, "Well that makes for a really short period for Jones as having huge impact", and that's a good point. I'm coming down similar to what I said about Ginobili: Minutes are a major issue, but per minute wise, Jones was still having strong positive impact for quite a while. In the end, in terms of the total amount of elite-level minutes, I think Jones is pretty solid compared to the competition he's facing this far down in the project.
VOTE BOBBY JONES
“Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination,” Andrew Lang.
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