Players with Big Comeback Years

sixerswillrule · Post #1 » by **sixerswillrule** » Fri Sep 23, 2016 7:56 pm

More specifically players whose game took a nosedive as shown on the court for an extended period of time, but later came back to prove that they're far from washed up.

So not guys like Amare, Paul George, etc. who almost immediately came back where they left off, or at least somewhat close to where they left off.

My example is Elton Brand: He was flat out bad from 2008-10 after his multiple injuries and looked like a shell of his former self. Then in 2011 he had a huge comeback year, bordlerline all-star caliber. Big increase in numbers across the board and played a large part in the Sixers' .500 record. He was still a few notches below his prime but it was a great season compared to how he was playing for the previous 100+ games.

Post #2 » by **Quotatious** » Sat Sep 24, 2016 5:09 pm

Bernard King's 1990-91 season is the first one that comes to mind. He hurt his knee during that amazing 1984-85 season when he was averaging almost 33 ppg, then missed the entire 1985-86 season and played only six games in 1986-87, after that he stayed healthy for the next three seasons, but averaged only 17, 21 and 22 points in '88, '89 and '90, respectively, and then all of a sudden returned to a very high scoring average, finished third in scoring at 28.4 ppg in 64 games (along with 5 rebounds and 4.6 assists). He had eleven 40+ point games (including two 50+) that season. I think NOBODY saw it coming in 1990. Volume scoring wing who had to go through so many injuries, at 34 years of age, pretty shocking that he still had so much left in the tank. Not only that, but he averaged 37.5 minutes per game, second highest of his career after his rookie season. Real anomaly. Unfortunately his career basically ended after that season.

Brand is a good mention. I can't think of another case comparable to 1990-91 King, though.