Regular season David Robinson Playoffs Hakeem Olajuwon

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Bklynborn682
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Regular season David Robinson Playoffs Hakeem Olajuwon 

Post#1 » by Bklynborn682 » Mon Jul 17, 2023 7:46 pm

If you had a player with the same statistics/impact as regular season Robinson and Playoff Hakeem, would they be enough to be the Goat? Or goat candidate.
Cavsfansince84
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Re: Regular season David Robinson Playoffs Hakeem Olajuwon 

Post#2 » by Cavsfansince84 » Mon Jul 17, 2023 9:39 pm

I think if he had a 10 year prime, a few years more as sub mvp and won a few rings then maybe. A lot has to go right in a career for a guy to really be in that goat tier.
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Re: Regular season David Robinson Playoffs Hakeem Olajuwon 

Post#3 » by AEnigma » Mon Jul 17, 2023 10:06 pm

I recognise the spirit of the question, but like most of these kinds of analyses, it lacks a real bearing on the players themselves.

David Robinson putting up Hakeem’s postseason averages by playing his same style (so shots go in, contests are successful, swipes at the ball translate into steals proportionally, etc.) would be an excellent player, in easy contention for top ten all time, and with many arguing him higher depending on rings or other approaches. But here we have mostly legitimised his regular season production, and I think there is a fair question whether David Robinson is an unquestioned regular season GOAT as is. Now, if you take the position that you are granting him all of Hakeem’s skills in the postseason, well, then you basically just made Hakeem taller and more muscular, in which case, yes, that would be a ridiculous GOAT-tier player.

Hakeem with David Robinson’s regular season averages, on the other hand, is tougher to envision but also far more additive to his status. Prime Robinson averaged 59.2% true shooting, and Hakeem’s career high was 57.7%. The main reason for this disparity was that Robinson lived at the rim, and Hakeem did not. Could Hakeem replicate that? Well, he could never be the same level rim runner, but say you give him better guard play than what he had, and I think it is possible that he can be in that realm. However, that alone is a major change in circumstance. Robinson was also a more natural passer than Hakeem, so to match his assist numbers you probably want Rudy T coaching immediately, and that is another major change. For those impact numbers to match, we need to increase schematic reliance and make Hakeem’s frontcourt backups worse, so there is another change… Unlike with Robinson, where a box score could hide how exactly his postseason production “matches” Hakeem, there is no clear way to change Hakeem’s regular season boxscore to match Robinson’s without changing how Hakeem plays or otherwise making him irrationally successful in his playing style (e.g. most shots off his early career passes will convert and a disproportionate number of mid-rangers will succeed). I feel like your actual question is in the vein of, “What if someone who did not watch these players simply had all the statsites swap data,” and in that case, sure, a fair number of people would push Hakeem as the GOAT…

… but among the vast majority, the problem with both players would continue to be that they only have two rings and only have one MVP. If you change the players themselves — Robinson now has a postseason resilient scoring arsenal and monstrous defensive versatility, and Hakeem is now a thunderous at-rim finisher in the regular season with a more immediately developed passing game — then maybe that produces a couple of extra MVPs for Hakeem and a Finals MVP or two for Robinson, but they would have: worse absolute longevity than Lebron, Kareem, and Duncan; fewer MVPs than Kareem, Russell, Jordan, Lebron, and Wilt; and fewer titles led than Russell, Jordan, Lebron, and Duncan. Oh, and no scoring accolades like with Jordan, Wilt, and Lebron. :lol: Those changes put them in the conversation, but if the players are functionally the same then all their usual limitations and aesthetic disadvantages apply. And if you are changing the players themselves, then Robinson has a lot more to gain by virtue of just being bigger.

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