RealGM 2023 Top 100 Project - #44 (Elgin Baylor)

[LA Bird]

With both of them now voted in back to back, I feel like it's a good time to point out the interesting difference in trajectory between Baylor vs Schayes's rankings over time

2003: 12 vs ?
2006: 17 vs 86
2008: 21 vs 73
2011: 26 vs 68
2014: 33 vs 45
2017: 32 vs 45
2020: 33 vs 41
2023: 44 vs 43

Baylor's drop looks very drastic but that's partly because he was overrated originally based on pace-inflated box scores. I mean, he was ranked above Hakeem Olajuwon in the 2003 list. The tier 1 superstars (Russell, Wilt, West, Oscar) still maintain their placing fairly well but basically everyone else riding on their huge raw box scores from the 60s have been demoted considerably and rightfully so IMO. Baylor in particular got hit slightly harder because he doesn't have the narrative boost of "carrying" a team to a title like the other tier 2 superstars (Pettit, Barry) but all in all, I think his current spot is pretty fair.

[trex_8063]

With both of them now voted in back to back, I feel like it's a good time to point out the interesting difference in trajectory between Baylor vs Schayes's rankings over time

2003: 12 vs ?
2006: 17 vs 86
2008: 21 vs 73
2011: 26 vs 68
2014: 33 vs 45
2017: 32 vs 45
2020: 33 vs 41
2023: 44 vs 43

Baylor's drop looks very drastic but that's partly because he was overrated originally based on pace-inflated box scores. I mean, he was ranked above Hakeem Olajuwon in the 2003 list. The tier 1 superstars (Russell, Wilt, West, Oscar) still maintain their placing fairly well but basically everyone else riding on their huge raw box scores from the 60s have been demoted considerably and rightfully so IMO. Baylor in particular got hit slightly harder because he doesn't have the narrative boost of "carrying" a team to a title like the other tier 2 superstars (Pettit, Barry) but all in all, I think his current spot is pretty fair.

There are also more than a handful of players whose careers came along and/or finally amounted to enough [since '03] to displace Baylor: LeBron, Duncan, Garnett, Kobe, Dirk, CP3, Durant, Curry, Shaq (maybe wasn't quite there yet in 2003), Wade, Nash, Jokic, Giannis, Harden, Kawhi, Manu , Kidd, Davis (though Kawhi/Manu/Kidd/Davis all feel more debatable to me)..........but that right there is displacing him 18 places from his 2003 rank (more than half the distance he's fallen).

So it's probably more a matter of other [better] careers have simply come along since 2003, than it is we've all downgraded raw box stuff from the 60s (though both are contributing factors).


EDIT: Though Schayes' rise is interesting. That rank of #86 is crazy low for 2006, imo.