Owly wrote:That's the full extent of your quote. So the other angle seems to be regarding his rank in one season. I'm not sure how later health relates to this. That is what I assume you are responding to. Maybe you meant to quote more? I'm confused here.
That's your interpretation. My remark on his ranking was always about at any point. We did start having a discussion about 2004 in particular, to be fair, so I can see how it might have confused.
I don't know what you mean by "focal" player and "If you build with him as your focal player, you lose. That's fairly straightforward."
As covered he's not an alpha scorer, nor someone who required you to build "around" him.
I was trying to flesh out my discussion of him as a #3, since that seemed to be your focus.
Then too, I think you've erred in only seeing Kirilenko as a defensive addition. One could offer the passing and the cutting and the efficiency (drawing fouls especially) or some getting to the offensive glass for a 3 ... but on the box side you could just note his OBPM is better than his DBPM for the span in question and his offensive impact seems to be greater - eyeballing it - than his defensive for the 3 years span discussed ... and especially the two years the OP suggested are to be inserted here (cf: https://www.cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/2029/onoff#tab-team_efficiency).
I don't consider this an error. He's an efficient guy with a pretty well-rounded skillset. I just... don't care, because that wasn't the issue which Utah experienced in that series. They had a bunch of guys who did all that quite well. He wasn't an isolation scorer or a guy who was going to exert large offensive pressure on the defense. That just wasn't his game, nor did what he brought to the table on O address the issue which Utah had vs. Chicago.
In the broader strokes, and during the RS, though, I absolutely agree that he was a competent, valuable offensive player who benefited his teams with his play.
As you say, I think we're sufficiently divergent on this topic that we can lay it down there, but I appreciate your input and thoughts.