sp6r=underrated wrote:I guess it is time to post my ballot.
1. Jordan: easy choice
I thought this would be an easy choice but the great posts of Kaima, who has been great this thread, gives me doubt. Malone was the better PS performer that year than Robinson as Kaima analysis has shown.
I have voted before for guys who got outplayed in an individual match-up, on the basis of RS play if I felt their RS was of a significantly higher quality. I think Robinson RS really was significantly better, and I don't feel Malone's PS was of a high enough quality to overcome it. I am voting for Robinson but I don't have much confidence in my vote. Nice posting Kaima.
Thanks.
My main goal was that of the thread: a discussion. A debate.
I think, even as a detractor, that Robinson is a fascinating topic, and one of the more interesting players to analyze, pro and con, from this generation.
As with the Penny and Kemp, he's a bit of a cautionary tale. Though, obviously, he's a much greater player and presence historically.
4. Penny: His play keeping the Magic going early in the season really was epic. It is a shame the NBA lost this great superstar, who was HOF quality, to injuries.
Penny's career, or its quick end for all intents, is a tragedy.
Sometimes guys rank in a fluke manner.
Penny's career feels like a fluke, in the most awful of ways: he could have been a (bear with me, I'm just throwing a number out there) top 25 player.
5. Kemp: Minority choice, but his impact was extremely close to the guys in contention for top 5, and he picked it up in the PS and ran wild on elite bigs at times.
Kemp's, I think, very arguable at 5.
Payton got the brunt of the credit, but I felt Kemp was very important, particularly within Karl's defensive schemes. For all the talk of swarming, does the Seattle attack work against Hakeem without Kemp?
For Hakeem to go from a 27 point average in the regular season to 18 was a devastating example of how much matchups matter.
Even if you only give Kemp a third of the credit for that, it's still a damned big notch on his belt. Or at least it should be.
Perception matters. That Hakeem's 95 is so well-remembered is understandable in a number of ways. But should it be a free pass for the equal and opposite failure that quickly followed?
There's a symmetry to that, as well as Penny and Kemp being ranked together: one lost his way mentally, the other physically.
At the very least, I thought you did a nice job responding to my comparison of the 90s Rockets to other Finals/Championship teams. It's an interesting topic, the exceptions, contradictions and outliers that the Rockets presented in the mid-90s.
