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Greater Career (Higher on your all time list)

KG, but its close

KG, because even if Admiral has a slightly better peak or prime (I'm not saying he does, they're pretty comparable), Garnett's pre and past prime contributions outweigh that, IMO.

I mean, Robinson played in the NBA between age 24 and 37. Garnett played 7 seasons EXCEPT for age 24-37. He was already a superstar at age 23, in 1999-00 season (led the Wolves to 50 wins and finished 2nd in MVP voting that season). He also has a couple of all-star caliber seasons in '98 and '99 (and in '97 he was already very good, one of the top 2 players of a playoff team, along with Tom Gugliotta). Not only that, but if you look at them between age 24 and 37, Robinson missed almost the entire 1996-97 season, played only 6 games, while the fewest amount of games KG played in any season between age 24 and 37 was 57...

To be fair, D-Rob is a special case because he wasn't allowed to enter the league in 1987, after he was drafted, because he couldn't leave the Naval academy, and considering he had arguably the best rookie season in NBA history, it's safe to assume he would've been a star prior to 1989-90, if he had a chance to play. That being said, we can't give players credit for what they didn't actually prove, so this hypothetical is irrelevant.

Admiral for sure, better overall player and did more than KG did.

David Robinson quite comfortably for me. Better offensive player (although not really in the playoffs) And better defensive player as well.

And for those that say KG had some brutal casts before he departed to Boston when Minny missed the playoffs well in probably the "worst year" of Robinsons prime in 92-93 he led S.Antonio to a 49-33 record despite being the only HOFer I've ever seen endure 3 different coaches in the same season. In 95-96 he led a team of scrubs to 56-26 before he got hurt the following year. Robinson when he was healthy was arguably the greatest regular season player in NBA history.

KG pretty clearly to me, peak/prime is close, and I've got them both easily in my top 10 for peak(I alternate on who I'd take depending on the day). But KG outstrips Robinson pretty clearly when it comes to longevity. 16,000 regular season minutes is a lot of ground to make up.

Comfortably KG .

Contrary to popular belief, KG had slightly better peak but Robinson had much higher prime. Longevity and accolades also go to KG and that is why he ranks higher on the all-time close. Despite the close rank on the GOAT, their pt value are not that close.

I rank KG higher on my all-time list because of his longevity, but Robinson was a better player. I have Robinson over KG both defensively and offensively.

I'm with the majority here. It has to be KG because his longevity trumps the edge Robinson has as being the superior basketball player.

Blackfyre wrote:I rank KG higher on my all-time list because of his longevity, but Robinson was a better player. I have Robinson over KG both defensively and offensively.

This.

Both are very well liked here, but i'd go with KG, even with longevity aside i'm not convinced that Robinson was clearly better prime to prime.

Robinson for me better career. Better offensively and really a great defender in his own right.

I like Garnett slightly better because of his passing. He seems a little more versatile to me.

D.Rob peaked higher, KG's longevity gives him the edge though.

KG is ahead by a lot more in career value than D-Rob is in peak.

As much as I'm championing Robinson in the other recent thread, I definitely have to go with Garnett here. Mostly a function of longevity, fwiw. I think they compare very closely for quality during respective peaks/primes.

Very close, but all I know is that is the big man duo I would want with MJ for my all time team

For the people talking about longevity, what does that mean exactly? It seems to me that David's decision to attend the naval academy which curtailed the start of his NBA career isn't such a big deal when you look at the low quality years Garnett gave before David entered the NBA. All of Garnett's longevity comes in the form of seasons which quite frankly, suck. Here's looking at them by Win Shares (R = Robinson, G = Garnett).

>=20 WS: R (1 for Robinson)
<20 >=15 WS: GGGRRRR (1 more for Robinson, peak/prime wise he's clearly superior)
<15 >= 10 WS: GGGGGGRRRRRR (equal)
<10 >= 5 WS: GGGGGGGGRR (huge mediocrity edge for Garnett)
<5 WS: GGGGR (huge liability edge for Garnett, this is David's broken foot year)

All of the advanced stats that are used to puff Garnett up show that a past-prime Robinson was also a beast. Both players suffered a playoff performance dropoff.

Both players had miserable supporting casts. But one of those players managed up consistently drag extremely questionable rosters into the playoffs as a ~50 win team, while the other 'needed more help'.

Robinson in my eyes was the better player. More often that not, he had his team overachieve relative to the talent he had. In the playoffs, it was just harder to keep overachieving when the talent isn't there.

Hell, in his rookie year, he could have very well been to the WCF if it wasn't sure some stupid no look behind the back pass from Rod Strickland in a game seven vs Portland. Hell they owned the Suns(4-0 that season) with Robinson, and could have been in the finals if they were have met.

I appreciate KG, he is a beyond wonderful player... a rare two way player who can also pass the ball like no other player his size can, but Robinson was a better player on both ends of the court. He had sadly the unfortunate stigma of being Hakeem's bitch for one series in a year where Hakeem just went unholy on everyone in the playoffs. I honestly doubt any player could have made a difference when he was at his apex.

Honestly if you put them both in their primes right now, I think they would be by far the best players of the NBA given the lack of skilled bigmen.

The thing is that despite all of what I said, KG had longevity that few players have over their career. Just some perspective... he has close to 6 full seasons more than Robinson. Yes, Robinson came late to the NBA and KG came in as a High Schooler... but that is a stark and significant difference that can't just be brushed off. There is a reason why people don't consider Walton all that high compared to some of his peers.