1982-84 Kareem vs 1996-98 Hakeem vs 2004-06 Shaq vs 2008-10 Duncan

70sFan · Post #1 » by **70sFan** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 1:35 am

How would you rank them?

1982-84 Kareem
1996-98 Hakeem
2004-06 Shaq
2008-10 Duncan

I think that all are on similar level, please explain your order.

ardee · Post #2 » by **ardee** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 3:24 am

Kareem (he was utterly dominant still. Hyper-efficient, averaged 24/8 with 3 blocks per game in the PS on 55% from the field, still finished 5th in MVP voting in '84)
Shaq (still a top 5 player the first two years, fell off hard in '06)
Hakeem (his '96 season might be the best season of any of the guys here, he falls this low because '98 he fell off hard, missed 35 games)
Duncan (just not at that level anymore)

Jiminy Glick · Post #3 » by **Jiminy Glick** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 8:59 am

Well 1982-1984 Kareem was older than 2008-2010 Duncan. Kareem was 34-36 and Duncan was 31-33 and even still Kareem was the better low post scoring threat. Hakeem and Shaq aren't even in the discussion here in my opinion. I think it is basically a tossup with Kareem and Duncan. There is a certain mastery of the game which is being able to flow in the offense and play team ball and have leadership and Kareem and Duncan were much better at it than Shaq and Hakeem in my opinion.

thekdog34 · Post #4 » by **thekdog34** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 1:43 pm

Hakeem also 33-35, and Duncan/Shaq 31-33.

I think in general around 33 is when you see visible drop off (for example LeBron this year)

dhsilv2 · Post #5 » by **dhsilv2** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 2:32 pm

1) Duncan - Duncan is the most consistent of this group with kareem right there. However Kareem's last year is a bit more of a drop. WS and VORP favor Duncan with Shaq taking PER (only guy over 25 for this stretch). Duncan also wins out BPM and WS/48. RAPM has Duncan 4th, 15th, and 11th. PER 100 Duncan was a 30/17 guy. The counter here is a the spurs were not great in the playoffs and Duncan can take that blame. That said they had Manu Health issues such as 09 and I'm not big on that small sample size. Duncan was at his best as a passer, off ball guy, and still DPOY level. His scoring was a bit less than peak, but again still 30 per 100.

2) Kareem - Kareem has the lowest PER, but that was a different era so I'm not going to dwell. WS and VORP like him. Shaq however was better in the rate metrics. Kareem had the best playoff run of the group imo in 84 (though there's a case for 2 of shaq's runs). 31/10 per 100 roughly, still a great scorer but defense and rebounding are slipping. Still a great shot blocker.

3) Shaq - Shaq was still great but missed games drive him down. He wasn't as well conditioned and that hurt his dominance. RAPM 2, 4, 12. Clearly when on the floor shaq could be his killer self.

4) Hakeem - He just dropped off too far by 98. Nothing in the playoffs moves him up for me either, 97 was a very good run if you're looking to move him up that's about all I can see.

If you're a big playoffs only voter, Shaq should move to 1 imo. Kareem and Duncan narrow their gap as well, still going Duncan myself.