RealGM

Rank West, Oscar, Kobe and Harden by their best 5 years. Specify what are their best 5 years if you disagree with me.

Jerry West:
1966
1968
1969
1970
1965

Oscar Robertson:
1964
1963
1965
1962
1966

Kobe Bryant:
2008
2009
2006
2010
2003

James Harden:
2019
2018
2015
2017
2020 (may finish higher than that)

I'd take 2001 Kobe over '03 and '10 for sure, maybe even '06 and '09.

Would put 2020 Harden over '15 as well, even though he's been ass for the last month.

I’d probably slide in Kobe’s 01 run as well. 29/7/6 on 55.5%TS en route to a championship — even if he wasn’t viewed as THE guy he had a massive and integral role in that run. He torched the best defense in the league in the WCF with 33/7/7 on 57%TS. His finals performance wasn’t the greatest but even so, 25/8/6 with 1.5 steals/1.5 blocks is a solid series.

Harden’s looks right. Haven’t seen nearly enough of Oscar or West to definitively list their best 5 years.

Not sure how you can leave off 2001 for Kobe. That was possibly the best all-around season of his career.

Possibly the one season where he was a legit all-defense worthy guard, and offensive superstar.

I'd have to take a close look; my hunch is it's probably a close/good comp.

Off the cuff, I suspect I might have Harden last of the four, tbh; due to inconsistent playoff performances and [generally] deplorable defense, I tend to think less of his peak than many others do. otoh, he does have like 3-4 seasons that are all at a very similar level overall (i.e. all "peak(ish)"), so that can work in his favour.

But the same is true of Kobe (the multiple peaks, I mean), so.....

Rating seasons or players?

51 game RS West in '68 raises the importance of this question (maybe on a contender you can live with if you know you're good, and you know you're getting a very productive, presumably healthy West?)

If you get the player, a guy who happened to miss a big chunk of games (and also the previous year, basically including playoffs), you might get more RS, but be worried about whether he's healthy in the playoffs.


Otoh, I would think Robertson peaked highest with strong boxscores and WoWY numbers, was consistent and could play huge minutes - he looks like number one.

1. Kobe (was unstoppable from 08-10, 3 finals, 2 championships)
2-3. Robertson/West (this is a tough one at the moment, leaning towards Robertson slightly)

4. Harden

AirJordan213 wrote:1. Kobe (was unstoppable from 08-10, 3 finals, 2 championships)
2-3. Robertson/West (this is a tough one at the moment, leaning towards Robertson slightly)

4. Harden

Kobe was stoppable in 2008 and 2010.

1. Oscar
2. Kobe
3. West
4. Harden

Harden 4th due to defense/playoffs, West 3rd with injury concerns and not being quite as high on his meshing with other talents as some seem to be. Think 1 v 2 is a tossup.

eminence wrote:1. Oscar
2. Kobe
3. West
4. Harden

Harden 4th due to defense/playoffs, West 3rd with injury concerns and not being quite as high on his meshing with other talents as some seem to be. Think 1 v 2 is a tossup.

Could you please elaborate? I'm curious what do you have in mind with that argument. Would be highly appreciated

70sFan wrote:

eminence wrote:1. Oscar
2. Kobe
3. West
4. Harden

Harden 4th due to defense/playoffs, West 3rd with injury concerns and not being quite as high on his meshing with other talents as some seem to be. Think 1 v 2 is a tossup.

Could you please elaborate? I'm curious what do you have in mind with that argument. Would be highly appreciated

No problem

Not saying I think he has any particular trouble meshing with talent, just that I feel like I see a fair amount of people give him points relative to these other guys in terms of 'portability', but I think he's more equal to the others (Harden a tad behind). Think he meshed well with Baylor/LaRusso over their years together, but dinged a bit on how he/Wilt played together.