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1990: Utterly loaded year. MJ, Magic, Barkley, Ewing should be over him... I'd say he's in the 5-7 range with Malone and Hakeem.
1991: 3rd behind MJ and Magic. Really freaking good.
1992: 3rd behind MJ and Malone. Missing the last 14 games and Playoffs hurts. He'd be 2nd otherwise.
1993: 4th behind MJ, Hakeem and Barkley.
1994: 2nd behind Hakeem.
1995: 2nd behind Hakeem.
1996: 2nd behind Jordan
1997: Injured
1998: 5th behind MJ, Malone and Shaq.
1999: 1st (controversial, but I think he edges out Duncan)
2000: 4th-5th behind Shaq, Mourning and Malone. In the mix with Payton.
2001: 7th behind Shaq, Kobe, Duncan, KG, Dirk and McGrady. Kind of crazy but don't think I'd take anyone over him... he still put up 19/14/4 with 4.2 steals/blocks combined in the Playoffs.
2002: Role player status, still decent RS that might be top 20-25 but he was done in the Playoffs
2003: Same.

That 1990-2001 stretch is really something.

Higher than most. Arguably top 10 all time.

Having him 2nd and 3rd for as many years as you do seems pretty questionable on the surface, but I haven’t dug deep into it yet. Probably take Shaq ahead of him in 95, his offense was significantly better in the playoffs and it was one of Oneal’s better defensive seasons if i’m not mistaken. Not taking him over Duncan in 99, the difference in minutes and usage simply can’t be ignored. Nearly 8 mpg difference in the regular season and playoffs is too much.

Idk, your list has him as a top 5 player for 9 years of his career. If that’s indeed right, I would think he’d get more traction for a spot in the top 15 which very few seem to argue for.

90: #4-6 (behind MJ, Magic, Barkley; in the mix w/ K.Malone, Stockton)
91: #2-4 (behind MJ; in the mix w/ Magic, Barkley)
92: #2 before injury (behind MJ)
93: #4 (behind MJ, Hakeem, Barkley)
94: #1-2 (arguable with Hakeem)
95: #1
96: #2 (behind MJ)
97: /
98: #2-5 (behind MJ, in the mix w/ K.Malone, Stockton, Shaq)
99: #1-2 (arguable with Duncan)
00: #3-6 (behind Shaq, K.Malone, in the mix w/ Duncan, KG, Zo)
01: Top 10 (behind Shaq, Duncan, KG, Dirk, Kobe, Carter, Allen; in the mix w/ T-Mac, Stockton, K.Malone)
02: Top 20 (Shaq, Duncan, KG, Dirk, Kobe, T-Mac, Brand, Pierce, Payton, Stockton definitely, maybe Kidd, Big Ben, Iverson, Allen, VC, Webber, Marion though they mostly all had down years... and that's about it... I'm not taking guys like Peja, Andre Miller, Brent Berry over Robinson...D-Rob was still the 2nd best played on a Top 3 team easily, and he played 30 mpg & 78 games that year, so he was definitely at least Top 20 player in the RS, potentially even better but back injuries completely screwed his Playoffs over)
03: His final season he declined a fair bit and needed to be especially limited in minutes played, but for those 24 mpg he was still an extremely productive role player.

RS only I think he was a top 3 player every single year 90-96 l

It can be weird for some but you can not be the best in the league when your mpg rank is 72nd. (He was 61st in total mins played.)
His 31.7 mpg in 1998-99 might look OK now but the game and mpg dynamics were different back then.
I find it very inconsistent that if someone needs to do the heavy lifting so you can be the best, then you are not the best.

1989-90; 6th or 7th probably. Definitely behind of MJ, Magic and Chuck. I'd say Pat and Malone were also better.
1990-91; 5th. Again. Not better than MJ, Magic, Chuck trio. I think also Malone was better. 5th.
1991-92; 3rd or 4th. Jordan was definitely better. Malone was better than him and I think this is less debatable than 1990-91 season. Pat was on that level. It was a down season for Chuck. Though Drexler was among the top names. It wouldn't be too crazy to make a case for Clyde over DRob.
1992-93; 4th or 5th. Jordan, Chuck, Hakeem, all 3 were better. Ewing was up there with DRob IMO.
1993-94; 2nd or 3rd. Hakeem was the best without a doubt. Again, a close call between him and Pat.
1994-95; 2nd after Hakeem. Though I feel like Shaq's case is usually underrated.
1995-96; 2nd after Jordan.
1996-97; Injury season.
1997-98; 4th. Jordan, Malone, O'Neal were better.
1998-99; 3rd or 4th or 5th. Duncan and O'Neal were better. Mourning was up there as well. Also can see a case for Malone.

His prime ended and he was not a top 5 player in the league any more.

Though I'll say this; having Robinson ahead of Duncan in 1998-99 and especially in 1999-00 is a subtle shot at Duncan. Yes, Duncan missed the playoffs in 2000. And without him Robinson didn't do anything to be the top 5 in the league against the Suns.

At no point of human history was Patrick Ewing a better basketball player than David Robinson when both were playing in the NBA simultaneously.

For as much flak as Robinson gets for being exposed in the Playoffs as a scorer, wonder why Malone doesn't receive a similar level of scrutiny... like in his 1990 and 1991 Playoffs for example, where he clearly wasn't having the same impact offensively than he did in the RS... And especially in 1993. Not to mention he was nothing special defensively in pretty much most of his runs, especially in the early 90's, and particularly compared to a DPOY level defender in Robinson.

So, Malone was better than D-Rob in 1990 and 1991, despite both being comparable in the RS and Malone being clearly worse in the Playoffs. But when Robinson completely laps the field in the RS like he did in 1994, carrying a team to 5.00 SRS that had no business being there, but doesn't get anywhere in the Playoffs because his team completely collapses around him... then we can't have Robinson being the being in contention of best player in the league now, can we... Fine if people think it's Hakeem because he did have a dominant Playoff run... but Ewing? LMAO. That's one step below saying Paul Pierce was better than LeBron in 2010...

A 2nd year Shaq who couldn't lead an above average defense despite playing with a solid defensive cast definitely isn't better than peak Robinson in 1995...

For 1999, you raise a fair point, that's why i said it's debatable with Duncan, just because of Duncan's role being more important. But it's one of those things where Robinson's impact on winning becomes bigger in a slightly reduced on-ball role on offense because he can focus more energy/focus on what he does at an elite level, so we are actually punishing a guy for having more impact on winning because he's not the 1st option on offense... It's similar to that Draymond conundrum. Where do you rank Draymond as the best player in 2016? Well, in terms of impact and importance in that particular GS system playing behind Curry/Klay (which is what happened in reality), you can argue he's one of the best players in the league. You put him on the Blazers with Lillard and McCollum, and he's arguably still close to that value. But when you put him as a 1st option scorer on the Charlotte Hornets... he's instantly a much worse player.

90- 5th behind Jordan, Magic, Barkley, and Hakeem
91- 2nd behind Jordan
92- 4th behind Jordan Malone, and Drexler
93- 5th behind Jordan, Hakeem, Barkley and Malone
94- 2nd behind Hakeem
95- 3rd behind Hakeem and Shaq
96- 2nd behind Jordan
97 N/A
98-4th behind Jordan, Malone and Shaq
99-4th behind Shaq, Mourning and Duncan
00-6th behind Shaq, Malone, Mourning, Duncan, and Garnett
01-7th behind Shaq, Duncan, Garnett, Kobe, Allen and Carter
02-N/a
03-n/a

Opening disclaimer: my methodology in looking at player rankings in individual years aims more at answering the question, “Who had the best year?” (subtle difference than answering “who was the best player [or who would you rather have healthy for one series]?” type of question). And in addressing my question, I’m looking at the WHOLE year.
Anyway…..

ardee wrote:1990: Utterly loaded year. MJ, Magic, Barkley, Ewing should be over him... I'd say he's in the 5-7 range with Malone and Hakeem.

Agree. I have him 5th that year, behind the same four guys you mention (have Mailman 6th and Hakeem 7th). Utterly monster rookie season.

ardee wrote:1991: 3rd behind MJ and Magic. Really freaking good.

I actually even have him 2nd behind only Jordan that year.
I think he’s EASILY the 2nd-best player during the rs: he anchors the #1 defense in the league (averaging 13 boards and nearly 4 blocks per game: team is #1 in opp eFG% and #3 in DREB%, fwiw) while also averaging nearly 26 ppg (and doesn’t miss a single game either). That’s kinda insane.
Leads the team to 55 wins despite Terry Cummings missing 15 games and Rod Strickland missing 24 games. Much of the time missed by those two overlaps, as well, so the majority of DRob’s offensive help was out the window for like a whole month near the All-Star break. The Spurs were actually on pace for 60+ wins in the games the whole cast was healthy for.

In the playoffs, they’re upset in the first round, but the blame can’t fall squarely on Robinson. He has sort of high(ish) turnovers [3.8 topg], but otherwise averaged 25.8 ppg [+0.2 to his rs avg] on an astounding 76% TS. Problem seems more that Strickland/Cummings/Elliott/Anderson/Pressey [these guys were responsible for nearly 74% of ALL minutes played by the Spurs] combined for 50.9% TS while committing a combined 13 topg (+2.4 to their rs avg).
In game 2 (a 13-pt SA loss) Robinson led the Spurs in TS% and led BOTH teams in points, rebounds, and blocks…….but Sean Elliott came up with just 1 pt on 12.9% TS, and Rod Strickland had only 8 pts on 31.1% TS with 7 ast and 3 tov. If both of them just had an average game, the Spurs may have had a shot at winning this one.
In game 3 (a mere 3-pt loss for SA), Robinson leads the Spurs in TS% [not counting Avery Johnson’s 2 pts in 2 minutes of playing time], ties Richmond for game-high in pts [27], and leads BOTH teams in rebounds and blocks……….but Strickland again has a little bit of a stinker with 16 pts on 42.9% TS with 7 ast and 3 tov, Willie Anderson [though having 5 ast and only 1 tov] scores just 11 pts on 40.9% TS, and Cummings scores just 13 pts on 50.5% TS while committing 3 turnovers (2 ast). And again: the Spurs lost by just 3.
Robinson does have a little bit of a poor(ish) game in the final game 4, but then so does Cummings, while Willie Anderson is a dumpster fire [8 pts in 35 min on 25% TS].

This may sound like making excuses for him, and perhaps it is to some degree. But the facts are: 1) Robinson had a respectable series [even by his lofty rs standards], and 2) the Spurs still lost the series. People are free to reconcile those two facts any way they like.

ardee wrote:1992: 3rd behind MJ and Malone. Missing the last 14 games and Playoffs hurts. He'd be 2nd otherwise.

Tentatively I would agree. In the rs alone, Robinson is EASILY the 2nd-best player, even factoring in the 14 missed games. His scoring volume is down a little from ‘91 [though still >23 ppg], but so is his turnovers; and he once again anchors the #1 defense in the league. But not being available in the playoffs does count against him a bit.
He was so far ahead of #3 [imo] when he was around, that in a way one could argue it’s arbitrary to penalize based on WHEN the games were missed (e.g. if he missed five more rs games early in the year [and thus played only 63 rs games] but was then around for the playoffs, would he then be 2nd for the year? Probably so, assuming his playoff series isn’t a stinker). But the fact that he did miss games at that time of year should factor against him at least a little. The Spurs were swept with relative ease, despite Terry Cummings having a pretty big series. They were just no match for the Suns without Robinson [allowing a monstrous 120.7 ORtg by the Suns]; the writing was kinda on the wall, too, noting that the Spurs were just 5-9 in the 14 rs games Robinson missed (while being on pace for nearly 51 wins when he played).

ardee wrote:1993: 4th behind MJ, Hakeem and Barkley.

That’s where I have him as well [behind the same three you list, too], though I can definitely see a case for putting him 5th also behind Mailman.

ardee wrote:1994: 2nd behind Hakeem.

That’s tentatively where I have him as well (almost more of a “1b” to Hakeem’s “1a”, actually). Hakeem was beastly in the playoffs, but Robinson was [rather easily] better in the rs: DRob averages a league-leading 29.8 apg and a team-best 4.8 apg as anchor for the #4-rated offense…...and does so while simultaneously anchoring the 9th-rated defense (despite 33-year-old Dale Ellis [bad defender] being 3rd in minutes played). The team was 4th in the league in DREB% and opp eFG% (as well as opp FTAr); the only defensive area where they were poor [27th in league] was generating turnovers (though Robinson does his part, being by far the team leader in steals). And despite how people just cite the name [banking on previous reputation], Rodman was NOT an elite defender at this point, and far more focused on attaining lots of rebounds, even at the expense of contesting shots or you know……guarding your man; or by cannibalizing team rebounds.
Robinson under-performs in the playoffs, though, so…..tough call, but I tentatively go with Hakeem at #1.

ardee wrote:1995: 2nd behind Hakeem.

Despite how much of his entire career has been defined by the ‘95 WCF, I actually have him #1 this year. He’s the rs MVP [rightly so] averaging nearly 28 ppg on good efficiency anchoring the 5th-rated offense, while also anchoring the 5th-rated defense.
And he’s actually fantastic in the first two rounds of the playoffs, leading the Spurs into the WCF.
Is he outplayed by Hakeem in this series? Absolutely. But…..it’s one series, and one series that is not even representative or emblematic of their relationship (if one looks at ALL their H2H’s near this time-period, he sees that Robinson got the better of Hakeem more often than not).
Further, it’s worth noting that Hakeem enjoyed single-coverage as often as not, due to the “four out” construction of that team around him; meanwhile Robinson faced double [sporadically triple] teams every time he touched the ball for more than a couple seconds. So comparing H2H numbers hardly seems fair.

Other things to take note of regarding this series……
1) Dennis Rodman went full-on team cancer right at this worst possible moment, sitting at the scorer’s table 20 ft from the team huddle (right there on national TV!) during time-outs…..I can’t imagine how much of a distraction and morale-deflater that was for the rest of the team.
And as mentioned above: NOT an elite defender at this stage. NEVER [even in his DPOY stage] a rim-protector or elite help defender, Rodman in his best defensive years was known as a “stopper”. Well....
Robert Horry during the rs had averaged 10.2 ppg @ 55.6% TS with 3.4 apg and 1.9 topg.
During this WCF: 14.5 ppg @ 58.3% TS with 2.7 apg and 1.0 topg. Who’s his primary defender?......Dennis Rodman.
Watching the series it’s not confounding to discover part of the problem: Rodman would frequently weakly contest [or even ignore] him, usually to wander toward the rim (to be in rebounding position).
The most costly example of this behavior was at end of game 1 (a 1-pt loss for SA), where Rodman goes rogue and is caught in no-man’s land when Horry takes a WIDE open 19-footer for the go-ahead bucket.

2) The rest of the Spurs team [aside from Robinson] shot just 14 of 23 (60.9%) from the FT-line in game 1 (again: this was a 1-pt loss).

3) In game 2 (a 10-pt Spurs loss), the Rockets went 9 of 19 (47.4%) from 3pt range, while the Spurs went 4 of 18 (22.2%). If both supporting casts just shoot “average” from downtown, this too is very likely a Spurs victory (Robinson had 32 pts on 66% TS this game, btw).
This was somewhat a trend of the series in general: the Rockets hit almost twice as many treys in this series (44 vs 23), with the Spurs cast making just 3.8 per game (vs a rs avg of 5.3) at 31.9% (vs 37.5% in the rs).

Could Robinson have played better here? No question. Part of the blame is certainly squarely on his shoulders. Just pointing out some factors most people tend to ignore, and noting that his cast underperformed in some key areas (despite the defensive focus being squarely on Robinson).

ardee wrote:1996: 2nd behind Jordan

Agree.

ardee wrote:1997: Injured
1998: 5th behind MJ, Malone and Shaq.

Not sure if you meant “4th”, given you only name three players to rank ahead of him. If so, I agree (have the same three ahead of him).

ardee wrote:1999: 1st (controversial, but I think he edges out Duncan)

I’ve been relatively bullish on Robinson thus far [even marginally more than you], but here we part ways.
I also noted that you [as well as one or two other posters] use language that implies Duncan is the only one to “edge out”........like it’s a given that the best in the league must be one of the two of them. I’m not sure why that is. Because they won the title?
Disclaimer [possibly contentious]: I actually don’t have EITHER of Robinson and Duncan in my top 2 [or even 3???] for this year.

Personally, I have Shaq as #1 for ‘99: he led the league in rs PER by a full +4.95 over 2nd place, was a close 2nd in WS/48 (to Robinson, though while playing ~10% more minutes: he is ahead of Robinson [and Duncan] in rs WS), and was 1st in rs BPM.
He is then comfortably ahead of both Robinson and Duncan in playoff PER (while again playing comfortably more mpg than Robinson), and is 2nd in the league (ahead of both Robinson and Duncan) in RAPM.

At 2nd, I have Alonzo Mourning (in what is probably his peak season). As ever, he is turnover-prone, but otherwise averages 20.1 ppg on good shooting efficiency and is arguably the centerpiece of the Miami offense, while also winning DPOY this year. He’s #1 in the league in RAPM.
The Heat get upset in the 1st round, but Mourning had a pretty good series (was really the ONLY starter who showed up). Hardaway sort of crapped the bed, averaging just 9.0 ppg on 35.7% TS in the series (also 3.6 topg), Dan Majerle went for just 4.0 ppg on 34.4% TS (was 5 of 26 from the field), and Jamal Mashburn wasn’t much better at 10.0 ppg on 47.2% TS…….and that was all she wrote. Tough to win a series averaging just 79 pts per contest, even in this era.

I tentatively have Duncan 3rd in the league (though super-close with MVP Karl Malone; wouldn’t argue with having him 4th).

Robinson I have at 5th. Tough to rank a guy who’s basically playing “role player starter” minutes as the best in the league, imo.

ardee wrote:2000: 4th-5th behind Shaq, Mourning and Malone. In the mix with Payton.
2001: 7th behind Shaq, Kobe, Duncan, KG, Dirk and McGrady. Kind of crazy but don't think I'd take anyone over him... he still put up 19/14/4 with 4.2 steals/blocks combined in the Playoffs.
2002: Role player status, still decent RS that might be top 20-25 but he was done in the Playoffs
2003: Same.

That 1990-2001 stretch is really something.

I haven’t done rankings for ‘00, ‘02, or ‘03. Given I had Robinson only 5th in ‘99, I imagine he’s probably a little lower in ‘00.

I’ve tentatively made some rankings for ‘01 (though I’m going to redo them); on first pass, I only had Robinson at 13th for that year. I suspect I’ll probably have him 20-25(ish) in ‘02, and similar (maybe pinch lower) in ‘03.

trex_8063 wrote:

Well we agree a fair bit, just 3 points of discussion.

1. 1991 Magic is fairly close to his peak and likely his 4th or 5th best season. 1991 Robinson is probably his 4th best season. How do you think their primes compare, or as a larger question, how does Robinson's prime compare to the usual suspects in someone's top 10?

2. If you take 1995 Robinson ahead of a top 3 Hakeem year which really isn't that far off his peak, do you think Robinson has a case for a top 5-8 peak (typically where you'd see Hakeem's peak ranked)?

3. As for the 1999 year, it comes down to the fact that the Spurs were honestly almost historically dominant, largely on the basis of their defense, and I think Robinson contributed more there than Duncan did. Not the biggest impact numbers guy but they do back that up. In general I do think of Robinson as the better defender over their careers (they're both top 5 all time so it's not a huge difference), just think he was more versatile on that end due to his athleticism (though it's possible Duncan had the higher IQ). 15-2 in the Playoffs and a -7 defense through the Playoffs... I sort of think of 1999 Robinson as an '08 KG analogue (whom I rank 4th behind Kobe, CP3 and LeBron), but 1999 didn't have anyone else having RS+PS performances that I'd find as impressive as those guys, so by default I give Robinson the no. 1 spot.

I generally have him slightly lower most years. I don't think you can look at a MVP like Karl Malone and put him 4th or 5th that year due to lack of play-off success but then turn around say things like Robinson is 3rd because he had the 3rd best RS while being bounced out of the 1st round.

Though in reality not much changes. Most years would only be 1-2 spots lower with the mid 90s prime years being pretty much the same as he was usually the 2nd or 3rd best in the league around that time. I do think his decline was earlier than you give credit for because by the time 1999 rolled around I don't really see him as a top 5 player anymore.

For 10 seasons or so he was a top-5 player in the league, and arguably the 2nd best player in a couple of years. Pretty impressive indeed. I have him in the 20-25 range in the All-time List and among Centers he is the top-7 (imo Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O'Neal, Bill Russell, Hakeem Olajuwon and Moses Malone are above him)

One of the most underrated players in history imo. Several years as a top 4 player and arguably #1-2 in a couple.

1990: 6th behind MJ, Magic, Barkley, Ewing and Hakeem
1991: 3rd behind MJ and Magic
1992: 4th behind MJ, Ewing and Malone
1993: 4th behind Hakeem, MJ and Barkley
1994: 2nd behind Hakeem
1995: 2nd behind Hakeem (very close, I may put him at the top to be honest)
1996: 2nd behind MJ
1997: --
1998: 4th behind MJ, Malone and Shaq
1999: 5th behind Duncan, Mourning, Shaq and Malone
2000: 5th behind Shaq, Mourning, Malone and KG
2001: outside of top 10, probably in top 15

Lower than you in general, in a year like '94 there's no way I'm putting him over Malone.

Odinn21 wrote:It can be weird for some but you can not be the best in the league when your mpg rank is 72nd. (He was 61st in total mins played.)
His 31.7 mpg in 1998-99 might look OK now but the game and mpg dynamics were different back then.
I find it very inconsistent that if someone needs to do the heavy lifting so you can be the best, then you are not the best.

Do you feel the same about Giannis' this season considering he ranks 63rd in MPG?

RCM88x wrote:

Odinn21 wrote:It can be weird for some but you can not be the best in the league when your mpg rank is 72nd. (He was 61st in total mins played.)
His 31.7 mpg in 1998-99 might look OK now but the game and mpg dynamics were different back then.
I find it very inconsistent that if someone needs to do the heavy lifting so you can be the best, then you are not the best.

Do you feel the same about Giannis' this season considering he ranks 63rd in MPG?

No, I don't. I knew this would come up. But I didn't want to make my message more crowded.

Here's why;
It's hard to say a Bucks player other than Giannis lifted a heavier load. Duncan did that in 1998-99.
Also from stats perspective;
Giannis played 21.4% less than total minutes leader and 16.3% less than mpg leader (30.9 to 36.9). Nobody in the Bucks played more than Giannis, despite Giannis playing so little for an MVP candidate.
Admiral played 24.6% less than total minutes leader and 23.6% less than mpg leader. (31.7 to 41.5).
Duncan played 4.7% less than total minutes leader and 5.3% less than mpg leader. (39.3 to 41.5). In total, Robinson played 20.8% less than Duncan in 1998-99 season while Giannis has no one playing more than him.

So, there are major differences and two situations are so different. The main line in there is the underlined part. That's something you can't say for Giannis.

Also, we already knew Giannis was having an outlier-like performance in the regular season. So, I don't know how that distorts my point.

1990: 5th behind Hakeem, Barkley, Magic, Jordan
1991: 3rd behind Magic, Jordan
1992: 4th behind Drexler, Malone, Jordan
1993: 4th behind Barkley, Hakeem, Jordan
1994: 3rd behind Malone, Hakeem
1995: 3rd behind Shaq, Hakeem
1996: 2nd behind Jordan
1998: 4th behind Shaq, Malone, Jordan
1999: 6th behind Payton, Mourning, Malone, Duncan, Shaq
2000: 12th behind Reggie, Kobe, Webber, Carter, Hill, Payton, Duncan, Mourning, Garnett, Malone, Shaq
2001-03: Out of top 15

I'm not as high on his later years as others seem to be. I think he was just a fantastic role player with a relatively limited ceiling after 1999. His days of being able to shoulder a big load were basically over, so I can't view him the same way as guys who were their team's clear cut leader.

Odinn21 wrote:

RCM88x wrote:

Odinn21 wrote:It can be weird for some but you can not be the best in the league when your mpg rank is 72nd. (He was 61st in total mins played.)
His 31.7 mpg in 1998-99 might look OK now but the game and mpg dynamics were different back then.
I find it very inconsistent that if someone needs to do the heavy lifting so you can be the best, then you are not the best.

Do you feel the same about Giannis' this season considering he ranks 63rd in MPG?

No, I don't. I knew this would come up. But I didn't want to make my message more crowded.

Here's why;
It's hard to say a Bucks player other than Giannis lifted a heavier load. Duncan did that in 1998-99.
Also from stats perspective;
Giannis played 21.4% less than total minutes leader and 16.3% less than mpg leader (30.9 to 36.9). Nobody in the Bucks played more than Giannis, despite Giannis playing so little for an MVP candidate.
Admiral played 24.6% less than total minutes leader and 23.6% less than mpg leader. (31.7 to 41.5).
Duncan played 4.7% less than total minutes leader and 5.3% less than mpg leader. (39.3 to 41.5). In total, Robinson played 20.8% less than Duncan in 1998-99 season while Giannis has no one playing more than him.

So, there are major differences and two situations are so different. The main line in there is the underlined part. That's something you can't say for Giannis.

Also, we already knew Giannis was having an outlier-like performance in the regular season. So, I don't know how that distorts my point.

Re: "Distorts" you're probably looking for" disproves".

And Giannis does somewhat contradict the absolute statement "you can not be the best in the league when your mpg rank is 72nd. (He was 61st in total mins played.)"
when he's in the same vicinity including worse in total minutes played (72nd or 73rd).

If the statement were more flexible ("It would be incredibly difficult ...") then you can go to contextual differences (e.g. Milwaukee historically dominant leading to increased garbage time etc).

Fwiw, there's also an unjustified assumption in your underlined. i.e. That Robinson "needs" Duncan to be the best. Tiny samples and I'm not that into playoff weighting but see
viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1958661#p82798959
Regarding who "needs" whom.
See also
http://ascreamingcomesacrossthecourt.blogspot.com/2014/03/1999-rapm-non-prior-and-prior-informed.html
For the degree of difference in apparent impact. This somewhat undermines a "need" of others, though I understand the "burden" argument is more complex than the team doing well with Robinson and without Duncan.

Finally I'm not sure about the whole construct of "needing player x" seems like a variation on supporting casts by players 2-3 as though 4 through eight/nin/ten (depending on rotation, injuries, how much you change matchups for opponents and where you draw an arbitrary cutoff ... you could always go to 16). It's one I've never really got and Ben Taylor covers in well in Thinking Basketball (the book). Further, one could just as well argue Giannis "needs" shooters (every rotation player at 75% FT% this year, bar Robin if you go that deep, that's 10 of your top 11 non-Giannis players, 75% no longer quite league average but having it across the board as at least competent uncontested shooters ...) - again I don't like "needs", in both cases "is/seems best optimized with ..." feels more accurate.

So given the absolute " you can not be the best in the league ..." and the provocative " having Robinson ahead of Duncan in 1998-99 and especially in 1999-00 is a subtle shot at Duncan" I can see why you'd get blowback.

Fwiw, RE: 2000 playoffs hard to judge anything on one short series but Robinson an on-off monster with great defense and very solid box-composites (25.6 PER, .220 WS/48).

Owly wrote:Re: "Distorts" you're probably looking for" disproves".

And Giannis does somewhat contradict the absolute statement "you can not be the best in the league when your mpg rank is 72nd. (He was 61st in total mins played.)"
when he's in the same vicinity including worse in total minutes played (72nd or 73rd).

If the statement were more flexible ("It would be incredibly difficult ...") then you can go to contextual differences (e.g. Milwaukee historically dominant leading to increased garbage time etc).

Fwiw, there's also an unjustified assumption in your underlined. i.e. That Robinson "needs" Duncan to be the best. Tiny samples and I'm not that into playoff weighting but see
viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1958661#p82798959
Regarding who "needs" whom.
See also
http://ascreamingcomesacrossthecourt.blogspot.com/2014/03/1999-rapm-non-prior-and-prior-informed.html
For the degree of difference in apparent impact. This somewhat undermines a "need" of others, though I understand the "burden" argument is more complex than the team doing well with Robinson and without Duncan.

Finally I'm not sure about the whole construct of "needing player x" seems like a variation on supporting casts by players 2-3 as though 4 through eight/nin/ten (depending on rotation, injuries, how much you change matchups for opponents and where you draw an arbitrary cutoff ... you could always go to 16). It's one I've never really got and Ben Taylor covers in well in Thinking Basketball (the book). Further, one could just as well argue Giannis "needs" shooters (every rotation player at 75% FT% this year, bar Robin if you go that deep, that's 10 of your top 11 non-Giannis players, 75% no longer quite league average but having it across the board as at least competent uncontested shooters ...) - again I don't like "needs", in both cases "is/seems best optimized with ..." feels more accurate.

So given the absolute " you can not be the best in the league ..." and the provocative " having Robinson ahead of Duncan in 1998-99 and especially in 1999-00 is a subtle shot at Duncan" I can see why you'd get blowback.

Fwiw, RE: 2000 playoffs hard to judge anything on one short series but Robinson an on-off monster with great defense and very solid box-composites (25.6 PER, .220 WS/48).

Here we go;
1960; Wilt 46.4 mpg, 1st / Bill 42.5 mpg, 3rd
1961; Wilt 47.8 mpg, 1st / Bill 44.3 mpg, 2nd
1962; Wilt 48.5 mpg, 1st / Bill 45.2 mpg, 2nd / Big O 44.3 mpg, 3rd
1963; Wilt 47.6 mpg, 1st / Bill 44.9 mpg, 2nd / Big O 44.0 mpg, 3rd
1964; Wilt 46.1 mpg, 1st / Big O 45.1 mpg, 2nd / Bill 44.6 mpg, 3rd
1965; Big O 45.6 mpg, 1st / Wilt 45.2 mpg, 2nd / Bill 44.4 mpg, 3rd
1966; Wilt 47.3 mpg, 1st / Big O 46.0 mpg, 2nd / Bill 43.4 mpg, 4th
1967; Wilt 45.5 mpg, 1st / Big O 43.9 mpg, 3rd / Bill 40.7 mpg, 6th
1968; Wilt 46.8 mpg, 1st / Big O 42.5 mpg, 3rd / Bill 37.9 mpg, 11th
1969; Wilt 45.3 mpg, 1st / Big O 43.8 mpg, 4th / Bill 42.7 mpg, 5th
1970; Kareem 43.1 mpg, 2nd / West 42.0 mpg, 2nd
1971; Wilt 44.3 mpg, 2nd / Kareem 40.1 mpg, 10th
1972; Kareem 44.2 mpg, 2nd / Wilt 42.3 mpg, 7th
1973; Kareem 42.8 mpg, 4th
1974; Kareem 43.8 mpg, 2nd
1975; McAdoo 43.2 mpg, 1st / Kareem* 42.3 mpg, 2nd
1976; Kareem 41.2 mpg, 2nd
1977; Kareem 36.8 mpg, 12th
1978; Hayes 40.1 mpg, 7th / Kareem* 36.5 mpg, 18th
1979; Moses 41.3 mpg, 1st / Kareem 39.5 mpg, 4th
1980; Kareem 38.3 mpg, 5th
1981; Moses 40.6 mpg, 2nd / Bird 39.5 mpg, 4th / Kareem 37.2 mpg, 10th / Erving 35.0 mpg, 26th
1982; Moses 42.0 mpg, 1st / Erving 34.4 mpg, 32nd
1983; Moses 37.5 mpg, 6th
1984; Bird 38.3 mpg, 3rd
1985; Bird 39.5 mpg, 1st
1986; Bird 38.0 mpg, 3rd
1987; Bird 40.6 mpg, 1st / Jordan 40.0 mpg, 3rd / Magic 36.3 mpg, 25th
1988; Jordan 40.4 mpg, 1st / Bird 39.0 mpg, 4th / Magic 36.6 mpg, 18th
1989; Jordan 40.2 mpg, 1st / Magic 37.5 mpg, 16th
1990; Barkley 39.1 mpg, 3rd / Jordan 39.0 mpg, 4th / Magic 37.2 mpg, 14th
1991; Magic 37.1 mpg, 24th / Jordan 37.0 mpg, 26th
1992; Jordan 38.8 mpg, 6th
1993; Hakeem 39.5 mpg, 5th / Jordan 39.3 mpg, 6th / Barkley 37.6 mpg, 20th
1994; Hakeem 41.0 mpg, 2nd / Malone 40.6 mpg, 3rd / Robinson 40.5 mpg, 4th
1995; Hakeem 39.6 mpg, 5th / Robinson 38.0 mpg, 15th
1996; Jordan 37.7 mpg, 19th
1997; Jordan 37.9 mpg, 28th / Malone 36.6 mpg, 46th
1998; Jordan 38.8 mpg, 17th / Malone 37.4 mpg, 28th
1999; Duncan 39.3 mpg, 9th / Mourning 38.1 mpg, 14th / Malone 37.4 mpg, 21st / O'Neal 34.8 mpg, 47th
2000; O'Neal 40.0 mpg, 5th
2001; Bryant 40.9 mpg, 7th / O'Neal 39.5 mpg, 18th / Duncan 38.7 mpg, 25th
2002; Duncan 40.6 mpg, 6th / O'Neal* 36.1 mpg, 47th
2003; Duncan 39.3 mpg, 17th
2004; Garnett 39.4 mpg, 11th
2005; Nowitzki 38.7 mpg, 11th / Garnett 38.1, 21st / Nash 34.3 mpg, 55th / O'Neal 34.1 mpg, 57th / Duncan* 33.4 mpg, 64th
2006; Bryant 41.0 mpg, 5th / Wade 38.6 mpg, 21st / Nowitzki 38.1 mpg, 25th
2007; Bryant 40.8 mpg, 4th / Duncan 34.1 mpg, 64th
2008; James 40.4 mpg, 3rd / Bryant 38.9 mpg, 10th / Paul 37.6 mpg, 23rd / Garnett 32.8 mpg, 73th
2009; Wade 38.6 mpg, 7th / James 37.7 mpg, 13th / Bryant 36.1 mpg, 37th
2010; James 39.0 mpg, 5th / Bryant 38.8 mpg, 7th / Wade 36.3 mpg, 30th
2011; James 38.8 mpg, 6th / Wade 37.1 mpg, 16th / Nowitzki 34.3 mpg, 50th
2012; James 37.5 mpg, 6th
2013; James 37.9 mpg, 8th
2014; Durant 38.5 mpg, 3rd / James 37.7 mpg, 6th
2015; James 36.1 mpg, 6th / Curry 32.7 mpg, 40th
2016; Durant 35.8 mpg, 9th / James 35.6 mpg, 12th / Curry 34.2 mpg, 26th
2017; James 37.8 mpg, 1st / Curry 33.4 mpg, 34th
2018; James 36.9 mpg, 1st / Durant* 34.2 mpg, 18th
2019; Harden 36.8 mpg, 3rd / Leonard* 34.0 mpg, 19th / Giannis 32.8 mpg, 37th
2020; Giannis 30.9 mpg, 63rd
* indicating seasons got affected by an injury

So, your best bets are 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2020 seasons. 4 in 61 at best.
Still, Duncan led his team in minutes and points in 2007. He was also doing that in 2005 prior to his injury. So was Giannis. That leaves KG as the only bet. But I'm sure you'll want to ignore these already explained contexts just to drag it out more on technicality.

It also shows that how mpg dynamics changed over the time. James led the league in mpg a little less than 37 in 2017-18 and that average wouldn't make it top top 20 in 1998-99.

I want you to say "disproves" while knowing all these, one more time.

And I'm sure post injury Robinson wouldn't have issues with scoring 25 in a playoffs game for 5 more seasons.

Here, some more numbers;
https://on.nba.com/2Ytyp06
2002-03 rs; Robinson +10.5 NRtg / Duncan +9.2 NRtg
I'm sure Robinson was the better and the more impactful player in 2002-03 as well.