Post#18 » by Benja » Wed Oct 13, 2021 7:35 pm
Hi, it's me again.
I want to clarify that my criteria to rank players is based on how a player in a given season would be performing on a random team as in portability/scalability mattering to me.
To rank the top 12 seasons of the two greats Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, I would say that I believe Bird peaked higher. His combination of scoring, playmaking and off-ball play on offense as well as good to very good defense he provided (I consider his defense at his defensive peak as All-Defensive level and would title his defensive prime as fringe All-Defensive level.) is, in my opinion, more impactful than Magic's GOAT-level offense. I think we all know how great Magic's offense was, but I believe that his offensive impact alone is not enough to make up for Bird's all-time great offense and good defense.
Albeit Magic was a solid defender early in his career, he lost more and more of his motor the further you look in his career. I think that in his absolute peak in the '87 season he was a neutral defender and was neither adding nor bleeding any value on defense. I consider Magic's second best season to be '90, where his defense was already regressing, but he may have possibly reached his offensive peak. He developed his offense in the halfcourt a little, which possibly may have made him even more dangerous as an offensive weapon. I would follow these seasons up with '89 and '88 as the next best seasons in order. Another great season to mention is the '91 season, whcih displays one of the biggest offensive carryjobs of all time. At that point, his defense was regressing even harder and that is what makes this season lower than the other two.
I do not think that Magic's worse efficiency in the '88 regular season is something that needs much attention. It is simply a situational efficiency drop-off that I don't attach much value to at all. I believe the next two best seasons of Magic's career are '86 and '85. I would say that he developed a decent bit on the offensive end, especially in the halfcourt, from '84 to '86 and then took another jump from '86 to '87.
In Bird's case, I think it is a little tougher to actually rank his peak seasons. His absolute peak is almost unanimously '86, with which I agree. That is when he started hitting his offensive peak but was still an, in my opinion, fringe All-Defensive level defender. Then the tough part begins: Ranking the '84, '85 and '87 seasons.
The best defensive seasons out of all of them is '84, which I consider Bird's absolute defensive peak, while the best offensive season is '87, which I consider Bird's absolute offensive peak. The problem is that Bird's defense regressed sizeably from '86 to '87, which is why I would rank that season last out of all these amazing seasons. '84 is the best out of all these seasons, I would say. The defense and offense combo is better than anything he replicated in any other season in his career outside of '86 accounting for injuries, in my opinion. '85 would be in middle out of all the given seasons. If only the bar fight did not happen, then that season would have been extremely interesting. Following these three seasons, After these three amazing seasons, I would say that '88 is the next best season of Bird's career. His offense was amazing and, in my opinion, part of his 3-year offensive peak. On the other hand, he regressed as a defensive player again, and at that point was around a neutral defender in '88, I would say. Another Bird season I would mention is '83. It is a level below these other previously mentioned seasons of Bird's career, but is still a very good season.
Now, let's get to ranking all these seasons:
1. 1985-86 Larry Bird
2. 1983-84 Larry Bird
3. 1986-87 Magic Johnson
4. 1984-85 Larry Bird
5. 1986-87 Larry Bird
6. 1989-90 Magic Johnson
7. 1988-89 Magic Johnson
8. 1987-88 Magic Johnson
9. 1987-88 Larry Bird
10. 1990-91 Magic Johnson
11. 1985-86 Magic Johnson
12. 1984-85 Magic Johnson
HM: 1982-83 Larry Bird and 1983-84 Magic Johnson
