Best 1 Year Peak: Kobe, Curry, Wade, KD, T-Mac

mdonnelly1989 · Post #1 » by **mdonnelly1989** » Mon Jun 20, 2022 11:27 pm

Lets say that Michael Jordan 1991 is a 100/100, Shaq 2000 and Peak Lebron is a 99. How would you rate each players Peak

40 is the worst player league history. 70 is a low quality role player. 79 is an average quality role player. 84-87 is a high quality role player. 88 - 93 All Star player.

94+ Superstar level. (Can carry a team on their back)

Kingdibs19 · Post #2 » by **Kingdibs19** » Mon Jun 20, 2022 11:49 pm

Kobe is easily last on that list for peak, yet he’s easily first for career rankings. Funny how that works.

Stalwart · Post #3 » by **Stalwart** » Mon Jun 20, 2022 11:51 pm

06 Kobe is a 99, actually.

jasonxxx102 · Post #4 » by **jasonxxx102** » Mon Jun 20, 2022 11:51 pm

I think 02-03 McGrady is the best season of all these guys. 15-16 Curry is probably the better raw box season but the warriors were absolutely stacked and he benefitted a lot from that.

02-03 McGrady did the most with the least of this list

TyFrekey · Post #5 » by **TyFrekey** » Tue Jun 21, 2022 12:07 am

Kingdibs19 wrote:Kobe is easily last on that list for peak, yet he’s easily first for career rankings. Funny how that works.

I wouldn't say he's easily first in career rankings. I also think there's an argument that he's not last in his 1 year peak, although I would disagree with that argument. I think Curry has established himself as in the same tier all time as Kobe. I get having Kobe above him, and I would actually argue Curry's career above Kobe's, but don't think either is easily above the other.

It's amazing that T-Mac is even on this list for consideration given he's the only guys who isn't a top 25 or so player ever.

1993Playoffs · Post #6 » by **1993Playoffs** » Tue Jun 21, 2022 12:20 am

Wade for playoffs

Post #7 » by **Outside** » Tue Jun 21, 2022 12:25 am

Regular season only? Otherwise McGrady has no reason to be on this list.

ardee · Post #8 » by **ardee** » Tue Jun 21, 2022 12:51 am

'08 Kobe for sure. Gigantic impact, led a team with only 27 games of Pau and 35 games of Bynum to a 7.34 SRS. Utterly dominant. Played at peak Jordan level in the Playoffs until he faced a historic defensive team.

None of the other guys here provided this kind of RS lift AND killed it in the Playoffs to the level that Kobe did.

Colbinii · Post #9 » by **Colbinii** » Tue Jun 21, 2022 1:12 am

Curry for me.

Cavsfansince84 · Post #10 » by **Cavsfansince84** » Tue Jun 21, 2022 1:19 am

Why make it 1-100 when the only real wiggle room you give for rating them is 94-100? I just don't get why people do that so often. If all star is more like 75 and mvp caliber is 85-90 it makes this much better since all these guys peaked at mvp+ level.

No-more-rings · Post #11 » by **No-more-rings** » Tue Jun 21, 2022 1:26 am

Somehow I suspect recent events help Curry in the poll despite this year being clearly not his peak.

Cavsfansince84 · Post #12 » by **Cavsfansince84** » Tue Jun 21, 2022 1:39 am

No-more-rings wrote:Somehow I suspect recent events help Curry in the poll despite this year being clearly not his peak.

I definitely agree and the problem I have with Steph's peak is I think everyone sees it as the 16 rs and 17 or 22 ps but I feel like people usually say 17 but cut him a lot of slack due to adjusting to KD and winning 67 games. Which is their prerogative but I also think it helped him in those playoffs getting to play with KD.

Matt15 · Post #13 » by **Matt15** » Tue Jun 21, 2022 2:01 am

1.Bird
2.Kobe
3.Curry
4.Wade
.T-Mac

mdonnelly1989 · Post #14 » by **mdonnelly1989** » Tue Jun 21, 2022 2:57 am

No-more-rings wrote:Somehow I suspect recent events help Curry in the poll despite this year being clearly not his peak.

There is certainly some recent biased. I haven't seen anything IMO that would put Curry over 2006 Wade from start to finish. Wades playoffs was clearly better than Curry's this year. And 2016 is limited to just his regular season.

17-18 are hard to measure, given that he played with KD, for better or for worse having KD is going to hurt those two years in terms of efficiency.

Kobes peak was just slightly behind 06 Wade IMO. His finals carry him. As for KD, it's 2014. That year was a beast. But playoffs limit him that year IMO.

SickMother · Post #15 » by **SickMother** » Tue Jun 21, 2022 3:06 am

Curry 14-15: 28.0 PER | .638 TS% | 119 TS+ | 15.7 WS | .288 WS/48
Curry 14-15 Playoffs?!?: 24.5 PER | .607 TS% | 3.9 WS | .228 WS/48
[crazy efficiency, best regular season, kicked off the GS dynasty & had a major impact on style of play across the league]

Wade 05-06: 27.6 PER | .577 TS% | 108 TS+ | 14.4 WS | .239 WS/48
Wade 05-06 Playoffs?!?: 26.9 PER | .593 TS% | 4.8 WS | .240 WS/48
[best combination of regular season & playoffs on the ballot]

Kobe 08-09: 24.4 PER | .561 TS% | 103 TS+ | 12.7 WS | .206 WS /48
Kobe 08-09 Playoffs?!?: 26.8 PER | .564 TS% | 4.7 WS | .238 WS/48
[lower efficiency in regular season has Kobe just behind Wade for me]

Durant 16-17: 27.6 PER | .651 TS% | 118 TS+ | 12.0 WS | .278 WS/48
Durant 16-17 Playoffs?!?: 27.5 PER | .683 TS% | 3.1 WS | .280 WS/48
[strongest on a per minute basis & insane efficiency in the playoffs, but discounted for joining an already elite GS team]

McGrady 02-03: 30.3 PER | .564 TS% | 109 TS+ | 16.1 WS | .262 WS/48
McGrady 02-03 Playoffs?!?: 27.0 PER | .561 TS% | 1.2 WS | .181 WS/48
[2nd best regular season on the ballot, but couldn't get out of the first round, only season of this caliber on his resumé]

ardee · Post #16 » by **ardee** » Tue Jun 21, 2022 5:17 am

mdonnelly1989 wrote:
No-more-rings wrote:Somehow I suspect recent events help Curry in the poll despite this year being clearly not his peak.

There is certainly some recent biased. I haven't seen anything IMO that would put Curry over 2006 Wade from start to finish. Wades playoffs was clearly better than Curry's this year. And 2016 is limited to just his regular season.

17-18 are hard to measure, given that he played with KD, for better or for worse having KD is going to hurt those two years in terms of efficiency.

Kobes peak was just slightly behind 06 Wade IMO. His finals carry him. As for KD, it's 2014. That year was a beast. But playoffs limit him that year IMO.

I don't really see the argument for '06 Wade over Kobe at all.

Wade led a 3.6 SRS team, Kobe's was 7.34. Over double! The supporting casts do not explain the gap... Shaq got 59 games of Shaq who was still the best center in the league, meanwhile Kobe got 62 games of Pau/Bynum.

As for the Playoffs, Kobe slaughtered 3 50 win teams in the Western Conference including the Spurs who were a -5.7 defensive team, before running into the greatest defensive team of the previous 45 years. Wade didn't face elite defenses, his best series came against the -3.2 Pistons and the -1.2 (lmao) Mavericks.

When you take into account RS lift and provide context of who their Playoff opponents were, this has to be Kobe.

KGtabake · Post #17 » by **KGtabake** » Tue Jun 21, 2022 12:47 pm

Steph in '16.

Eagle4 · Post #18 » by **Eagle4** » Tue Jun 21, 2022 4:28 pm

I'd take Wade as imo he was the most resilient scorer come post season (even against stout defenses). He's also the best defender of the group. Wade at his peak as Riley described is almost like he's everywhere at once. Particularly his ability at blocking bigs at the rim, those kind timely plays in crucial playoff series are just things Curry was never capable of.
In fact If we agree '16 is peak Curry then teams could easily just play whoever offense on him and target him (as they've done in the past).

LukaTheGOAT · Post #19 » by **LukaTheGOAT** » Tue Jun 21, 2022 6:50 pm

Outside wrote:Regular season only? Otherwise McGrady has no reason to be on this list.

I mean it was only one round, but McGrady averaged:

Playoffs:

•32.6 Inflation Adjusted Pts/75,+6.2 rTS%
•4.4 ast/75
•6.2 reb/75
•1.8 stl/75
•0.8 blk/75
•49/35/77 splits
•50 eFG%
•8.1 box creation

against a-3.7 rDrtg in the Pistons.

He had a 10.6 BPM which was actually higher than his regular season BPM by 0.1.

Post #20 » by **Outside** » Tue Jun 21, 2022 7:45 pm

LukaTheGOAT wrote:
Outside wrote:Regular season only? Otherwise McGrady has no reason to be on this list.

I mean it was only one round, but McGrady averaged:

Playoffs:

•32.6 Inflation Adjusted Pts/75,+6.2 rTS%
•4.4 ast/75
•6.2 reb/75
•1.8 stl/75
•0.8 blk/75
•49/35/77 splits
•50 eFG%
•8.1 box creation

against a-3.7 rDrtg in the Pistons.

He had a 10.6 BPM which was actually higher than his regular season BPM by 0.1.

But that's the thing, it was only one round. Every other player in the comparison has at least three runs to the finals. Even for a player as talented as McGrady, we cannot assume that he would continue that level of performance throughout a deep playoff run. The others proved they could do it. McGrady didn't.

And despite the stats you list, how that series played out doesn't do McGrady any favors. He was spectacular in the first four games, leading Orlando to a 3-1 advantage, then was bad as Detroit blew them out three straight times to take the series. He was really, really bad in games 5 and 7.

McGrady had terrible luck in his career. He had Grant Hill in Orlando, but it turned out Hill's ankle injury was severe and (I believe) mismanaged, so he never actually had him. The story goes that he could've had Tim Duncan in Orlando if Doc had let Duncan have a minor perk, but Doc said no, and so Tim said no and stayed in San Antonio. McGrady looked like he had something going in Houston but then Yao couldn't stay healthy, and McGrady had his own injuries. It was really unfair. But it is what it is. When comparing to Kobe, Curry, Wade, and Durant, you can't give McGrady credit for postseason success he never had but the others did.

The best one-year peak is a combination of RS and PS. Sometimes the fates allow that a player does great in both, like Wade in 2005-06. I expect many will put Curry lower in this comparison because his clearly best RS in 2015-16 was followed by a relatively disappointing PS. The sad reality of McGrady's career is that he never made it past the first round until he was broken down and ring-chasing at the end of his career, so he doesn't have the PS accomplishment to get him anywhere near the peak seasons that these other guys have. It's just how it is.