RealGM

Note: I don't have access to all the paywall stuff ben uses so I'm just getting this from his videos(specifically the 2021 top 10 players list and the peak ranking vid). For Lebron ben uses "average bpm/pipm" so i'll do the same converstion with mj.

Ben only lists 1 three year sample for jordan

Jordan's average from 89-91 is +7.7 in backpicks bpm and +7 in aupm, averaging to +7.35

For Lebron Ben lists three different three year samples(08-10, 12-14, 15-17) in AUPM:

08-10:+6.8, 16-18:+6.7, 12-14:+5.1

He only lists 12-14 for both bpm and aupm:

12-14: +5.8

So if we just use his three year averages, we see that lebron has a bunch of three-year stretches close to MJ but MJ's 89-91 scores highest. However it's interesting that lebron has three 3 year stretches that rank so high(2nd, 3rd, and 7th) and the lowest score came from the years ben rated as Lebron's peak. If we take a look at lebron's best two years from each of those three year stretches...(aupm/bpm is averaged)

Lebron's 09, 10, 12, 13, 16 and 17 are at +10, +8, +7.5, +7, +7.5, and +7.7 respectively.

You get 5 different seasons which would all boost the average of MJ's 89-91 peak.

14, 18, and 08 are all low points impact wise which prevent lebron from matching jordan statistically in this metric over three consecutive years even though he seems to comfortably have the best individual years by this stat. So i guess that opens a philosophical question of whether it's more important to string your best years in a row or to generally have better years when evaluating peaks.

i know lebron wasn't playing much defense, but seems hard to believe 2018 wasn't that impactful. it probably combined 2 things better than any other playoff run i can think of:
1) huge carry job statistically
2) maximizing the carry job by playing well in the closest games

until game 1 of the finals, lebron was barely wasting big performances. they got outscored by at least 40 in the indy series and won the 4 games by 3, 3, 4, and 4, with lebron basically being great in all 4. similar in the boston series and in the closer games of the toronto series. it was historic production that was perfectly maximized, there was no way to have gotten more out of it. but maybe all the blowouts are holding down the overall impact?

f4p wrote:i know lebron wasn't playing much defense, but seems hard to believe 2018 wasn't that impactful. it probably combined 2 things better than any other playoff run i can think of:
1) huge carry job statistically
2) maximizing the carry job by playing well in the closest games

until game 1 of the finals, lebron was barely wasting big performances. they got outscored by at least 40 in the indy series and won the 4 games by 3, 3, 4, and 4, with lebron basically being great in all 4. similar in the boston series and in the closer games of the toronto series. it was historic production that was perfectly maximized, there was no way to have gotten more out of it. but maybe all the blowouts are holding down the overall impact?

The very high minutes per game also may not help

If the lebron-less units do ok in very limited amd garbage heavy minutes it will make lebron impact look weak

The off part of on-off in playoffs is tricky, single playoffs are already a small-ish sample size and as stars sometimes play a ton of minutes in them the off sample size becomes tiny and volatile

falcolombardi wrote:

f4p wrote:i know lebron wasn't playing much defense, but seems hard to believe 2018 wasn't that impactful. it probably combined 2 things better than any other playoff run i can think of:
1) huge carry job statistically
2) maximizing the carry job by playing well in the closest games

until game 1 of the finals, lebron was barely wasting big performances. they got outscored by at least 40 in the indy series and won the 4 games by 3, 3, 4, and 4, with lebron basically being great in all 4. similar in the boston series and in the closer games of the toronto series. it was historic production that was perfectly maximized, there was no way to have gotten more out of it. but maybe all the blowouts are holding down the overall impact?

The very high minutes per game also may not help

If the lebron-less units do ok in very limited amd garbage heavy minutes it will make lebron impact look weak

The off part of on-off in playoffs is tricky, single playoffs are already a small-ish sample size and as stars sometimes play a ton of minutes in them the off sample size becomes tiny and volatile

cavs getting outscored by the pacers also probably doesn't help

does anyone have access to ben's patreon thing? I'd like to know what mj's individual years look like