RealGM

Best 1 Year Peak

you missed Harden and WB either they below to the previous or this one

Out of this group it’s still Kobe. I wouldn’t even put all these guys in the same tier. Stockton and Tatum aren’t even close to Kobe and Embiid doesn’t really have a case over Kobe or Cp3 I don’t think.

could see putting embid at the top with a strong postseason run as i'm getting softer on era-relativity. Could see making the case for Luka too(maybe even era-relative) with a strong enough playoffs(regular season impact is finally looking mvpish). Otherwise Kobe wipes tbh.

dygaction wrote:you missed Harden and WB either they below to the previous or this one

2020 Harden flat-out belongs in the previous tier. Excellent regular season in a difficult context. Excellent postseason in an even more difficult context. Clean improvement from 2019 where he was going blow to blow with the KD-Warriors with not spectacular help. Decent defense that elevated in the postseason, paired with strong playmaking and scoring alongside a player who theoretically Harden shouldn't be able to work with.

Seems a bit crazy to me he's being placed a tier below someone like Durant or Wade. Not sure Durant's ever operated at that level wire to wire actually. Or if Durant has a comparable postseason-run to speak off(or a comparable series to Harden vs the Lakers when we account for context and playmaking).

Doesn't hurt that the following year Harden was probably our most valuable player till he got hurt in round 2.

For that matter, why are Luka and Kobe here? Could understand excluding Embid on the basis of health and in-era achievement, but ommitting those three seems a bit much.

OhayoKD wrote:

dygaction wrote:you missed Harden and WB either they below to the previous or this one

2020 Harden flat-out belongs in the previous tier. Excellent regular season in a difficult context. Excellent postseason in an even more difficult context. Clean improvement from 2019 where he was going blow to blow with the KD-Warriors with not spectacular help. Decent defense that elevated in the postseason, paired with strong playmaking and scoring alongside a player who theoretically Harden shouldn't be able to work with.

Seems a bit crazy to me he's being placed a tier below someone like Durant or Wade. Not sure Durant's ever operated at that level wire to wire actually. Or if Durant has a comparable postseason-run to speak off(or a comparable series to Harden vs the Lakers when we account for context and playmaking).

Doesn't hurt that the following year Harden was probably our most valuable player till he got hurt in round 2.

For that matter, why are Luka and Kobe here? Could understand excluding Embid on the basis of health and in-era achievement, but ommitting those three seems a bit much.

I mean given your tendency to downplay box scores with a much heavier weight towards “impact” stuff, I find it a little odd you are that high on Harden of all people.

Harden’s RAPM those years:

2018: 21st
2019: 15th
2020: 7th

RPM for 2020 was 16th, on/off was +9.1, which is good but not outstanding by any stretch.

This is not comprehensive or anything, but James Harden has never stood out as an impact monster by any stretch, in fact he may even be a good example of box scores overrating his level of play if anything.

You may be aware of some metrics that I’m not however.

In any case I mean yes, Harden was excellent in the 2020 season and playoffs, but he also had a big tendency to shrink in the playoffs looking at bigger samples and generally sample size is really important. I don’t think 2020 was some super hard environment as you say, considering we’ve seen some crazy performances from a lot of guys in those playoffs. I’m not evem convinced Lebron would’ve held up that year if not for a shortened season, considering what he looked like in the previous year and two following seasons.

So where does tha put Harden overall for peaks? I don’t know, i’d have to think about it but with an impact heavy approach I don’t think he’s a shoe in for top 25 by any means.

Kobe should have been mentioned in the prior poll conducted, not this one - but I digress. I hope this gives my vote away. Out of the rest though, my pick is Steve Nash (2007). I like his approach a sliver more than I do Paul, when it comes to being a volume facilitator/ primary offensive catalyst because of such.