RealGM

Who is the best offensive player at their peak? How would you rate them?

McHale was among the best and most efficient bigs in the 80s at his peak and among PFs alltime. His peak season was big.

If there's an argument for Pau here relative to McHale, it's about his passing ability. McHale was competent, but Pau was quite good. Then you have to match that against McHale's scoring prowess, though.

tsherkin wrote:If there's an argument for Pau here relative to McHale, it's about his passing ability. McHale was competent, but Pau was quite good. Then you have to match that against McHale's scoring prowess, though.

I would add that Pau had a marginally better all-around turnover economy, as was arguable a slightly better offensive rebounder (their numbers on ORebs are almost identical, but one must bear in mind that Pau's came in a league environment that sacrificed crashing the offensive glass in the interest of getting back on defense to a much higher degree than McHale's era).

I personally think it's pretty close between these two (and I could see going with Pau by a hair).

my ranking:
Pau Gasol
Pablo GAsol
Paulito Gasol

kidding aside:

McHale obviously for the ISO abilities but I prefer Señor Gasol for the all-around skills (including size)
I don't know how to rate Blake's single season wonder

trex_8063 wrote:I would add that Pau had a marginally better all-around turnover economy, as was arguable a slightly better offensive rebounder (their numbers on ORebs are almost identical, but one must bear in mind that Pau's came in a league environment that sacrificed crashing the offensive glass in the interest of getting back on defense to a much higher degree than McHale's era).

I personally think it's pretty close between these two (and I could see going with Pau by a hair).

It's certainly an interesting discussion to have!