3 and 5 year peaks

Moderators: Doctor MJ, trex_8063, penbeast0, PaulieWal, Clyde Frazier

trelos6
Senior
Posts: 630
And1: 281
Joined: Jun 17, 2022
Location: Sydney

3 and 5 year peaks 

Post#1 » by trelos6 » Tue Oct 28, 2025 1:11 am

It's probably going to be a future project, but I've tweaked my 3 and 5 year peaks of the top 40 or so players and the results are below.
Player 3 Years
Michael Jordan89-91
Lebron James12-14
Shaquille O'Neal00-02
Nikola Jokic23-25
Bill Russell62-64
Hakeem Olajuwon93-95
Steph Curry15-17
Tim Duncan01-03
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar72-74
David Robinson94-96
Kevin Garnett02-04
Giannis Antetokounmpo20-22
Wilt Chamberlain66-68
Larry Bird85-87
Magic Johnson86-88
Jerry West64-66
Kevin Durant16-18
Kobe Bryant06-08
Oscar Robertson63-65
Steve Nash05-07
James Harden18-20
Dwyane Wade09-11
Kawhi Leonard15-17
Dirk Nowitzki09-11
Julius Erving75-77
Chris Paul13-15
Karl Malone92-94
Joel Embiid21-23
Charles Barkley89-91
Walt Frazier71-73
Patrick Ewing89-91
Jimmy Butler21-23
Moses Malone81-83
Anthony Davis18-20
Scottie Pippen94-96
Rick Barry74-76
Bob Pettit59-61
Jayson Tatum22-24
Luka Doncic22-24
Elgin Baylor61-63
Kevin McHale85-87
John Stockton88-90
John Havlicek70-72
Jason Kidd02-04
Artis Gilmore72-74
Reggie Miller93-95
Paul Pierce08-10


Tiers

All-Time: MJ through Russell
MVP: Hakeem through Kawhi
Weak MVP: Dirk through Barry
All NBA: Pettit through Pierce

Player 5 Years
Michael Jordan88-92
Lebron James09-13
Bill Russell61-65
Nikola Jokic21-25
Shaquille O'Neal99-03
Steph Curry15-19
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar73-77
Tim Duncan01-05
Hakeem Olajuwon91-95
David Robinson92-96
Kevin Garnett02-06
Larry Bird83-87
Wilt Chamberlain64-68
Jerry West65-69
Giannis Antetokounmpo19-23
Magic Johnson86-90
Oscar Robertson63-67
Kobe Bryant06-10
Steve Nash05-09
Dirk Nowitzki07-11
Kevin Durant14-18
James Harden16-20
Julius Erving73-77
Karl Malone91-95
Kawhi Leonard15-19
Chris Paul11-15
Charles Barkley89-93
Walt Frazier70-74
Dwyane Wade09-13
Joel Embiid19-23
Patrick Ewing89-93
Anthony Davis16-20
Moses Malone81-85
Scottie Pippen93-97
Jimmy Butler19-23
Rick Barry72-76
Bob Pettit58-62
Luka Doncic21-25
Jayson Tatum21-25
John Stockton88-92
Elgin Baylor60-64
Kevin McHale84-88
Paul Pierce05-09
John Havlicek70-74
Artis Gilmore72-76
Jason Kidd02-06
Reggie Miller91-95


Tiers

All-Time: MJ through Jokic
MVP: Shaq through Oscar
Weak-MVP: Kobe through Barry
All NBA: Pettit through Miller

Obviously a down year or injury really hurts a player in the 5 year ranks. Notable instances are D Rob '92 injury, Jerry West '67 ps injury, KD's '15 injury, Kawhi's '18 injury. Others are affected by an injury shifting the years of their 5 year peaks, like D Wade.
User avatar
TheGOATRises007
RealGM
Posts: 21,613
And1: 20,285
Joined: Oct 05, 2013
         

Re: 3 and 5 year peaks 

Post#2 » by TheGOATRises007 » Tue Oct 28, 2025 2:58 am

What's the argument for Curry over Kareem?
trelos6
Senior
Posts: 630
And1: 281
Joined: Jun 17, 2022
Location: Sydney

Re: 3 and 5 year peaks 

Post#3 » by trelos6 » Tue Oct 28, 2025 3:45 am

TheGOATRises007 wrote:What's the argument for Curry over Kareem?


Kareem peaks in ‘77. Years around it weren’t as great. If you pick best 3 non concurrent years, Kareem is ahead. But it’s not. It’s 3 consecutive seasons.
kcktiny
Rookie
Posts: 1,069
And1: 786
Joined: Aug 14, 2012

Re: 3 and 5 year peaks 

Post#4 » by kcktiny » Tue Oct 28, 2025 11:54 pm

Would have Havlicek over Doncic.

Both players were high scorers with multiple all-NBA team selections. But Havlicek was NBA all-defensive team each season (your 5 year range), arguably the best defensive SF in the year range you specified, whereas Doncic has been a poor defender pretty much his entire career (even with his very good defensive rebounding).

You also have all-offense no-defense Jokic and all-defense little-offense Russell above great two-way Cs like Hakeem, DRob, Jabbar, Wilt. What's the reasoning?
trelos6
Senior
Posts: 630
And1: 281
Joined: Jun 17, 2022
Location: Sydney

Re: 3 and 5 year peaks 

Post#5 » by trelos6 » Wed Oct 29, 2025 1:47 am

kcktiny wrote:Would have Havlicek over Doncic.

Both players were high scorers with multiple all-NBA team selections. But Havlicek was NBA all-defensive team each season (your 5 year range), arguably the best defensive SF in the year range you specified, whereas Doncic has been a poor defender pretty much his entire career (even with his very good defensive rebounding).

You also have all-offense no-defense Jokic and all-defense little-offense Russell above great two-way Cs like Hakeem, DRob, Jabbar, Wilt. What's the reasoning?


Each season is judged on its own. The best 3 year stretch is evaluated based off averages (similarly for 5 year stretch). Hakeem '93, Kareem '77 are individual seasons either at or above peak Jokic. Jokic's 3 consecutive seasons though were elite.

Hondo v Luka was pretty close. Both peak at a first team all NBA level for multiple seasons, without crossing into that weak MVP territory.
kcktiny
Rookie
Posts: 1,069
And1: 786
Joined: Aug 14, 2012

Re: 3 and 5 year peaks 

Post#6 » by kcktiny » Wed Oct 29, 2025 9:08 am

Jokic's 3 consecutive seasons though were elite.


You have ten Cs - Russell, Jabbar, Olajuwon, DRob, Chamberlain, Embiid, Ewing, Malone, Gilmore, An.Davis (PF/C) - listed below Jokic.

Name just one that Jokic was better than defensively.
Owly
Lead Assistant
Posts: 5,772
And1: 3,215
Joined: Mar 12, 2010

Re: 3 and 5 year peaks 

Post#7 » by Owly » Wed Oct 29, 2025 10:49 am

kcktiny wrote:You also have all-offense no-defense Jokic and all-defense little-offense Russell above great two-way Cs like Hakeem, DRob, Jabbar, Wilt. What's the reasoning?
kcktiny wrote:
Jokic's 3 consecutive seasons though were elite.


You have ten Cs - Russell, Jabbar, Olajuwon, DRob, Chamberlain, Embiid, Ewing, Malone, Gilmore, An.Davis (PF/C) - listed below Jokic.

Name just one that Jokic was better than defensively.

This seems somewhat peculiar is a challenge, somewhat of a non sequitur.

An answer of "none" would in and of itself do nothing to challenge the posters reasoning as I imagine you are attempting to do.

If, say, Jokic is (arbitrarily) a +16 player via +16 O and 0 D (or indeed +17 and -1) and Jabbar is +15 via a +9 and +6 or whatever ... Jokic's value remains greater.

It doesn't matter whether one agrees with the assessments for the particular players. That's a different argument (one where we're explicitly drilling into specific players' net value). Being "two-way" is typically good because it gives you two areas to accumulate a big impact. But if it turns out you can reliably do it on one end I'm not sure why the how would matter. If there's a need for a meta argument then always good to clarify things. But I'm not sure silo-ing things off here particularly helps.

Fwiw, and of course this doesn't really matter but in terms of ease of reading an odd choice to list "An. Davis" (to distinguish from ... Baron? Walter? though fwiw not Antonio, I suppose) but simply "Malone" in a list of all time great big men in which you've included a player you acknowledge as primarily a PF and Karl Malone is part of your source list. I would think Moses (or "M.") would be more helpful in providing greater clarity in such lists.
User avatar
Whopper_Sr
Pro Prospect
Posts: 982
And1: 977
Joined: Aug 28, 2013
 

Re: 3 and 5 year peaks 

Post#8 » by Whopper_Sr » Wed Oct 29, 2025 2:08 pm

Pretty large gap between Jokic and Magic. Is it because of Jokic’s scoring?
kcktiny
Rookie
Posts: 1,069
And1: 786
Joined: Aug 14, 2012

Re: 3 and 5 year peaks 

Post#9 » by kcktiny » Wed Oct 29, 2025 4:58 pm

This seems somewhat peculiar is a challenge, somewhat of a non sequitur.


What kind of inane response is this? Do you even know what "non sequitur" means? "an inference that does NOT follow from the premise"

Was or was not this player ranking posted to elicit discussion? If not then what's the point?

No methodology is mentioned. Is one not allowed to ask about the methodology and then question it?

An answer of "none" would in and of itself do nothing to challenge the posters reasoning


How do you even know what the poster's reasoning is? Why do you feel the need to speak for the poster? Why have you arbitrarily decided you have the right to speak for the poster? Are you some official RealGM spokesperson or something?

The poster posted:

Jokic's 3 consecutive seasons though were elite.


What does "elite" mean? Do you know? I sure don't. Elite on offense? On defense? Offensive rebounding? Defensive rebounding?

The poster listed Jokic 2nd among Cs on both listings. I simply asked the poster to name even one of the Cs listed that he thought Jokic was a better defender than. Is this not permissible?

Why has this twisted you in a knot? If you have a problem with that, then stay out of the discussion. If not, then add something of substance to the conversation.

And just what exactly is this?:

If, say, Jokic is (arbitrarily) a +16 player via +16 O and 0 D (or indeed +17 and -1) and Jabbar is +15 via a +9 and +6 or whatever ... Jokic's value remains greater.


How has this gibberish in any way helped to further this discussion?

It doesn't matter whether one agrees with the assessments for the particular players.


Who are you to decide this?

Why do you feel the post was made if not to spur discussion/debate on the players? The poster even listed different tiers for the players.

Who are you to say we are not allowed to debate or question these?

Being "two-way" is typically good because it gives you two areas to accumulate a big impact. But if it turns out you can reliably do it on one end I'm not sure why the how would matter.


What are you even saying here? Do you even know? This is a listing of NBA players. How about discussing this listing?

If there's a need for a meta argument then always good to clarify things. But I'm not sure silo-ing things off here particularly helps.


Silo-ing? Dude what are you even talking about?

How about discussing/debating the actual players in the listings?

Fwiw, and of course this doesn't really matter but in terms of ease of reading an odd choice to list "An. Davis" (to distinguish from ... Baron? Walter? though fwiw not Antonio, I suppose) but simply "Malone" in a list of all time great big men in which you've included a player you acknowledge as primarily a PF and Karl Malone is part of your source list. I would think Moses (or "M.") would be more helpful in providing greater clarity in such lists.


Dude are you completely clueless? I listed specifically Cs, and the only C mentioned in the above listing named Malone is Moses Malone. Do you see a Baron, or a Walter, or an Antonio anywhere in the above listings?

Are you off your meds or something?
penbeast0
Senior Mod - NBA Player Comparisons
Senior Mod - NBA Player Comparisons
Posts: 30,588
And1: 10,051
Joined: Aug 14, 2004
Location: South Florida
 

Re: 3 and 5 year peaks 

Post#10 » by penbeast0 » Wed Oct 29, 2025 6:03 pm

If you can't be civil, don't post here.
“Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination,” Andrew Lang.

Return to Player Comparisons