RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 - 1976-77 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

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Re: RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 

Post#21 » by Dutchball97 » Mon Jun 27, 2022 8:07 pm

70sFan wrote:
Dutchball97 wrote:I don't get your point about Hakeem in LeBron's place as I clearly just said I'm not going to give credit to someone for something they didn't do even if it is very likely they could've done it.

That's fine, but does it mean LeBron was really "worse" in 2018 than in 2016? Maybe he was, but it definitely wasn't because of getting swept. Again, we're not talking about KG here - Kareem has plenty of postseason success.

+8 SRS is also very impressive by the Blazers but Hakeem beat the +6.5 Knicks and Duncan beat the +7.9 Mavs, the Blazers might be the best opponent in these 3 runs but not on a completely different level.

Well, +8 SRS is significantly better than +6.5 and Rockets almost lost the Knicks series, while Hakeem having a much better supporting cast than Kareem. Mavs would be a decent comparison point, but Dirk got injured and didn't play in last games.

I think it's fair to at least question if an upgrade from the supporting cast Kareem had in 77 to a supporting cast similar to the 94 Rockets or 03 Spurs would turn the sweep to the Blazers into a series win instead.

I'm not sure if it would, but it would definitely make it closer. I don't know, I just don't understand how anybody can believe that Kareem should have done more against Blazers than he did... Anybody who watched these games at least. I'm assuming you do, that's why I'm asking about more details.

It also seems pretty clear I do have him outside the top 6 peaks since I indeed do not have him on my ballot here. I've been consistent from the start with my criteria so I'm kind of not sure why you keep being surprised at this. I'd personally have 71 Kareem in the next group with 64/65 Russell and 86 Bird but didn't bother to talk about him much because he is getting voted in before he reaches my ballot anyway. Like I get you are high on Kareem but is it really so outrageous to take the best seasons by Wilt, Duncan and Hakeem over Kareem's best season? As far as I can see 67 Wilt, 03 Duncan and 94 Hakeem have been getting traction from the very beginning just like Kareem.

I really ment the next top 6 seasons, excluding already voted in top 3. You mentioned Shaq/Wilt/Hakeem/Duncan/Russell/Bird in the last thread, which I interpret as having them all above Kareem. I miscalculated it, as it seems that you could potentially have him 6th, but it would mean that he's 9th on your peaks list. Is it outregous? Probably not, but I find it extremely hard to justify.


To be fair the gaps between these top 10 or so peaks aren't that big, smaller even than the difference between the top 10 for their careers and I probably would've even had Kareem 7th after the guys on my current ballot. I'm still standing by Kareem in 77 being arguably the "best player" but I don't think he had the "best season". I'm also not saying Kareem should've done way better against the Blazers and the games were pretty close but just like for other seasons ending before the finals I'm not comfortable with projecting their play in later rounds to be just as good. You can't always predict when someone will step up or have a disappointing series.
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Re: RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 

Post#22 » by Dutchball97 » Mon Jun 27, 2022 8:17 pm

LukaTheGOAT wrote:
Dutchball97 wrote:
70sFan wrote:So you think we could speculate if Hakeem would have won the title in LeBron's place in 2007 or 2018? Because Kareem had worse teams than James in 1977.


Well, Blazers with Walton played at +8 SRS pace in 1977-78 period, so I'd say they could be better than any team Rockets or Spurs faced in the playoffs.


We've seen Kareem leading his teams to titles though, so it's not really KG discussion.


Could you point out any specific thing Kareem would have to change in his game to make 1980 Lakers better? I don't think any reason why he wouldn't be able to play like he actually did in 1977 with better suporting cast, but I'm willing to hear your arguments.


By the way, you didn't mention Kareem in threads #3 and #4, do you have him outside top 6 then?


I don't get your point about Hakeem in LeBron's place as I clearly just said I'm not going to give credit to someone for something they didn't do even if it is very likely they could've done it. +8 SRS is also very impressive by the Blazers but Hakeem beat the +6.5 Knicks and Duncan beat the +7.9 Mavs, the Blazers might be the best opponent in these 3 runs but not on a completely different level. I think it's fair to at least question if an upgrade from the supporting cast Kareem had in 77 to a supporting cast similar to the 94 Rockets or 03 Spurs would turn the sweep to the Blazers into a series win instead.

It also seems pretty clear I do have him outside the top 6 peaks since I indeed do not have him on my ballot here. I've been consistent from the start with my criteria so I'm kind of not sure why you keep being surprised at this. I'd personally have 71 Kareem in the next group with 64/65 Russell and 86 Bird but didn't bother to talk about him much because he is getting voted in before he reaches my ballot anyway. Like I get you are high on Kareem but is it really so outrageous to take the best seasons by Wilt, Duncan and Hakeem over Kareem's best season? As far as I can see 67 Wilt, 03 Duncan and 94 Hakeem have been getting traction from the very beginning just like Kareem.


Couldn't you argue that Dirk getting injured in 03, made the Blazers a completely different level of team than the Mavs that Duncan ended up playing?


It's absolutely a factor but the Spurs went 2-1 in the games Dirk did play with Duncan going for 40/15/7/1/1 on 70.5 TS%, 35/15/5/0/3 on 59.9 TS% and 34/24/6/2/6 on 67.6 TS% with him posting double digit BPM in all 3 games, having positive +- in every game (+31 in game 3) and playing great defensively. Maybe this level wouldn't be possible if necessary for 3-4 more games but it's not like Duncan didn't play well in the rest of the series either and even with Dirk the Spurs were on pace to win.
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Re: RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 

Post#23 » by 70sFan » Mon Jun 27, 2022 8:21 pm

Dutchball97 wrote:
70sFan wrote:
Dutchball97 wrote:I don't get your point about Hakeem in LeBron's place as I clearly just said I'm not going to give credit to someone for something they didn't do even if it is very likely they could've done it.

That's fine, but does it mean LeBron was really "worse" in 2018 than in 2016? Maybe he was, but it definitely wasn't because of getting swept. Again, we're not talking about KG here - Kareem has plenty of postseason success.

+8 SRS is also very impressive by the Blazers but Hakeem beat the +6.5 Knicks and Duncan beat the +7.9 Mavs, the Blazers might be the best opponent in these 3 runs but not on a completely different level.

Well, +8 SRS is significantly better than +6.5 and Rockets almost lost the Knicks series, while Hakeem having a much better supporting cast than Kareem. Mavs would be a decent comparison point, but Dirk got injured and didn't play in last games.

I think it's fair to at least question if an upgrade from the supporting cast Kareem had in 77 to a supporting cast similar to the 94 Rockets or 03 Spurs would turn the sweep to the Blazers into a series win instead.

I'm not sure if it would, but it would definitely make it closer. I don't know, I just don't understand how anybody can believe that Kareem should have done more against Blazers than he did... Anybody who watched these games at least. I'm assuming you do, that's why I'm asking about more details.

It also seems pretty clear I do have him outside the top 6 peaks since I indeed do not have him on my ballot here. I've been consistent from the start with my criteria so I'm kind of not sure why you keep being surprised at this. I'd personally have 71 Kareem in the next group with 64/65 Russell and 86 Bird but didn't bother to talk about him much because he is getting voted in before he reaches my ballot anyway. Like I get you are high on Kareem but is it really so outrageous to take the best seasons by Wilt, Duncan and Hakeem over Kareem's best season? As far as I can see 67 Wilt, 03 Duncan and 94 Hakeem have been getting traction from the very beginning just like Kareem.

I really ment the next top 6 seasons, excluding already voted in top 3. You mentioned Shaq/Wilt/Hakeem/Duncan/Russell/Bird in the last thread, which I interpret as having them all above Kareem. I miscalculated it, as it seems that you could potentially have him 6th, but it would mean that he's 9th on your peaks list. Is it outregous? Probably not, but I find it extremely hard to justify.


To be fair the gaps between these top 10 or so peaks aren't that big, smaller even than the difference between the top 10 for their careers and I probably would've even had Kareem 7th after the guys on my current ballot. I'm still standing by Kareem in 77 being arguably the "best player" but I don't think he had the "best season". I'm also not saying Kareem should've done way better against the Blazers and the games were pretty close but just like for other seasons ending before the finals I'm not comfortable with projecting their play in later rounds to be just as good. You can't always predict when someone will step up or have a disappointing series.

What's your thought about 1974 Kareem then? Do you think he has a more reasonable case because of more complete season?
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Re: RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 

Post#24 » by Dr Positivity » Mon Jun 27, 2022 8:32 pm

I'm going to give Curry strong consideration here based on how much time has passed since 67/77 and years like 15/17/19. WIth that said I think Kareem and Wilt's seasons are more dominant for their leagues.
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Re: RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 

Post#25 » by Dutchball97 » Mon Jun 27, 2022 8:35 pm

70sFan wrote:
Dutchball97 wrote:
70sFan wrote:
That's fine, but does it mean LeBron was really "worse" in 2018 than in 2016? Maybe he was, but it definitely wasn't because of getting swept. Again, we're not talking about KG here - Kareem has plenty of postseason success.


Well, +8 SRS is significantly better than +6.5 and Rockets almost lost the Knicks series, while Hakeem having a much better supporting cast than Kareem. Mavs would be a decent comparison point, but Dirk got injured and didn't play in last games.


I'm not sure if it would, but it would definitely make it closer. I don't know, I just don't understand how anybody can believe that Kareem should have done more against Blazers than he did... Anybody who watched these games at least. I'm assuming you do, that's why I'm asking about more details.


I really ment the next top 6 seasons, excluding already voted in top 3. You mentioned Shaq/Wilt/Hakeem/Duncan/Russell/Bird in the last thread, which I interpret as having them all above Kareem. I miscalculated it, as it seems that you could potentially have him 6th, but it would mean that he's 9th on your peaks list. Is it outregous? Probably not, but I find it extremely hard to justify.


To be fair the gaps between these top 10 or so peaks aren't that big, smaller even than the difference between the top 10 for their careers and I probably would've even had Kareem 7th after the guys on my current ballot. I'm still standing by Kareem in 77 being arguably the "best player" but I don't think he had the "best season". I'm also not saying Kareem should've done way better against the Blazers and the games were pretty close but just like for other seasons ending before the finals I'm not comfortable with projecting their play in later rounds to be just as good. You can't always predict when someone will step up or have a disappointing series.

What's your thought about 1974 Kareem then? Do you think he has a more reasonable case because of more complete season?


I did consider 74 for his peak as well. I'd probably take this post-season over both 71 and 77 but he wasn't quite as dominant in the regular season in 74 as in either of 71 or 77 so it's in the mix but I don't see a clear standout season between them.
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Re: RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 

Post#26 » by capfan33 » Mon Jun 27, 2022 8:51 pm

Dutchball97 wrote:
LukaTheGOAT wrote:
Dutchball97 wrote:
I don't get your point about Hakeem in LeBron's place as I clearly just said I'm not going to give credit to someone for something they didn't do even if it is very likely they could've done it. +8 SRS is also very impressive by the Blazers but Hakeem beat the +6.5 Knicks and Duncan beat the +7.9 Mavs, the Blazers might be the best opponent in these 3 runs but not on a completely different level. I think it's fair to at least question if an upgrade from the supporting cast Kareem had in 77 to a supporting cast similar to the 94 Rockets or 03 Spurs would turn the sweep to the Blazers into a series win instead.

It also seems pretty clear I do have him outside the top 6 peaks since I indeed do not have him on my ballot here. I've been consistent from the start with my criteria so I'm kind of not sure why you keep being surprised at this. I'd personally have 71 Kareem in the next group with 64/65 Russell and 86 Bird but didn't bother to talk about him much because he is getting voted in before he reaches my ballot anyway. Like I get you are high on Kareem but is it really so outrageous to take the best seasons by Wilt, Duncan and Hakeem over Kareem's best season? As far as I can see 67 Wilt, 03 Duncan and 94 Hakeem have been getting traction from the very beginning just like Kareem.


Couldn't you argue that Dirk getting injured in 03, made the Blazers a completely different level of team than the Mavs that Duncan ended up playing?


It's absolutely a factor but the Spurs went 2-1 in the games Dirk did play with Duncan going for 40/15/7/1/1 on 70.5 TS%, 35/15/5/0/3 on 59.9 TS% and 34/24/6/2/6 on 67.6 TS% with him posting double digit BPM in all 3 games, having positive +- in every game (+31 in game 3) and playing great defensively. Maybe this level wouldn't be possible if necessary for 3-4 more games but it's not like Duncan didn't play well in the rest of the series either and even with Dirk the Spurs were on pace to win.


Dirk got injured in the middle of game 3, and I agree with the other posters. You can't really take the 7.9 SRS thing anywhere close to face-value when Dirk was essentially a non-factor in most of the series.
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Re: RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 

Post#27 » by 70sFan » Mon Jun 27, 2022 8:55 pm

Dutchball97 wrote:
70sFan wrote:
Dutchball97 wrote:
To be fair the gaps between these top 10 or so peaks aren't that big, smaller even than the difference between the top 10 for their careers and I probably would've even had Kareem 7th after the guys on my current ballot. I'm still standing by Kareem in 77 being arguably the "best player" but I don't think he had the "best season". I'm also not saying Kareem should've done way better against the Blazers and the games were pretty close but just like for other seasons ending before the finals I'm not comfortable with projecting their play in later rounds to be just as good. You can't always predict when someone will step up or have a disappointing series.

What's your thought about 1974 Kareem then? Do you think he has a more reasonable case because of more complete season?


I did consider 74 for his peak as well. I'd probably take this post-season over both 71 and 77 but he wasn't quite as dominant in the regular season in 74 as in either of 71 or 77 so it's in the mix but I don't see a clear standout season between them.

Was it less impressive RS than 1994 Hakeem though?
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Re: RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 

Post#28 » by Dutchball97 » Mon Jun 27, 2022 9:09 pm

70sFan wrote:
Dutchball97 wrote:
70sFan wrote:What's your thought about 1974 Kareem then? Do you think he has a more reasonable case because of more complete season?


I did consider 74 for his peak as well. I'd probably take this post-season over both 71 and 77 but he wasn't quite as dominant in the regular season in 74 as in either of 71 or 77 so it's in the mix but I don't see a clear standout season between them.

Was it less impressive RS than 1994 Hakeem though?


I think they have comparable regular seasons but I would give Kareem the edge. I do prefer Hakeem's post-season though but I must admit it's not that big of a gap either. Like I said the gaps are small and Kareem would be next up for me, I don't think having Kareem higher is unreasonable.
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Re: RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 

Post#29 » by DraymondGold » Tue Jun 28, 2022 1:17 am

It's great to see some back and forth on Hakeem! :D I used to be rather high on him, but I've been increasingly lower on him as I've read the analysis and looked at the data.

I'd love to ask anyone who has Hakeem over Curry or Kareem: is there any statistic that would convince you to take Curry or Kareem over Hakeem? I could understand being high on him after film analysis or if he makes gains on the margins (e.g. if you really value resilience/defense), but at least statistically... I'm not even sure how I would begin to make a case for Hakeem over those two. I'd love to get a better sense of the opposing side though!

I'll repeat the Curry vs Hakeem statistics (just for ease of access), then address some of the counters I saw in the previous thread.
Spoiler:
Plus-minus based stats:
Ai. AuPM: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem
Aii. Postseason AuPM: (no data for peak Hakeem. 2017 Curry 2nd all time)
Bi. Goldstein RAPM / Historical Square2020 RAPM: (no data for peak 93-95 Hakeem. Partial data in 85/88/91/96 and full data in 97 are far below Curry, who’s 7th all time).
Bii. Goldstein Playoff PIPM (3 years for sample size): 2017 Curry (8th all time) > 1994 Hakeem
Additional plus minus stats: C. on/off: (no data available for Hakeem. Curry 1st all time)
Additional plus minus stats: D. WOWY: 1993-1995 Hakeem > 2016-2017 Curry (not sure about full prime WOWY. I brought in 16 Curry because Ben hasn't finished publishing Curry's mid/post-2017 WOWY numbers yet).
Additional plus minus stats: E. ESPN’s RPM: (no data for Hakeem. 16 Curry 2nd all time)
Additional plus minus stats: F. Backpicks’ CORP evaluation: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem (healthy 2016 Steph Curry and 1993 Hakeem tied 4th all time)

Box score-based data
Gi. Backpicks BPM: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem (and healthy 2016 Curry is 2nd all time)
Gii. Postseason Backpicks BPM: 2017 Curry (4th all time) > 1994 Hakeem
Additional box score stats: Hi. BR’s BPM: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem (but healthy 2016 Curry (4th all time) > 2003 Duncan)
Additional box score stats: Hii. BR’s Postseason BPM: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem
Additional box score stats: Ii. WS/48: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem (but healthy 2016 Curry (3rd all time) > 2003 Duncan)
Additional box score stats: Iii. Postseason WS/48: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem
2017 Curry beats 1994 Hakeem 4/4 of our more trusted stats and by 9/10 stats total. If we add 2016 Curry and either 1993 or 1994 Hakeem (whichever helps Hakeem more), Curry beats Hakeem in 8/10 stats with 1 tie. The only stats Hakeem ties or beats Curry in are WOWY (which is famously noisy and missing data for Curry) and CORP (which is Ben Taylor's personal evaluation). In the four of the stats that aren’t old enough for Hakeem, Curry is at least 2nd all time in three of them.

I'll also add my statistical Kareem vs Hakeem comparison, now that I wrote it up:
Spoiler:
Plus-minus based stats:
Ai. AuPM: (no data for Kareem)
Aii. Postseason AuPM: (no data for Kareem.)
Bi. Goldstein RAPM / Historical Square2020 RAPM: 1985 Kareem (6th all time) (Kareem has 41 game sample, where Lakers slightly underperformed season averages) > 1988/1997 Hakeem (25 game sample in 88, full season 97)
Bii. Goldstein Playoff PIPM (3 years for sample size): 1977 Kareem (10th all time) > 1994 Hakeem
Additional plus minus stats: C. on/off: (no data available for Kareem).
Additional plus minus stats: D. WOWY: Kareem > Hakeem
Additional plus minus stats: E. ESPN’s RPM: (no data for Kareem, Hakeem)
Additional plus minus stats: F. Backpicks’ CORP evaluation: 1977 Kareem > 1994 Hakeem (though 1993 Hakeem (4th all time) > Kareem).

Box score-based data
Gi. Backpicks BPM: 1994 Hakeem > 1977 Kareem (though younger Kareem is higher)
Gii. Postseason Backpicks BPM: 1977 Kareem (7th all time) > 1994 Hakeem
Additional box score stats: Hi. BR’s BPM: 1977 Kareem > 1994 Hakeem
Additional box score stats: Hii. BR’s Postseason BPM: 1977 Kareem (4th all time) > 1994 Kareem
Additional box score stats: Ii. WS/48: 1977 Kareem > 2003 Duncan
Additional box score stats: Iii. Postseason WS/48: 1977 Kareem (2nd all time) > 1994 Hakeem.
1977 Kareem beats 1994 Hakeem in 9/10 one-number metrics and 4/4 playoff metrics. If we add either 1993 or 1994 Hakeem (whichever helps Hakeem more), Kareem still wins by 8/10 metrics and in 4/4 playoff-only metrics. Kareem only loses Backpicks Regular Season BPM (though younger Kareem is higher in numerous years) and CORP (which is Thinking Basketball’s personal evaluation).

Anyway, now for the counters I've heard defending Hakeem. Thanks OhayoKD for the reply in the last thread!
OhayoKD wrote:
DraymondGold wrote: ...
If you still have Shaq or Hakeem next, but I'd love to hear what case there is to overcome the data!

For Hakeem you can probably argue based on
a. teammates and
b. defense being less accounted for the more an impact metric uses box-stuff
c. playoff resiliency by surrounding postseasons?

...

Best argument vs curry is probably that he didn't lineup a great rs with a great ps with the exception of 2017 when the warriors were obviously playing on easy mode.

It's worth pointing out that these stats yoou're citing are simiply measuring effiency per possession, so if curry is playing signifcantly less minuites, arguably being a bit more effecient on less volume in very favorable conditions isn't the most compelling case.

So it sounds like there's 5 counters.

Counter 1: Teammates. I think 1977 Kareem had worse teammates than 1993-1995 Hakeem. It's also been discussed in previous comments, so I won't overdo it here.

As for Curry vs Hakeem, I'd definitely agree that Curry had better teammates and a better fit! But I think Hakeem's fit is underrated: the 3 point shooting around him was clearly near the top of the league, and this was important as it smoothed over his greatest offensive weakness (playmaking), where Hakeem's clearly below every other players in this tier of peaks.

It's also worth mentioning that, despite having such good teammates to take value away from him, Curry's clearly the Bus Driver of the Warriors success. On the best teams, players have to compete even harder to gain value (since the better teammates are more likely to take shots, playmaking actions, etc. away from the superstar). Yet this pattern doesn't apply for Curry:
From 2017 – 2019, with all four all stars on the court, the regular season played 20% better than the 96 Bulls by net rating. With all 3 other all stars off, and just Steph on, the 17-19 Warriors have a better net rating than the 16 Warriors, 13 Heat, 2000 Lakers, 91 Bulls, 87 Lakers, or 86 Celtics. With all 3 all stars on, and just Steph off, the 17-19 Warriors are worse than this season's 2022 Cavs.

Counter 2: Defense not being captured in the data. It's definitely true that defensive value can be hard to capture, especially in box-only one number metrics. I'm glad you raised this point!

But it's not like we have no defensively accurate data at all. AuPM, RAPM, and 3-year playoff PIPM are all highly trusted plus minus data that don't get swayed by box score information (and thus are less stable in small samples but are better at capturing defensive value). In all 3 of these, peak Curry outperforms Hakeem by a clear margin.

Now I don't want to oversell this: our sample is limited for RAPM, and we don't have any for 93-95 (maybe one day though!). But we have partial data for 1985, 1988, 1991, 1996, and full data for 1997 (when Hakeem was still an all star) through 2002. The highest value Hakeem has is +3.37 in 97. You probably could increase the error bars in the younger years (small samples) and mentally bump Hakeem's value (since the Rockets underperformed vs their season average), but still... Curry has a higher RAPM in every single season after 2011 (except 2020), whether you do it by the RAPM value or by standard deviation.

We only have two of these metrics for Kareem, but he also outperforms Hakeem by clear margin in the two we have for him. I fully agree that there's missing data, and the data we have can be imperfect. But we do have 3 metrics that accurately measure total value, and 10 metrics total that are reasonable with context/in aggregate. And with these 10 metrics, there's near complete consensus, even in the playoffs, that Curry and Kareem are better. Even if we mentally bump Hakeem, I just can't see justifying bumping him that much.

Counter 3: Playoff Resilience. I would tend to agree Hakeem is more resilient than Curry, and mayybe Kareem, but is he resilient enough to make up the difference in starting value, particularly when all our playoff metrics say he isn't ?

Per Thinking Basketball's BPM, Hakeem improves by an average of 1.4 BPM in the playoffs. That's an incredible improvement, and we should credit him for it! But if you look at Curry and Kareem's value... that improvement still isn't enough to make him better than their playoff peak.

What if we use other metrics that might capture defense better? If we take AuPM (earliest year is 1994–1999), Hakeem improves by +0.5%. But... if you look at Curry and Kareem's peak playoff value, that improvement also isn't enough to make Hakeem better in the playoffs.

Counter 4: Curry didn't put a great regular season and great playoff run at the same time (except 2017), and the Warriors were in easy mode then. It sounds like I just have other years a bit higher, but regardless, I think we're doing 1-year peaks, so would 2017 not be in the running? In the years where Curry didn't have a great playoff run, it pretty clearly coincided with postseason injuries. Now I could definitely see arguing that Hakeem beats Curry with health! But if we're taking him to be healthy, he did put together a great regular season and postseason in 17 (at least as I see it).

As for "easy mode', I'd counter with the data I mentioned in Counter 1. The Warriors were only in easy mode when Curry was on the court. They fell tremendously with him off, even over a 3 year sample.

Kareem faces a similar counter: some of his best regular seasons are separate from his best postseasons. But that's true for plenty of players: definitely LeBron, definitely Shaq, arguably MJ, etc. In both Kareem and Curry's case, the year we're arguing is their best playoff run. Does the fact that they have a worse regular season (relative to their younger selves) matter if the regular seasons are still better than Hakeem's by the majority of the metrics?

Counter 5: Rate stats vs Total Value stats. Good catch OhayoKD! I actually didn't check this as I was gathering my stats, so I'm glad you brought this up :D

It's true that Hakeem has a higher minute count than some opponents (particularly Curry), which might help him catch up in value even if he's worse per possession. So I went back and checked. The AuPM value, 3 year playoff PIPM, WOWY, and CORP value I gave are all either per game or per season, so those values remain unchanged.

3 stats may change value: Backpicks BPM might be per 100 possessions (though I haven't confirmed this), BR's BPM is per 100 possessions, and WS/48 is of course per 48 minutes. If we change them from per minute to per game / per season, Curry still beats Hakeem in 7/10 stats in one year sample, and by 8/10 stats if we take two year samples, and is still ahead in all playoff metrics. It's also worth noting Curry sits out 4th quarters more than almost any star in history, so it's possible his minutes are driven lower because his team was better. As for Kareem, he fairs similarly, still ending up ahead in 8/10 stats in 2 years.

Anyway, let me know what y'all think!
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Re: RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 

Post#30 » by TheGOATRises007 » Tue Jun 28, 2022 9:20 am

Have been very busy and can't contribute in too much detail.

1. 1977 Kareem-Abdul-Jabbar

I've been swayed by people's posts regarding Kareem and I would have voted him 3rd if I had time to do so. His best season from an overall standpoint. He has the most unstoppable shot in NBA history and his efficiency + scoring volume is impeccable. Also a positive defender and he's the clear-cut choice to me.

(2b. 1974 Kareem, 2c. 1972 Kareem)


2. 1964 Wilt Chamberlain

I've seen the arguments for 67 Wilt, but I think he was more dominant in 64. An incredible season as laid out by some people in this very thread. He is still IMO the greatest athlete in NBA history. His FT weaknesses do worry me, but it's hard to ignore his general dominance throughout the court this season. I think Russell is higher in my overall player rankings and I consider 64 Russell's peak, but I really think Wilt outplayed him in the finals and just suffered from having worse teammates. So I'd be slightly more confident having 64 Wilt on my team than 64 Russell.

(2b. 67 Wilt)

3. 2017 Stephen Curry

I was debating between this and 64 Russell, but this remark by draymondgold swayed me: "With all 3 other all stars off, and just Steph on, the 17-19 Warriors have a better net rating than the 16 Warriors, 13 Heat, 2000 Lakers, 91 Bulls, 87 Lakers, or 86 Celtics. With all 3 all stars on, and just Steph off, the 17-19 Warriors are worse than this season's 2022 Cavs. This pattern remains in the playoffs (more info below)."

That is just outrageous impact. I really think if he maintained his 16 RS level in the playoffs, I'd pick it as my top peak in NBA history. I just think he breaks the sport when he gets going, but he didn't get going as consistently as he did in 2016 throughout the 2017 season. That said, it's his best playoff run and some metrics have his RS impact higher this season than 2016(I personally think he was clearly better in the 2016 RS).

His playoff run is underrated and he pretty much eviscerated every single team he faced. And I believe Curry is the most portable player ever. He fits in more seamless compared to other all-time players and his gravity is groundbreaking. The only reason I put Wilt above him, is because I think Wilt bested Russell(and peak Russell) in a series and was just unlucky he was on a worse team.

(3a, 64 Russell)
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Re: RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 

Post#31 » by ty 4191 » Tue Jun 28, 2022 3:19 pm

My ballot.

1. Wilt, 1967
2. Kareem, 1977
3. Curry, 2017
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Re: RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 

Post#32 » by OhayoKD » Tue Jun 28, 2022 4:07 pm

DraymondGold wrote:It's great to see some back and forth on Hakeem! :D I used to be rather high on him, but I've been increasingly lower on him as I've read the analysis and looked at the data.

I'd love to ask anyone who has Hakeem over Curry or Kareem: is there any statistic that would convince you to take Curry or Kareem over Hakeem? I could understand being high on him after film analysis or if he makes gains on the margins (e.g. if you really value resilience/defense), but at least statistically... I'm not even sure how I would begin to make a case for Hakeem over those two. I'd love to get a better sense of the opposing side though!

I'll repeat the Curry vs Hakeem statistics (just for ease of access), then address some of the counters I saw in the previous thread.
Spoiler:
Plus-minus based stats:
Ai. AuPM: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem
Aii. Postseason AuPM: (no data for peak Hakeem. 2017 Curry 2nd all time)
Bi. Goldstein RAPM / Historical Square2020 RAPM: (no data for peak 93-95 Hakeem. Partial data in 85/88/91/96 and full data in 97 are far below Curry, who’s 7th all time).
Bii. Goldstein Playoff PIPM (3 years for sample size): 2017 Curry (8th all time) > 1994 Hakeem
Additional plus minus stats: C. on/off: (no data available for Hakeem. Curry 1st all time)
Additional plus minus stats: D. WOWY: 1993-1995 Hakeem > 2016-2017 Curry (not sure about full prime WOWY. I brought in 16 Curry because Ben hasn't finished publishing Curry's mid/post-2017 WOWY numbers yet).
Additional plus minus stats: E. ESPN’s RPM: (no data for Hakeem. 16 Curry 2nd all time)
Additional plus minus stats: F. Backpicks’ CORP evaluation: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem (healthy 2016 Steph Curry and 1993 Hakeem tied 4th all time)

Box score-based data
Gi. Backpicks BPM: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem (and healthy 2016 Curry is 2nd all time)
Gii. Postseason Backpicks BPM: 2017 Curry (4th all time) > 1994 Hakeem
Additional box score stats: Hi. BR’s BPM: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem (but healthy 2016 Curry (4th all time) > 2003 Duncan)
Additional box score stats: Hii. BR’s Postseason BPM: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem
Additional box score stats: Ii. WS/48: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem (but healthy 2016 Curry (3rd all time) > 2003 Duncan)
Additional box score stats: Iii. Postseason WS/48: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem
2017 Curry beats 1994 Hakeem 4/4 of our more trusted stats and by 9/10 stats total. If we add 2016 Curry and either 1993 or 1994 Hakeem (whichever helps Hakeem more), Curry beats Hakeem in 8/10 stats with 1 tie. The only stats Hakeem ties or beats Curry in are WOWY (which is famously noisy and missing data for Curry) and CORP (which is Ben Taylor's personal evaluation). In the four of the stats that aren’t old enough for Hakeem, Curry is at least 2nd all time in three of them.

I'll also add my statistical Kareem vs Hakeem comparison, now that I wrote it up:
Spoiler:
Plus-minus based stats:
Ai. AuPM: (no data for Kareem)
Aii. Postseason AuPM: (no data for Kareem.)
Bi. Goldstein RAPM / Historical Square2020 RAPM: 1985 Kareem (6th all time) (Kareem has 41 game sample, where Lakers slightly underperformed season averages) > 1988/1997 Hakeem (25 game sample in 88, full season 97)
Bii. Goldstein Playoff PIPM (3 years for sample size): 1977 Kareem (10th all time) > 1994 Hakeem
Additional plus minus stats: C. on/off: (no data available for Kareem).
Additional plus minus stats: D. WOWY: Kareem > Hakeem
Additional plus minus stats: E. ESPN’s RPM: (no data for Kareem, Hakeem)
Additional plus minus stats: F. Backpicks’ CORP evaluation: 1977 Kareem > 1994 Hakeem (though 1993 Hakeem (4th all time) > Kareem).

Box score-based data
Gi. Backpicks BPM: 1994 Hakeem > 1977 Kareem (though younger Kareem is higher)
Gii. Postseason Backpicks BPM: 1977 Kareem (7th all time) > 1994 Hakeem
Additional box score stats: Hi. BR’s BPM: 1977 Kareem > 1994 Hakeem
Additional box score stats: Hii. BR’s Postseason BPM: 1977 Kareem (4th all time) > 1994 Kareem
Additional box score stats: Ii. WS/48: 1977 Kareem > 2003 Duncan
Additional box score stats: Iii. Postseason WS/48: 1977 Kareem (2nd all time) > 1994 Hakeem.
1977 Kareem beats 1994 Hakeem in 9/10 one-number metrics and 4/4 playoff metrics. If we add either 1993 or 1994 Hakeem (whichever helps Hakeem more), Kareem still wins by 8/10 metrics and in 4/4 playoff-only metrics. Kareem only loses Backpicks Regular Season BPM (though younger Kareem is higher in numerous years) and CORP (which is Thinking Basketball’s personal evaluation).

Anyway, now for the counters I've heard defending Hakeem. Thanks OhayoKD for the reply in the last thread!
OhayoKD wrote:
DraymondGold wrote: ...
If you still have Shaq or Hakeem next, but I'd love to hear what case there is to overcome the data!

For Hakeem you can probably argue based on
a. teammates and
b. defense being less accounted for the more an impact metric uses box-stuff
c. playoff resiliency by surrounding postseasons?

...

Best argument vs curry is probably that he didn't lineup a great rs with a great ps with the exception of 2017 when the warriors were obviously playing on easy mode.

It's worth pointing out that these stats yoou're citing are simiply measuring effiency per possession, so if curry is playing signifcantly less minuites, arguably being a bit more effecient on less volume in very favorable conditions isn't the most compelling case.

So it sounds like there's 5 counters.

Counter 1: Teammates. I think 1977 Kareem had worse teammates than 1993-1995 Hakeem. It's also been discussed in previous comments, so I won't overdo it here.

As for Curry vs Hakeem, I'd definitely agree that Curry had better teammates and a better fit! But I think Hakeem's fit is underrated: the 3 point shooting around him was clearly near the top of the league, and this was important as it smoothed over his greatest offensive weakness (playmaking), where Hakeem's clearly below every other players in this tier of peaks.

It's also worth mentioning that, despite having such good teammates to take value away from him, Curry's clearly the Bus Driver of the Warriors success. On the best teams, players have to compete even harder to gain value (since the better teammates are more likely to take shots, playmaking actions, etc. away from the superstar). Yet this pattern doesn't apply for Curry:
From 2017 – 2019, with all four all stars on the court, the regular season played 20% better than the 96 Bulls by net rating. With all 3 other all stars off, and just Steph on, the 17-19 Warriors have a better net rating than the 16 Warriors, 13 Heat, 2000 Lakers, 91 Bulls, 87 Lakers, or 86 Celtics. With all 3 all stars on, and just Steph off, the 17-19 Warriors are worse than this season's 2022 Cavs.

Counter 2: Defense not being captured in the data. It's definitely true that defensive value can be hard to capture, especially in box-only one number metrics. I'm glad you raised this point!

But it's not like we have no defensively accurate data at all. AuPM, RAPM, and 3-year playoff PIPM are all highly trusted plus minus data that don't get swayed by box score information (and thus are less stable in small samples but are better at capturing defensive value). In all 3 of these, peak Curry outperforms Hakeem by a clear margin.

Now I don't want to oversell this: our sample is limited for RAPM, and we don't have any for 93-95 (maybe one day though!). But we have partial data for 1985, 1988, 1991, 1996, and full data for 1997 (when Hakeem was still an all star) through 2002. The highest value Hakeem has is +3.37 in 97. You probably could increase the error bars in the younger years (small samples) and mentally bump Hakeem's value (since the Rockets underperformed vs their season average), but still... Curry has a higher RAPM in every single season after 2011 (except 2020), whether you do it by the RAPM value or by standard deviation.

We only have two of these metrics for Kareem, but he also outperforms Hakeem by clear margin in the two we have for him. I fully agree that there's missing data, and the data we have can be imperfect. But we do have 3 metrics that accurately measure total value, and 10 metrics total that are reasonable with context/in aggregate. And with these 10 metrics, there's near complete consensus, even in the playoffs, that Curry and Kareem are better. Even if we mentally bump Hakeem, I just can't see justifying bumping him that much.

Counter 3: Playoff Resilience. I would tend to agree Hakeem is more resilient than Curry, and mayybe Kareem, but is he resilient enough to make up the difference in starting value, particularly when all our playoff metrics say he isn't ?

Per Thinking Basketball's BPM, Kareem improves by an average of 1.4 BPM in the playoffs. That's an incredible improvement, and we should credit him for it! But if you look at Curry and Kareem's value... that improvement still isn't enough to make him better than their playoff peak.

What if we use other metrics that might capture defense better? If we take AuPM (earliest year is 1994–1999), Hakeem improves by +0.5%. But... if you look at Curry and Kareem's peak playoff value, that improvement also isn't enough to make Hakeem better in the playoffs.

Counter 4: Curry didn't put a great regular season and great playoff run at the same time (except 2017), and the Warriors were in easy mode then. It sounds like I just have other years a bit higher, but regardless, I think we're doing 1-year peaks, so would 2017 not be in the running? In the years where Curry didn't have a great playoff run, it pretty clearly coincided with postseason injuries. Now I could definitely see arguing that Hakeem beats Curry with health! But if we're taking him to be healthy, he did put together a great regular season and postseason in 17 (at least as I see it).

As for "easy mode', I'd counter with the data I mentioned in Counter 1. The Warriors were only in easy mode when Curry was on the court. They fell tremendously with him off, even over a 3 year sample.

Kareem faces a similar counter: some of his best regular seasons are separate from his best postseasons. But that's true for plenty of players: definitely LeBron, definitely Shaq, arguably MJ, etc. In both Kareem and Curry's case, the year we're arguing is their best playoff run. Does the fact that they have a worse regular season (relative to their younger selves) matter if the regular seasons are still better than Hakeem's by the majority of the metrics?

Counter 5: Rate stats vs Total Value stats. Good catch OhayoKD! I actually didn't check this as I was gathering my stats, so I'm glad you brought this up :D

It's true that Hakeem has a higher minute count than some opponents (particularly Curry), which might help him catch up in value even if he's worse per possession. So I went back and checked. The AuPM value, 3 year playoff PIPM, WOWY, and CORP value I gave are all either per game or per season, so those values remain unchanged.

3 stats may change value: Backpicks BPM might be per 100 possessions (though I haven't confirmed this), BR's BPM is per 100 possessions, and WS/48 is of course per 48 minutes. If we change them from per minute to per game / per season, Curry still beats Hakeem in 7/10 stats in one year sample, and by 8/10 stats if we take two year samples, and is still ahead in all playoff metrics. It's also worth noting Curry sits out 4th quarters more than almost any star in history, so it's possible his minutes are driven lower because his team was better. As for Kareem, he fairs similarly, still ending up ahead in 8/8 stats in 2 years.

Anyway, let me know what y'all think!

Could you link me hakeem's rapm? I've only been going off wowy for his regular seaosn stuff and his wowy stuff is arguably the best of his era. You say the rockets had more help than the lakers but they went 2-10 without hakeem in 92, 5-5 without hakeem in 86, and won at a 20 win pace in 88. Maybe that's just noise, but i didn't even know we had rapm for players in the 80's/90's till this peak project so you'll have to excuse my ignorance.

I agree stuff like pipm and aupm are biased vs defense less, but even by people like ben taylor's admission, because they use box-regression, they'll tend to skew towards attacking players/guards. That being said if the data is completely inconsistent with what I concluded about hakeem based on wowy/team analysis, then i'll probably have to change my prior.

Hakeem is ahead of curry in playoff pipm but that can maybe be seen as noise.
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Re: RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 

Post#33 » by ChartFiction » Tue Jun 28, 2022 4:30 pm

1. 2016 Curry 1b. 2017 Curry

Massive relative TS% gap from rest of league. 67% to 54%. Leading PPG scorer to further amplify the effect of that. That difference is absurd but to do it on the perimeter is even more absurd. The big bang season to 'Curry's gravity'. 73 win season with a ridiculous .89 win pct. Unanimous MVP. Injured first/second round of playoff. Focus of every team on and off ball. You can say he choked in the finals but I see no shame in being 1 win away from a championship on top of the rest of the season and losing to prime LeBron and Kyrie. Greatest season of all time and this Curry wins you a championship 90/100 times.

2. 2019 Harden

Very tumultuous season for Rockets that was steadied by Harden. CP3 injured for third of the season. Melo starting and injured. Random players in and out of the lineup. Harden was a stabilizing force. Put together great RS and PS but ran into Warriors + Durant. Very arguably put up the best individual performance on the court that series. Prime Harden's Rockets ran into legendary teams every year and he was unfairly blamed for losses against teams that were just flatout better built.

3. 2014 Durant

Extremely impressive when WB was out. Felt like he was in a year where he could have turned up to any level at will. Ran into a .75 win Spurs team that went on to win the title against the Heat.
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Re: RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 

Post#34 » by Colbinii » Tue Jun 28, 2022 4:45 pm

ChartFiction wrote:1. 2016 Curry 1b. 2017 Curry

Massive relative TS% gap from rest of league. 67% to 54%. Leading PPG scorer to further amplify the effect of that. That difference is absurd but to do it on the perimeter is even more absurd. The big bang season to 'Curry's gravity'. 73 win season with a ridiculous .89 win pct. Unanimous MVP. Injured first/second round of playoff. Focus of every team on and off ball. You can say he choked in the finals but I see no shame in being 1 win away from a championship on top of the rest of the season and losing to prime LeBron and Kyrie. Greatest season of all time and this Curry wins you a championship 90/100 times.

2. 2019 Harden

Very tumultuous season for Rockets that was steadied by Harden. CP3 injured for third of the season. Melo starting and injured. Random players in and out of the lineup. Harden was a stabilizing force. Put together great RS and PS but ran into Warriors + Durant. Very arguably put up the best individual performance on the court that series. Prime Harden's Rockets ran into legendary teams every year and he was unfairly blamed for losses against teams that were just flatout better built.

3. 2014 Durant

Extremely impressive when WB was out. Felt like he was in a year where he could have turned up to any level at will. Ran into a .75 win Spurs team that went on to win the title against the Heat.


What makes Durant better than Wade and Kobe for you? What about Kareem, Duncan and Hakeem?
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Re: RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 

Post#35 » by Gregoire » Tue Jun 28, 2022 5:31 pm

My ballot.

1. Hakeem 1994
2. Kareem 1977
3. Wilt 1967
Heej wrote:
These no calls on LeBron are crazy. A lot of stars got foul calls to protect them.
falcolombardi wrote:
Come playoffs 18 lebron beats any version of jordan
AEnigma wrote:
Jordan is not as smart a help defender as Kidd
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Re: RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 

Post#36 » by DraymondGold » Tue Jun 28, 2022 5:52 pm

OhayoKD wrote:
DraymondGold wrote:It's great to see some back and forth on Hakeem! :D I used to be rather high on him, but I've been increasingly lower on him as I've read the analysis and looked at the data.

I'd love to ask anyone who has Hakeem over Curry or Kareem: is there any statistic that would convince you to take Curry or Kareem over Hakeem? I could understand being high on him after film analysis or if he makes gains on the margins (e.g. if you really value resilience/defense), but at least statistically... I'm not even sure how I would begin to make a case for Hakeem over those two. I'd love to get a better sense of the opposing side though!

I'll repeat the Curry vs Hakeem statistics (just for ease of access), then address some of the counters I saw in the previous thread.
Spoiler:
Plus-minus based stats:
Ai. AuPM: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem
Aii. Postseason AuPM: (no data for peak Hakeem. 2017 Curry 2nd all time)
Bi. Goldstein RAPM / Historical Square2020 RAPM: (no data for peak 93-95 Hakeem. Partial data in 85/88/91/96 and full data in 97 are far below Curry, who’s 7th all time).
Bii. Goldstein Playoff PIPM (3 years for sample size): 2017 Curry (8th all time) > 1994 Hakeem
Additional plus minus stats: C. on/off: (no data available for Hakeem. Curry 1st all time)
Additional plus minus stats: D. WOWY: 1993-1995 Hakeem > 2016-2017 Curry (not sure about full prime WOWY. I brought in 16 Curry because Ben hasn't finished publishing Curry's mid/post-2017 WOWY numbers yet).
Additional plus minus stats: E. ESPN’s RPM: (no data for Hakeem. 16 Curry 2nd all time)
Additional plus minus stats: F. Backpicks’ CORP evaluation: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem (healthy 2016 Steph Curry and 1993 Hakeem tied 4th all time)

Box score-based data
Gi. Backpicks BPM: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem (and healthy 2016 Curry is 2nd all time)
Gii. Postseason Backpicks BPM: 2017 Curry (4th all time) > 1994 Hakeem
Additional box score stats: Hi. BR’s BPM: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem (but healthy 2016 Curry (4th all time) > 2003 Duncan)
Additional box score stats: Hii. BR’s Postseason BPM: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem
Additional box score stats: Ii. WS/48: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem (but healthy 2016 Curry (3rd all time) > 2003 Duncan)
Additional box score stats: Iii. Postseason WS/48: 2017 Curry > 1994 Hakeem
2017 Curry beats 1994 Hakeem 4/4 of our more trusted stats and by 9/10 stats total. If we add 2016 Curry and either 1993 or 1994 Hakeem (whichever helps Hakeem more), Curry beats Hakeem in 8/10 stats with 1 tie. The only stats Hakeem ties or beats Curry in are WOWY (which is famously noisy and missing data for Curry) and CORP (which is Ben Taylor's personal evaluation). In the four of the stats that aren’t old enough for Hakeem, Curry is at least 2nd all time in three of them.

I'll also add my statistical Kareem vs Hakeem comparison, now that I wrote it up:
Spoiler:
Plus-minus based stats:
Ai. AuPM: (no data for Kareem)
Aii. Postseason AuPM: (no data for Kareem.)
Bi. Goldstein RAPM / Historical Square2020 RAPM: 1985 Kareem (6th all time) (Kareem has 41 game sample, where Lakers slightly underperformed season averages) > 1988/1997 Hakeem (25 game sample in 88, full season 97)
Bii. Goldstein Playoff PIPM (3 years for sample size): 1977 Kareem (10th all time) > 1994 Hakeem
Additional plus minus stats: C. on/off: (no data available for Kareem).
Additional plus minus stats: D. WOWY: Kareem > Hakeem
Additional plus minus stats: E. ESPN’s RPM: (no data for Kareem, Hakeem)
Additional plus minus stats: F. Backpicks’ CORP evaluation: 1977 Kareem > 1994 Hakeem (though 1993 Hakeem (4th all time) > Kareem).

Box score-based data
Gi. Backpicks BPM: 1994 Hakeem > 1977 Kareem (though younger Kareem is higher)
Gii. Postseason Backpicks BPM: 1977 Kareem (7th all time) > 1994 Hakeem
Additional box score stats: Hi. BR’s BPM: 1977 Kareem > 1994 Hakeem
Additional box score stats: Hii. BR’s Postseason BPM: 1977 Kareem (4th all time) > 1994 Kareem
Additional box score stats: Ii. WS/48: 1977 Kareem > 2003 Duncan
Additional box score stats: Iii. Postseason WS/48: 1977 Kareem (2nd all time) > 1994 Hakeem.
1977 Kareem beats 1994 Hakeem in 9/10 one-number metrics and 4/4 playoff metrics. If we add either 1993 or 1994 Hakeem (whichever helps Hakeem more), Kareem still wins by 8/10 metrics and in 4/4 playoff-only metrics. Kareem only loses Backpicks Regular Season BPM (though younger Kareem is higher in numerous years) and CORP (which is Thinking Basketball’s personal evaluation).

Anyway, now for the counters I've heard defending Hakeem. Thanks OhayoKD for the reply in the last thread!
OhayoKD wrote:For Hakeem you can probably argue based on
a. teammates and
b. defense being less accounted for the more an impact metric uses box-stuff
c. playoff resiliency by surrounding postseasons?

...

Best argument vs curry is probably that he didn't lineup a great rs with a great ps with the exception of 2017 when the warriors were obviously playing on easy mode.

It's worth pointing out that these stats yoou're citing are simiply measuring effiency per possession, so if curry is playing signifcantly less minuites, arguably being a bit more effecient on less volume in very favorable conditions isn't the most compelling case.

So it sounds like there's 5 counters.

Counter 1: Teammates. I think 1977 Kareem had worse teammates than 1993-1995 Hakeem. It's also been discussed in previous comments, so I won't overdo it here.

As for Curry vs Hakeem, I'd definitely agree that Curry had better teammates and a better fit! But I think Hakeem's fit is underrated: the 3 point shooting around him was clearly near the top of the league, and this was important as it smoothed over his greatest offensive weakness (playmaking), where Hakeem's clearly below every other players in this tier of peaks.

It's also worth mentioning that, despite having such good teammates to take value away from him, Curry's clearly the Bus Driver of the Warriors success. On the best teams, players have to compete even harder to gain value (since the better teammates are more likely to take shots, playmaking actions, etc. away from the superstar). Yet this pattern doesn't apply for Curry:
From 2017 – 2019, with all four all stars on the court, the regular season played 20% better than the 96 Bulls by net rating. With all 3 other all stars off, and just Steph on, the 17-19 Warriors have a better net rating than the 16 Warriors, 13 Heat, 2000 Lakers, 91 Bulls, 87 Lakers, or 86 Celtics. With all 3 all stars on, and just Steph off, the 17-19 Warriors are worse than this season's 2022 Cavs.

Counter 2: Defense not being captured in the data. It's definitely true that defensive value can be hard to capture, especially in box-only one number metrics. I'm glad you raised this point!

But it's not like we have no defensively accurate data at all. AuPM, RAPM, and 3-year playoff PIPM are all highly trusted plus minus data that don't get swayed by box score information (and thus are less stable in small samples but are better at capturing defensive value). In all 3 of these, peak Curry outperforms Hakeem by a clear margin.

Now I don't want to oversell this: our sample is limited for RAPM, and we don't have any for 93-95 (maybe one day though!). But we have partial data for 1985, 1988, 1991, 1996, and full data for 1997 (when Hakeem was still an all star) through 2002. The highest value Hakeem has is +3.37 in 97. You probably could increase the error bars in the younger years (small samples) and mentally bump Hakeem's value (since the Rockets underperformed vs their season average), but still... Curry has a higher RAPM in every single season after 2011 (except 2020), whether you do it by the RAPM value or by standard deviation.

We only have two of these metrics for Kareem, but he also outperforms Hakeem by clear margin in the two we have for him. I fully agree that there's missing data, and the data we have can be imperfect. But we do have 3 metrics that accurately measure total value, and 10 metrics total that are reasonable with context/in aggregate. And with these 10 metrics, there's near complete consensus, even in the playoffs, that Curry and Kareem are better. Even if we mentally bump Hakeem, I just can't see justifying bumping him that much.

Counter 3: Playoff Resilience. I would tend to agree Hakeem is more resilient than Curry, and mayybe Kareem, but is he resilient enough to make up the difference in starting value, particularly when all our playoff metrics say he isn't ?

Per Thinking Basketball's BPM, Kareem improves by an average of 1.4 BPM in the playoffs. That's an incredible improvement, and we should credit him for it! But if you look at Curry and Kareem's value... that improvement still isn't enough to make him better than their playoff peak.

What if we use other metrics that might capture defense better? If we take AuPM (earliest year is 1994–1999), Hakeem improves by +0.5%. But... if you look at Curry and Kareem's peak playoff value, that improvement also isn't enough to make Hakeem better in the playoffs.

Counter 4: Curry didn't put a great regular season and great playoff run at the same time (except 2017), and the Warriors were in easy mode then. It sounds like I just have other years a bit higher, but regardless, I think we're doing 1-year peaks, so would 2017 not be in the running? In the years where Curry didn't have a great playoff run, it pretty clearly coincided with postseason injuries. Now I could definitely see arguing that Hakeem beats Curry with health! But if we're taking him to be healthy, he did put together a great regular season and postseason in 17 (at least as I see it).

As for "easy mode', I'd counter with the data I mentioned in Counter 1. The Warriors were only in easy mode when Curry was on the court. They fell tremendously with him off, even over a 3 year sample.

Kareem faces a similar counter: some of his best regular seasons are separate from his best postseasons. But that's true for plenty of players: definitely LeBron, definitely Shaq, arguably MJ, etc. In both Kareem and Curry's case, the year we're arguing is their best playoff run. Does the fact that they have a worse regular season (relative to their younger selves) matter if the regular seasons are still better than Hakeem's by the majority of the metrics?

Counter 5: Rate stats vs Total Value stats. Good catch OhayoKD! I actually didn't check this as I was gathering my stats, so I'm glad you brought this up :D

It's true that Hakeem has a higher minute count than some opponents (particularly Curry), which might help him catch up in value even if he's worse per possession. So I went back and checked. The AuPM value, 3 year playoff PIPM, WOWY, and CORP value I gave are all either per game or per season, so those values remain unchanged.

3 stats may change value: Backpicks BPM might be per 100 possessions (though I haven't confirmed this), BR's BPM is per 100 possessions, and WS/48 is of course per 48 minutes. If we change them from per minute to per game / per season, Curry still beats Hakeem in 7/10 stats in one year sample, and by 8/10 stats if we take two year samples, and is still ahead in all playoff metrics. It's also worth noting Curry sits out 4th quarters more than almost any star in history, so it's possible his minutes are driven lower because his team was better. As for Kareem, he fairs similarly, still ending up ahead in 8/8 stats in 2 years.

Anyway, let me know what y'all think!

Could you link me hakeem's rapm? I've only been going off wowy for his regular seaosn stuff and his wowy stuff is arguably the best of his era. You say the rockets had more help than the lakers but they went 2-10 without hakeem in 92, 5-5 without hakeem in 86, and won at a 20 win pace in 88. Maybe that's just noise, but i didn't even know we had rapm for players in the 80's/90's till this peak project so you'll have to excuse my ignorance.

I agree stuff like pipm and aupm are biased vs defense less, but even by people like ben taylor's admission, because they use box-regression, they'll tend to skew towards attacking players/guards. That being said if the data is completely inconsistent with what I concluded about hakeem based on wowy/team analysis, then i'll probably have to change my prior.

Hakeem is ahead of Curry in playoff pipm but that can maybe be seen as noise.


Sure thing! And you're right that WOWY is more favorable on Hakeem vs Curry. That, and the fact that we're missing some data for Hakeem (plus all the film analysis and ways he wins on the margins with defense/resilience, etc.) is why I tend to still have Hakeem in this tier of top peaks. I just have him toward the bottom of this tier, given how most other metrics have him below his competitors (Curry, Kareem, Shaq, etc.).

Good point as well on the fact that box regression of PIPM/AuPPM may still favor offensive players! I'll include Sources for all my stats in case anyone wants to look into it themselves.

Stat Sources:
Spoiler:
Ai. AuPM: https://backpicks.com/metrics/player-seasons/
Aii. Postseason AuPM: https://backpicks.com/metrics/player-seasons/ (and 3-year postseason AuPM rankings are cited in the Greatest Peaks series: https://www.youtube .com /watch?v=FzzlvnncLOQ&list=PLtzZl14BrKjSMb4IFWSy0qh_nFGiy7PoZ&index=16 )
Bi. Goldstein RAPM: Full RAPM after 1997 here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eK0i6L0q2Brih5nKOKZLGHVofY0JWKOlnnEaSMu1LTM/edit#gid=0
Bi. Historical Square2020 RAPM: Historical RAPM (with varying sample sizes) for 1970, 1980, 1985, 1988, and 1991 are on Squared2020's website here: https://squared2020.com. 1996 can be found on their twitter: https://mobile.twitter .com /Squared2020/status/1536051473049538560?cxt=HHwWgMCq_aSrk9EqAAAA
Bii. Goldstein Playoff PIPM (3 years for sample size): PIPM playoff rankings cited in the Greatest Peaks series: https://www.youtube .com /watch?v=FzzlvnncLOQ&list=PLtzZl14BrKjSMb4IFWSy0qh_nFGiy7PoZ&index=16 and PIPM calculations for older players are made using this old (possibly outdated?) on/off estimation: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Rshz7YDmMjMQcLCCEhz5Disuy3WYKFoVKmL4buh1k0w/edit#gid=0.
Additional plus minus stats: C. on/off: https://www.nba.com/stats/players/traditional/?dir=-1&sort=PLUS_MINUS
Additional plus minus stats: D. WOWY: https://backpicks.com/metrics/wowyr/.
Additional plus minus stats: E. ESPN’s RPM: http://www.espn.com/nba/statistics/rpm
Additional plus minus stats: F. Backpicks’ CORP evaluation: https://backpicks.com/metrics/historical/corp-valuations/

Box score-based data
Gi. Backpicks BPM: https://backpicks.com/metrics/player-seasons/
Gii. Postseason Backpicks BPM: https://backpicks.com/metrics/player-seasons/
Additional box score stats: Hi. BR’s BPM: https://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/bpm_season.html (also on each player's page)
Additional box score stats: Hii. BR’s Postseason BPM: https://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/bpm_season_p.html (also on each player's page)
Additional box score stats: Ii. WS/48: https://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/ws_per_48_season.html (total Win Shares here: https://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/ws_season.html) (also on each player's page)
Additional box score stats: Iii. Postseason WS/48: https://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/ws_per_48_season_p.html (total playoff Win Shares here: https://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/ws_season_p.html but these depend on game number, so be sure to adjust to per game if you want to compare two postseasons) (also on each player's page)
...

A few comments:
-Hakeem's individual playoff PIPM may be over Curry's, but Curry's 3-year playoff PIPM is over Hakeem's, and that includes a year where Curry is injured (per Greatest Peaks series).
-For WOWY, the link includes 4 versions of the stat. 1) Scaled WOWY and 2) Scaled GPM measure similar things with a different method. 3) "AVG" is a scaled average of the two. I've been using 4) Prime WOWYR ("regressed WOWY"). WOWY can be fairly good indicators for early eras, but it require quite a lot of seasons to be stable. This comes at the cost of losing whether an individual season is more valuable than another. I wasn't sure which of the 4 WOWY metrics was best, so I'm open to using another if people have recommendations!
-I had a few typos in my previous comment which I've just fixed. At the very end, if we adjust BPM and WS/48 to be per game, Kareem ends up being ahead in 8/10 (not 8/8) stats in 2 years. Also, in counter 3, I meant "Hakeem" improves by an average of 1.4 BPM in the playoffs. I think it may (?) have been clear from context, but still possibly confusing... sorry for the typos!
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Re: RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 

Post#37 » by capfan33 » Tue Jun 28, 2022 8:00 pm

ChartFiction wrote:1. 2016 Curry 1b. 2017 Curry

Massive relative TS% gap from rest of league. 67% to 54%. Leading PPG scorer to further amplify the effect of that. That difference is absurd but to do it on the perimeter is even more absurd. The big bang season to 'Curry's gravity'. 73 win season with a ridiculous .89 win pct. Unanimous MVP. Injured first/second round of playoff. Focus of every team on and off ball. You can say he choked in the finals but I see no shame in being 1 win away from a championship on top of the rest of the season and losing to prime LeBron and Kyrie. Greatest season of all time and this Curry wins you a championship 90/100 times.

2. 2019 Harden

Very tumultuous season for Rockets that was steadied by Harden. CP3 injured for third of the season. Melo starting and injured. Random players in and out of the lineup. Harden was a stabilizing force. Put together great RS and PS but ran into Warriors + Durant. Very arguably put up the best individual performance on the court that series. Prime Harden's Rockets ran into legendary teams every year and he was unfairly blamed for losses against teams that were just flatout better built.

3. 2014 Durant

Extremely impressive when WB was out. Felt like he was in a year where he could have turned up to any level at will. Ran into a .75 win Spurs team that went on to win the title against the Heat.



Harden and Durant at 5-6, interesting....
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Re: RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 

Post#38 » by Lou Fan » Tue Jun 28, 2022 11:09 pm

DraymondGold wrote:1. 1967 Wilt Chamberlain
2. 2017 Steph Curry

(2b 2016 Steph Curry)
3. 1977 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
(3b. 1974 Kareem. )

Hey Draymond,

I think you're posts have been phenomenal and I've enjoyed reading them and learned a few things. You have posted why you think Curry stacks up favorably to a lot of the guys being considered here but you haven't yet talked about a guy I'm considering here and a guy I expect to start picking up some steam shortly, Kevin Garnett. What do you think of 17 Curry vs 04 Garnett?
smartyz456 wrote:Duncan would be a better defending jahlil okafor in todays nba
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Re: RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 

Post#39 » by Lou Fan » Tue Jun 28, 2022 11:20 pm

Glad Shaq got in there now I think, unfortunately, I will be stuck with Russell atop my ballot for awhile. It'd be a real shame imo if Wilt got in over Russ and I'd like to see more discussion centered on that.

1. 64 Russell

After Shaq it gets a lot tougher for me, but I think Russ is the right choice here. Nothing compares to the dominance he had in the defenses he led.

From 1961-1965 the ran off 5 consecutive historically dominant seasons. In 1961 they were 8.2 points better than league average, 62 8.7, 63 9.1, 64 11.5!!!, 65 9.9. Just look at those numbers. It's absolutely staggering. But how do I know Russell was driving that impact you ask? First, before Russell they were a bottom defensive team and immediately jumped 6.3 points relatie to league average (-1.8 to +4.5) and 8.0 unadjusted points (keep in mind there were only 8 teams so 1 team could effect league averages significantly). 8 point defensive improvement and that's rookie Russ. Then after Russell they dropped to the middle of the pack, losing 6.2 relative points and 10.1 raw points as they go from +6.9 to +0.7. This is old man retiring Russ impact (though admittedly he was still damn good). Now just imagine the impact peak Russ was pumping out on the ridiculously dominant 1964 Celtics defense. This Celtics defense was 5.6 points better than the second best team in the league.

Russell's freak athleticism and size allowed him to be a pantheon level defender both vertically and horizontally. He covered wide swaths of the court stifling threats left and right while also protecting the rim at an all time clip. His defensive versatility is incredibly valuable as it allows coaching staffs tons of flexibility on what type of schemes to run that will best suit your other players. Russ was like a makeup artist. He covers up all the blemishes. His defensive skillset (the vast majority of his impact) is therefore highly portable as it's hard to imagine a team scenario where his defense loses much value. Even next to another elite rim protector he could play the more KG role and be dominant that way. That's the thing about Russell our minds don't quite understand his defensive value because there is no other real comparison. He's KG if he protected the rim like Duncan or Duncan if he moved like KG. These are both imo Mount Rushmore defenders and he has the best of both of them. I might even be understating his mobility as he was a world class high jumper and according to teammates an incredibly fast sprinter.

The notion that Russ is a one way peak is wrong. Russ was a clear positive on the offensive end as one of the few players in NBA history to be able to ramp up his volume AND his efficiency in the playoffs and provide a ton of value as an offensive rebounder and passer out of the high post. Unlike his rival Wilt he understood how to play basketball as a member of the team and when taking a step back would help his team.

Alt: 62/65 Russell

2. 71 Kareem

I'm gonna stick with Kareem here for now but I'm strongly considering Curry and Garnett here. There's been a lot of convincing arguments laid out for Curry and I'm tempted to place him here.

Alt: 77 Kareem

3. 17 Curry

Probably the greatest offensive player in the history of the game at the peak of his powers. Still leaving just an absolutely massive impact footprint while sacrificing a ton to fit KD into their team. The most portable superstar in the history of the game and capable of just absolutely breaking the game of basketball. Capable of dropping 50/50/98 with 2 turnovers in total in a 6 game series while being guarded by Pat Bev and playing primarily off the ball type ridiculousness (this was in 2019 but still).

Alt: 15/19/22 Curry
smartyz456 wrote:Duncan would be a better defending jahlil okafor in todays nba
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Re: RealGM Greatest Peaks Project (2022): #4 

Post#40 » by Proxy » Tue Jun 28, 2022 11:47 pm

Just going to copy paste for now cuz i'm crazy busy tonight and don't know what the next time i'll be able to actually argue back and forth is - I expect more Bill Vs Wilt dicussions and alot more players brought up outside of mainly Kareem, Hakeem, Bill, Steph, Wilt, and Tim soon

Proxy wrote:I'm just going to focus on my next 3 picks(which are pretty much a tie) and give brief explanations for the closest snubs, hopefully being able to add more detailed explanations when I have more time.

Proxy wrote:
Proxy wrote:4.1962 Bill Russell (1964, 1963, 1965)
Image

Now number 4 is arguably the most influential player ever with how he transformed the way defense is played in the league forever.  The greatest defender ever, and the engine behind one of the greatest dynasties in sports history.

There are alot of reasons to believe Russell played a significant part in the Celtics team dominance, his defensive greatness, and many have argued how he has a case for being the most valuable player of his era so I won't focus TOO much on that unless asked to.

Here are a few pretty strong indicators he has:

-We can see it on film and we can read/hear about the era in news articles and from others that have experienced the era.

-WOWY data(also looking at the team pre and post Russell and how the league changed over time).

-Team minutes distribution(how remained constant but everyone around him changed and played nowhere near the same amount of minutes in most years and they were still dominant), etc.

-

But i'll talk about why I believe their team net ratings still undersell how dominant they truly were like I did in the last thread for 2 main reasons.

1. Using the commonly used net ratings is not a true era adjustment - in lower scoring environments a team being worth +5 per 100 has more value, this can be seen when comparing the TS+ framework vs using rTS%.

Real life situations will never be this extreme but here is an example as to why we should use the former

In a league where the average TS% is 10, being +5 would mean you are scoring at a rate 1.5x(150% better) more effectively than league average

In a league where the average TS% is 50, being +5 would mean you are scoring at a rate 1.1x(110% better) more effectively than league average

When calculating net ratings using percentages rather than absolutes, the Celtcs would likely look even more dominant because the era they played in was a lower scoring environment and significantly harder for other teams to make up ground with less PPP available.

2. The Celtics having their outlier dominance in a league with 8 ish teams drags down league averages, supressing their own numbers, and makes it harder to drag them down even further(which is probably why their playoff team numbers look so wonky).

-

I'm also starting to believe Russell is just a very clear positive offensive player. I think many people think of him the wrong way because he does seem to have a bunch of flaws in the halfcourt on film(like his post scoring arsenal does not seem very efficient, turnovers even tho that just seems like an era thing).

When I think of him being a truly all-time level transition threat for a center with and without the ball, with great court awarenes, very strong passing for a center and i've even seen him be the ball handler in screen and roll actions with Sanders, a modern-ish handle that could take other bigs off the dribble, all-time offensive rebounding ability, a little bit of a post game, and lob potential with his athleticism. I really think this is a unicorn that could be a clear positive on most teams but maybe i'm just higher on him than others.

https://youtu.be/PEs4KC4xHE0

I think it's possible his RS efficiency is also suppressed by taking alot of late shot clock bailout shots(his teammates are also overstated offensively), I feel like i've seen this a lot on film.

But in the season I chose for his peak and in a large chunk of his prime not only does his efficiency rise, but his volume rose in the playoffs as well which is very rare for an all-timer.

From backpicks.com (from '60 - '66)
Going from a negative OBPM -> +.073 OBPM(Peaking as +1.2 in '62)

Other years could deserve a shot for sure, but from what I gathered this was the most dominant Celtics team in the RS and was followed by Russell's arguably best playoff run ever so I decided to go with this one and give him the slight edge over my upcoming picks.


Ok so my 5-7 range is comprised of:

-2017 Stephen Curry
Image
● Arguably the GOAT scoring regular season in 2016 - 42.5 points per 75/Lead leading scoring average of 30.1 PPG, on a game-breaking 124 TS+(!), leading the Dubs to a #1 ITW +8.1 rORTG(iirc this ranked t3 ever but they didnt go as much into offense as the 04 Mavs and 05 Suns and their -2.6 rDRTG got them to a >+10 net rating

●Warps defenses like no other with his shooting threat(spacing) and all-time off-ball movement(gravity). - All-time scalability contributed to unmatched team dominance with more talent wasadded. 15.4 box creation estimate in 2016 - arguably still understating his off-ball value(via backpicks.coms)

●Good passer for a PG, though not rly one of his stronger passing seasons - 7.6 passer rating via backpicks.com in 2017, decent turnover economy

●Solid POA defender, and is decent as a chaser which helps contribute to him being a good team defender, though his defense has improved in 2022 with added bulk, I'd still say he's a slight positive in the year chosen. Attacking Steph has also not really been that viable of a strategy generally and teams have mostly gotten bad offenses out of that so idk why people are so bent on that tbh. I think people struggle to understand that he gets attacked because he’s surrounded by a bunch of defenders better than him, not because he’s some bad or really exploitable defender or anything.

●For the stats, I'm sure you'll see Steph pop up at the top of any APM studies, with larger team samples showing that he deserves a significant amount of credit for team dominance(don't find his collinearity with Draymond a strong argument)

●Highest 5-year on/off and on court net rating of all-time: 15 - '19 Stephen Curry(+15.9 on-court net/+17.7 on/off)

●Many would however argue his effectiveness declines in the playoffs, however in the 2017 season into the playoffs when healthy, if there were any doubt about his resilience, I believe he was basically performing around the same level as a player as he was in 2016 - there were no significant change in his skillset, he rly just had a weird start at the start of the season when incorporating KD and when they took off they were arguably the best healthy team ever.

● There are still some indicators that suggest he still has extremely high, top 5 ish level impact in the playoffs - such as his on/off only taking a slight dip when taking only games he played in, and his change in scoring efficiency against stronger defenses in his prime isn't rly abnormal for an all-time standard, really only being dented by the Rockets switching defense and the Memphis Grizzlies in his prime and dismantling other all-time defenses like the 2019 Raptors and 2022 Celtics past his peak(though the physical changes arguably did help him a lot).

●Even without Klay and KD(arguably rly the only strong positive offensive players on some of those teams) - his scoring, and more importantly team dominance were extremely high in the playoffs - from 2016-2019 the Warriors had a 119 ORTG and +10 net rating without those two on the court via pbpstats.com (a very small sample of 287 minutes). Still, again I believe reinforces the idea that he was really the driving force behind the Warriors' dominance(+12 team net rating in the playoffs from 2015 to 2022 iirc).

●I'm not the biggest fan of using postseason one-number metrics at all(especially if they are hybrids because the box prior can underrate/overrate particular abilities, which I will go into on a future player), but even APM approximates like backpicks.com's AuPM/g paint 2017 playoffs Steph as having the 3rd highest peak on record of +7.5/g(!), right behind 2009 and 2017 LeBron and one spot ahead of Timmy in 2003. This makes sense seeing as how they had a staggering +17.2 net rating in those playoffs and still had a 123 ORTG in 127 minutes without Durant that year while they only had a 105 ORTG in an almost insignificant 60-minute sample with Durant and without Curry via pbpstats.com.

●I think of Steph similarly to how I think of Russell, both the driving forces behind two of the arguably top three dynasties to play the game with outlier-ish level value on one end and having a possibly misunderstood, underrated, positive value on the other end.


-1977 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Image
●Kareem in the 1977 playoffs might straight up be the most dominant playoff scorer in NBA history IMO, and by that point one of the most lethal half-court scoring options of all time. By that point of his career(really since 1974). I think Kareem improved his lower body strength in order to deal with defenders such as Thurmond and Wilt that both made it difficult for him to get comfortable getting to his spots and bothered him significantly in his early years. He expanded his scoring arsenal with counters, a refined sky hook, and improved passing to truly become unguardable.
Check out this wonderful breakdown by 70sfan dedicated to his post-game prowess:

Not every clip was from the 1977 season, but it backs the idea that Kareem was arguably the most versatile post-scoring threat the game has ever seen.

●Now to start on why I view this stretch as arguably the most impressive scoring stretch in NBA history, just look at this production:
28.3 Points per 75/34.6 PPG(33.4% of the team’s scoring) on +11.6 rTS%. Now I don’t think there is a single other player that has scored on that volume, with that efficiency. With the efficiency looking even more impressive when using percentages rather than absolutes(which I explained why I prefer this approach in the Russell post) like rTS% does, and when dividing his TS% by the league average we see that he was literally scoring with a 126 TS+(26% more effectively on league average).

●To support the idea that scoring efficiency on that volume is so valuable, backpicks.com’s metric of ScoreVal - which attempts to measure a player’s value just from their scoring with a teammate/opponent era adjustment, views 1977 - 1979 Kareem as having the highest peak on record at +3.3 per 100, and the highest single-season peak(min 5 games) at a **** +4.4 in the 1977 playoffs lmao.

●The thing is however, that Kareem did not only have all-time scoring, but he had a fast, quick-hitting game, using his versatility to leverage his all-time gravity on and off the ball and his solid passing for hitting both passers as well as shooters(unfortunately limited by the era), and was a great creator for a center, he was also a good outlet passer that I've ever seen handle the ball on the break occasionally in film, and was an fine offensive rebounder and lob threat - that added to his off ball value. I don’t know how I feel about his screening though, didn’t seem very strong as a screen and roll man in the film i’ve seen but he could also pop out and had solid mid-range accuracy and range.

●Kareem at the height of his powers was also one of the best defensive players ever, with his main weakness in his peak years being motor. He was a phenomenal rim protector, a decent post defender, and was one of the more switchable bigs I think I’ve seen from that era as 70sfan has argued in previous threads. He was no longer the Bucks Kareem that led the Bucks to a -8.4 rDRTG in the playoffs from ‘71 - ‘73, but he could still be that player in bursts, and on teams where he wouldn’t have such a ridiculous offensive load I think you could expect more consistent defensive effort.

●These skills both helped him become a strong floor-raiser(I don’t think a single healthy prime Kareem team fell below a 50 win-pace with him), and they also scaled up extremely well. Allowing him to contribute to both the Bucks' dominance in the early 70s(+11.5 net rating from the ‘71 to’ 73 playoffs), as well as the 80s Lakers that had a +8.1 net rating in the playoffs from ‘80 to ‘82 in the playoffs, and a +9.3 rORTG from ‘85 to ‘87, where they began to move onto Magic as the focus, but he was still a solid impact player that had the ability to ramp up his scoring in the playoffs when challenged like in the 1985 finals.

●Kareem may have an argument as the most portable player era to era for the first 30 or so years post-shot clock and showed indicators suggesting that his game was absurdly resilient when it came to changes across eras in different stages of his career, adding more confidence that the value he showed at his peak was legit.


-2004 Kevin Garnett
Image
●Kevin Garnett IMO contributes more positive value in different aspects than any other player that has ever played the game. I’m running out of time so I’ll link some great breakdowns of his offense and defense and why he was one of the most valuable players on both ends by drza and I will just explain why I regard him so highly.

Offense: https://hoopslab.rotowire.com/post/150868850871/mechanisms-of-greatness-scouting-kevin-garnetts

Defense: https://hoopslab.rotowire.com/post/150844038866/mechanisms-of-greatness-scouting-kevin-garnetts

●Strengthening the argument that Kevin Garnett was one of the most valuable players of his era, arguably being THE most valuable at his peak in the regular season. KG in the 2003-04 season provided the highest single-season APM/g of +9.4 leading a pretty mediocre twolves cast to a +5.9 net rating, 58 wins, and the top of the western conference in the the deadball era, with a shot to make the finals if not for injury(via backpicks.com) and four other seasons in the top forty all-time. KG alongside LeBron stand alone at the top upon the top of any of these type of value measurements and they have an argument for being the top two most valuable players in the league in the 2000s(with Shaq and Timmy being right there too ofc for their peaks but Tim looking slightly behind).
Year by year in his prime:
1997 - +4.5
1998 - +4.8
1999 - +5
2000 - +6 (26th all–time)
2001 - +2.1
2002 - +3.6
2003 - +7.2(11th all-time)
2004 - +9.4(1st all-time)
2005 - +4.5
2006 - +4.6
2007(inj)  - +6.2 (23rd all-time)
2008 - +6.3 (21st all-time)
2009(inj) - +5.3
2010 - +3.5
2011 - +4.8
2012 - +3.2

●I would normally be skeptical of the 2003/2004 Wolves results as it is easier to be more valuable on a weaker team more dependent on his strengths, but the recurring signal in which he posted massive value signals again with an even stronger, less dependent team in Boston(a -8.6 rDRTG in his first season there - a +11.3 net rating in the RS and +8.8 and +8.6 PS team net rating in the '08 and '10 playoff runs respectively) matches the film suggesting that he was possibly the most versatile player of all-time, with his ability as both a floor raiser and ceiling raiser and that his results in Minnesota were not just some outlier that should be ignored.
The reason I am so high on KG is that I believe his game is actually extremely resilient to the playoffs and that people over-fixate on his scoring weaknesses, which leads to his value being understated in box metrics because of his scoring efficiency does drop(normal for an all-timer), the box score is also genuinely pretty bad at gauging defensive value that does have the possibility of increasing in value in the playoffs.  This scouting report  by SideshowBob from a few years ago describes some ways in which many aspects of his game can not be measured traditionally by box metrics, and in a larger sample of raw +/- data we see that his game may have translated well to the playoffs despite the drop in scoring efficiency:

SideshowBob wrote:

Garnett's offense can be broken down like this:

    -Spacing
    -PnR (Roll/Pop)
    -High-Post
    -Low-Post
    -Mid-Post
    -Screens


Remember, there is overlap between these offensive skills/features; I'm trying to give a broad-strokes perspective here.

Let's talk about his shooting really quick, and then dive in.  What I want to consider is how and which of these traits show up in the box-score, as well as which would be resilient in the face of smarter defenses.


-Has range out to the 3 pt line but practically/effectively speaking, he's going out to ~22 feet.
-From 10-23 feet, shot 47.7% in 03 (9.6 FGA/G), 45.2% in 04 (11.0 FGA/G), 44.6% in 05 (8.3 FGA/G), 48.4% in 06 (8.4 FGA/G)
-16-23 ft range, he's assisted on ~77% over those 4 years
-Shooting at the big-man positions is a conundrum - shooting 4/5s are often associated with weak (breakeven) or bad (negative) defense.  Garnett is one of the few exceptions in that not only is he an elite shooter, there's virtually no defensive opportunity cost to playing him over anyone in history.

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When he's on the ball, he can utilize his exceptional ball-handling skills to create separation and knock it down.  When he's off the ball, he's always a threat to convert - the fact that he's assisted so frequently on 16-23 ft shots means they're mostly coming on a Pick and Pop or a drive and kick, which means a lot of them are open.  He's usually shooting around 45% overall from there, so we're looking at high 40s on open shots and low-mid 40s on created ones.  BOTH of those numbers are strong, and that's where the first offensive trait comes; Spacing.  His shooting spaces the floor.  A LOT - despite the fact that he doesn't shoot 3s, he forces bigs out of the paint and opens up the lane.  Because he's not a 3-point shooter though, this effect doesn't really show up in the box-score.  And yet, this effect will always be present; doesn't matter how much a defense slows down his raw production in the playoffs, the spacing effect will always be present - he's going to try and create shots from out there and he's going to pop/spot-up; give him space/leave him open and he'll convert at .95-1.00 PPP (which is very strong in the halfcourt).  Cover him/recover on him with a little guy and he'll just shoot right over.  His man has to come out and try and cover him, and this means that there will always be a marginal improvement for the rest of the team with regards to the lane being open.  The only real way to reduce this?  Have someone at the 1-3 that can cover him (has the size/strength to cope with his shot/inside game for stretches at a time), but even then, you might yield a disadvantage with one of your bigs covering a small ball-handler. 

So next, his PnR game.  Crucially, he's a dual threat, he's deadly popping out (as demonstrated above) but even crazier rolling to the basket (high 60s-70ish finishing, that includes post/isolation, thus baskets on the roll would likely be higher.  The rolls are similar (though not equal) to drives to the basket and aside from finishing offer an opportunity to kick it out.  THIS aspect is captured fairly well by the box-score (rolls into finishes - FG%, finishes - PTS, kick outs - direct assists).  This is also one that good PnR defense teams can slow down.  Close off the PnR by stopping the ball handler (aggressive blitz/trap to force the ball out their hands before the PnR is initiated, or drop center, ice sideline to deny the ball-handler middle), or rely on strong rotations into the lane to close off easy baskets off a roll.  When we talk about his postseason dips (mainly PPG and TS%), this is mostly where they're coming from (and face up game which I'll get to later).

So now, the post options.  The high post probably yields the largest fraction of his offensive impact.  His scoring skills (again, ball-handling to set up midrange game, quickness/explosion to attack the basket straight on, catch&shoot/spotup, etc.) means that he draws a great amount of attention here, again, pulling a big away from the restricted area and up to the free throw line.  This is significant because he can spot and capitalize on any off ball movement, use his passing to force rotations until an opportunity is created, play the give and go with a small.  Essentially, there are a ton of options available here due to his gravity and diversity, yet almost none of this will show up in the box-score.  Unless he hits a cutter with a wide open lane or a shooter with a wide open corner, he's not going to be credited with the assist. 

Imagine - he sucks/turns the attention of the defense to himself, a cutter sees an opening and zips in from the wing, which forces a defender from the corner to come over and protect the basket, leaving a shooter open. Garnett hits the cutter who dishes it out, or he kicks the ball out to the perimeter and it is swung around to the open shooter.  Garnett's pressure created the opening, and his passing/vision got the ball where it needed to go, but he's given no credit in the box-score. 

Give and go is another example - at the top of the key, he gets the ball, his man (a big) is now worried about his shot and starts to close in, the lane has one less protector, the PG who just threw it in to him now curls around him with a quick handoff, his defender now runs into Garnett or his man and the PG gets an open lane to the basket.  If someone has rotated over, a shooter will be open, if not, free layup for the PG, or a kick out for a reset for Garnett in the high/mid-block area.  IF it works out that the PG gets an opening up top on the handoff, then he may get a pullup and Garnett is credited with an assist, but in most scenarios, it will play out that again, Garnett gets no box-score credit.

The effect of this play on the offense is resilient, its going to remain present against strong defenses.  It doesn't matter how strong your rotations are or what kind of personnel you have, the key is that adjustments have to be made to combat a talented high-post hub, and when adjustments are made, there is always a cost (which means the defense must yield somewhere) and therein lies the impact.  This is one of the most defense-resistant AND portable offensive skillsets that one can have (you're almost never going to have issue with fit) and its what made Garnett, Walton, 67 Chamberlain, so valuable.

Mid-Post and face-up game are a little more visible in the box-score (similar to PnR).  Mostly comprised of either blowing by the defender and making quick moves to the basket (and draw a foul) or setting up the close-mid-range shot.  This is his isolation offense, something that will tend to suffer against stronger, well equipped defenses that can close off the lane, which sort of strips away the "attack the basket, draw free throws" part and reduces it to just set up mid-range jumpshots.  Garnett's obviously great at these, but taking away the higher-percentage inside shots will hurt his shooting numbers, volume, and FTA bit.  The key then is, how disciplined is the defense.  Yes they can close the paint off, but can they do so without yielding too much somewhere else - was there a missed rotation/help when someone left his man to help cover the paint.  If yes, then there is impact, as there is anytime opportunities are created, if no then its unlikely any opportunity was created and the best option becomes to just shoot a jumper.  This is the other feature of his game that isn't as resilient in the face of smart defenses.

The low-post game is crucial because it provides both a spacing effect and the additional value of his scoring.  While he lacks the upper body strength to consistently finish inside against larger bigs, he can always just shoot over them at a reliable % instead, and against most matchups he's skilled enough back-to-basket and face-up that he can typically get to the rim and score.  Being able to do this means that he draws attention/doubles, and he's one of the best at his position ever at capitalizing by passing out to an open shooter or kicking it out to swing the ball around the perimeter to the open guy (in case the double comes from the opposite corner/baseline) and all of this action tends force rotations enough that you can get some seams for cuts as well.  Outside of scoring or making a direct pass to the open guy, the hockey assists won't show up in the box-score.  But, more importantly, there is a crucial utility in having a guy diverse enough that he can play inside and out equally effectively - lineup diversity.  He fills so many staples of an offense himself that it allows the team to run more specialized lineups/personnel that might not conventionally work, and this forces defenses to adjust (! that's a key word here).  He doesn't have to do anything here that shows up in the box-score, all he needs to do is be on the floor.  You can argue the low-post ability as a 50/50 box-score/non-box-score, but I'd lean towards giving the latter more weight.

Finally screens.  The effect of Garnett's screens is elite, because of his strong lower body base and because of the diversity of his offensive threat (and he just doesn't get called for moving screens).  Its tough for most players to go through/over a Garnett screen, which makes him ideal for setting up jumpers and cutters off the ball.  When he's screening on the ball, everyone involved has to worry about his dual scoring threat, and when that happens, that gives the ball-handler that much more space to work with.  Marginal on a single possession, significant when added up over the course of ~75 possessions, and extremely resilient - how do you stop good screens?  You don't really, you just stay as disciplined as possible.  And this effect is completely absent in the box-score.

So what's important now is to consider the fact that most of Garnett's offense does not show up in the box-score!  And I wouldn't call what he does on the floor the "little things" (this is just something people have been conditioned to say, most things that aren't covered in the box-score have become atypical/unconventional or associated with grit/hustle, despite the fact that these are pretty fundamental basketball actions/skills).  Something like 75-80% of his offensive value just simply isn't tracked by "conventional" recordkeeping, yet the focus with Garnett is almost always on the dip in scoring and efficiency.  So what if the 20% that is tracked has fallen off.  Even if that aspect of his game fell off by 50% (it hasn't), the rest of his game is so fundamentally resilient that I'm not even sure what degree of defense it would take to neutralize it (at least to an effective degree, I'm welcome to explanations), and that still puts him at 80-90% of his max offensive impact (given the increased loads he was typically carrying in the playoffs, I doubt it even went that low).  The generalized argument against him of course tends to be "where are the results", and quite frankly it needs to be hammered home that his Minnesota casts were actually that bad.  Not mid 2000s Kobe/Lebron bad, like REALLY bad, like worst of any top 10 player bad.

^https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1587761&p=57014420&hilit=KG#p57014420

●So like I said before, I believe the big ticket has an argument that he added positive value in more different ways than any other player ever, this skillset allowed him to both be one of the best floor-raisers, and one of the best ceiling-raisers of all time as well too, and to me his game has shown to be resilient to the playoffs over a larger postseason sample size(one data point is how is on/ off in the RS from '00 to '12 is +12.4, while it is +17.8 in that same stretch).

●Some of my quick reasons/concerns for not yet listing a few of the closest people I think have arguments yet(again I will go into more detail when I have more time/they are more popular picks). I would still love to hear other thoughts if people disagree with what I have to say ofc

Wilt: Inconsistency year to year gives me a bit less confidence in him, in 1967 it seems like he put things together, and that 76ers team was for sure one of the more dominant teams of all time, as well as him putting one of the more dominant playoff runs ever, but how sustainable is his value? Was that team just a perfect fit and I should have less confidence when picking him to lead my team in a vacuum? It wasn’t too long after his 64 and 67 seasons where he just had a flat-out questionable impact from the WOWY data we had(1965 and 1969).

Walton: Mainly durability/sample size related

Magic: I believe Steph is a slightly better defender than Magic was in his actual peak years, with a slight preference in his offense, but those two like everyone else in this tier are basically just picking from preference and in Magic’s prime he has a strong argument for being the most resilient offensive player the game has ever seen.

Bird: Without granular +/- or team info for the playoffs, I’m not entirely sure just how resilient his game was even though it looks like a case of someone being underrated by traditional box score measurements, I also think there's quite a bit of variance on how his defense could be perceived.

Hakeem: I’m really just not very high on Hakeem as an offensive player, his value indicators in the regular season lag behind those players even when in a more optimal situation(from a role standpoint, not a supporting talent one) like the ‘93 to ‘95 Rockets(we don’t have +/- data for 1993 which I think is his peak but his ‘94 and ‘95 indicators don’t seem game-breaking or anything to me like the other players I named even if they are still all-time great. He also he never really played on a great team or gave me much reason to believe his offense would scale too well looking at the situations where he did have a bit more talent in his career, his versatility pops out to me as being severely overrated. He does definitely seem like a playoff riser offensively, but I also think his defense is a step down from his defensive peak - I believe similar-ish in value to peak KG, Duncan, and Wilt in those years, and the Rockets feel like a really high variance team with their advanced outside shooting which I believe helped them overrperform. I can’t see a strong argument at all for him being the best offensive player ITW in any of his seasons with his passing and optimal decision-making issues, and it's hard for me to see him really toning down his detrimental tendencies to play a role more within the flow of a cohesive offesive attack because to me the willingness(which did improve throughout his career), still just wasn't really there consistently.

Tim: I don’t really like him as much as I do KG on either end but it’s basically splitting hairs again. His RS signals aren’t quite as strong as the other names I gave from the pbp era and I think it’s a little strange how much of a stark contrast his playoffs +/- data looks from that special peak from ‘01 - ‘03 have to the rest of his career, his value may be inflated by the situation?? I think his scalability is a bit underrated because people overlook 2005 for whatever reason but it’s just a bit shakier for me compared to the other people I’m voting for this round.


1. 1962 Bill Russell
(1964, 1963, 1965)
-I think of his defense is being probably just as valuable as Steph's offense(and maybe even more portable), but his offense being better than Steph's defense
2. 2017 Stephen Curry
3. 2004 Kevin Garnett
(2016 Stephen Curry)
4. 1977 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
-Really the thing separating him from Steph and KG to me is that those two really just have endless motors. If you gave Kareem an extra lung and his motor on defense was slightly more consistent, I might have just ranked him at the top of this group. These four players are basically a tie IMO and slight preferences like that really do have a big impact on my actual ranking. I do like these players more than anyone else so far though I want to say.
(2003 KG)
(1974 KAJ)
AEnigma wrote:Arf arf.
Image

trex_8063 wrote:Calling someone a stinky turd is not acceptable.
PLEASE stop doing that.

One_and_Done wrote:I mean, how would you feel if the NBA traced it's origins to an 1821 league of 3 foot dwarves who performed in circuses?

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