Where would 1995 D-Rob rank today?

[tsherkin]

Sure, back then teams often wanted their bigs to run offense from the low/high post isolations. Robinson wasn't suited for that play, he was quite raw scorer that couldn't create easy shots for himself when he couldn't overwhelm his defender physically.

Yeah, I suspect today that teams wouldn't try to force volume action from him quite as much as they did in the 90s. He isn't Embiid, for example, so it's possible that they would be able to just let him score in the low/mid 20s and then try to work guard action, which is easier to come by these days.

[ShaqAttac]

Sure, back then teams often wanted their bigs to run offense from the low/high post isolations. Robinson wasn't suited for that play, he was quite raw scorer that couldn't create easy shots for himself when he couldn't overwhelm his defender physically.

Yeah, I suspect today that teams wouldn't try to force volume action from him quite as much as they did in the 90s. He isn't Embiid, for example, so it's possible that they would be able to just let him score in the low/mid 20s and then try to work guard action, which is easier to come by these days.

whats volume action. is guard action like shooting and stuff

[Cavsfansince84]

Yeah, i think once you make it "growing up" you've created a different player. There's no way to account for what happens with a different upbringing. I'd say the cut-off between where this is about "david robinson" and where this is about "this new player i've invented" would be when he's entering the league.

The most likely outcome for any player, teleported back or forward, if you they grow up in a new era is they don't play professional basketball

Well I already sort of addressed that side of it above regarding the nature of these types of threads which is why I usually don't respond to them. I'm not sure why you would make the bolded comment though. Maybe you can elaborate on why you made it.

[Cavsfansince84]

Box production going up between eras does not mean a player has gotten better. What matters is the degree he can out-pace everyone else. D-rob being able to get more points in a "more offense-friendly" environment doesn't mean anything inofitself. Drob's scoring might go up, but so would the scoring of all the peers he's competing against. Value is defined by relative comparisons, not absolutes.

Generally, in the absence of a strong argument for relative improvement, saying a player is going to get better when they join a more talented league is probably off:

Not necessarily box score production going up. I mean I don't think he's playing 38-40mpg in today's league. There's a bunch of factors to consider. I do think the league is set up in such a way now that bring an athletic outlier works more to players advantage than back then due to less contact being allowed with less strict dribbling rules. So all of that could work in his favor.

[OhayoKD]

Box production going up between eras does not mean a player has gotten better. What matters is the degree he can out-pace everyone else. D-rob being able to get more points in a "more offense-friendly" environment doesn't mean anything inofitself. Drob's scoring might go up, but so would the scoring of all the peers he's competing against. Value is defined by relative comparisons, not absolutes.

Generally, in the absence of a strong argument for relative improvement, saying a player is going to get better when they join a more talented league is probably off:

Not necessarily box score production going up. I mean I don't think he's playing 38-40mpg in today's league. There's a bunch of factors to consider. I do think the league is set up in such a way now that bring an athletic outlier works more to players advantage than back then due to less contact being allowed with less strict dribbling rules. So all of that could work in his favor.

well again, this is a production/volume argument. For this to benefit d-rob, he'd need to benefit more due to his athleticism than everyone else? Would you say athletic outliers are less common now? or there's a specific aspect of atheleticism d-rob stands out more now than he would have back then? Maybe if we directly compare his physical qualities with giannis we can get somwhere more tangible

[Cavsfansince84]

well again, this is a production/volume argument. For this to benefit d-rob, he'd need to benefit more due to his athleticism than everyone else? Would you say athletic outliers are less common now? or there's a specific aspect of atheleticism d-rob stands out more now than he would have back then? Maybe if we directly compare his physical qualities with giannis we can get somwhere more tangible

A few things(some of which I already mentioned). Less contact being allowed on defense, more traveling generally allowed and less strict dribbling rules which allows more movement. Also, the way in which uber athletic big men are utilized now and increased spacing. I think David would benefit from all of that to some degree.

[tsherkin]

whats volume action. is guard action like shooting and stuff

Simply put, they wouldn't ask him to shoulder too much of the scoring load and they would use guard play (scoring action from the guards, or maybe even really from the wing, depending on personnel) to handle more of it.

[KGtabake]

Below Giannis, Jokic, Steph. So top4.

[OhayoKD]

well again, this is a production/volume argument. For this to benefit d-rob, he'd need to benefit more due to his athleticism than everyone else? Would you say athletic outliers are less common now? or there's a specific aspect of atheleticism d-rob stands out more now than he would have back then? Maybe if we directly compare his physical qualities with giannis we can get somwhere more tangible

A few things(some of which I already mentioned). Less contact being allowed on defense, more traveling generally allowed and less strict dribbling rules which allows more movement. Also, the way in which uber athletic big men are utilized now and increased spacing. I think David would benefit from all of that to some degree.

Well, I don't know uber-athletic bigs right now generating comparable era-relative impact than their 90 counterparts. Giannis might if you project his 2020 regular season onto better postseason runs, but I can't think of anyone who sustained it throughout the rs and the playoffs for a season.