Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today?

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Where would Peak Mutombo rank today?

Top 5
1
5%
Top 10
4
21%
Top 15
8
42%
Top 20
6
32%
 
Total votes: 19

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Re: Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today? 

Post#21 » by OhayoKD » Wed Apr 12, 2023 7:46 am

KobesScarf wrote:
kendogg wrote:Similar to peak Gobert on defense but offensively he has worse hands. Fringe top 20 maybe but the league is so stacked particularly at guard that I'm not sure I'd take him over another fringe top 20 guy like Haliburton.
Mutombo is 10x the rim protector Gobert is. And I don't think he would be any worse on the perimeter.

Very much doubt Mutombo is 10x the rim protector as the longer, comparably tall, and similarly sturdy Gobert. Never mind a dramatic deficit in mobility and weaker footwork/positioning.

I get that people want to pretend basketball peaked in the 90's, but there's really nothing for mutembo here besides the misconception he was ever "stopping" the likes of Shaq 1 v 1. Defenses didn't deal with Bully-ball bigs by stopping them at the rim. They dealt with them by cutting off "the others", exploiting that those bigs were limited ball-handlers and passers and preventing them from getting to the spots where they were "unstoppable" in the first place.
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Re: Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today? 

Post#22 » by 70sFan » Wed Apr 12, 2023 9:37 am

OhayoKD wrote:
70sFan wrote:
OhayoKD wrote:You are aware dpoy is supposed to go to the best defender in the league, yes?

You know full well what my point is. No poster here has claimed Mutembo would not be a good defender. So unless you and NO-KG-AI legitimately think Brook has a best defender in the league case, maybe stop "arguing for the sake of arguing".

I think he's one of the best defenders in the league and that he's a very worthy DPOY candidate.

Which takes us back to him not being the best defender on his own team, reflected in a massive team-level defensive drop-off in the years where he has anything resembling a case as the anchor

Yeah, we see a massive drop off this season...
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Re: Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today? 

Post#23 » by OhayoKD » Wed Apr 12, 2023 10:10 am

70sFan wrote:
OhayoKD wrote:
70sFan wrote:I think he's one of the best defenders in the league and that he's a very worthy DPOY candidate.

Which takes us back to him not being the best defender on his own team, reflected in a massive team-level defensive drop-off in the years where he has anything resembling a case as the anchor

Yeah, we see a massive drop off this season...

The Bucks are -1.7 over the last 3 years and -3 in 2023. Lebron has anchored multiple better defenses(-5.9, -3)with weaker support. Was Lebron a "very worthy DPOY candidate"?
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Re: Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today? 

Post#24 » by 70sFan » Wed Apr 12, 2023 10:26 am

OhayoKD wrote:
70sFan wrote:
OhayoKD wrote:Which takes us back to him not being the best defender on his own team, reflected in a massive team-level defensive drop-off in the years where he has anything resembling a case as the anchor

Yeah, we see a massive drop off this season...

The Bucks are -1.7 over the last 3 years and -3 in 2023. Lebron has anchored multiple better defenses(-5.9, -3)with weaker support. Was Lebron a "very worthy DPOY candidate"?

It's shocking to see how you use last 3 years as an example of Lopez weakness, when by far the worst year of this period happened when Brook missed full season basically. Did you forget about it or do you do it on purpose?

The Bucks have 108.9 DRtg with Lopez on the floor vs 117.4 without him (by basketball-reference). He looks even better by other sources. No other Bucks player even approach such value - Jrue being second with 110.1 vs 115.0. Lopez plays 30 mpg this season, LeBron played almost 40 mpg in his prime. Considering the massive shift without Brook, it's underestendable why Bucks aren't more dominant overall. Minutes are important of course, but I don't think your criticism of Lopez is focused on minutes.

I get that you don't like Lopez and I probably know why, but there are a lot of reasons to be high about him this season. His paint protection is incredible however you want to measure it. Like you know, defensive evaluation doesn't end at looking at DRtg.
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Re: Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today? 

Post#25 » by OhayoKD » Wed Apr 12, 2023 11:55 am

70sFan wrote:
OhayoKD wrote:
70sFan wrote:Yeah, we see a massive drop off this season...

The Bucks are -1.7 over the last 3 years and -3 in 2023. Lebron has anchored multiple better defenses(-5.9, -3)with weaker support. Was Lebron a "very worthy DPOY candidate"?

It's shocking to see how you use last 3 years as an example of Lopez weakness, when by far the worst year of this period happened when Brook missed full season basically. Did you forget about it or do you do it on purpose?

The bucks were a -5.5 and -7.7 regular season defense in 2019 and 2020. The Bucks were -9 with Giannis and -6 with Giannis and no Lopez. "Did you forget about it or do it on purpose"?

I used the three year sample since that was the basis of your argument for Brook's immense defensive value, but I also highlighted the best year Brook had because even if I just ignore the -0.9 and pretend the bucks going from -0.3 to -2.2 was all Brook Lopez, that still would not stack up to Lebron's track record, let alone actual "dpoy-worthy" defenders. Why exactly have the bucks been half as good defensively as they were with an actually dpoy-calibre anchor with Lopez improving into another "dpoy-worthy" defender?
The Bucks have 108.9 DRtg with Lopez on the floor vs 117.4 without him (by basketball-reference). He looks even better by other sources.

And? Taking that sample at face-value, Lopez's "value" is -8.5. In 2022 and 2020 there was no drop off, and in 2021 it was -5.8

The 20 Bucks with Lopez were 10.6 points worse when Giannis went off. And of course Giannis was improving a vastly better defense.

The 09 Cavs saw a 13 point drop-off for a defense merely better than Lopez's with Lebron.

Really even 30+ Lebron looks better going by "value" grading at 9 in 2016, 5.2 in 2015, and 3.5 in 2017 on defenses closer to Lopez's Bucks than Lopez's Bucks were to the 09/10 Cavs. Brooks has less defensive "value" than Lebron per-possession, while playing less minutes, and sees comparatively little replication while anchoring weaker defenses. What exactly is your basis for Brooks being a lebron-level defender, let alone a dpoy-worthy one?

Brooks's Bucks are nowhere near as good as the Lebron-led, let alone Giannis-led defenses in the regular season before mysteriously turning into their 19/20 selves in the playoffs when Brook's teamate goes all-out
I get that you don't like Lopez and I probably know why, but there are a lot of reasons to be high about him this season. His paint protection is incredible however you want to measure it. Like you know, defensive evaluation doesn't end at looking at DRtg.

No, it ends at you forgetting that the Bucks literally had the best rim protection in the league without Lopez in 2020 and that Lopez is at a significant disadvantage at basically every other top-defensive big at basically every other aspect of defense.

Unless your definition of dpoy is "way worse than the best defenders including his own teammate", Lopez is not "a very worthy DPOY" candidate
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Re: Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today? 

Post#26 » by magicman1978 » Wed Apr 12, 2023 1:34 pm

OhayoKD wrote:Unless your definition of dpoy is "way worse than the best defenders including his own teammate", Lopez is not "a very worthy DPOY" candidate


Don't mean to sound facetious here, but you are of course aware that DPOY is a single year, regular season award - the focus should only be on what's happened this year. I don't know enough whether to say he is or isn't a DPOY candidate, but looking at some of the advance metrics this year - it does show he's been more impactful that Giannis. Would be interested to see arguments against that for this season. This doesn't mean Brook is more capable than Giannis - just that it seems like he's been more consistent on that end this season. Likely won't hold true when Giannis turns it up in the playoffs - but that has no impact on DPOY.

If Brook is disqualified just because he's got a teammate who's better when he turns it up, then you might as well disqualify just about anyone else because Giannis is probably better than them too. But Giannis doesn't deserve it this year, because he just hasn't been consistently playing that level of defense. So who gets it? You think Giannis is DPOY or someone else?
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Re: Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today? 

Post#27 » by 70sFan » Wed Apr 12, 2023 3:39 pm

OhayoKD wrote:The bucks were a -5.5 and -7.7 regular season defense in 2019 and 2020. The Bucks were -9 with Giannis and -6 with Giannis and no Lopez. "Did you forget about it or do it on purpose"?

Unlike you, I don't try to say that Giannis wasn't a great defender in these years. It's not a serious argument and you know it.

I think you should also focus on the fact that (unlike Lopez), Giannis also played in the last 3 season majority of the time. You cherry pick his early success, but you fail to mention that Giannis was the key contributor to Bucks "mediocre" defenses in the last 3 years as well. You also fail to mention that Lopez was an important contributor to 2019 and 2020 Bucks defensive success as well.

I have no problems with saying that peak Giannis was better than Lopez, but that's pointless discussion. Giannis didn't play on 2019 level anymore, so why do you even bring it here?


I used the three year sample since that was the basis of your argument for Brook's immense defensive value, but I also highlighted the best year Brook had because even if I just ignore the -0.9 and pretend the bucks going from -0.3 to -2.2 was all Brook Lopez, that still would not stack up to Lebron's track record, let alone actual "dpoy-worthy" defenders. Why exactly have the bucks been half as good defensively as they were with an actually dpoy-calibre anchor with Lopez improving into another "dpoy-worthy" defender?

1. The difference between last season Bucks and this season Bucks is significantly bigger than "from -0.3 to -2.2".

2. Giannis isn't DPOY level player this season, he's not on 2020 level anymore and hasn't been in RS for years.

3. LeBron has nothing to do with these discussions


4. I suggest you to expand your defensive evaluation beyong crude WOWY numbers.

And? Taking that sample at face-value, Lopez's "value" is -8.5. In 2022 and 2020 there was no drop off, and in 2021 it was -5.8

Lopez didn't play in 2022 basically, so we don't have any reliable sample. The Bucks were all-time great in 2020 anyway, so it doesn't make Lopez look bad.

In short - Lopez shows that the Bucks are consistently great with him on the floor defensively.

The 20 Bucks with Lopez were 10.6 points worse when Giannis went off. And of course Giannis was improving a vastly better defense.

That's the argument for 2020 Giannis over 2023 Lopez... not for Lopez being unworthy DPOY talks.

The 09 Cavs saw a 13 point drop-off for a defense merely better than Lopez's with Lebron.

It has nothing to do with this discussion.
Also, see point 4.

Really even 30+ Lebron looks better going by "value" grading at 9 in 2016, 5.2 in 2015, and 3.5 in 2017 on defenses closer to Lopez's Bucks than Lopez's Bucks were to the 09/10 Cavs.

Yeah, at this point all we need is look at on/off and end the discussion. No, "impact" doesn't work that way.

Brooks's Bucks are nowhere near as good as the Lebron-led, let alone Giannis-led defenses in the regular season before mysteriously turning into their 19/20 selves in the playoffs when Brook's teamate goes all-out

Are you aware that Lopez and Giannis play together for years...? Giannis played full season this year basically, why it's no longer "his" defense when it's not as good as outlier results from 5 years ago?

No, it ends at you forgetting that the Bucks literally had the best rim protection in the league without Lopez in 2020 and that Lopez is at a significant disadvantage at basically every other top-defensive big at basically every other aspect of defense.

Yeah, Giannis was a great rim protector in 2020. He still is.

How does it change anything?

Unless your definition of dpoy is "way worse than the best defenders including his own teammate", Lopez is not "a very worthy DPOY" candidate

Lopez is a less valuable defender than peak Giannis, but Giannis didn't play on his defensive peak level this season. He's not even close to that in fact.

Maybe this hyperbole can help you understand your position here: "Duncan can't be DPOY candidate in 2003 because he is worse than 1994 Robinson on defense".
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Re: Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today? 

Post#28 » by OhayoKD » Wed Apr 12, 2023 7:08 pm

magicman1978 wrote:
OhayoKD wrote:If Brook is disqualified just because he's got a teammate who's better when he turns it up, then you might as well disqualify just about anyone else because Giannis is probably better than them too. But Giannis doesn't deserve it this year, because he just hasn't been consistently playing that level of defense. So who gets it? You think Giannis is DPOY or someone else?

JJJ or Draymond this season. Depending on your approach(situatuional value or theoretical value) Gobert could be up there. Per possession AD is at that top tier, but he's missed alot of games

Worth noting Brook's box-defensive components(d-boxlebron, dbpm, ect) significantly outpace his "impact". The Bucks basically sell out to prevent him from getting cooked in space and then use an elite defensive cast to funnel attackers towards him much in the way the Raptors did with old Gasol. He's doing great in a limited role, but he doesn't belong in the best defender in the league conversation. He's a textbook example of situational value which is why this "dpoy-worthy" defense has never been replicated.
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Re: Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today? 

Post#29 » by magicman1978 » Wed Apr 12, 2023 8:14 pm

OhayoKD wrote:
magicman1978 wrote:
OhayoKD wrote:If Brook is disqualified just because he's got a teammate who's better when he turns it up, then you might as well disqualify just about anyone else because Giannis is probably better than them too. But Giannis doesn't deserve it this year, because he just hasn't been consistently playing that level of defense. So who gets it? You think Giannis is DPOY or someone else?

JJJ or Draymond this season. Depending on your approach(situatuional value or theoretical value) Gobert could be up there. Per possession AD is at that top tier, but he's missed alot of games

Worth noting Brook's box-defensive components(d-boxlebron, dbpm, ect) significantly outpace his "impact". The Bucks basically sell out to prevent him from getting cooked in space and then use an elite defensive cast to funnel attackers towards him much in the way the Raptors did with old Gasol. He's doing great in a limited role, but he doesn't belong in the best defender in the league conversation. He's a textbook example of situational value which is why this "dpoy-worthy" defense has never been replicated.


Just looking at some numbers here - when Lopez is on court, DRTG:

- Jrue = 107.6 (1579 min)
- Giannis = 107.8 (1104 min)
- Portis = 108.9 (922 min)
- Carter = 107.3 (1076 min)

With Lopez off court:

- Jrue = 113.5 (602 min)
- Giannis = 114.8 (918 min)
- Portis = 119.6 (893 min)
- Carter = 116 (729 min)

Lets look at some other numbers:

- Brook w/o Giannis = 109 (1267 min)
- Brook w/o Jrue = 110 (791 min)
- Brook w/o Giannis and Jrue = 112 (494 min)
- Jrue w/o Brook = 113.5 (602 min)
- Jrue w/o Brook and Giannis = 121.5 (186 min)
- Giannis w/o Brook = 114.8 (918 min)
- Giannis w/o Brook and Jrue = 118.8 (502 min)

If they're selling out to prevent him from getting cooked, two of their best defenders shouldn't be struggling that much without him. That's pretty good situational impact. Maybe he's not DPOY, but I don't think we can discount his impact he's had on making the Bucks one of the league's top defenses. They should be the top defense if Giannis was actually outperforming Brook on that end.
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Re: Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today? 

Post#30 » by OhayoKD » Wed Apr 12, 2023 8:25 pm

magicman1978 wrote:
OhayoKD wrote:
magicman1978 wrote:

JJJ or Draymond this season. Depending on your approach(situatuional value or theoretical value) Gobert could be up there. Per possession AD is at that top tier, but he's missed alot of games

Worth noting Brook's box-defensive components(d-boxlebron, dbpm, ect) significantly outpace his "impact". The Bucks basically sell out to prevent him from getting cooked in space and then use an elite defensive cast to funnel attackers towards him much in the way the Raptors did with old Gasol. He's doing great in a limited role, but he doesn't belong in the best defender in the league conversation. He's a textbook example of situational value which is why this "dpoy-worthy" defense has never been replicated.


Just looking at some numbers here - when Lopez is on court, DRTG:

- Jrue = 107.6
- Giannis = 107.8
- Portis = 108.9
- Carter = 107.3

With Lopez off court:

- Jrue = 113.5
- Giannis = 114.8
- Portis = 119.6
- Carter = 116

Lets look at some other numbers:

- Brook w/o Giannis = 109
- Brook w/o Jrue = 110
- Brook w/o Giannis and Jrue = 112
- Jrue w/o Brook = 113.5
- Jrue w/o Brook and Giannis = 121.5
- Giannis w/o Brook = 114.8
- Giannis w/o Brook and Jrue = 118.8

If they're selling out to prevent him from getting cooked, two of their best defenders shouldn't be struggling that much without him. That's pretty good situational impact.

Can you list the total # of minutes for those samples?

Also, for comparison sake, could you do something similar with Davis?(or tell me what to ask statmuse to get that)

Edit: My argument wasn't that Brook couldn't be more situationally valuable than a coasting Giannis defensively, it was that Brook becoming an arguable "anchor" for the Bucks coincided with their defense falling off a cliff. While the Bucks were a better defense with and without Lopez when Giannis was going hard in the RS.
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Re: Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today? 

Post#31 » by magicman1978 » Wed Apr 12, 2023 9:08 pm

OhayoKD wrote:Can you list the total # of minutes for those samples?

Also, for comparison sake, could you do something similar with Davis?(or tell me what to ask statmuse to get that)


I updated the last post to include minutes. For Davis, there's less consistency with his teammates and I'm not sure you can make an argument that his defense relies on other players covering for him, like you would argue for Brook. I tried it without Lebron/Westbrook.

Overall - 110.4 (1945 min)
w/o LeBron - 111.4 (1024 min)
w/o Westbrook - 108.33 (1326 min)
LeBron w/o Davis = 115.4 (1077 min)
Westbrook w/o Davis = 118.4 (890 min)
LeBron + Westbrook w/o Davis = 111.4 (430 min) = this one is confusing - Lakers were a +10.3 net in these minutes.
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Re: Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today? 

Post#32 » by Karate Diop » Wed Apr 12, 2023 9:12 pm

People are confusing old broken Deke his last handful of years with prime Deke...
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Re: Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today? 

Post#33 » by magicman1978 » Wed Apr 12, 2023 9:42 pm

I think lateral quickness is something players can work on and improve. Gobert was no more mobile than Deke was when he came into the league - but he's improved significantly in that area. Rudy's draft combine measures have him at 12.75 seconds Lane Agility time. For comparison:

Steven Adams - 11.85
Nick Richards - 11.42
Eddy Curry - 12.25
DeSagana Diop - 12.37
Kwame Brown - 11.59
Nene - 10.73
Chris Kaman - 11.33
Darko - 11.3
Bogut - 12.06
Oden - 11.67
Whiteside - 11.83
Kanter - 11.3
Vucevic - 12.0
Drummond - 10.8
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Re: Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today? 

Post#34 » by OhayoKD » Thu Apr 13, 2023 12:22 am

70sFan wrote:4. I suggest you to expand your defensive evaluation beyong crude WOWY numbers.

?
https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?p=104615953#p104615953
Maybe I missed something, but the only argument I've seen from you this far is crude lineup splits in response to a "crude lineup split" plus granular context from TB. You also apparently don't think it matters how good the defenses these crude lineup splits apply to are, that Brook has failed to replicate this one-off signal, that Brook ventures out less than Embid, and Brooks isn't even clearly advantaged over "dpoy" defenders as a rim protector. Plenty of posters have pointed out the Bucks scheme protecting Brooks but you ignored all of them in favor of a cherrypicked 3-year sample(or in this case 1 or 2 years since now 2022 doesn't count). Funny thing is I can just assume Brook didn't play at all in 2022 and give him all the credit for them being better in 2023. That still would not get Brook close to guys you swear aren't DPOY-level defenders, never mind actual DPOY's. "Crude WOWY" has an advantage over small lineup samples here because we can see the teams function with some time to prepare/adapt for absences, but hey let's "expand our evaluation":
I think you should also focus on the fact that (unlike Lopez), Giannis also played in the last 3 season majority of the time. You cherry pick his early success, but you fail to mention that Giannis was the key contributor to Bucks "mediocre" defenses in the last 3 years as well. You also fail to mention that Lopez was an important contributor to 2019 and 2020 Bucks defensive success as well.

Read:
Which takes us back to him not being the best defender on his own team, reflected in a massive team-level defensive drop-off in the years where he has anything resembling a case as the anchor

Giannis and -6 with Giannis and no Lopez. "Did you forget about it or do it on purpose"?

Notice how I haven't pushed for Giannis as 2023 DPOY? I did not "cherrypick" anything, I acknowledged Giannis coasting and pointed out the dramatic regular drop-off that emerged as a result. You ignored said drop-off and are now projecting your "cherrypicking" onto me. I also used the same type of "crude-lineup split" to note that the Bucks were a much better defense than they are now without Lopez. Expand your evaluation first.
LeBron has nothing to do with these discussions

Sure he does. "DPOY-worthy is a comparative claim. And you are on the record swearing peak Lebron was not a dpoy-worthy defender, let 30+ Lebron stacks up just fine to Brook defensively whether you use raw or adjusted metrics on similar defenses which scale up massively in the postseason. Maybe "expand" your evaluation beyond whose taller? Which part of your oh-so-complete analysis led you to the conclusion that Brooks is better than 30+ non-Dpoy Lebron, let alone the likes of AD, Draymond, Gobert, and Jackson?
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Re: Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today? 

Post#35 » by 70sFan » Thu Apr 13, 2023 5:57 am

OhayoKD wrote:?
https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?p=104615953#p104615953
Maybe I missed something, but the only argument I've seen from you this far is crude lineup splits in response to a "crude lineup split" plus granular context from TB.

Yeah, that's the only time in 5 years I have ever talked about Lopez defense...

You also apparently don't think it matters how good the defenses these crude lineup splits apply to are, that Brook has failed to replicate this one-off signal, that Brook ventures out less than Embid, and Brooks isn't even clearly advantaged over "dpoy" defenders as a rim protector.

But Lopez has the advantage over other candidates as a rim protector this year. Defense dashboard inside 6 feet:


https://www.nba.com/stats/players/defense-dash-lt6?dir=D&sort=FGA_LT_06

I don't have the access for basketball index data, but I remember seeing data showing that Lopez has overall the best combination of FG% differential and FGA differential at the rim as well (with Gobert being the best at limiting attempts and Draymond being the best at reducing efficiency, but Lopez looks the best all around).

You see, just because I don't have the time to make huge articles about Lopez defense here doesn't mean that I base everything on lineup splits. I also don't push controversial argument to its limits like you do every time when Lopez defense comes to play. If you think Lopez isn't DPOY worthy, make the case because most people agree he's in conversation.

Plenty of posters have pointed out the Bucks scheme protecting Brooks but you ignored all of them in favor of a cherrypicked 3-year sample(or in this case 1 or 2 years since now 2022 doesn't count).

Yeah, but we're not talking about 2020 here. We're talking about 2023 DPOY. It would be nice to show me that Lopez is protected by Bucks scheme this year, instead of leveraging Ben Taylor's video from 3 years ago...

Also, it's you who cherrypick 2 years sample for Giannis, even though he played in all of the other seasons and your only argument is that "he coasts now". You shouldn't talk about cherrypicking in the first place.

Funny thing is I can just assume Brook didn't play at all in 2022

What assumption? Lopez played 13 games in last RS and he came after an injury.

and give him all the credit for them being better in 2023. That still would not get Brook close to guys you swear aren't DPOY-level defenders, never mind actual DPOY's.

How?

"Crude WOWY" has an advantage over small lineup samples here because we can see the teams function with some time to prepare/adapt for absences, but hey let's "expand our evaluation":

Yes, WOWY is a good piece of information, but they shouldn't be your only argument with how noisy they are.

By the way, the Bucks had 112.2 DRtg last year without Lopez on the floor. Now they have 108.9. Considering that the league became much more efficient this year (almost 3 points swing in ORtg), that's a very strong signal on a very good team with other elite defenders (around 6 points difference). It's not GOAT-level impact, but nobody argues Lopez is on that level.

Read:
Which takes us back to him not being the best defender on his own team, reflected in a massive team-level defensive drop-off in the years where he has anything resembling a case as the anchor

Giannis and -6 with Giannis and no Lopez. "Did you forget about it or do it on purpose"?

Notice how I haven't pushed for Giannis as 2023 DPOY? I did not "cherrypick" anything, I acknowledged Giannis coasting and pointed out the dramatic regular drop-off that emerged as a result.

But why do you decide that Giannis is still a better defender than Lopez this season if he coasts? This makes no sense.

You ignored said drop-off and are now projecting your "cherrypicking" onto me. I also used the same type of "crude-lineup split" to note that the Bucks were a much better defense than they are now without Lopez. Expand your evaluation first.

As I said, I am not interested in 2020 discussion. It has nothing to do with Lopez DPOY candidacy this year. You try to convince me to peak Giannis being a better defender than Lopez and you're wasting your time because you don't need to.

Focus on this season, I don't care about signals from 3-4 years ago.

Sure he does. "DPOY-worthy is a comparative claim. And you are on the record swearing peak Lebron was not a dpoy-worthy defender,

Yeah, because competition matters. LeBron played in the league with peak Dwight, Boston Garnett, Duncan, Gasol and then Draymond and peak Gobert. The competition right now isn't on the same level.

let 30+ Lebron stacks up just fine to Brook defensively whether you use raw or adjusted metrics on similar defenses which scale up massively in the postseason.

Yeah, let's compare raw numbers of two completely different players with completely different roles playing completely different amount of minutes from 15 years apart and conclude it's a great counterargument.

Again, focus on this season.

Maybe "expand" your evaluation beyond whose taller? Which part of your oh-so-complete analysis led you to the conclusion that Brooks is better than 30+ non-Dpoy Lebron, let alone the likes of AD, Draymond, Gobert, and Jackson?

It seems that you can't argue in a good faith recently...

Present the case for Gobert, AD, Draymond and Jackson instead. As I said, Lopez is a recognisable DPOY candidate. If you want to show he's not worthy, present the case. Just please, focus on this year instead of using samples from 2019...

Note that I never said Lopez is the best out of these names. I simply stated that he's a good candidate and that's it. It's you who want to prove that Lopez isn't really good defensively (on many threads up to this point). If we all miss so much, then present evidences. It shouldn't be hard and I will appreciate new portion of information.
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Re: Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today? 

Post#36 » by NO-KG-AI » Thu Apr 13, 2023 2:35 pm

OhayoKD wrote:
70sFan wrote:
OhayoKD wrote:35 year old Brook Lopez isn't a threat to be the best defender on his team.

Yet he is a threat to win DPOY, what's your point?

You are aware dpoy is supposed to go to the best defender in the league, yes?

You know full well what my point is. No poster here has claimed Mutembo would not be a good defender. So unless you and NO-KG-AI legitimately think Brook has a best defender in the league case, maybe stop "arguing for the sake of arguing".


I'm not arguing for the sake of arguing. People are saying his mobility would keep him off the floor or render him useless in today's league.

You're the one arguing for the sake of arguing, because you're still mad about being banned and you can't control yourself, which is why you got canned to begin with. Stop responding to me, I'm not here to argue with people that re-frame my argument because they are bitter about having to use a proxy to continue arguing against points no one is even making.

I'm asking you to stop quoting me, I have no desire to engage with you at all, or anyone else that isn't allowed to post here anymore.
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Re: Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today? 

Post#37 » by OhayoKD » Thu Apr 13, 2023 6:39 pm

NO-KG-AI wrote:
OhayoKD wrote:
70sFan wrote:Yet he is a threat to win DPOY, what's your point?

You are aware dpoy is supposed to go to the best defender in the league, yes?

You know full well what my point is. No poster here has claimed Mutembo would not be a good defender. So unless you and NO-KG-AI legitimately think Brook has a best defender in the league case, maybe stop "arguing for the sake of arguing".


I'm not arguing for the sake of arguing. People are saying his mobility would keep him off the floor or render him useless in today's league.

Now comes the part where you show us where someone said "he'd be rendered useless"
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Re: Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today? 

Post#38 » by pdevos » Tue Apr 18, 2023 3:04 am

I feel like he lacks the mobility of Gobert...

But there are multiple centers today who are starting who probably he is as mobile as:
e.g. Zubac, Capela, Dwight Powell, Jonas Valančiūnas, DeAndre Ayton, Kevon Looney, Jakob Poetl, Jalen Duren...

I'd love if anyone has a highlight reel where they feel Mutombo showed great mobility on defense.

Offensively, Gobert has the worst feet and hands I've ever seen from a human who plays basketball. Mutombo sets great picks and would be fine matching (and exceeding) Gobert's offensive production.

So what about that defense... more mobile and better than Kevon Looney? Capela? Jalen Duren? Ayton?
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Re: Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today? 

Post#39 » by KobesScarf » Tue Apr 18, 2023 6:09 pm

OhayoKD wrote:
KobesScarf wrote:
kendogg wrote:Similar to peak Gobert on defense but offensively he has worse hands. Fringe top 20 maybe but the league is so stacked particularly at guard that I'm not sure I'd take him over another fringe top 20 guy like Haliburton.
Mutombo is 10x the rim protector Gobert is. And I don't think he would be any worse on the perimeter.

Very much doubt Mutombo is 10x the rim protector as the longer, comparably tall, and similarly sturdy Gobert. Never mind a dramatic deficit in mobility and weaker footwork/positioning.

I get that people want to pretend basketball peaked in the 90's, but there's really nothing for mutembo here besides the misconception he was ever "stopping" the likes of Shaq 1 v 1. Defenses didn't deal with Bully-ball bigs by stopping them at the rim. They dealt with them by cutting off "the others", exploiting that those bigs were limited ball-handlers and passers and preventing them from getting to the spots where they were "unstoppable" in the first place.


Mutombo is more athletic, more aggressive, and has better timing. Mutombo also has better feet.

Gobert is a product of playing in a league with very few good rim protectors and the ones who are good are always injured
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Re: Where would Peak Dikembe Mutombo rank today? 

Post#40 » by kendogg » Tue Apr 18, 2023 11:34 pm

KobesScarf wrote:Mutombo is more athletic, more aggressive, and has better timing. Mutombo also has better feet.

Gobert is a product of playing in a league with very few good rim protectors and the ones who are good are always injured


are we watching the same game? stone hands mutombo was a liability on offense if he wasnt dunking a putback. and gobert is a far better pick and roll player. FAR better. they are pretty close defensively. mutombo has more bounce but rudy more length and a bigger stride. so rudy can play a bit further back on someone and also get more blocks from behind. which suits the modern game where rudy can drop further back

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