Are there any players that came into the league already in their prime?

[ardee]

Kareem, David Robinson and Tim Duncan are the three that come to mind first

I think Shaq was close too.

[ardee]

I'm surprised Tim Duncan is getting so little burn here. The biggest difference in his numbers from his rookie year and his peak is basically due to there being more shots available with Robinson aging out. He already looked like he could handle that bigger role any time they shoved it on him.

Duncan was 21/12/2.5 with all NBA first team defense and 2.5 blocks to go with it from the jump. He didn't noticeably improve or change any particular area of his game, he just settled into the NBA and the speed of things it seems.

Do you think Shaq counts? His highest ever rebound and block averages came as a rookie.

[iggymcfrack]

Actually. Walt Bellamy actually peaked in his rookie season and got worse after.

I wondered who was gonna bring him up. He was my first thought and I scrolled to see when he’s get mentioned. He was a MONSTER in his rookie season. Averaged 32/19 on league leading efficiency and somehow just slowly fell off from there.

[soxfan2003]

Magic Johnson would make my list. He went to a good to very good Lakers squad and made them the best team in the NBA. Finals MVP as a rookie. Only reason assists weren't even higher early on was Norm Nixon was established so Magic shared the ball a lot with him.

Blake Griffin.

For a much lesser player, Eric Montross. His rookie year was arguably his best.

[EmpireFalls]

Michael Carter Williams. His unquestioned peak was his rookie year

Grant Hill, Derrick Rose and Brandon Roy you might argue, bc they were all actually healthy during their rookie year so I’d count that over some of their later years.

[wojoaderge]

Sidney Wicks

[NO-KG-AI]

I'm surprised Tim Duncan is getting so little burn here. The biggest difference in his numbers from his rookie year and his peak is basically due to there being more shots available with Robinson aging out. He already looked like he could handle that bigger role any time they shoved it on him.

Duncan was 21/12/2.5 with all NBA first team defense and 2.5 blocks to go with it from the jump. He didn't noticeably improve or change any particular area of his game, he just settled into the NBA and the speed of things it seems.

Do you think Shaq counts? His highest ever rebound and block averages came as a rookie.

Nah, I think he was just massively better as a half court scorer on the Lakers than he was a rookie.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Jordan, Shaq, and David Robinson come to mind. If you agree, are there any others?

jordon and Shaq were not in their prime, maybe robinson.
I would say sabonis.
also Campazzo

[Owly]

Maybe unnoticed because of Unseld but ... productivity is there, some signal for defensive impact is there ... Elvin Hayes?

Ben Simmons?
Kyrie? (18-20 147 game spell at a higher level of production but if his prime is longer than that then box composites not generally that different from other years.)
Joe Smith?

[Owly]

via some googling then checking

Earl Monroe
Sam Bowie (injury caveat)
Terry Cummings
Ray Felix
Kellogg?
Cartwright?

[Owly]

I'm surprised Tim Duncan is getting so little burn here. The biggest difference in his numbers from his rookie year and his peak is basically due to there being more shots available with Robinson aging out. He already looked like he could handle that bigger role any time they shoved it on him.

Duncan was 21/12/2.5 with all NBA first team defense and 2.5 blocks to go with it from the jump. He didn't noticeably improve or change any particular area of his game, he just settled into the NBA and the speed of things it seems.

Do you think Shaq counts? His highest ever rebound and block averages came as a rookie.

Versus 94-05 as a whole and constituent years
Outlier high turnover %.
Oulier low assist %(and indicated from above significant outlier assist to turnover ratio)
Significantly low-end usage ('04 lower, but 27 compared to a number rarely below 30, often in 31-33 range).

Thus:
PER 22.9. Typically above 27. Better years around 30.
OBPM 2. Typically above 4.5. Better years 6 to 7.5.
OWS/48 0.070. Typically above .100. Better years 0.175 to circa 0.200.

'96 and '04 are closer but in general and versus year 2 there's a clear gap and indication of a leap.

[nikster]

There's a bunch of minor Euro's who didn't come over until they were 25 or so that were in their primes - though obviously not Bird/Kareem level primes.

Came to say this. Even the great Euros who came over older took some time to adjust (Drazen, Kukoc, Manu) or passed the prime (Sabonis).

I wonder what the best rookie season from an older Euro is (like 24+)

[ronnymac2]

None of the guys typically talked about on this board were in their prime as a rookie. If you're a great or even good player with even decent longevity, then your mental/physical development and experience matter. Reading defenses, getting used to guys' tendencies who you play 4-5 times per year (or 8-10 back in the day) in your division. When you're a rookie, you don't even know what counters you will be forced to develop yet.

Also, rookie Shaq probably wasn't even a top-30 player in 1993. He's not close to 1998 Shaq.

[SHAQ32]

Also, rookie Shaq probably wasn't even a top-30 player in 1993. He's not close to 1998 Shaq.

Holy hyperbole Batman!