flytimes11 wrote:dhsilv2 wrote:flytimes11 wrote:
Ok. I’m just curious where MVP Westbrook ranks as far as advanced statistics and if his PEAK was higher than kd or steph. I can understand an argument of KG having a higher peak than Kobe even though I don’t like the argument of Peak vs all time because basketball has always been about longevity and not cherry-picking a couple seasons of a player to say they are better than another. I don’t see what argument he would have over him all time. Plus it just seems like winning is the least important metric in stats/Peak based discussions. Harden has a higher Vorp than Kobe has ever had. So Harden peaked higher? I admittedly am not big on stuff like Fg%. But what does that really mean when it didn’t lead to any championships? Look at Harden in elimination games, I am to believe he was better than Kobe?
It would be hard for me to ever place Jokic over Jordan or LeBron.
Westbrook does very well in box metrics. RAPM +/- were much less favorable with him. I don't have elgee's CORP stats, but given he uses WOWY and RAPM in that I'd assume he'd be lower than these other elite peaks.
Remember I started by explaining why CURRY would rank ahead of Kobe and we added KG for context. In terms of longevity KG is also ahead of Kobe in the metrics, obviously Curry isn't. Thus why if you rank Curry over Kobe you can still take KG. Meanwhile if you rank Kobe over Curry you could ALSO still take KG while being consistent.
Harden peaks over Kobe in VORP. RAPM data doesn't paint as strong a picture. We have good and strong data to show that Harden has under-preformed beyond just statistical noise in the playoffs, so you certainly should discount for that. This is a clear example of where we have good data.
As for the winning stuff, if KG never went to Boston, and we didn't see him have one of the greatest defensive years ever. I think it would be MUCH harder to make a strong case beyond just box/+/- stats, but because we do have the data point with the celtics and his one year where he got a 0 time allstar in Cassell (though imo he'd been at that level a while) and it turned that Wolves team into a legit contender...I think it's safe to say his impact/play was absolutely winning basketball. He just did have historically, truly unprecedented bad teammates. We can even get there with some stats to compare his 2007 team to Kobe's 2005 team and look at the metrics. Kobe's team wasn't good. KG's was idiotically bad.
Oh and yeah Jokic passing Lebron or Jordan is a VERY VERY tough task. I'd bet a lot against it, but it's not crazy to think it's possible. Very few guys however have sustained the greatness of Jokic the last 3 years as long as MJ and Lebron did.
My thing with advanced stats is that the games still have to be played. Looking at the numbers on paper would make one think there is no need to watch the game I’m sure advanced stats would have said 2010 Celtics would have swept the 2010 lakers but that did not happen or 07 mavs losing first round, 11 spurs losing first round etc. It’s the reason the 2016 finals is so crazy because warriors still had to win a 4th game which they never did. While Kobe’s play style could be inefficient it still proved to win. That’s part of who he was as a player, relentless going at the opponent every possession wearing them down mentally and physically. Now of course you could argue his shot selection is what holds him back, and his numbers reflect that. Stats tell you a lot but they do not tell you everything. And what they don’t tell you is that Kobe is a great shooter, that took difficult shots – partly because he was an aggressive scorer, and partly because he had to be an aggressive scorer, at times. The Lakers did not have that many great backcourt shooters (klay/kyrie etc) Kobe could pass to and rely on, particular in the middle of his prime (the mid 2000s). The Lakers roster in the late 2000s did rely on him making tough shots – there were not other players that could help generate an open shot for Kobe.
Another note I want to add is Team USA struggled in the Olympics until Kobe joined and in the gold medal game the offense was ran through him when LeBron and Wade were on the team. He also had a much better showing than Duncan.
Lastly the accolades and accomplishments speak for themselves. It seems disingenuous to imply that Kobe is Kobe because of his teammates. He led a team to 3 straight finals and was part of a 3 peat, something very rare in the NBA. We can’t just assume because some of these players have better advanced stats that if we put them in the same circumstances they win as much as Kobe because basketball isn’t played on excel spreadsheets. No hypotheticals, he actually won 5 championships. It would be hard for me to put Jokic, Steph or Kg over Kobe because given the circumstances and scenarios he was able to do everything those guys did.
You're starting your analysis with "winner bias". Your entire thread is about bias. Winning bias is the most pervasive thing we have in sports and what makes real discussions the most difficult.
You're right, we did see Kobe, with Great teammates win and win a lot. Other players never had teams as good as Kobe's best. It's great that we know that Kobe can win in that situation. But we don't know if others would have as well. We never saw Kobe on a team as bad as the 2007 Wolves, so how can we know how good/bad he would have been there?
At some point you need a consistent method that goes beyond just stats and just TEAM results. It isn't being inconsistent to do the best with the limited data you have. It's inconsistent to only take winning into account and not take losing into account. It's not consistent to dismiss a player based on his team not excelling with terrible teammates but to hype up a player's success when his teammates are great. Or worse here, Kobe did at BEST as well as KG with poor teammates in 2005 and 2006. But Kobe really never had a team that was as bad as KG's worse teams. Again, you're focused on Kobe at his best, with the best around him. While KG always gets knocked for when his team was at it's absolute worst.
Similarly, laker's fans who dismiss KG>Kobe will also get angry about Duncan>Kobe and will go to that Duncan had better teammates and Pop. You know vs Kobe with Shaq, Pau, and Phil. That's hypocrisy in one's analysis.
And I have no idea why we're getting into the international stuff. That isn't' NBA or used when ranking NBA players. Also...the roster was completely different that year. It was a complete rebuild/branding. If you want to give Kobe credit for joining the team, that's cool I guess. I'm sure he helped recruiting.