McBubbles wrote:2.4 layups per game and 2.3 post ups per game
with the other 11 of his 16 shot attempts coming entirely from jump shots.Is this the pedantic hill we're going to die on? The 6'11 four, that stretches the floor, that takes 11 jump shots a game, likely the highest percentage of offence from long range for his position ever, can in absolutely no way be considered a stretch 4 and anyone who thinks otherwise clearly didn't watch his career? Really
? Ok.
Yeah but a lot of those jumpers were from 10-15 feet, so they provide only so much spacing in the contemporary context, or even in his own career. They certainly reshaped the floor, but when you say "spacing" in basketball, it is nearly universally intended to describe a shooter from the perimeter opening up the interior, wherefore all the pushback.
Dirk did a lot of slashing and pick and roll/pop when he was young, and a lot of post-ups with a foot on the edge of the paint somewhere thereafter, in that elbow/mid/low post type zone. He had a spacing effect, but calling him a "stretch 4" is an overly simplistic way to describe him and it diminishes his total scoring skillset and impact on the defense.
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As ever, it's tough to evaluate portability into another era. I think if you just took Dirk as he was and shoved him forward without context, he drops off considerably because good efficiency from his era is slightly below to slightly above league average today. Accounting for pace, spacing, improved PnR strategy and all that, it's quite likely that a guy of his skill set would see improved efficiency. Especially younger Dirk, since obviously middies with no foul draw are not the most efficient option, as helpful as they are in a variety of contexts (especially given Dirk's proficiency).
I put top 10. There's a lot of amazing talent in the league right now and I struggle to rank him ahead of Jokic, Giannis, Embiid, Luka, Steph and Shai as they are presently performing. He's in that mix with Old Lebron, RS Trae and KD. And this year, honestly, Haliburton is balling out so hard that he's ahead of Dirk at the moment as well. There are 12 player-seasons of 20+ GP and 9+ OBPM in league history, 3 of which are in-progress this season. Lebron and Jokic are the only guys to do it twice; Lebron did it 3x and Jokic is working on his third now. 1990 MJ, 03 McGrady, 2016 Steph, 2019 Harden, that's the type of season we're talking about (whether or not you love OBPM or that particular threshold, etc, etc, those are all amazing seasons).
So yeah, it's tough to look at Dirk at say "top 5" for me at this point in the season. What would probably happen is I'd say that, then he'd get into the playoffs and do something vile during that postseason run and make me look bad while Tex chuckles in the background like Muttley, because he was an incredible postseason performer and a postseason riser, but that's where I'm at right this moment.
