2003-04 Peja Stojaković before Chris Webber came back from injury (57 RS games)

FrodoBaggins · Post #1 » by **FrodoBaggins** » Wed Mar 18, 2026 10:46 am

- 25.6 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 2.2 apg (9.3 AST%), 1.4 spg, 0.2 bpg, 2.0 topg (9.0 TOV%)
- .481% FG, .444% 3PT, .505% 2PT, .569% eFG, .925% FT, .630% TS
- +7.0 +/- per game, +399 total over 2281 minutes

43-15 team record. Was leading the league in TS% (min. 46 games played) and second in points per game (min. 42 games played). His .630% TS would equate to a 122 TS+/+11.4 rTS when compared to the .516% RS league average over the entire season.

maxpower8888 · Post #2 » by **maxpower8888** » Wed Mar 18, 2026 12:30 pm

He was also All-NBA that year. Peja could have easily made 4 or 5 All-Star appearances in the modern NBA. He was born 15 years too early.

Post #3 » by **tsherkin** » Wed Mar 18, 2026 1:21 pm

maxpower8888 wrote:He was also All-NBA that year. Peja could have easily made 4 or 5 All-Star appearances in the modern NBA. He was born 15 years too early.

I mean, he just needed to stay healthy.

He technically played 13 years, but he was toast after like his 7th season, apart from his second season with the Hornets.

Dude had size and a nasty jumper, though. And summoned the Ghost of All-Stars past to really stick it to Kobe during the 2011 Mavs title run. That was his final season, he only played 33 games (only started 13), and he played for 3 different teams that season. And yeah, he stuck it to both Portland and the Lakers, each taking one of his 20+-point games in the playoffs.

It was a nice way to close out his career. Wasn't much on D, didn't do much BESIDES shoot, but damn, he was good at it. Especially at size.

Black Jack · Post #4 » by **Black Jack** » Wed Mar 18, 2026 1:23 pm

Am I remembering well I seem to remember Pejas big flaw was choking in the playoffs a lot??

ReggiesKnicks · Post #5 » by **ReggiesKnicks** » Wed Mar 18, 2026 1:29 pm

Black Jack wrote:Am I remembering well I seem to remember Pejas big flaw was choking in the playoffs a lot??

He was fine in 01, 03, and 05. Struggled to score in 02 and 04.

That's basically his prime, hard to draw conclusions from the short sample, but he was alright.

DirtyDez · Post #6 » by **DirtyDez** » Wed Mar 18, 2026 2:09 pm

NBA Champion Peja Stojakovic.

celtics543 · Post #7 » by **celtics543** » Wed Mar 18, 2026 2:23 pm

The 02 Lakers series could have been over but didn't he airball (or otherwise badly miss) a corner three near the end of what could have been a clinching game? I have a memory of this but it's fuzzy.

dhsilv2 · Post #8 » by **dhsilv2** » Wed Mar 18, 2026 2:24 pm

maxpower8888 wrote:He was also All-NBA that year. Peja could have easily made 4 or 5 All-Star appearances in the modern NBA. He was born 15 years too early.

He was top 5 in MVP voting in his own era. If anything today he'd stand out less. But ultimately his issues as others said were health. Not his game.

Post #9 » by **tsherkin** » Wed Mar 18, 2026 2:52 pm

celtics543 wrote:The 02 Lakers series could have been over but didn't he airball (or otherwise badly miss) a corner three near the end of what could have been a clinching game? I have a memory of this but it's fuzzy.

He was 3/12 from the field in Game 7, 0/6 from 3. He was 0/2 in the fourth and didn't play in the OT period. But he was also coming off the bench because he was returning from injury after the Dallas series. He only played games 5 and on.

mastermixer · Post #10 » by **mastermixer** » Wed Mar 18, 2026 2:58 pm

tsherkin wrote:
maxpower8888 wrote:He was also All-NBA that year. Peja could have easily made 4 or 5 All-Star appearances in the modern NBA. He was born 15 years too early.

I mean, he just needed to stay healthy.

He technically played 13 years, but he was toast after like his 7th season, apart from his second season with the Hornets.

Dude had size and a nasty jumper, though. And summoned the Ghost of All-Stars past to really stick it to Kobe during the 2011 Mavs title run. That was his final season, he only played 33 games (only started 13), and he played for 3 different teams that season. And yeah, he stuck it to both Portland and the Lakers, each taking one of his 20+-point games in the playoffs.

It was a nice way to close out his career. Wasn't much on D, didn't do much BESIDES shoot, but damn, he was good at it. Especially at size.

Pretty much nailed it but he was near mvp level as the #1 option that one year which was pretty special. Not sure if he could have maintained that in any era due to health reasons

karmew32 · Post #11 » by **karmew32** » Wed Mar 18, 2026 3:22 pm

The Kings of that era had 2 MVP-level players (Webber & Peja), Bibby who was the Jamal Murray of his time, a top-tier perimeter defender in Doug Christie, Vlade Divac who was one of the best passing centers ever and could guard Shaq as well as anyone, and several 6MOY-level players off the bench. They were uber-stacked and fit perfectly together.

FrodoBaggins · Post #12 » by **FrodoBaggins** » Wed Mar 18, 2026 3:30 pm

karmew32 wrote:The Kings of that era had 2 MVP-level players (Webber & Peja), Bibby who was the Jamal Murray of his time, a top-tier perimeter defender in Doug Christie, Vlade Divac who was one of the best passing centers ever and could guard Shaq as well as anyone, and several 6MOY-level players off the bench. They were uber-stacked and fit perfectly together.

Bibby was more like Conley. Murray more like Brandon Roy.

Post #13 » by **tsherkin** » Wed Mar 18, 2026 3:34 pm

mastermixer wrote:Pretty much nailed it but he was near mvp level as the #1 option that one year which was pretty special. Not sure if he could have maintained that in any era due to health reasons

I don't know if that's a really accurate of his play at the time. He wasn't a good defender and wasn't a good playmaker. But Webber only played 23 games that year, and they still won 55 games. Kobe and Shaq had lower stats that year (and both played 67 games or less). I think people were really surprised by the outcome.

Of course, it wasn't really a meaningful placement. He got one first-place vote, and about half as many votes as 3rd-place Jermaine O'neal got.

KG got all but 3 first-place votes that year, so the idea of Peja being 4th is a little misleading, of course.

Peja was a REALLY good movement shooter. And he had a surprising handle, just lacked burst/quickness. So while he didn't dominate with rim pressure, he could get past his guy and produce middies, collapse a D, etc.

He and Brad Miller ran a lot of what look in retrospect like contemporary sets. Sacramento in general under Adelman was REALLY good good about off-ball movement, bringing their bigs out high, screening, DHOs and stuff like that. It was beautiful basketball, and Peja slotted in perfectly.

Post #14 » by **tsherkin** » Wed Mar 18, 2026 3:36 pm

karmew32 wrote:The Kings of that era had 2 MVP-level players (Webber & Peja), Bibby who was the Jamal Murray of his time, a top-tier perimeter defender in Doug Christie, Vlade Divac who was one of the best passing centers ever and could guard Shaq as well as anyone, and several 6MOY-level players off the bench. They were uber-stacked and fit perfectly together.

Eh, Webber was overrated by raw box score averages. Very good passer, weak defender, fairly overrated scorer, and well-replaced by Brad Miller. And Bibby was a lot more effective as a live-dribble threat than Murray generally is, and not as good a shooter.

They were MONSTROUSLY stacked, though. Bobby Jackson off the bench... and so much fun to watch. Like, tons and tons of fun to watch. And Arco was LOUD as hell. I always found myself rooting against them, but man, I used to love watching that team.

JinKaz69 · Post #15 » by **JinKaz69** » Wed Mar 18, 2026 4:41 pm

FrodoBaggins wrote:
karmew32 wrote:The Kings of that era had 2 MVP-level players (Webber & Peja), Bibby who was the Jamal Murray of his time, a top-tier perimeter defender in Doug Christie, Vlade Divac who was one of the best passing centers ever and could guard Shaq as well as anyone, and several 6MOY-level players off the bench. They were uber-stacked and fit perfectly together.

Bibby was more like Conley. Murray more like Brandon Roy.

Bibby had more a scoring mentality than Conley who is more a traditional point guard.

Actually I like the Murray comparison although Murray was better in isolations and knocking tough shots.

Shock Defeat · Post #16 » by **Shock Defeat** » Wed Mar 18, 2026 4:47 pm

karmew32 wrote:The Kings of that era had 2 MVP-level players (Webber & Peja), Bibby who was the Jamal Murray of his time, a top-tier perimeter defender in Doug Christie, Vlade Divac who was one of the best passing centers ever and could guard Shaq as well as anyone, and several 6MOY-level players off the bench. They were uber-stacked and fit perfectly together.

Except both Webber and Peja were playoff chokers

GAthens34 · Post #17 » by **GAthens34** » Wed Mar 18, 2026 4:48 pm

World Champion. European Champion. NBA Champion. That's Peja.

JinKaz69 · Post #18 » by **JinKaz69** » Wed Mar 18, 2026 4:50 pm

It's too bad Webber lost all his athleticism and wasn't the same player anymore when he came back from his knee injury (his return disrupted the chemistry actually as he was a shell of himself).

I would kill to see that Kings team that year (2004) with the true Webber.
Same with 2003 Kings without his knee injury.

E-Balla · Post #19 » by **E-Balla** » Wed Mar 18, 2026 4:57 pm

tsherkin wrote:
maxpower8888 wrote:He was also All-NBA that year. Peja could have easily made 4 or 5 All-Star appearances in the modern NBA. He was born 15 years too early.

I mean, he just needed to stay healthy.

He technically played 13 years, but he was toast after like his 7th season, apart from his second season with the Hornets.

Dude had size and a nasty jumper, though. And summoned the Ghost of All-Stars past to really stick it to Kobe during the 2011 Mavs title run. That was his final season, he only played 33 games (only started 13), and he played for 3 different teams that season. And yeah, he stuck it to both Portland and the Lakers, each taking one of his 20+-point games in the playoffs.

It was a nice way to close out his career. Wasn't much on D, didn't do much BESIDES shoot, but damn, he was good at it. Especially at size.

Peja got a good 10 seasons in before injuries kicked in. He was 31 when he finally fell off which was very normal back then.

Post #20 » by **tsherkin** » Wed Mar 18, 2026 4:57 pm

JinKaz69 wrote:It's too bad Webber lost all his athleticism and wasn't the same player anymore when he came back from his knee injury (his return disrupted the chemistry actually as he was a shell of himself).

I would kill to see that Kings team that year (2004) with the true Webber.
Same with 2003 Kings without his knee injury.

Eh. He was a pretty tepid scorer. And he was never a good defender. And not as strong a rebounder as his per-game averages indicated. He was generally overrated by being on that Kings team in particular, and the minutes he played.

I'd have liked to see the 04 team with a healthy Bobby Jackson. He missed 32 games in the RS, and all of the playoffs, and had been the 6MOY the year prior.