dn0774 wrote:Pau was leaps and bounds beyond anything Duncan had that year...he alone tilts the entire argument by himself. If you honestly cant acknowledge that fact then we're just wasting each others time. For you to attempt to completely trivialize what LO brings by just saying hes "EXTREMELY INCONSISTENT" as if that totally nullifies his place in this comparison shows you have an agenda to push here and nothing to contribute in terms of intelligent basketball dialog.
David was an 8pts/6rebs a game shell of his former self essentially playing backup minutes. Steve Smith was done, he barely saw the floor in the playoffs that year. Manu was a rookie who shot a lights out .386 over the course of that playoff run. Parker wasn't much better with a blistering .403 shooting percentage. In fact, the highest shooting % from a rotation player besides Duncan and Robinson was a paltry .414 from Stephen Jackson.
You want to rethink your stance on Manu/Parker/Steve Smith/Robinson/Jackson's contributions that year? They were mediocre at best. Duncan however was not...he put up 25/16/5/3 a game on .529 shooting and carried the Spurs to a championship in what was considered a transition year for an aging team (Robinson/Smith/Willis/Kerr) trying to integrate/develop younger and unproven talent (Parker/Manu/Jackson).
Pau and Odom are easily better than anyone on the Spurs team that year outside of Duncan. Pau shot .580 and Odom shot .524. Yea, Kobe definitely had some help, downplaying that fact only pisses people off.
Stop trying to revise history. Since when did Pau Gasol really becoming a perennial superstar??
Even if Pau Gasol is the 2nd best player in both teams, it doesn't take away Duncan got a better supporting
CASTS. I need to emphasize this bold word CASTS. Basketball is a team-game. Outside of Pau Gasol, you can go through the lists and Duncan's supporting cast is superior to Kobe's in every way during that playoff run.
D-Rob, as old as he is, is still a much better factor in that playoff than Bynum.
Malik Rose off the bench bring the same thing LO bring, with exception he's a better at hustling. Both guys can put up 20/10 in one night and then disappear the next.
Tony Parker/Claxton is wayyyyy better than Fisher/Farmar/Shannon
Stephen Jackson/Steve Smith is way better than Luke Walton/Adam Morrison
Bowen = Ariza.
Pau >> Manu.
Not to mention, almost 5 Spurs averaged closed to double-digit in the regular season IN A VERY SLOW OFFENSE that Pop ran, unlike the Lakers whose played at much quicker pace. That attribute to more scoring in the stat sheet.