HBK_Kliq_33 wrote:Steve Smith is no better than Eric Gordon. I actually think Gordon is the better overall player. Pippen played 24 more regular season games and played in the game 7 of the WCF, that plays a huge factor in pippen being better. Pippen also still has the higher playoff BPM and VORP since Paul couldn't stay on the court. Pippen would of won the title with Harden I think, he was inches away from winning it with Rasheed who is a way worse player than Harden.
2000 Steve Smith >> any version of Eric Gordon. Equating the two is ridiculous and clearly displays the extent of your bias in the argument. Since you place so much emphasis on BPM, I'm sure you will agree once you consider the staggering gap between them:
2000 Smith BPM and VORP (reg/playoffs): +3.2 BPM and 3.6 VORP / +5.7 BPM and 1.2 VORP
Eric Gordon's career best regular season (2011) BPM and VORP: +1.3 and 1.7
Eric Gordon's career best playoff (2017) BPM and VORP: +0.2 and 0.2
HBK_Kliq_33 wrote:Pippen anchored blazers offense and defense, he has a stronger case as blazers best player than Chris Paul did. Rasheed didn't draw close to the attention Harden did and isn't nearly the playmaker that Harden is. Sounds like Paul was the one that had more help.
Even if Pippen was the best player on the 2000 Blazers (which is far from certain), the best player on Team A is not necessarily better or even more important than the 2nd best player on Team B. That's simply a fact that can be very easily demonstrated. This is Pippen vs Paul, not Pippen vs Steve Smith (who BTW had just 0.2 less playoff VORP than Pippen on that Blazers team).
Playoff BPM is just one stat (VORP is derived directly from BPM) and your entire argument essentially rests on a +0.4 edge in very small samples. CP3 had a +2.9 regular season BPM edge over Pip and despite playing 902 fewer minutes had just 0.1 less VORP. WS and WS/48 show a higher edge for CP3 in both the regular season and playoffs. Forget the stats for a moment. The impacts on their teams from the two are very clearly demonstrated by the team results. The 1999 Blazers won 57 games and lost 0-4 in the WCF to the eventual champ. The 2000 Blazers returned the 1999 team intact and added Pippen and Smith but won just 2 more regular season games and lost 3-4 in the WCF to the eventual champ. The 2017 Rockets won 55 games and lost 2-4 in the West Semis to the eventual loser of the WCF. The 2018 Rockets added CP3 and Tucker but lost Bev, Lou and Harrell and still managed to win 10 more games, plus Houston was up 3-2 in the WCF on the eventual champs before CP3 got injured and then completely collapsed. If Paul had not been injured at the end of Game 5, it's plausible if not probable that the Rockets win it all.
For clarity, let's have a full look at the BBRef stats besides BPM for both players.
00 Pip Regular: 12.5 PPG (.533 TS), 6.3 RPG, 5.0 APG (2 to 1 Assist/TO), 1.4 SPG, 0.5 BPG, 7.8 WS, .137 WS/48
18 CP3 Regular: 18.6 PPG (.604 TS), 5.4 RPG, 7.9 APG (3.6 to 1), 1.7 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 10.2 WS, .265 WS/48
00 Pip Playoff: 14.9 PPG (.522 TS), 7.3 RPG, 4.3 APG (1.9 to 1), 2.0 SPG, 0.4 BPG, 1.8 WS, .140 WS/48
18 CP3 Playoff: 21.1 PPG (.565 TS), 5.9 RPG, 5.8 APG (3.1 to 1), 2.0 SPG, 0.3 BPG, 2.1 WS, .193 WS/48
I just can't see how anyone can look at the differences in both the stats and the team accomplishments (relative to talent) and not conclude that Chris Paul was both a better player and more important to his team's success both that season and throughout their careers.