Doctor MJ wrote:3. David Robinson
This whole the PF debate aside, I find this as an interesting pick.
As you know, I have Moses Malone ahead of David Robinson when I compare them, this is what I see going by my criterias;
* Peak- I have higher regards for 1981, 1982 and 1983 Moses over 1994, 1995 and 1996 Admiral. The gap on offense was bigger than the gap on defense IMO. Robinson's high post offense never translated into proper postseason performances and Malone's offense was much more impactful. And even if we do not agree on that, I think we have to agree that Moses' rebounding and ability to draw fouls should put him over Robinson.
It's worth mentioning that Robinson was better at passing but that also did not translate into postseason impact well enough due to Robinson's high post approach in a time of low post dominance.
* Prime duration- Both had 7 seasons of proper prime.
* Average prime level- Aside from their peaks, I have higher regards for Malone's non-peak seasons. Malone from 1979 to 1985 was a better player than Robinson from 1990 to 1996, despite 1984 being a clear down season for him.
* Longevity- This is where it gets interesting. Robinson was pretty strong in 1998 and 1999. I'm not so sure if I'd say he was a top 5 player in the league in 1998, but he was in 1999. One could make a very good argument for his 1999 being the best #2 scoring option performance of all-time. 2000 and 2001 are also good seasons for him. Malone on the other hand, kept being a 20+/10+ player for another 5 seasons. His offensive production was there, though his defense was pretty inconsistent. 1986 did not go well for him or the Sixers. But he and Jeff Malone were the players that took the Bad Boys Pistons to an elimination game in 1988. 1989 was another strong season from him. There's also the seasons before 1978-79 which he added some value to his career.
I guess I'm going to give the edge to Robinson because Robinson looks more consistent. But I'm not so sure if the longevity edge makes up for the gap between their primes.
* Career resume- This is among my criterias and I'd say Moses had the better career resume for sure. But I don't think it really matters between players this close.
Interesting note; looking at Retro PotY vote shares, Moses is 18th with 3.478 and Robinson is 24th with 2.431. I don't know what to do with that right now. At a first glance, Moses looks like he was on the next level compared to Robinson. But that's just first glance.
Edit;
Diving into those Retro PotY results...
Moses Malone
3rd in 1979, agreed. (0.529 share)
4th in 1980, he was the 3rd best after Abdul-Jabbar and Erving, rookie Bird was not better than him. (0.259 share)
2nd in 1981, being 2nd to Bird is a winning bias IMO, should've been 1st. (0.572 share)
1st in 1982, not much to discuss. (0.971 share)
1st in 1983, again. (1.000 share)
8th in 1984, I think he shouldn't get a single top 5 vote. (0.042 share)
5th in 1985, I'd probably have him at 4 but it's just interchangeable between him, Abdul-Jabbar and Jordan. 3-5 range is accurate for him. They were very close, picking a certain spot is just being too nit-picky on this occasion. (0.105 share)
David Robinson
6th in 1990, agreed. (0.045 share)
5th in 1991, agreed. (0.268 share) [I was about to say maybe that share was a bit too much for Robinson but then realized other than Jordan and Magic, that was not a particularly good season for individuals.]
5th in 1992, agreed. (0.165 share)
5th in 1993, agreed. (0.096 share)
2nd in 1994, I think that's overrated. I wouldn't put Ewing behind Robinson. I'd say Robinson should be in 3-5 range along with Malone and O'Neal after Olajuwon and Ewing. (0.538 share)
3rd in 1995, agreed. (0.559 share)
2nd in 1996, agreed. (0.567 share)
5th in 1998, agreed I guess. (0.116 share)
5th in 1999, agreed. (0.077 share) [Though I'd expect him to have a higher share. That's too low.]
So...
The rankings look in line with my evaluation. Moses was not a top 5 player outside of his prime. Robinson was barely.
Moses' top results 1/1/2/3/4/5.
David's top results 2/2/3/5/5/5/5/5. Two not so strong but still top 5 seasons after his big injury.
We can talk about the individual competition Robinson faced being better than what Moses had but Moses was closer to late prime Abdul-Jabbar and he was better than prime Erving and early prime Bird, while Robinson struggled to put a clear distance between himself and Malone, Barkley and young / early prime O'Neal.