sansterre wrote:I absolutely am new here, but I am certainly aware that context to numbers is a thing. That said, I prefer starting from the numbers, as the alternative is to open yourself up to a million cognitive biases. And without the numbers, discussion gets unproductive pretty easily.
And all my numbers were postseason numbers.
But if this discussion is going to be me saying "I don't know that there's objective evidence for that, look at these numbers" and you saying "numbers mean nothing, Moses was obviously better", then absolutely nothing I would want to write will go anywhere useful for the discussion.
Cheers.
You're trying to extract context from numbers without doing the vice versa. That's your issue.
Did I say numbers mean nothing? I gave you an explanation why some of the numbers are not even worth considering (Rtg numbers on player profile pages) or what to consider for them while looking at them (PER). Or tried to point out why we should use OBPM more often than BPM?
Marcus Camby from 2004-05 to 2006-07; 3.5 DBPM and led the league in DBPM in each three seasons.
Tim Duncan from 2004-05 to 2006-07; 2.9 DBPM.
Kevin Garnett 2004-05 to 2006-07; 2.3 DBPM.
Their D-RAPM goes; Duncan > Garnett > Camby for those 3 seasons' total.
Did not I use numbers also?
"From Olajuwon's rookie season to Moses' last 19/10 season, in those 6 seasons, Malone made Olajuwon fouled out more than half the time in their h2h meetings. 40% of the time with Ewing."
This is a statistic. You just wouldn't see it on player profile pages.
Here's a comparison for Moses Malone's best 3 season stretch and David Robinson's best 3 season stretch;
Moses Malone from 1980-81 to 1982-83
27.8 pts 14.9 reb 1.6 ast 1.0 stl 1.8 blk 3.6 tov per game on .580 ts (+4.6 rts) in 239 regular season games
33.4 pts 17.9 reb 1.9 ast 1.2 stl 2.2 blk 4.3 tov per 100
25.7 per (1.7 rank on average), 5.0 obpm (4.7 rank on average)
26.3 pts 15.2 reb 1.8 ast 0.9 stl 1.6 blk 2.8 tov per game on .549 ts in 37 playoff games
30.7 pts 17.8 reb 2.1 ast 1.1 stl 1.9 blk 3.3 tov per 100
23.6 per, 5.6 obpm
In his two deep playoff runs in 1981 and 1983; among players played more than 1 series, he had the highest per in both playoffs. His obpm was 4th in 1981 and 2nd in 1983.
In playoffs, Malone's scoring volume went down but not his offensive quality by looking at obpm.
David Robinson from 1993-94 to 1995-96
27.5 pts 11.2 reb 3.6 ast 1.6 stl 3.3 blk 2.8 tov per game on .589 ts (+5.1 rts) in 243 regular season games
37.0 pts 15.2 reb 4.8 ast 2.1 stl 4.4 blk 3.8 tov per 100
29.8 per (1.0 rank on average), 6.6 obpm (2.7 rank on average)
24.0 pts 11.1 reb 2.9 ast 1.4 stl 2.6 blk 3.1 tov per game on .538 ts in 29 playoff games
33.7 pts 15.6 reb 4.1 ast 1.9 stl 3.6 blk 4.3 tov per 100
24.6 per, 4.0 obpm
In his two playoff runs went further than 1st round in 1995 and 1996; among players played more than 1 series, His per was 6th in 1995 and 1st in 1996. His obpm was 10th in 1995 and 7th in 1996.
He dropped in every single category there is on box numbers.
Comparing their single series playoffs in 1982 and 1994;
1982 Malone did better than 1994 Robinson.
Now, an observation about per;
To achieve 15.0 average across regular season or playoffs, per method uses iterative process and that causes the players with the most games played to be at a disadvantage because the players with the most GP are more involved in establishing the 15.0 baseline. The method needs something to continue at obviously. That makes players with less playtime act like more outlier like.
That's why Reggie Miller had a per of 35.8 in 1996 playoffs with 31 minutes of playtime.
(Though BBRef leaderboards usually ignore the players with so little playtime.)
In 1981 playoffs, Malone led the games and minutes played.
In 1983 playoffs, Malone played in 13 games while the highest was 15 and his 524 minutes of play time was the 5th highest (#1 was Magic with 643). 524/643 = 81.5%
In 1996 playoffs, Robinson played in 10 games while the highest was 21 and his 353 minutes of play time was the 28th highest (#1 was Payton with 911). 353/911 = 38.7%
Robinson leading 1996 playoffs per was a situation like Duncan leading in 2002 and O'Neal leading in 2003.
So, while Robinson was helped by per design to lead the 1996 playoffs, Malone led per on merit more in 1981 and 1983.
You don't like me talking about the situation that Malone was in in 1981? Because my post was "nah, I just like Malone more" to you?
This is how I use numbers.
Note: If you're going to point out Malone's per 100 numbers, I'd suggest you to take a look at my signature to see my stance. I'm bigger on per game numbers.
Ah, wait, I forgot, Moses had a couple of a solid defensive years so obviously he is just shy of David Robinson on that end. 
