links135 wrote:10giz wrote:Reeko wrote:Shaq is a freak of nature and to my knowledge hasn't been and shouldn't be compared to. As for Robinson and Zo, they were 24 and 22 respectively as rookies. Could Mobley average 20 and 10 by the team he's 22? I think so. Could he average 24 and 12 by the time he's 24? Possibly. The real question is can he average 3 blocks per game like those two did? Given how much the league has changed that's up for debate.
That's true, age matter I cannot deny that point.
But I think those guys doing that with the talent that was around makes their accomplishments even more impressive.
League wide BPG is about 0.1 - 0.2 lower than the 90s even though there are about 8-10 more FGA today compared to then.
Nobody has even hit 3.7+ since Ratliff in 2000.
Its not just the blocks per game.Its that these guys did it while being their teams #1 scorers, post defenders, rebounders and overall best players (for the most part).
I dont want to take anything away from Mobley he's hyper exciting as a prospect but he needs to first get to a level whereas he can expect to eclipse the (defensive) careers of guys like D12, Camby, Draymond, Ben Wallace, Marion, Boston KG, and Gobert.
Those are already some of the best big defenders of the last 20 years.
Wallace won DPOY 4 times! Tied with Mutombo for most ever.
D12 + Gobert 3 each.
Well I mean it's alot harder to block 3's
It's also harder to be the best defender in the league if you're not going to be guarding the best players all game long who mostly spend their time on the perimeter.
That's why Mobley spent more time guarding Robinson and Noel today and Barnes spent almost a third of his minutes guarding Durant and Harden.
Go see the list of who Mobley has spent the majority of his time guarding. (He has had a few tough assignments and great performance including Bridges, AD, Collins).
Then go see who Barnes has...Mobley, Tatum, Doncic, Harden, Durant, Demar, Beal, Sabots, Kuzma.
Now if Mobley becomes an elite perimeter defender, different story but I don't see it. I value elite on ball defence, perimeter excellence and high minute defensive intensity/consistency above post D, help D, counting stats and general interior dominance. I don't, again, want to take anything away from Mobley he's incredible. But same reason why I don't think Gobert will ever help his team win a title.
Bam I feel is definitely an outlier here. If Mobley follows that path, I'll gladly shut my mouth.
But Mobley is being put in a great position by the staff to do his thing and impact the game tremendously without having to spend most of his time no the most challenging assignments. That matters, at least to me.