REGULAR SEASON ONLY COMPS!

[penbeast0]

Better career:

Karl Malone v. Shaq (regular season only)
David Robinson v. Hakeem Olujawon (regular season only)
Tracy McGrady v. Kawhi Leonard (regular season only)

[sp6r=underrated]

Better career:

Karl Malone v. Shaq (regular season only)
David Robinson v. Hakeem Olujawon (regular season only)
Tracy McGrady v. Kawhi Leonard (regular season only)

Malone - easily. Shaq took off huge chunks of the regular seasons in his prime, engaged in petty feuds with his co-workers which caused his teams to regularly come in under expectations (1999/2001 being great examples of his slothness going down the roster)

Robinson/Olajuwon: this is a tough comparison it is hard for me to believe that Hakeem had the same level of impact as Robinson but he just lasted so much longer than the Admiral. DR probably wins it.

Kawhi: Higher peak and similar durability

[Dutchball97]

I'd go with Shaq, Robinson and Kawhi. For all it's pretty much the higher peak/better prime outweighing the longevity advantage of Malone, Hakeem and T-Mac.

[Doctor MJ]

Better career:

Karl Malone v. Shaq (regular season only)
David Robinson v. Hakeem Olujawon (regular season only)
Tracy McGrady v. Kawhi Leonard (regular season only)

So you're making a points toward Malone, Robinson & McGrady here and largely I don't disagree.

I think in particular Robinson was a better regular season player than Olajuwon. Against an average NBA team that wasn't able to strategically optimize, Robinson's approach worked better than Olajuwon's, and it flipped in the playoffs.

Malone vs Shaq is interesting because in the early Shaq Laker years, Shaq was actually the more impressive regular season guy per minute played, but the Jazz could rip through the Lakers in the playoffs like toilet paper. Hence, there's actually an argument to be made that Shaq's style of play isn't any more playoff-oriented than Malone's is, that the real difference is simply that Shaq is more likely to be injured or coast in the regular season. I could see giving Malone the nod here by RS career, but I don't feel it's as clear as in the Robinson case.

McGrady vs Kawhi similarly makes me think about injuries. I think Kawhi is just flat out the better player, but he's known for using the regular season as a time to pace himself.

[cupcakesnake]

Kawhi over Tmac.

Despite Kawhi having a reputation as a playoff guy only now (now? 1 year ago? is he an anything guy now?) before Zaza gate, Kawhi tore up the regular season for a few years. Taking their 2-year regular season peaks (16'-17' for Kawhi, 02'-03' for Tmac), Kawhi is the more efficient scorer in terms of rTS% and TS Add. He's the more efficient scorer from everywhere based on league-adjusted percentages on bball-ref. Tmac has a significant edge as a playmaker, but is that enough to close the gap against Kawhi being the DPOY those years? Tmac I think was an okay defender in Orlando but absolutely nowhere near the same universe as Kawhi in those seasons.

Now if we look at the first 10 years of their careers (Kawhi has played 10 and Tmac started stopped being any kind of useful NBA player after year 11), I think the gap grows. Counting stats would give a quick and obvious edge to Tmac but when we lift up the hood to look inside, things get stinky! Per 100 stats still paint Tmac as the better playmaker, and Kawhi as the stronger physical force and defender in terms of rebounding and steal rates. Though Tmac was always a sneaky good shotblocker. The TS Add advantage her skyrockets to 913.2 for Kawhi to 27.9 for Tmac. Kawhi was just straight up a better shooter, better finisher, better at getting to the line. Tmac doesn't have a significant volume scoring advantage (33.8pp100 vs. 30.8pp100). Mac is the more durable (in the saddest contest ever), and manages over 100 more games than the Klaw.

I like the comp. Both came into the league as versatile, athletic role players who did total 180s and exploded as pure scorers. I think Kawhi kept more of his considerable defensive value than Tmac, who looked like the next Scottie Pippen in Toronto, kept that reputation for a little bit in Orlando, before regressing majorly due to injuries and a perceived lack of development in that area.

[migya]

Malone bit better than Shaq
Robinson bit better than Olajuwon
Kathy bit better than TMac because of defense.

[Jaivl]

Malone
Olajuwon
T-Mac

[70sFan]

Malone due to Shaq missing a lot of games

Olajuwon, much better longevity even if slightly worse per year.

Kawhi, slightly worse longevity but I'm not that impressed by Tmac's non-2003 career. Kawhi himself had two outstanding seasons in 2016 and 2017.

[Dutchball97]

Sure Hakeem played 10k more minutes than Robinson but meanwhile Robinson is still ahead in both career WS and VORP. Now of course the usual disclaimer that these stats are far from perfect but when you're behind in both these cumulative stats I don't see much cause for a longevity advantage. I just don't buy that Hakeem was so much more effective on the defensive end and with things like screens that he'd be able to bridge that difference that shows up in the boxscores, it isn't like Robinson also wasn't elite on the defensive end after all.

[Owly]

Sure Hakeem played 10k more minutes than Robinson but meanwhile Robinson is still ahead in both career WS and VORP. Now of course the usual disclaimer that these stats are far from perfect but when you're behind in both these cumulative stats I don't see much cause for a longevity advantage. I just don't buy that Hakeem was so much more effective on the defensive end and with things like screens that he'd be able to bridge that difference that shows up in the boxscores, it isn't like Robinson also wasn't elite on the defensive end after all.

I would argue Robinson, both in prime (RS 94-96 numbers, and indeed impact through 99) and later has I think (and largely otoh here) the clearly better RS and (where available) playoff on-off/impact numbers ... I'd first need to see a sign that beyond the boxscore stuff was closing the gap before getting to whether it would actually bridge the difference.