Rank these “comeback” seasons: ‘90 Bird vs ‘13 Kobe vs ‘13 Duncan

1993Playoffs · Post #1 » by **1993Playoffs** » Sat May 20, 2023 7:56 pm

How would you rank these somewhat resurgent seasons later in these guys careers?

Cavsfansince84 · Post #2 » by **Cavsfansince84** » Sat May 20, 2023 8:11 pm

I see them as fairly close. Duncan was the oldest being 36 to 34 for Kobe and 33 for Bird. Bird I would say might have been the best rs player but Duncan anchored a top 3 defense and of course very nearly won a title that year(probably would have been fmvp). So I'd give it to him out of this group but Kobe isn't far behind and had no playoffs.

1993Playoffs · Post #3 » by **1993Playoffs** » Sat May 20, 2023 8:50 pm

Cavsfansince84 wrote:I see them as fairly close. Duncan was the oldest being 36 to 34 for Kobe and 33 for Bird. Bird I would say might have been the best rs player but Duncan anchored a top 3 defense and of course very nearly won a title that year(probably would have been fmvp). So I'd give it to him out of this group but Kobe isn't far behind and had no playoffs.

Yeah I really wish Kobe would have stayed healthy. I actually think his scoring resiliency would have translated to the playoffs Bird while still great seemed overall a step slower

therealbig3 · Post #4 » by **therealbig3** » Sun May 21, 2023 12:30 am

Kobe post-prime from 2011-2013 was putting up similar numbers to his actual prime seasons, it wasn't so much a resurgence as it was him just being ridiculously good despite being out of his prime.

Duncan again wasn't that much better than the year prior, he had a very good season, but the supporting cast stepped up and started doing more as well, and I think that helped him.

Gotta go with Bird. He actually missed an entire season due to injury, and then came back and had an MVP-level season.

rk2023 · Post #5 » by **rk2023** » Mon May 22, 2023 7:47 pm

In the descending order presented within the prompt / OP.

Post #6 » by **Texas Chuck** » Tue May 23, 2023 4:43 am

Pretty clear this is Duncan. And just as clear Kobe has no place here. Shows the offensive bias that this is even being discussed lol. And yes I know the Kobe fans are going to come for me again, but the reality is Duncan was just a better player than Kobe for the vast majority of their careers and that's no slight on Kobe as Timmy is a GOAT candidate. And Duncan was clearly much more of a winning player than Kobe that season. Scoring points doesn't necessarily mean you are doing a whole lot. And doing a whole lot doesn't have to include volume scoring.

Duncan, Bird, Kobe and not any argument for any other order here.

1993Playoffs · Post #7 » by **1993Playoffs** » Tue May 23, 2023 4:54 am

Texas Chuck wrote:Pretty clear this is Duncan. And just as clear Kobe has no place here. Shows the offensive bias that this is even being discussed lol. And yes I know the Kobe fans are going to come for me again, but the reality is Duncan was just a better player than Kobe for the vast majority of their careers and that's no slight on Kobe as Timmy is a GOAT candidate. And Duncan was clearly much more of a winning player than Kobe that season. Scoring points doesn't necessarily mean you are doing a whole lot. And doing a whole lot doesn't have to include volume scoring.

Duncan, Bird, Kobe and not any argument for any other order here.

Do you find Bird’s season impressive?

And as for Duncan and Kobe in 2013 I actually think it’s close Kobe may have not been as good as he used to be but his scoring (which was noticeably better than Duncan’s) was impactful for the lakers he was able to drag a not great team to the playoffs

ardee · Post #8 » by **ardee** » Tue May 23, 2023 8:08 am

therealbig3 wrote:Kobe post-prime from 2011-2013 was putting up similar numbers to his actual prime seasons, it wasn't so much a resurgence as it was him just being ridiculously good despite being out of his prime.

Duncan again wasn't that much better than the year prior, he had a very good season, but the supporting cast stepped up and started doing more as well, and I think that helped him.

Gotta go with Bird. He actually missed an entire season due to injury, and then came back and had an MVP-level season.

Tbh Kobe had an off year in 2011, right from the get-go I remember it being Pau who was getting early MVP buzz. He had nagging injuries and just didn't have it that year except in the occasional game here or there.

The break due to the lockout helped him and he started the 2012 season on fire (4 straight 40 point games in the first month) but then the shortened schedule got to him + his efficiency suffered HEAVILY due to the lack of spacing the team had (Odom was gone so Pau and Bynum were playing a LOT of minutes together which really made things difficult for him).

2013 was really a comeback year in some ways, better than 2011 and 2012 by a fair bit. I believe he'd have performed similar to his 2010 level in the Playoffs that year if he made it. Alas.