Top two player peaks since you started watching?

[fpliii]

Just a spinoff of something I brought up in CavsFTW's thread. This is in purely terms of level of play/dominance, I'm not taking into account accolades (though obviously when you're playing at that level, you're going to walk away with a ton of hardware). Order doesn't matter here.

Started Watching: 92-93
Top two peaks: Shaq and Hakeem

Who you got? :confusedshrug:

[pudman13]

I started watching seriously in 1979. Top two player peaks:

Bird: Hard to define his actual peak, because he was amazing from day one until his injuries statred to catch up with him, but I'll go with 83-88

Jordan: I was lucky enough to get WGN on my cable during his prims years, so I saw as many of his games as I did Bird's or Lebron's. When I think about Jordan, I think about just how amazing his overall career would have lookd if he hadn't had those two retirements. Anyway, peak was probably 87-91, but as with any true greats it's hard to narrow it down even that far.

Honorable mention to Magic Johnson and Lebron James.

[Andrew Wiggins]

Jordan and Shaq

[OldSchoolBBall]

Early 90's Jordan and '00/'01 Shaq.

[JohnFreeman]

LeBron and Duncan

[Jlamb47]

Shaq Duncan

HM- Kobe

[HomieWeMajor]

Only started watching in 2009 so Lebron and Durant

[JohnnySic]

Jordan 1993
Hakeem 1995
Shaq 2001

Honorable mention:
Bird 1986
Duncan 2003

Can't decide on just 2, sorry.

[Myth]

Started watching 1990. Jordan and Shaq.

[Milbuck]

Started watching around 97, seriously watching in 01. Shaq and Duncan.

[MP.Trey]

Started watching in 00-01.

Shaq and LeBron. HM to Duncan, Kobe & Garnett.

[StrongLurk]

Shaq/Lebron

Only caught second three-peat MJ

Honorable Mention: Space Jam MJ.

[christian1923]

Shaq 00-04

Kobe 01-2013

[fpliii]

I started watching seriously in 1979. Top two player peaks:

Bird: Hard to define his actual peak, because he was amazing from day one until his injuries statred to catch up with him, but I'll go with 83-88

Jordan: I was lucky enough to get WGN on my cable during his prims years, so I saw as many of his games as I did Bird's or Lebron's. When I think about Jordan, I think about just how amazing his overall career would have lookd if he hadn't had those two retirements. Anyway, peak was probably 87-91, but as with any true greats it's hard to narrow it down even that far.

Honorable mention to Magic Johnson and Lebron James.
I wish I got to see Bird + MJ live at their bests. Watching tape of them, both dude's were incredible off-ball. :bowdown:

[Mass Debator]

Shaq
Kobe/Wade

[SHAQisGOAT]

Shaq
Jordan
Bird

(well, I was just a kid in Bird and Jordan's best years...)

Wasn't around for Kareem and Wilt's but with everything I've seen/read and considering what they've done at their best, they belong in the top5 peaks of all-time (imo) along with those other three.

[TheMilkyBarKid]

I have hazy memories of 2nd repeat jordan so I'm going with shaq and lebron, with an honourable mention to duncan.

[jlip]

MJ-'90-'92
Shaq- '00-'02

Honorable mention-
Magic- '87-'90 (When I actually started watching)
Hakeem- '93-'95
Lebron- '09, '12-'14

[ProfessorMurder]

Started watching in like late 93 or 94. So Jordan and Shaq.

Peak KG just made things look easy to me too.

[fpliii]

Wasn't around for Kareem and Wilt's but with everything I've seen/read and considering what they've done at their best, they belong in the top5 peaks of all-time (imo) along with those other three.
There's not as much on Wilt obviously, but it seems there are 50-60 (depending on whether you consider 80-81 to be in his prime) of Kareem in his prime. I'm going to try and get my hands on as much footage of him as I can. Dude was a monster it seems.

[SHAQisGOAT]

There's not as much on Wilt obviously, but it seems there are 50-60 (depending on whether you consider 80-81 to be in his prime) of Kareem in his prime. I'm going to try and get my hands on as much footage of him as I can. Dude was a monster it seems.

Even plenty of stuff up on yt from Kareem's prime... And, imo and general consensus, his peak was around 1977. Yea, he was just incredible, monster on offense, also great on defense and on the boards, extremely tall, very athletic, lots of skill and smarts, whole package...

[T_L_P]

00-01 Shaq
02-03 Duncan
08-09 LeBron

HM to 03-04 Garnett, 06 Dirk, 03 T-Mac and 01 Kobe.

[ballinhun8]

Jordan and Shaq.

Dominance. Sheer dominance.

[fpliii]

Even plenty of stuff up on yt from Kareem's prime... And, imo and general consensus, his peak was around 1977.
I think so too.

During his Bucks years he was super mobile. As he progressed as a Laker, he got by on skill/strength/size more so. The mid-/late-70s have the best balance of the two. Kareem actually said 75-76 was his best season (well, statistically) in his bio, but there aren't any games from that year. None from 74-75 either (I think that was the injury season). From 76-77 (all lists from ihaveplanet.com):

Apr 22, 1977 QF 2 Golden State LA Lakers 86-95
Apr 24, 1977 QF 3 LA Lakers Golden State 105-109
Apr 29, 1977 QF 5 Golden State LA Lakers 105-112
May 1, 1977 QF 6 LA Lakers Golden State 106-115
May 4, 1977 QF 7 Golden State LA Lakers 84-97
May 8, 1977 SF 2 Portland LA Lakers 99-97
May 13, 1977 SF 4 LA Lakers Portland 101-105

are out there. From 77-78:

Jan 8, 1978 LA Lakers Indiana 103-104
Jan 29, 1978 LA Lakers Washington 112-119
Feb 19, 1978 LA Lakers Golden State 115-93
Mar 31, 1978 Portland LA Lakers 103-101
Apr 14, 1978 R1 2 Seattle LA Lakers 99-105
Apr 16, 1978 R1 3 LA Lakers Seattle 102-111

from 78-79:

Mar 4, 1979 Denver LA Lakers 113-99
Apr 1, 1979 LA Lakers Philadelphia 111-112
Apr 15, 1979 R1 3 LA Lakers Denver 112-111
Apr 20, 1979 QF 3 Seattle LA Lakers 112-118
Apr 22, 1979 QF 4 Seattle LA Lakers 117-115

and from 79-80 there are a ton:

Oct 12, 1979 LA Lakers San Diego 103-102
Oct 16, 1979 Chicago LA Lakers 96-105
Oct 30, 1979 LA Lakers Chicago 111-105
Jan 13, 1980 LA Lakers Boston 100-98
Jan 31, 1980 LA Lakers Chicago 107-97
Feb 5, 1980 LA Lakers New York 116-105
Feb 10, 1980 LA Lakers Philadelphia 104-105
Mar 2, 1980 LA Lakers Phoenix 115-123
Mar 16, 1980 Phoenix LA Lakers 106-128
Mar 28, 1980 San Diego LA Lakers 88-126
Apr 8, 1980 QF 1 Phoenix LA Lakers 110-119
Apr 11, 1980 QF 3 LA Lakers Phoenix 108-105
Apr 22, 1980 SF 1 Seattle LA Lakers 108-107
Apr 23, 1980 SF 2 Seattle LA Lakers 99-108
Apr 25, 1980 SF 3 LA Lakers Seattle 104-100
Apr 27, 1980 SF 4 LA Lakers Seattle 98-93
Apr 30, 1980 SF 5 Seattle LA Lakers 105-111
May 4, 1980 F 1 Philadelphia LA Lakers 102-109
May 7, 1980 F 2 Philadelphia LA Lakers 107-104
May 10, 1980 F 3 LA Lakers Philadelphia 111-101
May 11, 1980 F 4 LA Lakers Philadelphia 102-105
May 14, 1980 F 5 Philadelphia LA Lakers 103-108
May 16, 1980 F 6 LA Lakers Philadelphia 123-107

So there's a good deal from those four seasons. Here are the Bucks games out there just for completion's sake:

Oct 18, 1969 Detroit Milwaukee 110-119
Oct 30, 1969 Milwaukee Detroit 102-81
Apr 11, 1970 SF 1 Milwaukee New York 102-110
Oct 17, 1970 Milwaukee Atlanta 107-98
Oct 20, 1970 Milwaukee Detroit 114-115
Nov 27, 1970 New York Milwaukee 103-94
Apr 30, 1971 F 4 Milwaukee Baltimore 118-106
Jan 9, 1972 LA Lakers Milwaukee 104-120
Nov 18, 1972 Milwaukee New York 86-87
Nov 17, 1973 Milwaukee New York 93-100
May 10, 1974 F 6 Milwaukee Boston 102-101
May 12, 1974 F 7 Boston Milwaukee 102-87

As you said, he wasn't at his peak, but it would be interesting to watch more of those Milwaukee games, and see how quick he was on his feet.

[Mr Exlax]

Just a spinoff of something I brought up in CavsFTW's thread. This is in purely terms of level of play/dominance, I'm not taking into account accolades (though obviously when you're playing at that level, you're going to walk away with a ton of hardware). Order doesn't matter here.

Started Watching: 92-93
Top two peaks: Shaq and Hakeem

Who you got? :confusedshrug:


Damn those were my 2

[Cold soul]

1) Shaq
2) Kobe
3) Lebron
4) Duncan

[choppermagic]

Tough choice, but

(1) Shaq - In his peak, it looked like no one in the world could even slow him down.

(2) Magic - Man, you got the feeling he could do anything he wanted to on the Court, when the Lakers needed him to. Score, pass, rebound. Fun times.

[SamuraiSWISH]

Started '89 / '90

Jordan '90 - '93, '96
Shaq '98 - 2002

[Shade8780]

LeBron
Durant

[Nowitness]

1) Shaq
2) Kobe
3) Lebron
4) Duncan

clearly not a better than peak than lebron or duncan. nothing on this planet that suggests it is

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

Jordan and Shaq
Ditto

[MP.Trey]

This is a thread that could really use that "Ed Wachter" gimmick account.

[Cold soul]

clearly not a better than peak than lebron or duncan. nothing on this planet that suggests it is

Meh it's debatable you can make a solid case for any of the three. I think people quickly forget how great Kobe was 6-7 years ago and downgrade his peak.

[oti]

Started watching in 2001 ,

Kobe and Wade/Shaq can't decide on the 2nd , might give it to Wade , that 09 season was beyond godlike

[L.A. Jazz]

Shaq, Kobe and Lebron.

[Real14]

Started watching 1991

Jordan- 92
Kobe- 03

HM- Iverson- 01

[hangintheair]

Iverson and Kobe

T-Mac and Carter

[KyleKong]

Lol sense I started watching?

Uhh

Dwight Howard 2011 and LeBron 2012

If those are their career peaks.

[SwayDizzle]

2nd 3-peat Jordan and 08-10 Kobe

[TheMilkyBarKid]

Started watching 1991

Jordan- 92
Kobe- 03

HM- Iverson- 01
Iverson gets a honourable mention above hakeem, shaq, garnett, duncan, lebron, robinson etc?