Who had the fastest decline from Prime

[Mr.Kite]

Jordan
Kareem
Russel
Magic
Bird
Shaq
Duncan
Kobe
Wilt
Hakeem
Lebron

[Eric Cartman]

Wilt every year in the postseason.

[dubeta]

1. Jordan - his wizard years were a substantial drop, as was his drop from 96-97

2. Shaq- his conditioning ruined him once he left LA


3. Wilt- once he had those knee injuries


Can't put Kobe there in terms of decline, didn't really have a quick decline or a sudden drop in athleticism, just had a consistent career of average-below average play throughout

[LAZERUSS]

Jordan
Kareem
Russel
Magic
Bird
Shaq
Duncan
Kobe
Wilt
Hakeem
Lebron

:roll: :roll: :roll:

And Wilt, even well past his prime, led the league in rebounding, was voted first team all-defense, averaged 5.4 bpg, shot .727 from the field, led his team to a Finals, and finished 4th in the MVP voting.

[Suguru101]

Wilt every year in the postseason.

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lx9jb1SPMr1qdrpdr.gif

[LAZERUSS]

Wilt every year in the postseason.

You mean like MJ against the prime "Bad Boys" from '88-90?

Or Bird against the Lakers? Or Bird in his five Finals?

Or Shaq against the Robinson-led Spurs from '99 thru '02?

Or Kareem against Wilt and Thurmond in his playoff H2H's from '71 thru '73?

[Mr Feeny]

You mean like MJ against the prime "Bad Boys" from '88-90?

Or Bird against the Lakers? Or Bird in his five Finals?

Or Shaq against the Robinson-led Spurs from '99 thru '02?

Or Kareem against Wilt and Thurmond in his playoff H2H's from '71 thru '73?

Err..no. All of those averaged over 18 ppg:applause:

[dubeta]

You mean like MJ against the prime "Bad Boys" from '88-90?

Or Bird against the Lakers? Or Bird in his five Finals?

Or Shaq against the Robinson-led Spurs from '99 thru '02?

Or Kareem against Wilt and Thurmond in his playoff H2H's from '71 thru '73?


Yes because they all went from 30 ppg in the regular season, to 22 in the playoffs, to 18 in the finals

[Foster5k]

Jordan
Kareem
Russel
Magic
Bird
Shaq
Duncan
Kobe
Wilt
Hakeem
Lebron
OP
My answer is in bold.

[Mr Feeny]

My answer is in bold.

:oldlol:

[LAZERUSS]

Err..no. All of those averaged over 18 ppg:applause:

And none of them averaged 25 rpg.

None of them had a 45 point "must-win" Finals game in those H2H's, either. In fact, MJ in his four "must-win" games against the "Bad Boys" from '88-90... 25, 29, 31, and 32 points.

Kareem in his three "must-win" games against Wilt and Nate... a combined .400 FG% (and Wilt outshot him from the field in their two "must-win" games by a .545 to .383 margin.)

None of them ever put up a 29-28 Finals, either.

[IncarceratedBob]

Jordan went from winning it all in 98 to being a scrub on the Wizards

[sd3035]

Definitely Wilt in the playoffs, good call

[NBAplayoffs2001]

Shaq after 2003 fell apart within 3 years after.

[Deuce Bigalow]

Agreed on Wilt in the playoffs

[G0ATbe]

Shaq.

[SamuraiSWISH]

Iverson's 2008 to 2009. Just look at the numbers. He was coming off the bench in Detroit / Memphis. Sad.

[Young X]

D-Will. He was just a top 10 type player less than 3 seasons ago, now he's not even a starter. Sad because I enjoyed watching him play, he was an elite playmaker, had a great jumper, had the best crossover in the league and was a beast 1 on 1/isolation player.

[NoGunzJustSkillz]

I don't even think MJ's wizard years should count. Fastest drop I've seen in my lifetime out of those players, Shaq hands down.


D-Will. He was just a top 10 type player less than 3 seasons ago, now he's not even a starter. Sad because I enjoyed watching him play, he was an elite playmaker, had a great jumper, had the best crossover in the league and was a beast 1 on 1/isolation player.


Start a thread about it.

[SamuraiSWISH]

D-Will. He was just a top 10 type player less than 3 seasons ago, now he's not even a starter. Sad because I enjoyed watching him play, he was an elite playmaker, had a great jumper, had the best crossover in the league and was a beast isolation player.
He just dropped 55 like a year or two ago. IDK he did drop off quick though.

[LAZERUSS]

BTW, in Wilt's LAST post-season, and covering 17 games, he averaged 22.5 rpg, in a post-season NBA that averaged 50.6 rpg per team. The next highest since... KAJ's 17.3 rpg in 11 playoff games in the '76-77 post-season (in a post-season NBA that averaged 45.6 rpg per team.)

[Young X]

Out of the OP's list, what about Hakeem after the mid-late 90's? He went from a top 10 player who averaged 23/9 in '97 to averaging below 13/8 in the 5 seasons after that. He was a lot older in his prime than the others were though.

[JohnMax]

Lebron is back on steroids so his decline is over

[dubeta]

Shaq.


Was driven to the ground carrying Kobe, and thus had nothing left once he left L.A

[Akrazotile]

Probably Kobe.

As soon as Shaq left, he was suddenly a guy who couldn't get out of the first round. That's a pretty significant drop from a prime of playing in multiple finals with Shaq.

Luckily Gasol showed up and brought back Kobe's prime.

[ImKobe]

It's way too hard to pick, but if I had a gun to my head, I'd say Shaq.

From an MVP candidate in 05 to averaging 13 points a game in the 06 Finals..

Kobe held it together from 01-13, he had a long ass prime despite the multitude of injuries starting from 03.

[dubeta]

It's way too hard to pick, but if I had a gun to my head, I'd say Shaq.

From an MVP candidate in 05 to averaging 13 points a game in the 06 Finals..

Kobe held it together from 01-13, he had a long ass prime despite the multitude of injuries starting from 03.

So him and LeBron are already tied for longevity then, even though LeBron is still only 30 (03-15)

[eliteballer]

Hakeem. By 97 he was literally a shell compared to what he could do in 95.

[Roundball_Rock]

Shaq after 2003 fell apart within 3 years after.

Shaq? Shaq had a very long prime that lasted over a decade from 1994-2005. He remained a top 10 player in 2006 and an all-star caliber player in 2007 and 2009. He had a pretty typical trajectory--the one key difference is his great staying power. Shaq was a top 5 player every year, without exception, from 1994-2005 and top 10 in 93' and 06'. He made a giant leap in his second year, took another leap during his peak age years from 2000-2002 and from then on steadily declined until 2008. That was interrupted by a resurgence in 2009 and then he resumed declining.

Kareem was a top 5 MVP candidate and first-team all-NBA at 38 years old, in his 17th season. He has the clear GOAT longevity. KAJ, Wilt have an edge in longevity over Russell, Jordan but that is overlooked when those players are compared.

Unless you count Jordan and Magic who went from being top 2 players to 0/0/0 overnight (twice in MJ's case), Bird and Hakeem are the best answers. Hakeem is odd because he peaked from ages 30-32--but Hakeem in 1997 was a shell of 95' Hakeem. He remained a very good player but had dropped off dramatically in a short period. Bird, other than Magic's special case, has the worst longevity of any top 10 all-time player. Due to his back issues Bird went from a MVP candidate in 88' to a top 10 player by 90'.

Wilt? The guy was a MVP candidate in his final season when he was 35 or 36.

LeBron? He remains in his prime and has already played a long as Magic did.

The worst top 11 all-time players in terms of longevity are Magic (12 seasons played in total), Bird, Jordan (15 total seasons played, 13 elite years but he played 17 and 18 games in two).