24 yo Giannis or 24 yo Barkley... Who's better?

[AussieSteve]

2019 Giannis

28ppg, 12rpg, 6apg, 1.3spg, 1.5bpg, 64%ts

- 1st in NBA in PER and WS/48
- 2nd in NBA in BPM, VORP and DRtg
- 3rd in PPG, WS

- Highest PER all time outside of Wilt, MJ and LBJ

Led Bucks to 60 wins and are front runners for East Chamionship

Should be MVP

To date, numbers are down in the playoffs across the board


1988 Barkley

28ppg, 12rpg, 4apg, 1.3spg, 1.3bpg, 67%ts

- 1st in NBA in eFG%, TS% and ORB/G
- 2nd in NBA in WS, WS/48, BPM, VORP (all behind MJ) and ORtg
- 3rd in NBA (behind MJ & Bird) in PER

- Highest TS% all time for seasons of at least 20ppg until Steph in 2016
- Highest ORtg all time for seasons of at least 23ppg

Missed playoffs, with a completely decimated roster. Only one other player at Philly started more than 51 games that season.

4th in MVP voting behind MJ, Bird and Magic.


Summary

Very similar numbers. Barkley superior on Offense. Giannis on Defense.

Giannis has a legitimately great cast and plays in a very weak conference, while the '88 76ers cast was average to start with and was then decimated by both injuries and mid-season trades... hard to compare performance based on team success.


Who you going with?

[Akeem34TheDream]

If you still call The East very weak then you are just dumb.

[k0kakw0rld]

Giannis wouldn't survive Barkley's era with his non shooting ass.

[AussieSteve]

If you still call The East very weak then you are just dumb.

Depth wise the east is still very weak. It has 4 great teams, 1 good one and 10 bad ones.

The best teams in the West are as good or better than the best in the east and, barring injuries, they are pretty strong right down to the 10th seed.

[SpaceJam2]

Giannis wouldn't survive Barkley's era with his non shooting ass.
:biggums:

[NBAGOAT]

i'll just default to giannis by mvp voting even though it's admittedly lazy. MJ ofc is top tier in 88 and bird was too but magic not as much(but that may be due to team results why he got 3rd). Also, feels like defensive edge outweighs the offensive one. I'll let barkley even be considered an average defender but feel like that's not enough even with individual offense>individual defense because giannis is too good there.

I just think he's pretty comparable to pre 09 Bron, arguably better. This Mil team is pretty good but honestly not a championship level one. Carrying them to 60 wins 8+SRS is definitely impressive.

[Rudeboy3]

Giannis is going to win the MVP at 24, so who do you think?

[SpaceJam2]

i'll just default to giannis by mvp voting even though it's admittedly lazy. MJ ofc is top tier 88 and bird was too but magic not as much(but that may be due to team results). Also, feels like defensive edge outweighs the offensive one. I'll let barkley even be considered an average defense but feel like that's not enough even with individual offense>individual defense because giannis is too good there.

I just think he's pretty comparable to pre 09 Bron, arguably better. This Mil team is pretty good but honestly not a championship level one. Carrying them to 60 wins 8+SRS is definitely impressive.

No way, he was a 1-9 career loser before getting Pippen and then he lost for three straight years to Detroit he spent half his career getting run through by any which team are you new to basketball? How do you not know these things

[NBAGOAT]

No way, he was a 1-9 career loser before getting Pippen and then he lost for three straight years to Detroit he spent half his career getting run through by any which team are you new to basketball? How do you not know these things

ik these things. dont really care however.

[Mr.GOAT2408]

Most of today's players would not adjust too well to the 80s, but Giannis would probably be as good if not better. 3 point shooting wasn't as important or necessary back then and while there was less spacing there was also less effort on defense, faster pace also meant more transition opportunities for Giannis which is where he really shines

90s and 00s is a different matter but 80s defense was a little worse, but more physical, than today's defense, so guys that thrive on physical dominating like Giannis would do well.

Definitely better than Barkley was at that stage and probably better than peak Barkley in the early 90s

[AussieSteve]

No way, he was a 1-9 career loser before getting Pippen and then he lost for three straight years to Detroit he spent half his career getting run through by any which team are you new to basketball? How do you not know these things

Go check the Bulls 88 starting lineup and tell me who would have done better with that cast... Vincent, Corzine, Sellers, Oakley.

[GimmeThat]

He's putting numbers better than a 24yo Kevin Garnett.

Barkley wouldn't be a PF via street ball, the only reason he did was because he felt that with refs, he is protected, and therefore he can compete.

[AussieSteve]

Giannis is going to win the MVP at 24, so who do you think?

Well, Giannis is going to win MVP partly because he is awesome and partly because he is on a 60 win team. And he is on a 60 win team partly because he has a great cast who have remained mostly injury free all season. Having said this, I take nothing away from him. He was imo the best player this RS and deserves to be MVP.

In 1988, outside of Bird and Magic, who were top 10 GOATs on stacked teams, and MJ, who averaged 35ppg while also being DPOY, Chuck was the only other player to get first place MVP votes, despite being on a team that won only 36 games. Surely that tells you something about how great he was

I think it's pretty close between the two.

[ralph_i_el]

He's putting numbers better than a 24yo Kevin Garnett.

Barkley wouldn't be a PF via street ball, the only reason he did was because he felt that with refs, he is protected, and therefore he can compete.

:facepalm

[ArbitraryWater]

nothing weak about this year's East

[ImKobe]

Giannis averaged those numbers in just 32 mpg..almost 7 less mpg than Charles.

[ArbitraryWater]

Giannis averaged those numbers in just 32 mpg..almost 7 less mpg than Charles.

:biggums: :biggums: :biggums:

[Meticode]

Giannis wouldn't survive Barkley's era with his non shooting ass.
Actually him not shooting is why I think he would do well in that era. This era is highly dependent on shooting and there's very few players that score most of their points in the paint like Giannis. Back then you lived in the paint.

[RRR3]

Giannis averaged those numbers in just 32 mpg..almost 7 less mpg than Charles.
Part of that is pace.

Compare per 100 possessions.

[Round Mound]

Have not seen Giannis play much so i can't comment regarding on who is better.

[AussieSteve]

Bump

People rating Giannis highly at the end of the RS. Curious as to thoughts now.