Player Comparisons by PIPM

[Stephonit]

Interesting stuff.

As a fan, I always said that year Curry went off was one of the most dominant seasons I've seen from a player. I don't think I've seen anyone as dominant outside of prime Shaq, and all the advanced metrics back that by the looks of things.

On top of that, I've always held the opinion LeBron at his best, was the best player to ever step on the court. Not only that, it seems as if he has found another type of role on the court where he can be as effective in his later years.

You have to remember though that these advanced indicators can be tweaked to produce a desired outcome. The previous iteration of BPM for example used height as a prior. It might seem they did away with that in the new model but really they just shifted it to their penalty for point guards. The positional coefficient isn't linear either. They could bend that curve any way they want. This element of arbitrariness means biases of the creators can determine the calculation's outcome. They know how they want it to look at the end and torture the numbers until they conform.

[plowking]

You have to remember though that these advanced indicators can be tweaked to produce a desired outcome. The previous iteration of BPM for example used height as a prior. It might seem they did away with that in the new model but really they just shifted it to their penalty for point guards. The positional coefficient isn't linear either. They could bend that curve any way they want. This element of arbitrariness means biases of the creators can determine the calculation's outcome. They know how they want it to look at the end and torture the numbers until they conform.

Absolutely agree. Though there is a certain level of confluence that you see when you gather all of these advanced metrics, and certain seasons and players consistently stand out above all.

Sports is often as much about narratives as it is the actual reality of what happens. I'm also of the opinion that David Robinson was as good if not better than Hakeem for the majority of their careers, and that one series against each other, and ultimately Hakeem's brilliant 2 years stretch changed that narrative completely. Robinson often outplayed Hakeem prior, and put up the better numbers. But now, history remembers Hakeem as being some salyer of Robinson.

[Monta Ellis MVP]

Absolutely agree. Though there is a certain level of confluence that you see when you gather all of these advanced metrics, and certain seasons and players consistently stand out above all.

Sports is often as much about narratives as it is the actual reality of what happens. I'm also of the opinion that David Robinson was as good if not better than Hakeem for the majority of their careers, and that one series against each other, and ultimately Hakeem's brilliant 2 years stretch changed that narrative completely. Robinson often outplayed Hakeem prior, and put up the better numbers. But now, history remembers Hakeem as being some salyer of Robinson.

While this is all true we have to take into account Hakeem’s very impressive back to back title run. David Robinson was great and very close to Hakeem but he doesn’t have anything like that on his resume. Hakeems head to head matchup after David won the MVP gets overrated at times but I think Hakeems two titles is what really separates the two in most people’s minds.

[Phoenix]

Absolutely agree. Though there is a certain level of confluence that you see when you gather all of these advanced metrics, and certain seasons and players consistently stand out above all.

Sports is often as much about narratives as it is the actual reality of what happens. I'm also of the opinion that David Robinson was as good if not better than Hakeem for the majority of their careers, and that one series against each other, and ultimately Hakeem's brilliant 2 years stretch changed that narrative completely. Robinson often outplayed Hakeem prior, and put up the better numbers. But now, history remembers Hakeem as being some salyer of Robinson.

Admiral has two things mostly going against his legacy. The aforementioned playoffs series and the fact that he basically took 2nd billing in order to win championships, while Hakeem was the undisputed best player on his title teams coupled with insane peak play and beating head to head his positional competition in the playoffs during that period. Very rarely ( that I can recall anyway) has a player had that opportunity to go against all his position rivals in playoff meetings in order the answer a 'who's the best' question to that degree.

You're right that outside of that series Robinson often more than held his ground and around 91 or 92 was probably considered better. Hakeem beating him 'when' it counts has created a narrative that there was always this gulf between the two when that simply wasnt the case. People have forgotten that Hakeem was considered a malcontent at one point. He went from missing the playoffs in 92 to a title, MVP and DPOY in 94. Talk about a quick turnaround. To be honest, I'm not even sure Hakeem outplays him that badly if Admiral hadn't won MVP. That provided the fuel and Robinson got caught in the crossfire and just wasnt obsessively competitive enough to go back at him. You'd think pride would kick in at some point, but nope.