this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2023
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I was thinking today, I’ve seen talks about people entering their prime at really old ages, like Karl Malone for example. But that made wonder, who hit the peak of their career at the younger ages? For example, micheal carter Williams practically peaked in his rookie year.

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[–] Alloverunder@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (43 children)

Kinda stunned no one's said Dwight Howard. By 26, he had racked up 8xAll Star, 8xAll NBA including 5 straight first teams, 3x DPOY, 5x Rebounding champ, 2x block champ, and a finals appearance. By 28, he was essentially a washed-up big body to throw at other centers, bouncing around team to team barely clinging to the league.

[–] WestleyThe@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (27 children)

He could’ve retired at 26 and would’ve been a HOF

[–] Bennet24_LFC@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

He got a ring in those 12 years. And he‘ll still be a first ballot Hall of Famer

[–] blacknotblack@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (4 children)
[–] nonstopenguins@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Yeah his and other omissions from the list hurts the legacy of the list rather than Dwight Howard. People will clown the list and Adam silver for years for the atrocity that list is.

I have not seen that list talked about as an honor, most discussions I see are around Dwight, Jokic and others not being on the list and how bad it is.

[–] UGLEHBWE@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Still pisses me off. It's so clear that I'm convinced he made the wrong people mad behind the scenes. I just don't get it

[–] Sea_Breadfruit2164@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (4 children)

how dame got over him still bugs me :(

[–] Akkepake@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I have a Dame jersey and idk how he made it

[–] MambaMentality0824@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I understand the respect factor but rankings like this change over time. They really should have done it properly and removed some of the top 50 guys from 1996 who objectively wouldn't be top 75 in 2022. So instead of Dame or AD it should have been one of the old timers who aren't objective good enough.

Since they just kept the top 50 from 1996 out of respect and added 25 new players.

[–] randomcoolguy1@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

And AD like wtf?? Dwight is unbelievably clear accolades wise

[–] 2Small2Juice@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (3 children)

AD had absolutely no business getting in over Dwight. That was ridiculous.

[–] RodneyPonk@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Why is AD the frame of reference? Dwight was a no brains top 75 but AD clearly belongs too.

[–] idontgiveahonk@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

AD still deserved it over Dame, Melo, and some of those guys from the 70s (Lenny Wilkens, Earl Monroe, Dave Bing, Pete Maravich, and probably Dave DeBusschere)

[–] urriah@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I was on your side until you said pistol pete .. you take that back!!!

[–] nukethedogphilly@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] idontgiveahonk@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Pick any one part that I was wrong about.

[–] nukethedogphilly@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

AD over Dame is fine. The rest are wrong. Your list just shows you have recency bias and didn't care to learn about NBA history, so me commenting here isn't going to fix that.

Melo is absolutely top 75 player, he's #9 all-time scoring and is one of the greatest isolation scorers the game has seen.

[–] idontgiveahonk@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I have great respect for the legends of NBA history. I love learning about those guys. I read the Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons twice. Not to say that means I agree with most of his opinions, because I don’t — but it contains numerous descriptions of and anecdotes about older players. Thinking Basketball’s greatest peaks series are some of my favorite videos.

Notice how I left out most of the older players. Because I put a certain amount of thought into that list. To suggest that I don’t care to learn about NBA history is baseless. You seem to have a bias the opposite way that you are accusing me of having. Look at Dame and Earl. There’s a sizable gap between their statistical footprints. Dame already has more points in the regular season and playoffs despite playing fewer minutes in both and he is more efficient, even relative to their eras.

As for Carmelo versus AD, I think it comes down to how much you value longevity vs. peak value. Melo’s greatest value obviously came from his scoring, but I’m not convinced he was a better scorer than AD. That might sound crazy, but just look at their peak playoff stats: 2009-2011 Carmelo Anthony (1,022 minutes)- 27.3 Points per 75 possessions, +1.6 relative True Shooting Percentage 2015-2020 Anthony Davis (1,299 minutes) - 27.7 PTS/75, +8.1 rTS%

That is a huge difference in efficiency. And then when you add on AD’s defensive impact it becomes clear to me that AD is better. And this is reflected by the fact that AD has 4 1st team All-NBA selections while Melo only cracked the 2nd team twice.

[–] nukethedogphilly@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I almost believed you appreciated legends until you started quoting advanced statistics.

[–] HeroOfMemes@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You had me until you said ad is a better scorer than melo because he’s more efficient in the playoffs? Yeah he better be, he’s a big man who doesn’t create nearly as many of his own shots and posted. He also played a large majority of those games next to bron

[–] idontgiveahonk@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Off-ball scoring can still be valuable scoring. There is something to be said for being valuable beside other all-time offensive players. Carmelo was great on his own but it’s unlikely that he could’ve amplified the talent of a ball-dominant talent like AD did with his rolling to the basket. And it’s unknown if Melo could be a #1 on a championship offense. He was a guy who had the ball in his hands a lot but was never a very good playmaker.

And the difference between AD and 99% of play-finished bigs is that he also has elite scoring volume.

Like I said, it depends how you value longevity versus peak. I think that players have more valuable careers when they rack up a handful of strong all-NBA and/or MVP-level seasons over players who have several All-NBA / All-Star level seasons.

[–] HeroOfMemes@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I agree that it depends on how you value longevity vs peak but you literally made the criteria so specific that it perfectly caters to the insane playoff (since you made it playoff only) run peak AD went on with Bron (plays like 2/3 of his games you listed in 1 year) resulting in a boosted efficiency. The framing sounds misleading

Idt you’re going to convince me that a boost in efficiency because of his off-ball rim-running abilities or gimme dunks makes him a better scorer than melo

[–] Holcomb_Industrial@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

AD deserving it over the 9th most scoring player of all time is a crazy take. AD is the most overrated modern player. He’s had great peaks but overall career is absolutely not a top 75. Not even gonna get into the Pistol Pete stuff.

[–] cletoreyes01@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

AD's the better player tho 👀

[–] rajs1286@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

He really is. The fact that ppl are downvoting you and tryna deny that is ridiculous. Ppl just blinded by hate and didn’t even watch Dwight, he barely had an offensive game lmao

[–] Interesting-Test180@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

HUUUHH DAME OUTTA EVERYONE?

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