It’s hard to say for me, but Duncan’s contribution to the Spurs defense, even in his twilight years, helps his case. His offense, however, is not much to write home about. Comparing his TS% with Kobe’s, they’re similar, but that’s actually not helping Duncan’s case because big men tend to have better TS% than guards and wings. From a EFG% perspective, Duncan’s EFG% isn’t much better than Kobe’s and Kobe had a much higher 3 point attempt rate at slightly below average efficiency.
Like many people have said in this thread, it’s really down to what you want to see from a player. From my perspective, Kobe has displayed some of the finest offensive performances in league history along with good, but quite inconsistent defense. Duncan was able to anchor the defense of three different Spurs systems, but his offense could have been better.
It’s hard to say for me, but Duncan’s contribution to the Spurs defense, even in his twilight years, helps his case. His offense, however, is not much to write home about. Comparing his TS% with Kobe’s, they’re similar, but that’s actually not helping Duncan’s case because big men tend to have better TS% than guards and wings. From a EFG% perspective, Duncan’s EFG% isn’t much better than Kobe’s and Kobe had a much higher 3 point attempt rate at slightly below average efficiency.
Like many people have said in this thread, it’s really down to what you want to see from a player. From my perspective, Kobe has displayed some of the finest offensive performances in league history along with good, but quite inconsistent defense. Duncan was able to anchor the defense of three different Spurs systems, but his offense could have been better.