Idk, he was a very effective player but I certainly wouldn’t call his prime “electric.” He would pull off some stuff like this but it was a ton of foul baiting and isos at the top of the key for the majority of the shot clock. Obviously he mastered it and was insanely efficient, but it was a chore to watch imo.
bigwillystyle93
joined 1 year ago
I find this thread really interesting. I don’t view “best player in the league” as a year by year thing but more of a title that someone has until the lose it. Almost like a passing of the torch, and it last longer than a lot of these answers. Like to me, Shaq was still the best player in the world in 03-05. His stats went down because he was accommodating new teammates and the ever growing need for the ball from Kobe, but when push came to shove he was still the best in the league until after his first year in Miami. I think my list would be something like this:
Shaq from 99-05 Kobe from 06-09 Lebron fron 09ish-2018 Here it gets murky but I think Steph had the claim from 2019-22, I just think lebron had kind of lost the consensus by this time. Since last year it’s been Jokic
Guys like KG and Duncan were obviously incredible players who during different seasons had the best year of anybody in the league, but never really took over the “best player in the world” title that goes beyond “who was the best this year. I only think it’s been 4 guys this century, going on 5