Re: Best Big Men to Ever Play the Game
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Another note, those who don't rank David Robinson ahead of Duncan apparently werent watching basketball before 1995 when David Robinson put up sick peak numbers that Duncan's peak can't match and against better competition at the C position than Duncan has ever faced. Their is a 7 year period of time where Robinson averages 26/12, while being one of the best defensive Cs in the game. Notice that Duncan and Robinson's career averages look pretty close to each other and thats with Robinson playing til he was 37, and having a crappy last two seasons.
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I don't necessarily disagree with your conclusion, but this is a situation where I think it is inappropriate to rely exclusively on statistics. Stats are very influenced by one's teammates and team system, as well as one's opponents. For example, many great players arguably would have scored a lot more had they been on less balanced teams.
Stats also don't do a good job of showing defensive prowess. Russell is routinely called the best defensive big man ever, and I doubt that is reflected in blocks per game or any other stat.
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