Quote:
Originally Posted by D. Bergin
For the record, I never questioned his HOF credentials. I questioned him being named to the NBA Greatest All-50 and All-75 Teams.
Makes no logical sense. His WS "Win Shares", which is basically basketballs version of WAR is at the bottom of the list on those teams. There's actually a big gap between him and Walton, and everybody else.
Even if you take into account his shorter career, his WS per 48 minutes is still at the very bottom of the list (Walton fares much better in this category). He scores a .092 per 48 minutes. For reference, league average is set at .100. Make of that what you will, dismiss analytics altogether, or whatever. He doesn't belong on those teams.
Adrian Dantley essentially replaced him on The Jazz. Dantley doesn't make either one of those teams, but he was better then Maravich in nearly every phase of the game...and for a much longer period of time.
|
I never said or insinuated you did question his HOF status, my comments weren't directed at you in particular. Just commenting for those who may have viewed him as questionable to be elevated to that level.
As for your comments about him and this WS statistic, I already despise these modern statistics and their modern biases. WAR is okay, I guess, if you're comparing two guys playing in today's version of baseball, but to look at that stat and try to impose it on players from different eras, and expect it to be completely comparable and the best way to measure and compare such players from different eras, is IMO, totally foolish and not all that accurate. I am quite honestly very unfamiliar with this WS stat, but would hazard a guess that it may display some biases also, as does WAR with baseball. Maravich played in a different era, with way different types of players and teams. His long-distance shooting style game would likely be much more in place with today's game than it was for the game at the time he did play. But unlike players today that get fouls called to their benefit when a defender simply breathes hard on them, Maravich played back in the day when they really played defense, and the game was much, much more of a contact sport. I can easily see Maravich being a scoring machine in today's game. Not so sure you can as easily take one of today's shooting stars and put them back in Maravich's time, and then have anywhere near the same success as they have today, or he had back then.
And as for this WS statistic indicating he doesn't belong on the Top 50 or Top 75 All-Time player teams, how do you discount and explain away the fact that he still has the 22nd highest all-time PPG scoring average, and yet never got credit for most of the shots he took that would have counted as 3 points today? Also, it was likely people who knew and actually saw him play that were mostly behind choosing him for those teams than just simply picking based on stats alone. There is a reason that people selected him that transcend the statistics alone. I've never heard of any contemporary player or coach come forward and give any indication they thought he was undeserving of these honors. I would trust the opinions of those people who knew and actually played the game, with and against Maravich, long before I would ever give the opinion of some statisticians even a second thought. I guess we'll just agree to disagree then.