BadBaronRudigor

Minstrel, the original argument by you was that Erving's ABA numbers which show him as significantly better than McGrady should be ignored because upon his move to the NBA, his numbers dropped across the board. You particularly pointed to his rebounding numbers.

I suggested an alternative explanation; that it was a natural process of age and used the first three comparables on the 3rd party list of GOAT SGs (the peer group in discussion) to show that this particular drop was in fact common among this type of player.

You countered with a single example of a player not on the 3rd party peer group list who you felt was comparable to McGrady (not Erving). So, let me review the full 8 peer list from the original suggested SF Goat list.

Bird, English, Baylor, Barry. Pippen, and Worthy experienced significant drops in rebounding stats after age 26,26,27,28,29,29; very similar to Erving.

Barry, the only other player to go ABA/NBA, experienced a strong rebounding GAIN returning to the NBA at age 26 before the age dropoff caught up 2 years later.

Havlicek didn't experience a significant drop until age 31, Wilkens never experienced a rebounding drop at all.

Therefore, it seems likely that since 75% of the comparable players experienced a similar significant rebounding drop in their late 20's that THIS IS A VERY LIKELY EXPLANATION for Erving's statistical drop upon moving to Philidelphia.

ABA numbers are inflated compared to equivalent NBA numbers but the only stat survey I ever saw estimated it for late ABA at only about 10% (and attributed it to the star system that caused teams that payed big money for free agents to expect them to take on big roles . . . the same thing Cunningham attributed it to in interviews). As you go early in the ABA, numbers like Connie Hawkins's experienced greater distortion.

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