Yes. Kobe went from scoring at a historically unbelievable rate to being a top 5 scorer in the league. The drop-off is significant but he didn't go from good to mediocre. He went from historic to elite.
It's a considerably different than going from good to mediocre.
Historically good? He didn't average the most for his position even...(talking all time here)...where do you draw the line for what is "historic"?
Also, the point I am trying to make is...he's not scoring as much because he doesnt NEED to score as much...
Kobe's 35.4 PPG in 2005-06 ranks 8th all time in single season scoring average. Wilt owns five of the seven seasons better than Kobe's. The other two are owned by Michael Jordan and Rick Barry. Those 8 seasons are also the only 8 seasons by an individual player to top the 35 PPG mark in the history of the league. Kobe's 35 PPG season was the first one since Michael in 1987-88. So it was the first one in 16 years.
Do you not consider that historic?
My point is that there's a difference between dropping off in production but still being elite than there is in dropping off in production and being mediocre. Since that 2005-06 season, Kobe has remained a top 5 scorer in the NBA each season, including the current one. That drop-off doesn't seem as significant as say dropping from a 20 point scorer to a 14 point scorer. When Kobe's scoring dropped off from 35 PPG, he still remained in the same company as LeBron, Wade, Carmelo, Durant, Dirk. 14 PPG is in the same company as Mike Dunleavy, Andre Miller, Carl Landry, Daniel Gibson, and Sonny Weems.
See the difference?
Just outa curiosity, why would 26 ppg be "in the company" of 30 ppg scorers, but 14 ppg isn't "in the company" of 18 ppg scorers?
Once you get over the 25 PPG mark, there are very few players at that level of scoring. The players closest to Kobe the past three seasons are those players ranked around him. There are a lot of players around the 14.0 PPG mark in the NBA. Enough that the players ranked in that range score relatively close to the same, more so than once you get past the 25 PPG mark. There simply aren't a lot of other 25-30 PPG scorers. So that range is bigger in terms of including the "elite" scorers in the league.
NBA scoring leaders the previous three season:
2007-08
1. LeBron 30.0 PPG
2. Kobe 28.3 PPG
3. Iverson 26.4 PPG
4. Carmelo 25.7 PPG
2008-09
1. Wade 30.2 PPG
2. LeBron 28.4 PPG
3. Kobe 26.8 PPG
4. Dirk 25.9 PPG
2009-10
1. Durant 30.1 PPG
2. LeBron 29.7 PPG
3. Carmelo 28.2 PPG
4. Kobe 27.0 PPG
5. Wade 26.6 PPG
That's why those are Kobe's scoring peers and are his company. And you can also see that his scoring the previous three seasons has been around 27-28 PPG, not 26 PPG.
That's my bad. I misread your post. I didn't see that you said between years. Technically 2006 through 2009 is a four year span. Hence why I deleted the post. (After all, you were comparing his 2006 avg with his 2009 avg, which encompasses 4 years total.)
Yea, that's fine. I said years for a reason though :P I didn't say seasons, but it was very easily misunderstood, so its not your fault.
Jose, why is the cutoff 25 ppg? Why not 23? 22?
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