Age & Minutes, The big 3

[lJesterl]

I'm bored so maybe this is just a pointless rant. But i've been looking at a few things after reading "washed up" , "to old" , "closed window" etc. I was actually watching a youtube doc on MJ that prompted me with the though about the age of everyone. I had to actually check and see how old Kobe was. I didn't even know.

I never hear anything about Kobe Bryant. I'm using Kobe for my example because he is the MVP for the Lakers whom everyone is saying will win it again this year. I'm also using MJ as a reference because to me he is the best player of all time.

Pierce is 32, Garnett is 33, and Allen is 34

Out of the Big 3 Allen is the oldest but IMO plays like the youngest.

Now Kobe Bryant is 31 and just to throw it in there Odom is 30 and Fisher is 34.

MJ won the last 3 of the bulls championships at 33, 34, and 35. He could have went at least 2 more years easily winning the championship but very possible he could have gone a awhile contending in the playoffs, had he not retired.

Pierce is 1 years older than Kobe.
Allen is 3 years old than Kobe.
Garnett is 2 years older than Kobe.

Factor in the minutes played.

Garnett = 40,619
Allen = 36,680
Kobe = 36,315
Pierce = 31,895

KG has played alot more minutes. But it's not as bad as it looks. Here is a list of the top all time minutes leaders

Abdul-Jabbar     57,446
Karl Malone    50,543
Elvin Hayes    50,000
Chamberlain    47,859
John Havlicek    46,471
Robert Parish    45,704
John Stockton    45,489
Moses Malone    45,071
Olajuwon    44,222

On average if KG was to play 30 MPG then it is VERY much possible that he could still have 250 games in him at the least.

Garnett has played 1,087 games. While there are alot of people above that I will just use the most games played by Abdul-Jabbar with 1,560.

Now sure in the end injuries make the decision on ultimately how long a player plays but there is some time left.



Yea like I said i'm bored. I got up early and it's taking for ever for my work day to start :-p

[PLamb]

Just want to point out that with the exception of maybe Chamberlain, John Stockton and Karl Malone most of those players you listed under the all-time minutes leaders were a shell of their former selves as basketball players the final 5000 or so minutes of their careers

Expecting KG to play another 7500 minutes and be as effective as he was in 2007-08 is extremely, extremely unlikely though, I wouldn't put it past him if he can get by this knee injury that has been around for over a year

[Who]

Kobe Bryant has played roughly 100 playoff games + over 2,000 more playoff minutes than any of the Big Three.

[BballTim]

Just want to point out that with the exception of maybe Chamberlain, John Stockton and Karl Malone most of those players you listed under the all-time minutes leaders were a shell of their former selves as basketball players the final 5000 or so minutes of their careers

Expecting KG to play another 7500 minutes and be as effective as he was in 2007-08 is extremely, extremely unlikely though, I wouldn't put it past him if he can get by this knee injury that has been around for over a year

  You can't compare players from the 60s and 70s or even the early 80s to modern athletes. The level of training an fitness just doesn't compare.

[Andy Jick]

agreed...they'd spend the offseason doing nothing, or drinking a few beers, or even working odd jobs.  even the great teams of the 80's would use training camp to drop 10-15 pounds...basketball was never an all-year-round thing.  much different era...

[BballTim]

agreed...they'd spend the offseason doing nothing, or drinking a few beers, or even working odd jobs.  even the great teams of the 80's would use training camp to drop 10-15 pounds...basketball was never an all-year-round thing.  much different era...

  I still remember when a reporter asked Kenny Stabler what he did to stay in shape during the offseason. He said something like "I lift 12 ounce cans from the table to my mouth".

[PLamb]

Look at the guys on the list that are old timers

They were amongst the best athletes in any sport ever

Chamberlain skills and athleticism were transcendent

Havlicek could run circles around just about every player in the league today

Abdul Jabbar was a freak of nature athletically and a great martial artist that kept himself in other worldly shape

Parish was much like Jabbar

Elvin Hayes was so athletic he would have dominated even today

Yet, their games fell off late in their careers, for like the last 3000-6000 minutes they played

[dlpin]

Kobe Bryant has played roughly 100 playoff games + over 2,000 more playoff minutes than any of the Big Three.

Exactly. When you factor in playoff minutes, the list looks like this:

Kobe:43186
KG: 43609
Pierce: 34993
Allen: 39736

[BballTim]

Look at the guys on the list that are old timers

They were amongst the best athletes in any sport ever

Chamberlain skills and athleticism were transcendent

Havlicek could run circles around just about every player in the league today

Abdul Jabbar was a freak of nature athletically and a great martial artist that kept himself in other worldly shape

Parish was much like Jabbar

Elvin Hayes was so athletic he would have dominated even today

Yet, their games fell off late in their careers, for like the last 3000-6000 minutes they played

  The point isn't whether they were athletic or not but how they trained and maintained their bodies compared to players today. You mention Kareem, but he played very effectively into his late 30s. Parish was a little behind but not a lot.