Kingcarl24 wrote:If you guys want to play semantic games, fine I guess.
Barkley has played on much better teams than Dirk has and Dirk, has been more successful.
Can anyone even remember the 2nd best player on that Mavs team?
Jason Kidd? Terry? Marion? Hell, the way the way people talk about Barea locking down LeBron, maybe he was the 2nd best?
Dirk shot 41.6 percent in the 2011 NBA Finals.
Barkley shot 47.6 percent in the 1993 NBA Finals. Even had a slightly higher TS% (in an era less devoted to shooting to boot).
13 rebounds a game versus 9.7. 5.5 assists a game versus 2.0
I don't think we are talking about two different tiers of player, especially when you dig through playoff performances, where they both shined, even by superstar standards.
Edit: Basically, I think we are talking about a photo-finish in terms of who played the game of basketball better and who pushed the needle more towards winning. They each have advantages over the other. I would probably take Dirk, but it's close.