Best Player of the Decade: 70's

[Kevin]

All stats are based off of per 36.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

PPG	RPG	APG	FG%	PER	WS
24.1	10.9	3.5	55.9%	24.9	.228

Julius Erving

PPG	RPG	APG	FG%	PER	WS
23.9	8.4	4.1	50.6%	23.6	.192

Bob McAdoo

PPG	RPG	APG	FG%	PER	WS
23.9	10.2	2.5	50.3%	.207	.151

Elvin Hayes

PPG	RPG	APG	FG%	PER	WS
19.7	11.7	1.7	45.2%	17.7	.116

John Havlicek

PPG	RPG	APG	FG%	PER	WS
20.4	6.2	4.7	43.9%	17.5	.136

Dave Cowens

PPG	RPG	APG	FG%	PER	WS
17.6	13.6	3.5	46%	17.0	.140

Walt Frazier

PPG	RPG	APG	FG%	PER	WS
18.1	5.6	5.9	49%	19.1	.176

Rick Barry

PPG	RPG	APG	FG%	PER	WS
23.9	6.5	4.7	45.6%	21.0	.162

George Gervin

PPG	RPG	APG	FG%	PER	WS
26.9	5.7	2.8	50.4%	21.4	.157

[Andrew]

Kareem, definitely Kareem. But looking at that list, despite the 70s' reputation as being something of a dark age in the NBA - after the Celtics' Dynasty, before the surge in popularity in the 80s and 90s, and mired in drug problems - there were some great players in that decade.

[NovU]

Kareem.

2nd place discussion would be more interesting. Eriving probably has it locked too. 3rd?

[Andrew]

Probably between Havlicek, Barry, and Gervin.

[NovU]

Can't say much about them as I do know very little about them.

I will just go with Gervin as he scored in trucks of Kobe.

[Andrew]

That finger roll...

phpBB [video]

[benji]

These include ABA stats and are per 36. Ranked by PER * WS/48 * Total WS:
Kareem: 24.9 PTS/12.7 REB/3.9 AST- 26.8 PER - .262 WS/48
Artis Gilmore: 19.8/13.8/2.7 - 23.0 - .211
Julius Erving: 24.7/9.5/4.2 - 24.6 - .202
Dan Issel: 23.2/9.9/2.4 - 21.5 - .187
Bob Lanier: 22.5/11.7/3.3 - 22.8 - .179
Walt Frazier: 18.3/5.5/5.8 - 19.3 - .180
Rick Barry: 23.0/6.0/5.1 - 20.8 - .156
Bob McAdoo: 24.5/10.8/2.6 - 21.9 - .162
George Gervin: 26.3/6.5/2.7 - 22.0 - .171
Elvin Hayes: 20.4/12.3/1.7 - 18.5 -.127
Wes Unseld: 10.8/13.9/3.9 - 16.1 - .149
John Havilcek: 19.8/5.9/5.2 - 17.7 - .140
Paul Westphal: 23.4/2.9/6.0 - 20.7 - .179
Dave Cowins: 16.6/12.8/3.6 - 17.2 - .141
George McGinnis: 22.7/12.0/3.9 - 20.9 - .139

[benji]

One interesting thing to note. No "real" point guards as we'd think of them even in a top fifteen. Frazier often played in two guard setups with Earl The Pearl and/or Bill Bradley was the secondary ball handler. Westphal played both guards depending on the team. Nobody tops 6 assists per 36. Tiny Archibald at 7.3 is the only one in the top 30.

I don't know if any other decade would work out that way.

EDIT: 1960's
Big O - 8.4 assists per 36

1980's
Magic - 11.0
Thomas - 9.6
Cheeks - 7.7
Fat Lever - 7.5
Gus Williams - 7.0
(Stockton, only half the decade - 12.9)

1990's
Stockton - 12.2
Kevin Johnson - 9.8
Mark Jackson - 9.6
Rod Strickland - 8.8
Tim Hardaway - 8.6
Mark Price - 8.5
Payton - 7.1
Terry Porter - 7.0

[benji]

One thing is the change in the game, for one guards became more dominant, especially emulation of Magic and Isiah. But also the offenses slowed down and point guards started pounding the ball into the floor ultimately peaking in the Iverson/Marbury/Francis trio. Offenses prior to 1990 (and thankfully since 2005ish) needed multiple ball handlers. Plus you had bigs who could pass from the outlet (think Russell, Unseld) or from the high post (think Wilt, Alvin Adams, Todd MacCulloch) so having assist distributions that looked like 5-4-4-2-2 wasn't as out of the norm as later when it became more like 8-2-3-1-1 for many teams.

One funny thing is that few, other than maybe Sauru, remember that for a few years the Celtics were so insistent on bringing McHale off the bench that Bird was playing as what we'd now call a stretch four, who was also the teams primary ball handler. In other words, what LeBron was doing for Miami. Dennis Johnson became a big help because he was another guy who could handle the ball even though the Celtics still didn't run a traditional point guard setup, Bird as a "point-forward" was still the primary plan.

One interesting thing is that today we've got a lot of great point guards, but I'd argue they dominate the ball less than even ten years ago, instead we're seeing guys like Batum, Draymond Green, etc. handle the ball so those guards can setup to score/shoot. That's actually a unintentionally unearthed relic of the old Bulls teams when Pippen would bring the ball up, so they could run Jordan and Paxson/Armstrong/Kerr off screens or to certain spots. (I imagine that's where Kerr/Walton swiped it from...Jackson had Fox/Walton sometimes do the same thing on the Lakers.)

Anyway, the 1970's were Kareem's decade like the 1950's were Mikans, the 1990's were Jordans and the 2010s have been LeBron's. Only that last one could be in doubt. (LeBron's reign looks like it might be more like 2007-2017 than fitting nicely into one of the decades.)

[NovU]

5-4-4-2-2 makes it sound like it was rather position-less era and of that everyone got involved more. This is kinda ironic because it looked like an era superstars were utilized more than ever while expected to play full 48 mpg, nearly.

Funny thing, I still wonder to this day how the fug did Wilt lead the league in assists.

Was Bird really a first major pioneer of stretch four? Haven't checked how minutes were played at each position but perception is that he was a SF mostly. Sure he played PF times necessary though.

[Andrew]

Although it doesn't completely diminish the feat, it's worth noting that when Wilt led the league in assists, league leaders were determined by totals, not averages. When he led the league in assists in the 1968 season with 8.6 per game (a total of 702 assists), Oscar Robertson had an average of 9.7 per game (633 total).