Here’s a breakdown of Point Guard play in the NBA since 1977 using one advanced statistical measure - Wins Produced Per 48 Minutes (WP48).
You’ll see that Steph Marbury rates higher than AI on this list.
One thing that I wanted to say about my AI article…I believe the perception is that I manipulated statistics to make AI look bad. I don’t feel that’s accurate. What I did, really, was use stats to illustrate the way AI plays the game and why it hasn’t been overly beneficial for the teams he’s been a part of.
The things I wrote about were all things you’d witness while watching a game. I used stats because I didn’t have the luxury of being able to put together a career-long clip reel.
So, if you think about my post and then read this article by Dave Berri and see that AI’s career WP48 is .080 - below the average of .100 - I think you’ll understand how it’s possible Iverson could be considered a below average player, not merely in the context of an esoteric number but also in terms of visible activity on the basketball court.
