Limited minutes don't help, either. Stars often have off nights even in their prime, but they're offset by plenty of other opportunities to even out their numbers and make up for rough games. If you take a look at Dirk's
game log for this season, there are quite a few scoreless games where he missed all four or five of his shots (and even an 0-for-10 game), which keeps his percentage low. Without the minutes he'd play in his prime, it's harder for him to have bounce back games, or get into a rhythm in games where he ends up 3-for-9, 2-for-10, and so on.
Leander wrote:Yes, Kobe, Duncan and Stockton.
Kobe was drafted by the Hornets and Dirk was drafted by the Bucks, so while they played 20 and 21 years for the Lakers and Mavericks, they weren't actually drafted by them. I believe that makes Stockton and Duncan the longest tenured players with a single team that also drafted them. Anyway, not a reflection on their careers, just an interesting trivia note.