re: Who's the best duo of all time? (NBA)

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There are only so many possessions in a game. If you're using a higher % of posesssions at a 28 PER, that is more impressive IMO than someone doing it without using as many possessions.

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But a person who uses more possessions should have a higher PER. I just regressed the current season and the 2005-2006, but for each point increase in usage, PER increases by ~0.619. So Kobe's 7.5 point higher usage should have about a 4.6 higher PER.

For example, LeBron's highest PER was 31.7 and his usage is 33.8. MJ's highest PER was 31.7 and his usage was 34.1. Last season Steph 31.5 PER with a usage of 32.6.

Obviously, there are probably diminishing returns and the regressions towards the mean will make the difference between usage and PER greater at the extemes, but a 28.0 PER on a 37.5 usage is about in line with expectations.

And as a comparison, Kobe used about 34 possessions per game in 05-06, and between his points and assists, he accounted for about 44.9 points per game (1.24 points per possession used). In 2012-2013. When LeBron had a PER of 31.6 on a 30.2 usage, he used about 24 possessions per game, and between points and assists, accounted for 43.2 points per game (1.88 points per possession used).

Despite only a 13% higher PER, his points per possession was 51% higher. Now that's efficiency.