Here'san interesting exercisefromBasketball Prospectus' Kevin Pelton. As we all know former Portland Trail Blazers center Arvydas Sabonis didn't come over to the NBA until very late in his career. Pelton uses Sabonis' 31 year old rookie season as the starting point to compare him to other players from their 31 year old seasons and on. The results with these time constraints? Sabonis is the 26th best player in modern NBA history (dating back to 1980). Blazers center Marcus Camby, former Blazers forward Scottie Pippen and former Blazers guard Clyde Drexler appear above him on the list. To really underscore his place in history note that 22 or 23 of the 25 names above him are current or future Hall of Famers. The conclusion: even in a diminished form and way late to the party, Sabonis' numbers show he could play with the NBA's best. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com |Twitter