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E, DanielI think in your last post you played out the question in a way that provokes serious conjecture, though conjecture is all it can ever really be.....If the star turned into a superstar under the guidance of a manager or 'system' - you'll never know if he'd have struggled otherwise. You just can't, not without jumping in the proverbial time machine and changing the course of that player's destiny to measure the result.
I too though think its a reasonable assumption that at least some would have failed to meet their absolute top shelf potential. But working out who might or might not have failed is next to impossible to think through. For me, MJ could very easily have been a Kobe without the very structured requirements of Phil's/Tex Winters schemes and not have achieved such immortality. Still a jaw dropper, but perhaps not as measurably successful. And then you plug Kobe into the scheme and in spite of incredible brilliance it's all he can do to get out of the way of achieving sustained success..... Similarly Tiger's swing guru Butch Harmon may well have a fair hand in many of Woods' majors - as do all his other coaches throughout life. But how do you measure it? How can you know such superstars wouldn't have found some other road to stardom and success if forced to travel a different path?
Fair question, I'm glad you wearn't so wearied by the knockers that you gave up!
Daniel