Seriously...how do you type that stuff with a straight face?
Declining?
This is what he did his last season before being diagnosed with his problem:
21.7 ppg
9.5 rpg
3.7 bpg
All-Star.
Won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year.
Made All-Defensive First Team.
Third in the MVP voting.
All-NBA Second Team.
By making that statement of ZO being on the decline, I think you disqualify yourself from ever debating this issue. Your bias has seriously clouded your judgement to the point that you are inventing mythical "declines".
2002 he started 75 games and averaged 15.7 points, he missed all of '03.
All of those awards are basically all the awards he won in his career, '99(a lockout/strike shortened season) and '00 were his only years on all-NBA teams.