We judge the greatness of a person by their peaks, not their averages.
Kobe Bryant averaged over 35 points per game in one year of his career, but also 13 points per game a few seasons later. However, he scored 81 points one night against Toronto and had 4 other games in which he scored 60+ points. He also captured five NBA titles over his career.
The peaks define him as a top-5 NBA player of all time. If he never got through moments of average play, greatness would not have been achieved. But I don’t think he was worried about being average or being great in those moments. He just went out and did the work.
The peaks came and the peaks defined the level of greatness.