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Who’s Your “Top 5 Player in the NBA”

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  • #61
    Curry's defense isn't great but his offense is so great it's pretty much out of this world. We talk about how Houston exploited him last playoffs and it seemed to work -- until you realize that this past year was Steph's worst offensive year in the last half decade. He was recovering from an injury.

    The net real plus-minus says it all - he has been top 5 in that over the last 4 seasons. There's only 1 other player who finished in the top 5 over the last 4 years, and his name is ah ha I tricked you! Steph Curry is the ONLY guy to finish in the top 5 in each of the last 4 seasons.
    your pal,
    ebrian

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    • #62
      LJ2 wrote: View Post
      1. LeBron
      2. Durrant
      3. Harden
      4. Kawhi
      5. AD

      I didn't put Curry in my top 5 because he needs a specific type of players around him as well as offence in order to excel. Those other guys would fit on any team and be great. Also, I hate GSW.
      disagree. you could put him on the worst offensive team in the league and they’d instantly be top ten.

      what part of his game is so hard to build around that you need to place specific players around him to succeed? his half court range? finishing? handles? playmaking? screening? rebounding? off ball movement? defence? he’s pretty good to fucking amazing at all of it. think his skillset is about one of the most portable in the league.

      he had pretty good success in his only two healthy seasons prior to kerr joining the team with generally bad teammates (an extremely young klay and an over the hill david lee being the best) and a truly awful coach… what kind of success has davis had that makes you feel differently about the kind of players you need to put around him? or any of the other non-lebron players, for that matter?

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      • #63
        ebrian wrote: View Post
        Curry's defense isn't great but his offense is so great it's pretty much out of this world. We talk about how Houston exploited him last playoffs and it seemed to work -- until you realize that this past year was Steph's worst offensive year in the last half decade. He was recovering from an injury.

        The net real plus-minus says it all - he has been top 5 in that over the last 4 seasons. There's only 1 other player who finished in the top 5 over the last 4 years, and his name is ah ha I tricked you! Steph Curry is the ONLY guy to finish in the top 5 in each of the last 4 seasons.
        it’s telling that new orleans and houston were so terrified of curry that they each thought their best chance to beat them was living with kd iso post ups on jrue holiday, e’twuan moore, chris paul, and eric gordon.

        it’s even more telling that golden state’s offense was visibly worse going to these mismatches.

        or just watch the plays at 2:10, 2:55, and 3:53 of this this KD highlight package from game 1 of the 2017 finals to see who the real mvl of that team is.



        hilarious.

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        • #64
          golden wrote: View Post
          I can't put Curry in any top 5 because of his defense. It was almost comical how Houston went out their way to ISO him on defense in the playoffs. If CP3 didn't get injured, I think the Rockets take that series and like 90% of the reason for that would have been because of Steph's D. Similar argument for Harden, but he's surprisingly improved, at least in this year's playoffs.
          I guess this is going to be a subjective argument by me, but my thought process goes like this: basketball is fundamentally a high scoring game, no matter how great a defense is. So, while defense is important, to the point of offense in general being overrated, I still think giving an overall priority to guys who are great on that end on the floor is warranted. That is, provided they are transformative players. And that's why I put LeBron, Curry and Harden on top. Yes, Durant and Kawhi (especially) are better at defense than Curry and Harden, and are pretty much unguardable, but they are more of a "tip of the spear" type players, if that makes sense. LeBron, Curry and Harden are offensive systems unto themselves. In fact, they are currently the only three players that I feel have that capacity (Harden only on the last two seasons, too), where you can put just some specific parts around them and you have greatness. LeBron the most intelligent ball handler ever, Harden a complete offensive savant, and Curry a perpetual motion shooting machine with great dribbling and unselfishness. The only other player in the league that I see having that potential right now is Giannis, but he's not quite there yet. So, that's what I feel sets them apart, without going too much into detail. In short, my thought process is like this:

          1. LeBron: Transformative on offense, greatest overall passer in the league, great defender when needed, by far the best still
          2. Curry: Transformative on offense, shooting and motion have unparalleled gravity, ok defender on his position
          3. Harden: Transformative on offense, knows every trick and can do everything, questions about D and motor, though improved.
          4. Durant: the most individually unguardable in the league, very good passer and great on defense, but those kind of come and go.
          5. Kawhi: World-beater on offence, good passer but not the best playmaker, the best defender in the league.

          To be fair, I think Kawhi is overall better than Durant, but recency bias did play a factor.
          Last edited by GuiJaeger; Sat Jul 28, 2018, 12:15 PM.

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          • #65
            When healthy and in their prime:

            1. LeBron James
            2. Kevin Durant
            3. Kawhi Leonard
            4. Stephen Curry
            5. Anthony Davis

            Golden State is still good, no matter what, but they're a different team without Curry on the floor, and he's the engine that makes that thing go.

            I think if either of Green/Thompson/Durant weren't on the Warriors, they'd still be serious favourites. Without Curry, I don't believe they're better than Houston.
            Twitter: @ReubenJRD • NBA, Raptors writer for Daily Hive Vancouver, Toronto.

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