I'm between Kawhi and Luka. I truly believe that people are sleeping on Luka just because they haven't seen him play in the playoffs yet.
Even masked profanity is against site rules. Please, do not do it. Thank you. I'm voting for Luka. He's the next Larry legend.
Btw, Bam at #14 is hilarious. I love his game, but come on now! In what universe is Bam a more important playoff player than Butler?
Brown at #18? No way! If we are talking just playoffs, imo Tatum > Hayward > Smart > Kemba > Brown.
Brown is primarily a slasher. Good luck trying to attack the basket in the 4th quarter of a close playoff series. The game slows down for everybody. Crafty players (=Tatum) are way more effective than explosive players (=Brown).
Anyway, here's my list:
Tier 11. Luka
2. Kawhi
3. LeBron
Tier 24. Embiid
5. Giannis
6. Davis
7. Jokic
Tier 38. Lillard
9. Kyrie (hate him all you want, he's clutch)
Not sure about 10-25. I'd put Tatum in tier 4. SGA would make the list too. The kid is 21 years old and he's playing like a battle-hardened veteran. If you ask me, he's the #1 reason the Thunder are a playoff team this season, not CP3.
I don't think Giannis can dominate a slow paced offense in the 4th quarter of a game 7. I mean, he couldn't do it in the FIBA World Cup (against clearly inferior opponents), why will he do it at the NBA level? I may well be wrong, but I'll believe it when I see it. He can pass the ball to his teammates though and they are deadly shooters from the perimeter.
As for Harden, I'm more or less with johnnygreen on this one.
I would take James Harden off that list completely, never mind having him #5. He seems to fall apart in the playoffs, in close games, especially in the fourth quarter. On top of it, if the refs don't want to decide the outcome by calling a foul, I don't know if Harden would be able to function.