For the poll I went with Kyrie over Curry. Obviously, I voted with my green glasses on, but I do believe he has been better this season.
As a staunch Kyrie defender and fan of the Celtics, I would like to agree with you but... Have you, like, seen Steph Curry?
Actually, if you look at the stats, Kyrie is having arguably just as good a year as Steph. Steph scores more because out of his 18 shots 12 are 3 pointers and out of Kyrie's 18 shots only 6 are 3 pointers. But otherwise, the stats are really very close.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.fcgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1_hint=Kyrie+Irving&player_id1_select=Kyrie+Irving&y1=2019&player_id1=irvinky01&idx=players&player_id2_hint=Stephen+Curry&player_id2_select=Stephen+Curry&y2=2019&player_id2=curryst01&idx=players
You're right, their stats are pretty close. And I think Kyrie is, generally, loser to Curry than a lot of others do. I also think Curry is still clearly the better player. Taking his situation in GS and Kyrie's in Boston into consideration, it's hard for me to imagine anyone outside of Boston taking Kyrie over Curry here.
It's the three pointers. Kyrie shoots them at an nearly identical rate. If Kyrie shot 12 a game, every game, he would have 28 points a game too.
I think Steph is a better player. But I think they are having very similar years and have very similar value to their teams. I think it's a lot closer than most people think, this year anyway.
I agree. Kyrie higher Win Shares, WS/48, PER, VORP & Box +/- than Curry. Curry is a better player but the seasons are very close. And it shouldn’t matter who the better player is, only the season. Durant is better than PG13 and yet it was PG13 named 1st team in the poll.
But again, taking into account each player's situation and understanding the context of those numbers, helps Curry's case. I think he's had, clearly, the better season.
As you are a very insightful poster here I'm curious to hear more, but I'd need clarity on what you mean. I think Curry is a better player, yes. He plays on a better team also... but that means he has 2 teammates that are better than any of Kyrie's teammates. Realistically Curry isn't even the best player on his team, and he has the luxury of letting his foot off the gas pedal and getting MVP-level and All-Star level support. Also let's be real, GS has mailed in games. If Kyrie takes his foot off the gas pedal we tend to lose, he has to be 100% on.
-If Kyrie has similar numbers and other than shooting efficiency, better advanced stats and winning-oriented stats across the board,
-And if Curry has 2 teammates better than any of Kyrie's, Curry is better than Kyrie, and Durant is likely better than Curry himself,
Then I'd expect the Warriors to have a much better record + point differential than the Celtics to justify Curry making it over Kyrie with arguably worse numbers and the help of 2-3 all stars, vs. Kyrie pretty much going it alone. But the difference in wins, to me, isn't big enough. The Warriors have been mailing in games, and only have 49 wins and a +6.2 point differential vs the Celtics 43 wins and +5.0.
The Warriors aren't that much better than everyone this regular season. Take Curry off the Warriors and they could still win the West (no Curry would mean Klay comes alive this year) but take Kyrie off the Celtics and I think we'd be lucky to make the playoffs. To me, that's the understanding and the context of the numbers I need. That Curry has more help than Kyrie, worse advanced stats, less pressure, and his team isn't lighting the world on fire this year. Kyrie is like a mini Harden- he is the whole offense, and it would collapse without him, leaving the team in disarray with no replacement.
As an aside, I don't see how situation/context rewards Curry over Kyrie and yet we start PG13 over Durant. It doesn't make sense to me. Explanation?