I’d love having a top 3 player in the league here, but I don’t know how realistic it is
Davis is not a top three player.
Who is then?
I'd have him over everyone not named LeBron. And if it was for a 4 year period, I might choose him over LeBron anyway
James, Curry, and Durant are unquestionably more valuable. Some other players are in the discussion as well.
Durant we could at least talk about. Curry is a hard no. Davis isn’t just a great scorer, capable of averaging 30 through the playoffs. He’s also a great defensive rebounder (top ten NBA) and one of the best defensive players in the league (1st team all-NBA) who transforms the kind of defense a team is able to play. He allowed the Pellies to take advantage of Mirotic’s shooting because he erases Mirotic’s mistakes on defense. Also, Davis was 24 last year; there’s a pretty good chance he’ll be even better this coming year.
Curry is a great shooter and a good creator on offense; but he’s average on defense. If you consider both sides of the ball, Davis has to come out on top.
Funny how Curry is a no, considering he was a the best player on the greatest team of all time and the best player on the best team in the league for the last five years. He's also not just a great scorer, he is the best shooter of all time, and it's not even close. There has never been a player in the league before like Curry.
Curry was not the best player on GSW the past two years and it’s not close. There is a reason KD won Finals MVP the past two years. He was the only player on the floor in LeBron’s class.
Curry is a great shooter, I take nothing away from him. But shooting is only one part of the game. And he’s at best an OK defender. AD can carry a team on both sides of the court in a way Curry simply cannot. Subtract Curry from GSW and they might still make the Finals. Subtract Durant and they do not, full stop.
The actually history suggests the contrary. That is, Curry has made the finals twice without Durant. Durant made the finals once without Curry and was swept, or lost in five, I believe. Not sure where you are getting “Curry cannot make the finals without Durant” storyline.
I’m not talking about the past, or what Durant would do with his old OKC team. I’m talking about next year, with the league built the way it is. Remember above when I pointed out that KD won the last two finals MVPs? I watched those series, and he earned those awards. I also remember who won finals MVP three years ago - the last time Curry went to the finals without Durant. Curry did not win that award, or the series.
Curry is a great player. It’s not a knock to say he’s a top 20 player in the NBA(!) but if you don’t play above average defense, it’s very very hard to be considered best in the league. It’s a two-way game. It is one reason, I think, he was third team all NBA this year. Not first. Not second. Third.
He has been the unquestioned best player on the best team for the past four/five years. You keep diminishing all of his greatness.
Statistically, it is very easy to make the argument that Curry is the best, most efficient offensive player of all time. Just look at his TS% numbers.
It is not a surprise why arguably the best offensive player of all time has won a substantial amount of games the past five years. It has everything to do with Curry and his style of play.
His TS% this past year was a godly 68%. If you don’t realize how valuable that is and how that translates to winning you don’t understand metrics.
AD’s TS was .612 last year - which is hardly dog meat -
and he was nearly defensive player of the year!
And he was sixth in the NBA in DRB%. Curry’s extra .06 in TS last year mattered, but the defensive gap between them is vast. We don’t have great metrics to capture that. We do have VORP, though, which tries. Davis’ was higher than Curry’s last year.
And don’t overlook this - next year Davis will be 25 - still rising to his prime. Curry will be 30. Maybe when both their careers are over we’ll look back and say Curry’s star shined brighter. But we are not talking about that here - the question is if one of them will be a top-3 player in the NBA *this coming year*, or maybe the year after that (when ppl are saying we might get AD). Maybe Curry will break Father Time, but my money is on Davis continuing to improve and Curry already having reached his peak.
If Curry simply falls back toward his career average TS of .62%, it’s entirely possible Davis beats him even in TS%.
One final aside - your tone suggests that I’m all on my own in this evaluation. Clearly I’m not.
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Topic: Anthony Davis traded to Lakers(page 272) (Read 343805 times)