(LeBron, Shaq, Durant) ... are just simply on a tier above everyone else,
Other guys aside, I really think Tim Duncan has become underrated since his retirement. He was better than Durant, and arguably Shaq.
Garnett as well, he was neck and neck with Duncan during his prime, and imo had the better two year apex.
If we are talking about career accomplishments, Duncan obviously rates very high, and probably a slight bit higher than Shaq. But Shaq had a higher peak. I'd rate Shaq's peak as comparable to LeBron's. Duncan never quite reached that level, he was just very consistent for a long period of time.
At least for the purposes of this game, I'm more concerned with how high a player's peak was, than their overall career. There has to be some balance there, otherwise a guy like IT and his one amazing season would have to be rated much higher, but I do give more importance to peak season over longevity.
Durant is probably the most overlooked player in this game, though. He is clearly better than KG, Duncan, or Curry IMO. In fact, I have Curry rated quite a bit lower in this game. I don't think he would be any where near as effective in a league with bigger guards who could bully him. Which, of course, is part of what makes Iverson so special. He was even smaller than Curry but had way more heart and toughness. If he played in today's NBA I think he'd definitely be rated above Curry.
I think for the purposes of this game my top 10 would be LeBron, Shaq, Durant, Garnett, Duncan, Malone, Kobe, Dirk, Iverson, Nash.
I disagree with this take. I think Durant's playmaking limitations cap his offensive peak as a rung under the offensive GOATs and his defence doesn't add a ton of value to make up for it. I'd probably rate his peak as 6th best in this draft, behind Shaq, LeBron, Garnett, Curry and Duncan. I think Curry's off ball movement and hyper efficient offensive game would be even more valuable, people love to say that you can "bully" him to really eat into his offensive value but that has never really been proven to be true when he was healthy in the playoffs (see his 2017 playoff run).
I think you guys are both underrating Giannis. 
. You can’t go wrong with any of them, but Giannis is presumptively a back-to-back MVP and runner-up for DPOY. The guy had a +20.0 difference between his offensive and defensive rating. Hell, he’s made Eric Bledsoe and Brook Lopez look like two-way all-stars.
I’ve mentioned before, but my top five were LeBron, Shaq, Duncan, and then a tie for fourth between Durant and Giannis. Even then, I might be underselling my own guy. Can you imagine if Giannas played for the Warriors, surrounded by Steph, Klay and Draymond?
I mean you don't want to get into a + / - argument against Garnett - he's the king of + / - stats alongside LeBron. He hit +20.0 or higher in '04 and '08 in net on/off, and he kills it in play-by-play plus-minus data like APM and PI RAPM. He made Sam Cassell look like a top 10-15 player in '04 and Wally World look like an All-Star offensive weapon who's not a defensive liability.
I don’t buy into all of the advance stats like this, but for those who do... Over the past three seasons, Giannis has a large lead in RAPM, and Jayson Tatum is 10th.
http://nbashotcharts.com/rapm3?id=-2120291009
Giannis obviously does very well in impact metrics, but he's not really Garnett level yet. A difference of 1-2 points at the more extreme ranges means very little due to the margin of error the stat has (especially for non PI samples like the link you shared, it's a shame that people have stopped producing PI data). Garnett lapped the league in his peak '04 season and was neck and neck with Duncan in '03 in PI RAPM, with his other prime years mostly placing him in the top 10 every year (he was in the top 10 even in those "lost" seasons from '05-'07, RAPM has no way to account for the special type of garbage he played with those years).
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/teutg7zvxudqnlw/AAAUkNkDUG0KWeewPZbnwS2ja?dl=0In short, I see Giannis being really good (he's right up there with KD/Kobe in this draft for one year peaks), but I think he's a rung below Garnett, especially after you factor in how portable and additive their games are - they're on opposite ends of the spectrum in these two aspects.
Topic: 2020 Historic Draft: How’s My Team Look: Conference Finals winners announced!! (Read 92339 times)