Warriors' Thompson: I'm the best SG in NBA

[TheFlex]

Why is this such a big deal? Klay has just as much claim to best SG as Harden and Butler do. Harden was phenomenal last year, but he hasn't been as great this year. Klay shouldn't be penalized because he's playing with Steph. He's done some truly amazing things in the past 15 months or so, including a number of 20+ point quarters.

Sure, in terms of MVP discussion, the other guys are light years ahead because Klay is playing second banana whereas other SGs are far and away their teams' best players. In terms of talent and capability though, I think Klay is as good as anybody, and would be very interested to see what he could do as the number 1 option. I think he'd be a top ten player. In fact, I had Harden over Curry last year for MVP because Klay was so good last year.

Also, Larry Bird? Humble? Lol. No one as good as Larry Bird was is humble. They all know they're amazing. That's what makes them great. You don't want to take the biggest shots on the world stage without being sure that you should be the one to take them. I wonder what would have happened in 2012, if, when Pierce stared down LeBron in game 5 of the ECF with under a minute left, PP rationally concluded that KG was better than him and passed the ball to Garnett instead of drilling a 3 in LBJ's face to clinch the game.

[TheFlex]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Paul-Pierce-says-he-s-the-best-player-in-the-wor?urn=nba,96670

[crimson_stallion]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14404850/klay-thompson-golden-state-warriors-names-best-shooting-guard-nba

Humble or perceived humble to cocky.  Who says things like this?? Even Jordan, Bird never claimed to be the best players for the positions they played. 

KT is not the leagues best SG also. Not clear cut best anyways.  Jimmy Butler is a much better defender and also a very good offensive player now.

James Harden for one - didn't he proclaim himself to be the best SG in the league or something last year?  Of maybe he just said that he should have been the MVP?  Something to that affect.

The NBA is a league full of self entitled egomaniacs these days, sadly that's just the reality of it. It's only gotten worse since the social media explosion, since all of these young pro ballers have countless articles written about them, and have fans showering them tweets and Facebook love so much that half of them probably come out feeling like they are first rate celebrities and borderline gods.

To be fair, when you are that age it's probably hard to see your name all over the place like this and NOT get at least a little bit of an overblown sense of self-importance.

it's like all the teenage singers these days, who seem to almost all let their fame get the better of their common sense, and end up doing or saying something really stupid that exposes the obviously overblown egos.

Society worships celebrities way too much, and forgets that at the end of the day they are just people.  After a while i thin the celebrities themselves start to forget that too.

[MJohnnyboy]

Humble or perceived humble to cocky.  Who says things like this??

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Paul-Pierce-says-he-s-the-best-player-in-the-wor?urn=nba,96670

When you're a champion, you do get put on a pedastal.

More importantly, who cares? It's just one guy's opinion.

Whether or not Thompson is the "best", he certainly is up there amongst the best 2-way guards in the league.

What? lol

It's not a smart move. In addition he is not the best SG in the league.  Let Curry take a sit for a few games. Lets see how much room he will have to work with

But again WHO CARES? This is seriously nothing to get worked up over. My point is, players do this all the time when they win a championship. Are you seriously telling me you're going to hold it against Paul Pierce because he claimed he was the best player in the world after the Celtics won the championship in 2008? I love the Truth but I think we all know he wasn't the best player in the league when the Celtics won. But hey, the guy's entitled to his opinion and he had the right to say it because he was a champion. Just like Klay Thompson. Oh well, time to move on.

Mario Chalmers claimed he was a top 10 point guard in the league after the Heat won in 2012. STOP THE PRESSES!

When did PP say this? 

don't care if it's our own PP. You have KG, Ray Allen on your team. You can't say that. Makes no sense

I don't care about KT or what he says to be honest. 
But the truth is he is not the best, #1 SG in the league.   Bottom line

Click on the link to see when Pierce said this. That's the point of the link. Duh?

Uh yes Pierce absolutely can because everyone's entitled to an opinion triboy and there's nothing you can do about it. Heck what you just said about KT not being the best, that's an opinion, not a fact. Whether or not you like it. I'm not saying I disagree with your opinion on him as a player. I don't think he is the best 2-guard in the league, but I find no issue with him claiming he's the best because I've seen plenty of players say that before and he is on the reigning NBA champion.

And clearly you care about what he says. If you didn't, you wouldn't make a thread about this and  talk about how appalled you are by his words. You clearly care triboy don't backtrack.

I care because it's not the truth. The #1 reason.  If Lebron said this, you would I would be popping up the thread? I dislike Lebron but the truth is he is the best SF in the league. He has earned the right to say this. But even he won't

There are some things are easily acceptable. Such as Lebron is the best SF, Curry is the best pure shooter, De andre Jordan has the highest max vertical reach.   

Klay Thompson claiming he is the best SG in the league on the other hand is not the truth.  Is not an opinion

Okay. Clearly you do not fully grasp what an opinion is. Let's compare an opinion to a fact because you're getting the two mixed up. A fact is "an actual experience/observation". An opinion is "a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty". So an opinion is basically how someone feels about a fact that isn't necessarily true. Let's apply this to politics.

Fact: Barack Obama is the president of the United States
Now, the general feeling right now by the public is that Barack Obama is a bad president. Now I don't know much about politics and I have no opinion on this but I know this is a public opinion right now. Not everyone agrees with this about Obama but quite a few do.

Now, as for your "facts". I hate to break it to you, and I don't disagree, but they are all opinion outside of Jordan. I do agree that Lebron is the league's best SF, but not everyone agrees with us because that's just an opinion and there are more options to be argued. Thunder fans probably believe Durant is the league's best SF. Spurs fans could argue that Kawhi is the league's best or Pacers fans with George. Do I believe that those fans are mistaken, yup, but there's no facts there to absolutely prove Lebron is the best. There are only numbers to back up our belief that Lebron is the best.

It's basically this: Quantity, like the numbers, is factual. Quality, like what we see on the screen, is debatable.

Facts about Lebron would be he is 6'8'', plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers, has been the MVP 4 times, has been to the finals 6 times, and has won 2 NBA championships. Opinions about Lebron would be he's the best player in the league, he doesn't deserve his NBA championships, and he came too early into the NBA. Those are opinions that some, but not all, share. That is what is an opinion is because not everyone agrees.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Klay Thompson being the best 2-guard in the league is an opinion, not a fact. It's his opinion, and he has the right to say what he wants because we live in America, not Nazi Germany. Now clearly you disagree, and I agree with your assessment on Thompson (and I've already made that clear). However, you claiming that him not being the best 2-guard in the league being the "truth" is without a doubt incorrect because truth is stemmed from an absolute fact. What you think of Klay is your opinion. It's not a fact, and that is because we are judging the "quality" of Klay Thompson. You want to believe Thompson's not the best 2 guard in the league. Cool by me. I'm not outraged. Just to let you know, Klay Thompson disagrees with you. Just like you disagree with him.

Lecture over.

oh man, I don't even know where to begin with what you posted. 

You basically proven my point in a passive way.   Obama is the president and you said that is a fact.

So tell me how did he become the president?  Because he won majority of the votes.  Those votes came from individuals with an opinion that he was best suited to run the country.

Lets go back to claiming Lebron as the #1 sf in the league.  First of all, how many people are going to go against this claim?  There are so many things (skills,domination today as well consider -- records, stats, rings, what happened in Cleveland when he was younger) vs who we can compare him (other sfs) that play the game today to come to a conclusion that he is the best SF in the league.   Again if there was a mass voting done, the result would be Lebron is the best overall SF in the nba today. 

You can get technical and state well we don't know , until such a voting was done. But come on, that is just a silly argument/lawyer nonsense buy time defense.

Obama got voted in. That is the fact. The people voted for him because their opinion was he was better suited for the president than McCain/Romney. However, what I am getting at is there is no fact that Obama is a good or bad president, there's only opinion of what he is. Kind of like with MVP voting in the NBA. I'll even take your Lebron analysis further, I still think he's the best player in the NBA, but he hasn't won MVP in 2 years. My opinion differentiates from what others have thought for the past 2 years because the fact is, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry have both won MVP. However, that does not necessarily mean everyone agrees they were the best players in the league that year. I have not at all disagreed with your assessment with Lebron.

Now what you're saying about facts/observations that prove your point about Lebron being the best small forward all tie into being an opinion, whether the general mass agrees with you or not. Even if a guy is voted MVP, that does not mean everyone thinks he is the best. That's what makes an opinion an opinion.

But let's get back to Thompson. Just because you agree or disagree does not mean it's the truth. It's just what you believe to be the truth. This is not a matter of debating whether or not Thompson truly is the best 2 in the game. It's a matter of him being entitled to say whatever he wants.

Have you ever written a thesis paper?

[Tr1boy]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Paul-Pierce-says-he-s-the-best-player-in-the-wor?urn=nba,96670

And?

[Tr1boy]

Humble or perceived humble to cocky.  Who says things like this??

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Paul-Pierce-says-he-s-the-best-player-in-the-wor?urn=nba,96670

When you're a champion, you do get put on a pedastal.

More importantly, who cares? It's just one guy's opinion.

Whether or not Thompson is the "best", he certainly is up there amongst the best 2-way guards in the league.

What? lol

It's not a smart move. In addition he is not the best SG in the league.  Let Curry take a sit for a few games. Lets see how much room he will have to work with

But again WHO CARES? This is seriously nothing to get worked up over. My point is, players do this all the time when they win a championship. Are you seriously telling me you're going to hold it against Paul Pierce because he claimed he was the best player in the world after the Celtics won the championship in 2008? I love the Truth but I think we all know he wasn't the best player in the league when the Celtics won. But hey, the guy's entitled to his opinion and he had the right to say it because he was a champion. Just like Klay Thompson. Oh well, time to move on.

Mario Chalmers claimed he was a top 10 point guard in the league after the Heat won in 2012. STOP THE PRESSES!

When did PP say this? 

don't care if it's our own PP. You have KG, Ray Allen on your team. You can't say that. Makes no sense

I don't care about KT or what he says to be honest. 
But the truth is he is not the best, #1 SG in the league.   Bottom line

Click on the link to see when Pierce said this. That's the point of the link. Duh?

Uh yes Pierce absolutely can because everyone's entitled to an opinion triboy and there's nothing you can do about it. Heck what you just said about KT not being the best, that's an opinion, not a fact. Whether or not you like it. I'm not saying I disagree with your opinion on him as a player. I don't think he is the best 2-guard in the league, but I find no issue with him claiming he's the best because I've seen plenty of players say that before and he is on the reigning NBA champion.

And clearly you care about what he says. If you didn't, you wouldn't make a thread about this and  talk about how appalled you are by his words. You clearly care triboy don't backtrack.

I care because it's not the truth. The #1 reason.  If Lebron said this, you would I would be popping up the thread? I dislike Lebron but the truth is he is the best SF in the league. He has earned the right to say this. But even he won't

There are some things are easily acceptable. Such as Lebron is the best SF, Curry is the best pure shooter, De andre Jordan has the highest max vertical reach.   

Klay Thompson claiming he is the best SG in the league on the other hand is not the truth.  Is not an opinion

Okay. Clearly you do not fully grasp what an opinion is. Let's compare an opinion to a fact because you're getting the two mixed up. A fact is "an actual experience/observation". An opinion is "a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty". So an opinion is basically how someone feels about a fact that isn't necessarily true. Let's apply this to politics.

Fact: Barack Obama is the president of the United States
Now, the general feeling right now by the public is that Barack Obama is a bad president. Now I don't know much about politics and I have no opinion on this but I know this is a public opinion right now. Not everyone agrees with this about Obama but quite a few do.

Now, as for your "facts". I hate to break it to you, and I don't disagree, but they are all opinion outside of Jordan. I do agree that Lebron is the league's best SF, but not everyone agrees with us because that's just an opinion and there are more options to be argued. Thunder fans probably believe Durant is the league's best SF. Spurs fans could argue that Kawhi is the league's best or Pacers fans with George. Do I believe that those fans are mistaken, yup, but there's no facts there to absolutely prove Lebron is the best. There are only numbers to back up our belief that Lebron is the best.

It's basically this: Quantity, like the numbers, is factual. Quality, like what we see on the screen, is debatable.

Facts about Lebron would be he is 6'8'', plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers, has been the MVP 4 times, has been to the finals 6 times, and has won 2 NBA championships. Opinions about Lebron would be he's the best player in the league, he doesn't deserve his NBA championships, and he came too early into the NBA. Those are opinions that some, but not all, share. That is what is an opinion is because not everyone agrees.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Klay Thompson being the best 2-guard in the league is an opinion, not a fact. It's his opinion, and he has the right to say what he wants because we live in America, not Nazi Germany. Now clearly you disagree, and I agree with your assessment on Thompson (and I've already made that clear). However, you claiming that him not being the best 2-guard in the league being the "truth" is without a doubt incorrect because truth is stemmed from an absolute fact. What you think of Klay is your opinion. It's not a fact, and that is because we are judging the "quality" of Klay Thompson. You want to believe Thompson's not the best 2 guard in the league. Cool by me. I'm not outraged. Just to let you know, Klay Thompson disagrees with you. Just like you disagree with him.

Lecture over.

oh man, I don't even know where to begin with what you posted. 

You basically proven my point in a passive way.   Obama is the president and you said that is a fact.

So tell me how did he become the president?  Because he won majority of the votes.  Those votes came from individuals with an opinion that he was best suited to run the country.

Lets go back to claiming Lebron as the #1 sf in the league.  First of all, how many people are going to go against this claim?  There are so many things (skills,domination today as well consider -- records, stats, rings, what happened in Cleveland when he was younger) vs who we can compare him (other sfs) that play the game today to come to a conclusion that he is the best SF in the league.   Again if there was a mass voting done, the result would be Lebron is the best overall SF in the nba today. 

You can get technical and state well we don't know , until such a voting was done. But come on, that is just a silly argument/lawyer nonsense buy time defense.

Obama got voted in. That is the fact. The people voted for him because their opinion was he was better suited for the president than McCain/Romney. However, what I am getting at is there is no fact that Obama is a good or bad president, there's only opinion of what he is. Kind of like with MVP voting in the NBA. I'll even take your Lebron analysis further, I still think he's the best player in the NBA, but he hasn't won MVP in 2 years. My opinion differentiates from what others have thought for the past 2 years because the fact is, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry have both won MVP. However, that does not necessarily mean everyone agrees they were the best players in the league that year. I have not at all disagreed with your assessment with Lebron.

Now what you're saying about facts/observations that prove your point about Lebron being the best small forward all tie into being an opinion, whether the general mass agrees with you or not. Even if a guy is voted MVP, that does not mean everyone thinks he is the best. That's what makes an opinion an opinion.

But let's get back to Thompson. Just because you agree or disagree does not mean it's the truth. It's just what you believe to be the truth. This is not a matter of debating whether or not Thompson truly is the best 2 in the game. It's a matter of him being entitled to say whatever he wants.

Have you ever written a thesis paper?

Have you?  because your latest analysis/reply is borderline silly.

and btw asking someone a question that has nothing to do with basketball does not strengthen your argument

nice try though.   

why don't we put it this way

Klay Thompson thinks he is the best SG in the league.   I don't think he is . Because to constitute best  = more than just making open threes at a high level. It involves ability to play top level D, prove you can carry a team etc.

The opinion from myself and many others is that , to be the best you have to do the things above (offense/defense etc.) at a high level. Prove you can carry your team.

So KT opinion of himself does not agree with the above statement. Not right now anyways. 

I didn't say the word "truth". You think of it , what you want sir

[crimson_stallion]

oh man, I don't even know where to begin with what you posted. 

You basically proven my point in a passive way.   Obama is the president and you said that is a fact.

So tell me how did he become the president?  Because he won majority of the votes.  Those votes came from individuals with an opinion that he was best suited to run the country.

I am sorry to say man, but he's kinda right on this one.

We have already determined that "Obama is the president" is a fact, so no need to go further on that.

That he is president because he got the majority of votes?  Also a fact. 

Your third statement - "Those votes came from individuals with an opinion that he was best suited to run the country" - technically, is an opinion.

There is no possible way any person can see into the minds of every single person who voted and determine WHY they voted how they did.
 
For example:
a) How many of the votes might have been false votes - with people voting just for the heck of it?
b) How many people voted for him because the felt it was about time there was a black president?
c) How many people voted for him because they thought he seemed like a nice honest guy?
d) How many people voted for him because they felt the could relate to him?

To say that Obama was voted in because people felt he best suited to the job - that's conjecture, and is not actually a fact. 

Lets go back to claiming Lebron as the #1 sf in the league.  First of all, how many people are going to go against this claim?  There are so many things (skills,domination today as well consider -- records, stats, rings, what happened in Cleveland when he was younger) vs who we can compare him (other sfs) that play the game today to come to a conclusion that he is the best SF in the league.   Again if there was a mass voting done, the result would be Lebron is the best overall SF in the nba today. 

Once again, he's right on this.

Lets say every single fan in the world voted on who was the best SF in the game, and the majority of votes said that it was Lebron.

Then:
- The statement "Lebron was voted the best SF in the game by fans" would be a fact
- The statement "Lebron is the best SF in the game" would not be a fact
 
Just because the majority of people have an opinion of something, does not immediately mean that it is true / fact.  It just means that the majority THINK it's true.

Another example.

- Toyota is the highest selling car manufacturer in the world = fact.
- Toyota builds the best cars in the world = opinion.

Just because Toyota sells more cars than any other manufacturer in the world, that doesn't mean they sell the best cars in the world.

So as much as we may or may not agree with Klay's analysis of his own position among SG's it's technically not wrong any more than it is right. 

For example, you can bring up any argument you like about who YOU feel is the best shooting guard in the NBA, and I could counter with an argument as to why Thompson is better.

- Jarmes Harden?  Well Thompson is better, because he's a two-way player.
- Butler?  Thompson is better, because he's on par as a scorer / defender, but he's a much better shooter

I can go on and on.

This is why it's an opinion, not a fact.  There is no one single number that you can throw out that factually proves that any one shooting guard in the NBA is a better one than Klay Thompson.  He has made his opinion, he has the right to it, and he probably has the means to justify it just as easily as you could for any other player.

[MJohnnyboy]

Humble or perceived humble to cocky.  Who says things like this??

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Paul-Pierce-says-he-s-the-best-player-in-the-wor?urn=nba,96670

When you're a champion, you do get put on a pedastal.

More importantly, who cares? It's just one guy's opinion.

Whether or not Thompson is the "best", he certainly is up there amongst the best 2-way guards in the league.

What? lol

It's not a smart move. In addition he is not the best SG in the league.  Let Curry take a sit for a few games. Lets see how much room he will have to work with

But again WHO CARES? This is seriously nothing to get worked up over. My point is, players do this all the time when they win a championship. Are you seriously telling me you're going to hold it against Paul Pierce because he claimed he was the best player in the world after the Celtics won the championship in 2008? I love the Truth but I think we all know he wasn't the best player in the league when the Celtics won. But hey, the guy's entitled to his opinion and he had the right to say it because he was a champion. Just like Klay Thompson. Oh well, time to move on.

Mario Chalmers claimed he was a top 10 point guard in the league after the Heat won in 2012. STOP THE PRESSES!

When did PP say this? 

don't care if it's our own PP. You have KG, Ray Allen on your team. You can't say that. Makes no sense

I don't care about KT or what he says to be honest. 
But the truth is he is not the best, #1 SG in the league.   Bottom line

Click on the link to see when Pierce said this. That's the point of the link. Duh?

Uh yes Pierce absolutely can because everyone's entitled to an opinion triboy and there's nothing you can do about it. Heck what you just said about KT not being the best, that's an opinion, not a fact. Whether or not you like it. I'm not saying I disagree with your opinion on him as a player. I don't think he is the best 2-guard in the league, but I find no issue with him claiming he's the best because I've seen plenty of players say that before and he is on the reigning NBA champion.

And clearly you care about what he says. If you didn't, you wouldn't make a thread about this and  talk about how appalled you are by his words. You clearly care triboy don't backtrack.

I care because it's not the truth. The #1 reason.  If Lebron said this, you would I would be popping up the thread? I dislike Lebron but the truth is he is the best SF in the league. He has earned the right to say this. But even he won't

There are some things are easily acceptable. Such as Lebron is the best SF, Curry is the best pure shooter, De andre Jordan has the highest max vertical reach.   

Klay Thompson claiming he is the best SG in the league on the other hand is not the truth.  Is not an opinion

Okay. Clearly you do not fully grasp what an opinion is. Let's compare an opinion to a fact because you're getting the two mixed up. A fact is "an actual experience/observation". An opinion is "a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty". So an opinion is basically how someone feels about a fact that isn't necessarily true. Let's apply this to politics.

Fact: Barack Obama is the president of the United States
Now, the general feeling right now by the public is that Barack Obama is a bad president. Now I don't know much about politics and I have no opinion on this but I know this is a public opinion right now. Not everyone agrees with this about Obama but quite a few do.

Now, as for your "facts". I hate to break it to you, and I don't disagree, but they are all opinion outside of Jordan. I do agree that Lebron is the league's best SF, but not everyone agrees with us because that's just an opinion and there are more options to be argued. Thunder fans probably believe Durant is the league's best SF. Spurs fans could argue that Kawhi is the league's best or Pacers fans with George. Do I believe that those fans are mistaken, yup, but there's no facts there to absolutely prove Lebron is the best. There are only numbers to back up our belief that Lebron is the best.

It's basically this: Quantity, like the numbers, is factual. Quality, like what we see on the screen, is debatable.

Facts about Lebron would be he is 6'8'', plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers, has been the MVP 4 times, has been to the finals 6 times, and has won 2 NBA championships. Opinions about Lebron would be he's the best player in the league, he doesn't deserve his NBA championships, and he came too early into the NBA. Those are opinions that some, but not all, share. That is what is an opinion is because not everyone agrees.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Klay Thompson being the best 2-guard in the league is an opinion, not a fact. It's his opinion, and he has the right to say what he wants because we live in America, not Nazi Germany. Now clearly you disagree, and I agree with your assessment on Thompson (and I've already made that clear). However, you claiming that him not being the best 2-guard in the league being the "truth" is without a doubt incorrect because truth is stemmed from an absolute fact. What you think of Klay is your opinion. It's not a fact, and that is because we are judging the "quality" of Klay Thompson. You want to believe Thompson's not the best 2 guard in the league. Cool by me. I'm not outraged. Just to let you know, Klay Thompson disagrees with you. Just like you disagree with him.

Lecture over.

oh man, I don't even know where to begin with what you posted. 

You basically proven my point in a passive way.   Obama is the president and you said that is a fact.

So tell me how did he become the president?  Because he won majority of the votes.  Those votes came from individuals with an opinion that he was best suited to run the country.

Lets go back to claiming Lebron as the #1 sf in the league.  First of all, how many people are going to go against this claim?  There are so many things (skills,domination today as well consider -- records, stats, rings, what happened in Cleveland when he was younger) vs who we can compare him (other sfs) that play the game today to come to a conclusion that he is the best SF in the league.   Again if there was a mass voting done, the result would be Lebron is the best overall SF in the nba today. 

You can get technical and state well we don't know , until such a voting was done. But come on, that is just a silly argument/lawyer nonsense buy time defense.

Obama got voted in. That is the fact. The people voted for him because their opinion was he was better suited for the president than McCain/Romney. However, what I am getting at is there is no fact that Obama is a good or bad president, there's only opinion of what he is. Kind of like with MVP voting in the NBA. I'll even take your Lebron analysis further, I still think he's the best player in the NBA, but he hasn't won MVP in 2 years. My opinion differentiates from what others have thought for the past 2 years because the fact is, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry have both won MVP. However, that does not necessarily mean everyone agrees they were the best players in the league that year. I have not at all disagreed with your assessment with Lebron.

Now what you're saying about facts/observations that prove your point about Lebron being the best small forward all tie into being an opinion, whether the general mass agrees with you or not. Even if a guy is voted MVP, that does not mean everyone thinks he is the best. That's what makes an opinion an opinion.

But let's get back to Thompson. Just because you agree or disagree does not mean it's the truth. It's just what you believe to be the truth. This is not a matter of debating whether or not Thompson truly is the best 2 in the game. It's a matter of him being entitled to say whatever he wants.

Have you ever written a thesis paper?

Have you?  because your latest analysis/reply is borderline silly.

and btw asking someone a question that has nothing to do with basketball does not strengthen your argument

nice try though.   

why don't we put it this way

Klay Thompson thinks he is the best SG in the league.   I don't think he is . Because to constitute best  = more than just making open threes at a high level. It involves ability to play top level D, prove you can carry a team etc.

The opinion from myself and many others is that , to be the best you have to do the things above (offense/defense etc.) at a high level. Prove you can carry your team.

So KT opinion of himself does not agree with the above statement. Not right now anyways. 

I didn't the word "truth". You think of it , what you want sir

I'm going to take that as a no. You've never written a thesis paper. And it wasn't to strengthen my argument, it was a question that ties exactly into what I'm getting on about.

In a thesis paper, you create a thesis statement in which you say something that is your opinion and you back it up with facts, but just because you have facts to support your opinion does NOT mean your opinion is a fact. You want to state all these facts to prove that Lebron is the best? Fine, but that doesn't mean your label of Lebron being the best is a fact.

And we seem to be going back and forth and you don't seem to get what my point is. You want to make a checklist of what qualifies a guy for the "best"? Fine, but that is all according to you. Just because your opinion is agreeable does not mean it is a fact. And I've made it clear I agree with you about Thompson, but to deem that your assessment of Thompson is a fact is incorrect because that is not what a fact is. Get it now?

You didn't use the word "truth"? That's what I assume you meant to say through your fragmented sentence. Uh yeah you did. Twice in fact! This is what you said when I asked you why you even care in the first place what Thompson said.

I care because it's not the truth. The #1 reason.  If Lebron said this, you would I would be popping up the thread? I dislike Lebron but the truth is he is the best SF in the league. He has earned the right to say this. But even he won't

My how the high and mighty forget. "Nice try" though. This all ties into my point. What Thompson said is an opinion. He believes his opinion to be the truth and you don't, but just because both of you disagree doesn't mean either one of you is speaking factually. Unless you live under dictator rule, anyone can say that they want.

ALSO. Lebron hasn't said this before? Check again you expert journalist you.
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/25214729/lebron-james-i-feel-confident-because-im-the-best-player-in-the-world

What I'm saying is silly? Ahem, what you are saying is completely misinformed.

[Ogaju]

This is what you get when a team lucks into the championship.

The GSW chip should have an asterisk, and the MVP should be given to Kevin Olynyk.

Love and Kyrie play that final and LBJ delivers his promise to Cleveland in 5 games.

I seriously hope this is a joke. They went 67-15 in the regular season and were one of the most dominant teams of all time. Calling them any more lucky than any other champion ever is ridiculous.

Not a joke at all.... I believe Cleveland would have beat GSW if Love and Kyrie played at full strength in the final.

[obnoxiousmime]

I thought we all wanted our players to believe they were the best, because otherwise you have Kelly Olynyk. Star athletes are supposed to be cocky, it's just that some say it out loud and some don't.

Tom Brady is one of the most confident, cocky QBs in the game based on many anecdotal reports we have about him behind the scenes. But to the media he's boring, humble, and stale. Larry Bird was also supremely confident, frequently needling opposing players on the court, pulling cocky stuff like calling his shots, etc.

Also, Klay was asked who the best SG is by a reporter. It's not like he brought up the topic himself. Sure, he could have said some other player but that would have sounded really weak. So he just said himself instead of demurring. Maybe he said what he thought he SHOULD say, or what he thought the reporter expected.

Anyway, I don't see where the discontent with his words is coming from. I personally don't believe he's the best, but he has earned the right to state that opinion publicly. If it were coming from someone like Lance Stephenson, I'd be like, Lance, someone once said "a man has got to know his limitations..."

[crimson_stallion]

This is what you get when a team lucks into the championship.

The GSW chip should have an asterisk, and the MVP should be given to Kevin Olynyk.

Love and Kyrie play that final and LBJ delivers his promise to Cleveland in 5 games.

I seriously hope this is a joke. They went 67-15 in the regular season and were one of the most dominant teams of all time. Calling them any more lucky than any other champion ever is ridiculous.

Not a joke at all.... I believe Cleveland would have beat GSW if Love and Kyrie played at full strength in the final.

Just to continue along with the theme of this discussion - that there is also an 'opinion'

Honestly, I feel that if Cleveland had a full strength team the finals would have been a very hard fought series.   I don't think it's right to say that Cleveland WOULD have one it - but I certainly thing it is possible. 

I'll partially agree with you and say that it could have gone either way.

If it were just Kevin Love missing then fine, but Kyrie as well?  That's a big deal man.  That's the equivalent of Golden State being without Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, playing against a full strength Clevlenad squad. 

Would anybody really have the balls to bet $1,000 on the Warriors to win in the above scenario?  Hell even we almost beat Golden State in double overtime without Thompson and Barnes, and then the lowly Bucks took them out the next day.

Not hard to imagine a full strength Cavs beating them if they were down their 2nd and 3rd best players.

I don't think it's fair to completely take away what the Warriors did last year - they were the best team in the NBA over the course of the season, they deserve the benefit of the doubt. 

I also do however, think it's fair to say that they were given a break (No pun intended, Mr Love) in a very, very big way...and to say that the series would have been VERY different if Irving and Love were healthy.

But alas, it is what it is.  Injuries happen, and it's not the Warriors fault that the Cavs were without two stars, so you can't really take it out on them.  Much like when the Lakers beat us after Perk went down - we can sit here all day long arguing that they lucked out, and can even throw up hints of evidence to back that...but we can't possible prove that having Perk would have led to a us winning the title - however the Lakers DID win.  That's a fact, and there's nothing we can do about it aside from speculate about what could (this being the operative word) have been.

[Beat LA]

Harden has taken quite a bit of heat this year and his defense is also sub-par, but he should still be #1. His scoring is superb and he almost had his Houston team in the finals on his back alone - GS has had a LOT more help, even outside of Curry. There are also many who thought Harden deserved the MVP award last year- Thompson wasn't even close to being in that conversation.

And between Klay and Butler, I would take Butler. But all of this is pretty irrelevant - the guy should believe he is the best SG. Pierce thought he was the best, Rondo thought he was the best - it's important to have confidence in yourself even if it's a little exaggerated.

TP...agree with it all.

Question - when Houston rallied from 3-1 down against the Clippers, Harden was on the bench because McHale had the balls to to so and his bench of Josh Smith and Corey Brewer, etc. were the guys who brought them back., iirc.  From what I recall, Harden wasn't exactly cheering on his teammates like he should have been, either, but I might be misremembering, here, so feel free to correct me.

Also, wasn't it Harden who had like 10-11 turnovers in the final game of the series against the Warriors?  He was dreadful, and has come up very small in many big games, and you don't need to look any further than his play in the 2012 finals for that, but there have been other instances, as well.  Imo, his style of play is not championship-worthy, especially if he's the best player on your team, and I'm not even talking about defense.  All he does is dribble through his legs incessantly before going to the basket and blatantly throwing his arms into guys to get to the line.  For a guy who is an excellent passer, he seems to no longer be interested in being a playmaker, as evidenced by Howard's decreased field goal attempts this year.  I never thought I'd be defending Dwight, but there are many games where Harden takes 20+ shots and only makes 7-8 of them plus his ridiculous free throw numbers to pad his stats while no one else attempted more than 9, 10, or 11 shots.  It's like he thinks he's Lebron or something, which would make sense because he still has yet to learn how to play off the ball, which is why that trio in OKC didn't work and it's why Westbrook and Durant don't work.  Idc what their respective assist numbers are this year, they're both far too selfish to even try to make anyone else better. 

Lastly on Harden, what is with his stupid chef-stirring motion?  I don't get that.  Is he trying to say that he's just 'whipped' some guy by scoring a basket or something?  It just doesn't make sense to me.  Is he trying to tell the world that he's been whipped by Khloe's bodacious (sarcasm) badonkadonk, lol?  He just seems like a tool, just like Howard, and the both of them threw their 'supporting cast' and guys like Chandler Parsons under the bus before last year.  Thank god McHale got out of there.

As for Thompson, I really only have one question for him - bro, do you even dribble?  It's hard to be the best sg in the league if you can't get to the basket after being chased off the 3-point line, which is really all you have to do to neutralize him, quite honestly, as the Cavs showed in the Finals save for game 2, iirc.  I don't know about his post game, if he even has one, but I guess that what I'm trying to say is that the guy can't create his own shot, whereas Butler can.  He's become an excellent shooter, albeit not on Thompson's level, has a great post game, gets to the line at will, can create his own shot, rebound, pass, and of course, his defense goes without saying.  That's why I'd take him over those two guys, because he just has more weapons in his arsenal, imo.  I know that people like to make a big deal out of Klay's 37 point 3rd quarter, but while that was incredible, everyone seems to have forgotten that it was just a season earlier that Joe Johnson scored 29 in the third.  Wow did I right too much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00Cp3fOQRpY

[TheFlex]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Paul-Pierce-says-he-s-the-best-player-in-the-wor?urn=nba,96670

And?

Pierce was great because he is irrationally confident.

[Ogaju]

Harden has taken quite a bit of heat this year and his defense is also sub-par, but he should still be #1. His scoring is superb and he almost had his Houston team in the finals on his back alone - GS has had a LOT more help, even outside of Curry. There are also many who thought Harden deserved the MVP award last year- Thompson wasn't even close to being in that conversation.

And between Klay and Butler, I would take Butler. But all of this is pretty irrelevant - the guy should believe he is the best SG. Pierce thought he was the best, Rondo thought he was the best - it's important to have confidence in yourself even if it's a little exaggerated.

TP...agree with it all.

As for Thompson, I really only have one question for him - bro, do you even dribble?  It's hard to be the best sg in the league if you can't get to the basket after being chased off the 3-point line, which is really all you have to do to neutralize him, quite honestly, as the Cavs showed in the Finals save for game 2, iirc.  I don't know about his post game, if he even has one, but I guess that what I'm trying to say is that the guy can't create his own shot, whereas Butler can.  He's become an excellent shooter, albeit not on Thompson's level, has a great post game, gets to the line at will, can create his own shot, rebound, pass, and of course, his defense goes without saying.  That's why I'd take him over those two guys, because he just has more weapons in his arsenal, imo.  I know that people like to make a big deal out of Klay's 37 point 3rd quarter, but while that was incredible, everyone seems to have forgotten that it was just a season earlier that Joe Johnson scored 29 in the third.  Wow did I right too much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00Cp3fOQRpY

I think you left out too much. LOL, See what I did there?

[Beat LA]

Harden has taken quite a bit of heat this year and his defense is also sub-par, but he should still be #1. His scoring is superb and he almost had his Houston team in the finals on his back alone - GS has had a LOT more help, even outside of Curry. There are also many who thought Harden deserved the MVP award last year- Thompson wasn't even close to being in that conversation.

And between Klay and Butler, I would take Butler. But all of this is pretty irrelevant - the guy should believe he is the best SG. Pierce thought he was the best, Rondo thought he was the best - it's important to have confidence in yourself even if it's a little exaggerated.

TP...agree with it all.

As for Thompson, I really only have one question for him - bro, do you even dribble?  It's hard to be the best sg in the league if you can't get to the basket after being chased off the 3-point line, which is really all you have to do to neutralize him, quite honestly, as the Cavs showed in the Finals save for game 2, iirc.  I don't know about his post game, if he even has one, but I guess that what I'm trying to say is that the guy can't create his own shot, whereas Butler can.  He's become an excellent shooter, albeit not on Thompson's level, has a great post game, gets to the line at will, can create his own shot, rebound, pass, and of course, his defense goes without saying.  That's why I'd take him over those two guys, because he just has more weapons in his arsenal, imo.  I know that people like to make a big deal out of Klay's 37 point 3rd quarter, but while that was incredible, everyone seems to have forgotten that it was just a season earlier that Joe Johnson scored 29 in the third.  Wow did I right too much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00Cp3fOQRpY

I think you left out too much. LOL, See what I did there?

Yeah, but are you just making fun of me?