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.
If he is so good, why has he only made the playoffs two times in his first six years in the league. By comparison, Kevin Garnett made the playoffs five out of his first six years in the league.
Why did Curry only make it twice in his first 5 years?
This is a hilariously weak argument. That you're seriously arguing for Curry over Davis at this stage is laughable
In Curry's first six years in the league he played in 40 playoff games and was a NBA champion already. Davis has played in 13 playoff games through his first six years in the league. Are you making the argument that Davis is more of a winner than Curry? I sure hope not.
After all, playing playoff games is the only way to measure how good someone is. Draymond is clearly vastly superior to AD too!
I don't know how you can wilfully ignore all context, such as the management and coaching in New Orleans, which has contributed to AD not being in the playoffs. It doesn't make sense
You are not adding much to the discussion. If you disagree, bring something to the table. Otherwise, you come across as a baiter.
Huh? He is stating that your are "wilfully ignoring all context" and using Draymond Green as an example to refute your point. I believe that he added a rebuttal to your argument.
I don't think it really matters who is better. They play different positions on different teams and are completely different players. One commonality is that they won't be playing for the Celtics any time soon.
The different positions do make evaluation awfully hard. I might put it this way: if I am looking for a player who can carry a team into the playoffs and who can be the best player in the NBA Finals, my money
over the next few years is on Davis by a good margin. We aren't asking what 27-year old Steph or 20-year old AD could do; it's about who they will be going forward. Barring injury, I actually think it's pretty hard to argue against that.
I also agree that AD isn't walking through that door, though, so as a Celts fan a better question might be whether KI or Steph is going to be better next year. Last year KI's shooting numbers weren't at Curry's level, but KI also got *a lot* fewer shots that were wide open or coming off a simple catch and shoot. (Per NBA.com tracking, shots on zero dribbles was Curry 40%, KI 24.5%; shots that were open or wide open was Curry 59.8%, KI 41.6%.) KI's shot-creation responsibilities were much heavier and his teammates less accomplished. His numbers might be awesome if we get what we hope for - Hayward at full strength, Tatum and Brown taking another step forward. I'm definitely rooting for it.
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Topic: Anthony Davis traded to Lakers(page 272) (Read 347896 times)