Brunson v Curry

[Laimbeer]

This came up on the Knicks/Warriors broadcast. At first I thought it was crazy, but Brunson has been so good this season.

Who is the better player now?

[GSP]

Brunson is better now and arguably since last season honestly specially when you factor playoffs hes a better playoff performer

Steph has been abysmal for a month and he hasnt been lighting up the league for the season as a whole anyways. Luka and Sga are on another tier from him. Brunson, Fox, Hali all could def be argued over him too just among Pgs

[SNPA]

Brunson is better now and arguably since last season honestly specially when you factor playoffs hes a better playoff performer

Steph has been abysmal for a month and he hasnt been lighting up the league for the season as a whole anyways. Luka and Sga are on another tier from him. Brunson, Fox, Hali all could def be argued over him too just among Pgs

https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/pepe-frog

[Coxy]

Brunson is better now and arguably since last season honestly specially when you factor playoffs hes a better playoff performer

Brunson is a better playoff performer is he now? Fascinating. Thanks for letting us know.

[The-Power]

Brunson is better now and arguably since last season honestly specially when you factor playoffs hes a better playoff performer

I'm fine with someone taking Brunson this year (Curry has dipped a bit even from last year) and if you meant he has performed better in last year's playoff – that's a reasonable stance, too (though up for debate). But I hope you did not mean that he is generally a better playoff performer (this is how it reads as currently phrased) because that would just be an absurd statement.

[Statlanta]

I'm going to assume the idea that Brunson is a "better playoff performer" because Curry is a better player and just underperforms his high regular season bar.

Curry's high volatility shoot first playstyle leads to him having high variance in the playoffs much like James Harden.

[The-Power]

I'm going to assume the idea that Brunson is a "better playoff performer" because Curry is a better player and just underperforms his high regular season bar.

Most players have some kind of drop in the playoffs (better defenses, more scouting) and Curry is not a particularly noteworthy player in this regard. Taking this statement as true, however, it bears mentioning that it's way too early to have a verdict on Brunson as a playoff performer relative to his regular season performance – and that's all the more true for playoff performances as the main guy.

[EmpireFalls]

Brunson has been better this season.

Brunson has never been even comparable to Curry at any point before this season.

Pretty simple.

[f4p]

I'm going to assume the idea that Brunson is a "better playoff performer" because Curry is a better player and just underperforms his high regular season bar.

Most players have some kind of drop in the playoffs (better defenses, more scouting) and Curry is not a particularly noteworthy player in this regard.

is harden noteworthy in this regard?

[parsnips33]

Brunson is better now and arguably since last season honestly specially when you factor playoffs hes a better playoff performer

Steph has been abysmal for a month and he hasnt been lighting up the league for the season as a whole anyways. Luka and Sga are on another tier from him. Brunson, Fox, Hali all could def be argued over him too just among Pgs

https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/pepe-frog

Not really the offensive part of his post

[XTC]

I mean Curry is a 36 year old on the downswing of his career, while Brunson is already a franchise point guard in his prime.

If we're talking point guards Curry barely squeaks into the top 10. If we're ranking point guards, I'd say the following guys are having better seasons than him (excluding Luka)

SGA
Fox
Brunson
Trae
Lillard
Haliburton
Kyrie
Maxey
Murray

At the present moment he's in a similiar tier to Murray and Maxey IMO, which is still amazing considering he's 36 years old. He just can't carry a team like he use to.

[Woodsanity]

Curry has fallen off quite a lot so I think Brunson is better this season.

[LukaTheGOAT]

I mean Curry is a 36 year old on the downswing of his career, while Brunson is already a franchise point guard in his prime.

If we're talking point guards Curry barely squeaks into the top 10. If we're ranking point guards, I'd say the following guys are having better seasons than him (excluding Luka)

SGA
Fox
Brunson
Trae
Lillard
Haliburton
Kyrie
Maxey
Murray

At the present moment he's in a similiar tier to Murray and Maxey IMO, which is still amazing considering he's 36 years old. He just can't carry a team like he use to.

How are Murray or Maxey having a better season? I would argue a few other guys, but those 2 stick out.

[The-Power]

I mean Curry is a 36 year old on the downswing of his career, while Brunson is already a franchise point guard in his prime.

If we're talking point guards Curry barely squeaks into the top 10. If we're ranking point guards, I'd say the following guys are having better seasons than him (excluding Luka)

SGA
Fox
Brunson
Trae
Lillard
Haliburton
Kyrie
Maxey
Murray

At the present moment he's in a similiar tier to Murray and Maxey IMO, which is still amazing considering he's 36 years old. He just can't carry a team like he use to.

I think a lot of them are very debatable. Not the be-all and end-all, obviously, but here's how they stack up in EPM this season:

SGA +9.3

Haliburton +5.1
Brunson +4.9
Curry +4.7
Lillard +4.5

Fox +3.9
Irving +3.7
Maxey +3.6

Murray +3.0
Young +2.8

I think aside from SGA, Curry has an argument to still be as good as – or better than – all of the others. You can make reasonable cases for most of the others depending on your criteria (which also makes it difficult to have all of them ahead at the same time) but none of them are a tier ahead IMO. At least I don't see any argument for putting players like Irving and Lillard clearly ahead of Curry, and I struggle to see any argument for Trae at all to be honest. Others like Murray require assuming that his recent playoff performances continue because I don't see his case for being a better full-season player yet, while you'd also have to give Maxey the benefit of the doubt that his improvement this season carries over into the playoffs. The latter also applies to Haliburton who has achieved greater RS heights this season but is entirely unproven in the playoffs – and I certainly would not feel comfortable picking Haliburton over Curry for a postseason run this year.

[XTC]

I mean Curry is a 36 year old on the downswing of his career, while Brunson is already a franchise point guard in his prime.

If we're talking point guards Curry barely squeaks into the top 10. If we're ranking point guards, I'd say the following guys are having better seasons than him (excluding Luka)

SGA
Fox
Brunson
Trae
Lillard
Haliburton
Kyrie
Maxey
Murray

At the present moment he's in a similiar tier to Murray and Maxey IMO, which is still amazing considering he's 36 years old. He just can't carry a team like he use to.

I think a lot of them are very debatable. Not the be-all and end-all, obviously, but here's how they stack up in EPM this season:

SGA +9.3

Haliburton +5.1
Brunson +4.9
Curry +4.7
Lillard +4.5

Fox +3.9
Irving +3.7
Maxey +3.6

Murray +3.0
Young +2.8

I think aside from SGA, Curry has an argument to still be as good as – or better than – all of the others. You can make reasonable cases for most of the others depending on your criteria (which also makes it difficult to have all of them ahead at the same time) but none of them are a tier ahead IMO. At least I don't see any argument for putting players like Irving and Lillard clearly ahead of Curry, and I struggle to see any argument for Trae at all to be honest. Others like Murray require assuming that his recent playoff performances continue because I don't see his case for being a better full-season player yet, while you'd also have to give Maxey the benefit of the doubt that his improvement this season carries over into the playoffs. The latter also applies to Haliburton who has achieved greater RS heights this season but is entirely unproven in the playoffs – and I certainly would not feel comfortable picking Haliburton over Curry for a postseason run this year.

You nailed it.

Curry is 36 and it's hard for him to sustain his superstar form for 60+ games (same with Lebron), but if I need a player for a post season run I'd be hard pressed to take any guard over Steph. Curry can still go supernova for 20ish games.

[The-Power]

I'm going to assume the idea that Brunson is a "better playoff performer" because Curry is a better player and just underperforms his high regular season bar.

Most players have some kind of drop in the playoffs (better defenses, more scouting) and Curry is not a particularly noteworthy player in this regard.

is harden noteworthy in this regard?

Not sure why Harden enters the conversation but I'll bite: I'm generally finding myself defending Harden a lot these days against those who view him as a choker or not an elite offensive player. I do trust Curry and his approach more in a playoff setting but I don't think Harden is a prime example for a playoff underperformer, no.

[Colbinii]

I'm going to assume the idea that Brunson is a "better playoff performer" because Curry is a better player and just underperforms his high regular season bar.

Most players have some kind of drop in the playoffs (better defenses, more scouting) and Curry is not a particularly noteworthy player in this regard.

is harden noteworthy in this regard?

Why would harden be noteworthy?

His playoff drop is similar to Kobe.

[OhayoKD]

Most players have some kind of drop in the playoffs (better defenses, more scouting) and Curry is not a particularly noteworthy player in this regard.

is harden noteworthy in this regard?

Why would harden be noteworthy?

His playoff drop is similar to Kobe.

Defense is a thing

[Colbinii]

is harden noteworthy in this regard?

Why would harden be noteworthy?

His playoff drop is similar to Kobe.

Defense is a thing

I think both improved defensively in the post-season.

[Cavsfansince84]

You nailed it.

Curry is 36 and it's hard for him to sustain his superstar form for 60+ games (same with Lebron), but if I need a player for a post season run I'd be hard pressed to take any guard over Steph. Curry can still go supernova for 20ish games.

Not so sure about that. I think he can prob give his team 2-3 very good playoff games in a 7 game series. I don't think he's going to go off the way he did in 2022.