Who is the best player in World?

[HotRocks34]

1. Jokic
2. Giannis
3. Luka
4. SGA
5. Edwards

This is about how I have things but I wouldn't put Ant at #5. I'd have to think about who I'd put there.

[Lala870]

Bol bol

[MrPainfulTruth]

Nobody thinks they won because of SGA. Everyone knows Denver won solely because of the genius of Jokic. Spin it whatever way you want i guess. The poll doesnt lie. You cant convince people by insulting them and calling them haters when they had to endure the hacking and no calls for an entire season, while SGA got to push off and flop into contact for phantom fouls. You aint getting no love for that and you cant force it. Deal with it.

Strong disagree. OKC would not have won without SGA, so by extension they did win because of SGA. And DEN did not win "solely because of the genius of Jokic". Jamal Murray played insanely good when DEN won in 2023 averaging 26/7/6 while shooting efficient FG 47%, 3PTS 40% and FT 95%.

I have Jokic as the best player in the world today, but the things said against SGA is bordering on hate IMO, he is clearly #2 in my books. Jokic is no saint, he's been known to draw a fouls & exaggerate to get calls. That's part of Jokic being the genius that you speak of.

Good point, i probably didnt express this well. My point is, i dont think they would have won if you just removed SGA, but i think SGA could have been replaced by several top tier players like Tatum, Brown, Luka, Giannis and others and they owuld still have won, because their prime ability is not SGAs scoring but their defense, and that defense would have been there.

While Murray played great for that run, i dont know who you could plug in for Joker and still have them win.

[MrPainfulTruth]

Nobody thinks they won because of SGA. Everyone knows Denver won solely because of the genius of Jokic. Spin it whatever way you want i guess. The poll doesnt lie. You cant convince people by insulting them and calling them haters when they had to endure the hacking and no calls for an entire season, while SGA got to push off and flop into contact for phantom fouls. You aint getting no love for that and you cant force it. Deal with it.

Nobody thinks they won because of the guy who:

- led the RS in ppg
- scored 29.9 ppg in the playoffs
- led the Finals at 30.3 ppg
- led the team in apg during the Finals
- was the focus for the opposition defense
- led the game in scoring 5 times in 7 games during the Finals

Are you serious? That's nonsense. You can choose not to like SGA, that's one thing, but the idea that people don't think the Thunder won on his back is a WIIIIILD hot take, man.

Not talking about just removng him but rather replacing him by another top end player. Lets say you plug a healthy Kawhi for him, or Tatum. Do you really feel the impact would have been that big?

I strongly believe most people, when asked what was so special about OKC this season, isnt SGA. It would have been their collective defense. He himself would say so.

[tsherkin]

Not talking about just removng him but rather replacing him by another top end player. Lets say you plug a healthy Kawhi for him, or Tatum. Do you really feel the impact would have been that big?

They worsen appreciably with Tatum.

Healthy Kawhi doesn't get them to the same place in the RS, and in general isn't as good a playmaker as SGA, so I don't think they'd have made it all the way with him either... although that's debatable, because Kawhi IS quite a strong star.

I strongly believe most people, when asked what was so special about OKC this season, isnt SGA. It would have been their collective defense. He himself would say so.

Sure, they had an ATG defense but they were also exceptional on offense as well, which is still necessary.

The post I originally quoted was weird in the sense that it was trying to undercut SGA for no real reason. They don't win the title without what he did, certainly, and there are a fairly small number of guys who could replace him over the last decade and a half or so.

[MrPainfulTruth]

Not talking about just removng him but rather replacing him by another top end player. Lets say you plug a healthy Kawhi for him, or Tatum. Do you really feel the impact would have been that big?

They worsen appreciably with Tatum.

Healthy Kawhi doesn't get them to the same place in the RS, and in general isn't as good a playmaker as SGA, so I don't think they'd have made it all the way with him either... although that's debatable, because Kawhi IS quite a strong star.

I strongly believe most people, when asked what was so special about OKC this season, isnt SGA. It would have been their collective defense. He himself would say so.

Sure, they had an ATG defense but they were also exceptional on offense as well, which is still necessary.

The post I originally quoted was weird in the sense that it was trying to undercut SGA for no real reason. They don't win the title without what he did, certainly, and there are a fairly small number of guys who could replace him over the last decade and a half or so.

It was poorly expressed by me.

[tsherkin]

It was poorly expressed by me.

Fair enough; we've all done it.

We can agree, at least, that OKC had a phenomenal defense that he wasn't the anchor of, anyway.

[sammo89]

What are the gaps in SGA's game? If there are any they are very small. Giannis and Jokic have rather large gaps in theirs

[NoStatsGuy]

Its jokic for me.

i just dont see it with sga. yea he puts up stats and all that and he definitley belongs in this conversation. maybe its my bias agains okc, maybe i havent watched enough okc. but usually its pretty clear when you see someone ball, that they stand out. and for some reason SGA just doesnt stand out to me.

[mattg]

What are the gaps in SGA's game? If there are any they are very small. Giannis and Jokic have rather large gaps in theirs

His overall shot quality compared to someone like Jokic or Giannis just isn't even on the same plane. And then if you don't put him on the FT line a bunch it gets even worse. Those dudes also draw substantially more defensive attention than SGA could ever dream of. SGA gets occasional late doubles when he picks up his dribble or dig downs when he posts. Jokic and Giannis draw 3-4 defenders every single possession practically, every single game. SGA has never seen defensive pressure like that at any level he's ever played at in his life.

Also, despite his scoring volume, SGA ain't anchoring a top offense without an elite defense feeding a ton of run outs to fastbreak layups. We have seen it, without turnovers the OKC offense is beyond pedestrian, even with a stacked supporting cast. If there's not free run outs off turnovers, OKC is going to be nothing to write home about offensively.

[bowery77]

What are the gaps in SGA's game? If there are any they are very small. Giannis and Jokic have rather large gaps in theirs

His overall shot quality compared to someone like Jokic or Giannis just isn't even on the same plane. And then if you don't put him on the FT line a bunch it gets even worse. Those dudes also draw substantially more defensive attention than SGA could ever dream of. SGA gets occasional late doubles when he picks up his dribble or dig downs when he posts. Jokic and Giannis draw 3-4 defenders every single possession practically, every single game. SGA has never seen defensive pressure like that at any level he's ever played at in his life.

Also, despite his scoring volume, SGA ain't anchoring a top offense without an elite defense feeding a ton of run outs to fastbreak layups. We have seen it, without turnovers the OKC offense is beyond pedestrian, even with a stacked supporting cast. If there's not free run outs off turnovers, OKC is going to be nothing to write home about offensively.

His shot quality is one of the biggest strengths of his game. Every modern defense is trying to cover 3 and paint points. He disrupts that, draws gravity towards the midrange, and then can set his team up with the high quality shots.

[RoyceDa59]

Jokic, Giannis, SGA, Ant, Luka in that order.

[Lou84]

It's hard to say, these superstars go on runs sometimes that are flat out ridiculous. Doesn't matter if it's the joker, doncic, the greek freak etc. They are just hyper talented with an amazing skill set. I voted Jokic, because he seems like a one man army. But depending on the day and the opponent, others look easily as good.

Sent from my moto g84 5G using RealGM mobile app

[guynumber45]

Its jokic for me.

i just dont see it with sga. yea he puts up stats and all that and he definitley belongs in this conversation. maybe its my bias agains okc, maybe i havent watched enough okc. but usually its pretty clear when you see someone ball, that they stand out. and for some reason SGA just doesnt stand out to me.

He lacks the playmaking of the absolute top-tier players. OKC is able to circumvent this because their historic defense is able to generate so many points off turnovers. But we've seen in these playoffs that when the Thunder were forced to play half-court offense, their offense was incredibly sub-par.

[mattg]

What are the gaps in SGA's game? If there are any they are very small. Giannis and Jokic have rather large gaps in theirs

His overall shot quality compared to someone like Jokic or Giannis just isn't even on the same plane. And then if you don't put him on the FT line a bunch it gets even worse. Those dudes also draw substantially more defensive attention than SGA could ever dream of. SGA gets occasional late doubles when he picks up his dribble or dig downs when he posts. Jokic and Giannis draw 3-4 defenders every single possession practically, every single game. SGA has never seen defensive pressure like that at any level he's ever played at in his life.

Also, despite his scoring volume, SGA ain't anchoring a top offense without an elite defense feeding a ton of run outs to fastbreak layups. We have seen it, without turnovers the OKC offense is beyond pedestrian, even with a stacked supporting cast. If there's not free run outs off turnovers, OKC is going to be nothing to write home about offensively.

His shot quality is one of the biggest strengths of his game. Every modern defense is trying to cover 3 and paint points. He disrupts that, draws gravity towards the midrange, and then can set his team up with the high quality shots.

If you are taking midrange shots that is specifically and literally having poor shot quality compared to alternatives on the court. A player has to hit midrange at such an insane clip for that to be even close to equivalent to a 3 or shot at the rim in shot quality. Factor in that SGA is explicitly NOT being doubled in the midrange area and it completely counters your entire point about how much he is opening the floor for teammates. What SGA does is sooooooo far away from the gravity that Jokic or Giannis has that its legitimately insulting and intellectually dishonest to try and paint them as peers in that regard.

[CS707]

I don't enjoy SGA's game aesthetically and I think Jokic is still currently the better player but he's getting pretty undervalued in this thread.

Being the best player on a team while still allowing the other players to be the best versions of themselves isn't as easy people make it out to be.