Zespetjest wrote:Joshyjess wrote:Dundalis wrote:This is a stupid argument. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird (I know Bird made all defensive teams, but no one actually thinks he was ever a great defender, he was a good team defender that was able to hide pretty well on great defensive teams), are considered top 5-10 players of all time. Plenty of players ranked below them had elite offense and elite defense which they absolutely lacked. No one that isn't a homer disputes their place on Mount Rushmore due to that however. Meaning no one actually thinks the player who is elite on both sides of the ball is automatically better than players who aren't.
The offense isn't in the same ball park. If Tatum had to carry a team as the primary ball handler against elite defenses, it's not gonna work. Doesn't mean he isn't an elite offensive player. It means his type of offense is straight up less valuable. Same as Magic, who if you look at statistically, wasn't putting up numbers like some others who were clearly inferior players. Being an offensive hub in every single situation for your team is easily the most valuable skillset there is in the game. I don't necessarily think the gap is humongous, but Luka isn't considered a fairly consensus top 10, and even top 5 in the game by many because people love white Euro's or the Dallas Mavericks. Even someone like Jokic was constantly hated on, and just recently started getting begrudging respect.
Unlike Trae Young, Luka is a player who you could hide, like Bird or Magic, if he played on a team that had high level defenders, but also high level offensive players that could actually take an offensive load off his shoulders. Hasn't had that at any point in his career.
Lol, double or trap Tatum whole game and we’ll see how amazing offensive player he is.
Tell us you don't watch games without telling us you don't watch games.
