Better player, 14-22 Steph vs 81-88 Bird

[HeartBreakKid]

Bird won 3 rings as the undisputed best guy on his team. Steph has won 2, and both of those were heavily influenced by other teams' injuries.

Bird was an elite Power-Foward, who didn't play with the best teammates to show his skills. It didn't matter - he changed position to SF, changed his play to outside-in, and dominated anyways.

Curry without the perfect system has not been nearly as effective. The Golden State TEAM has been better than the Celtics were, particularly with Durant. Curry vs Bird though? Doesn't seem that close to me in favor of Bird.

Bird from 84-86 was indisputably the best player in the league. Curry only was in 2016.

I don't think the 2022 Warriors run was "heavily" influenced by the other teams injuries. I can't even think of serious injuries to any of the threats to GSW off the top of my head.

Namely Khris Middleton, the second best player on the defending champs. Bucks almost advanced without him, but he's a pretty huge part of their team.

Ja Morant, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr, etc. as well.

Jamal Murray and Michael Porter weren't even on the team...the nuggets were the seeding they were because they were absent almost the entire season with zero expectations they'd be back. You're making it seem like GSW got lucky because of that then literally every team in NBA history has gotten lucky.

The Warriors didn't even play the Bucks...


Using your criteria for injuries you really could deflate every champion. Ja Morant is like the only example that makes sense for what you're saying he was injured at the end of game 5 in a 6 game series.


The Warriors did not "get lucky" in 2022 from injuries. Comparing their run to 2015 is ridiculous.

[euroleague]

I don't think the 2022 Warriors run was "heavily" influenced by the other teams injuries. I can't even think of serious injuries to any of the threats to GSW off the top of my head.

Namely Khris Middleton, the second best player on the defending champs. Bucks almost advanced without him, but he's a pretty huge part of their team.

Ja Morant, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr, etc. as well.

Jamal Murray and Michael Porter weren't even on the team...the nuggets were the seeding they were because they were absent almost the entire season with zero expectations they'd be back. You're making it seem like GSW got lucky because of that then literally every team in NBA history has gotten lucky.

The Warriors didn't even play the Bucks...


Using your criteria for injuries you really could deflate every champion. Ja Morant is like the only example that makes sense for what you're saying he was injured at the end of game 5 in a 6 game series.


The Warriors did not "get lucky" in 2022 from injuries. Comparing their run to 2015 is ridiculous.

Middleton was the reason the Bucks lost to the Celtics. In 2015, the Clippers eliminating the Spurs and then CP3 getting injured is the reason the West was so easy. The Cavs weren't even the 2nd best team in the league that year - Spurs were the defending champions, and the Clippers (who were probably the best team in the league) eliminated them.. then got injured.

The Lakers were also injured, although that's not luck - Lakers not being injured would've been luck, as they're always out.

The Bucks took the Celtics to 7 games starting 35 year old Wesley Matthews (and playing him 30mpg). Adding an all-star wing who fits perfectly on the team, in replacement of a guy who is barely in the league, would've likely made the Bucks the best team in the NBA.

[euroleague]

Bird won 3 rings as the undisputed best guy on his team. Steph has won 2, and both of those were heavily influenced by other teams' injuries.

Bird was an elite Power-Foward, who didn't play with the best teammates to show his skills. It didn't matter - he changed position to SF, changed his play to outside-in, and dominated anyways.

Curry without the perfect system has not been nearly as effective. The Golden State TEAM has been better than the Celtics were, particularly with Durant. Curry vs Bird though? Doesn't seem that close to me in favor of Bird.

Bird from 84-86 was indisputably the best player in the league. Curry only was in 2016.

Curry won 4 titles as the best player. Who cares if someone wants to "dispute" it? Here's the on/off numbers for Curry and Durant in 2017 and 2018:

Curry: +15.2 (regular season), +12.5 (playoffs)
Durant: +5.1 (regular season), +8.5 (playoffs)

You're giving Bird credit for a much less impressive season leading to a title in 1981 even though you could just as easily argue that Cornbread was actually the best player on that team as you could argue Durant was better than Curry. Then you do the same thing with "indisputably" the best player in the league. What's indisputable? 1/3 of the people in the Retro POY project here voted Magic as the best player in '85. Seems like you're using weird random criteria to determine who was better when the truth is that they were similar average defenders and Steph had a much larger impact on the offensive end of the floor due to his superior scoring, shooting, and gravity with only a slight edge to Bird for his passing.

Uh... you couldn't argue Cedric Maxwell was better than Bird in 81. That's a joke.

KD was better than Curry, even if his impact wasn't as big - the team was built around Curry's skills, so Curry had more on/off impact. That's how that stat works. If a team's gameplan is drawn around one person, that person not being in the game will affect the team more.

Voting Magic POTY doesn't mean he was the best player. Bird broke his hand before the Finals, so Magic won - Magic was the most accomplished player that year. That's not really relevant to this.

[SpreeS]

Bird won 3 rings as the undisputed best guy on his team. Steph has won 2, and both of those were heavily influenced by other teams' injuries.

Bird was an elite Power-Foward, who didn't play with the best teammates to show his skills. It didn't matter - he changed position to SF, changed his play to outside-in, and dominated anyways.

Curry without the perfect system has not been nearly as effective. The Golden State TEAM has been better than the Celtics were, particularly with Durant. Curry vs Bird though? Doesn't seem that close to me in favor of Bird.

Bird from 84-86 was indisputably the best player in the league. Curry only was in 2016.

In what environment? Only Magic/Thomas were in primes at this time. KAJ, Moses and Erving were past their primes and MJ/Hakeem/Barkley/Ewing/Malone/Stockton were too young.

Curry played against all time greats primes like KD, Lebron, Kawhi, Harden, Paul, Giannis in 2015-2019

Its like compare Ewing with Marc Gasol/Deandre/Noah bc they all have one AllNBA 1st team selection.