Where do you rank 2016 Curry among regular-season peaks?

[cpower]

Prove it. Stop speculating and avoiding the challenge. Just prove it.

you should prove it, as far as I know, Curry led the warriors to the best record in NBA history and his plays in 4th quarter is the best ever in regular season.

There is gigantic difference between a 65 win season and a 73 win season. You sure need a lot of DEFENSIVE impact to overcome the offensive brilliance of Stephen Curry.

[Blackmill]

you should prove it,

The burden of proof is on the person making the claim.

Moreover, what do I have to prove? I made no statement about who is better.

There is gigantic difference between a 65 win season and a 73 win season.

What Curry and his teammates have done this season is very impressive. That said, I do not think a team's record can accurately reflect its best player's impact. Take the '88 Bulls as an example. Jordan was amazing that season. Within reason, I can't imagine any analysis having '88 Jordan as significantly worse than '96 Jordan, despite the '96 Bull's record being so much better.

On that note, I think it is necessary to define impact in such a way that it is invariant to changes external to the actual player.

You sure need a lot of DEFENSIVE impact to overcome the offensive brilliance of Stephen Curry.

You're right. I would accept the argument that Curry has a significant advantage over Kareem on offense as reasonable. We can take a crude look at the difference in their scoring impacts.

Taking 1980 Kareem, he used roughly 8.4 fewer possessions (including turnovers) than Curry and scored 12.4 fewer points. If on those 8.4 possessions Kareem's teammates averaged 1 point, which seems more than possible since it corresponds to a dreadful ORTG of 100, then Curry would have provided about a 3.3 points advantage over Kareem just through his shot attempts and turnovers. How much is a 3.3 point advantage? Well, it's about the same advantage that would be produced by blocking an additional three shots.

That's where I struggle to see Curry's peak as significantly higher. Curry's scoring advantage, though only a subset of his offensive impact, can be evaporated by an arguably similarly sized subset of Kareem's defensive impact.

I think Curry has an argument for the higher peak. I don't see it as obvious or clear.

[ShotCreator]

Thinking about this. He was the greatest player of all time for at least half a season there. No doubt in my mind. I really believe he had the best RS ever. He was a clear defensive positive and the offensive GOAT. The league was still pretty traction then. His off-dribble game was totally unfair. Before its time.

[CodeBreaker]

For me, it was honestly the best regular season player I've ever seen in my whole life. He was out-of-this-world!

[No-more-rings]

For just regular season, it was extremely high. I'd take probably 3-5 of Lebron(09-13 minus 11?) and Mj's regular seasons(88-91?), 2000 Shaq, um that's probably it. Some of Kareem and Wilt's regular seasons are right there, but i don't' think any were quiet as impactful. Curry dropped a ton in the playoffs, so his overall peak falls way lower.

[Gregoire]

MJ
Lebron
Shaq
Wilt
Kareem
Curry

[HBK_Kliq_33]

-Any prime Jordan year
- Any prime LeBron year
- 2000 Shaq
- 2002 or 2003 Tim Duncan
- 2018-19 James Harden

Clear ones I put over him. Kawhi has only had 1 year as the clear cut 1st option and than he had load management year. With George injured, I think Kawhi passes him up this year as well. Curry is just a great offensive guy like Nash, his defense has always been below average and his passing is very overrated.

[70sFan]

I always pick two way monsters over offensive superstars, so:

Wilt Chamberlain (1967 and 1968)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1971, 1972 and 1973)
Hakeem Olajuwon (1993 and 1994)
Shaquille O'Neal (2000)
Tim Duncan (2002 and 2003)

Then you have perimeter players with comparable offensive impact and higher defensive impact:

Michael Jordan (1989, 1990, 1991)
LeBron James (2009, 2010, 2013)

Lastly, you have the best one-way player ever:

Bill Russell (1962, 1964, 1965)

Guys like Magic (1987), Oscar (1964), Harden (2019) or Bird (1988) have good cases over him too. That makes him roughly top 10 RS peak ever.

[70sFan]

For just regular season, it was extremely high. I'd take probably 3-5 of Lebron(09-13 minus 11?) and Mj's regular seasons(88-91?), 2000 Shaq, um that's probably it. Some of Kareem and Wilt's regular seasons are right there, but i don't' think any were quiet as impactful. Curry dropped a ton in the playoffs, so his overall peak falls way lower.

What makes 1971 or 1972 Kareem less impactful? His defensive pressence alone makes him really good candidate, let alone his unreal offensive production. Same with 1967 and 1968 Wilt.

I've also yet to see reasonable argument for Curry over best Russell seasons (1962, 1964, 1965).

[No-more-rings]

For just regular season, it was extremely high. I'd take probably 3-5 of Lebron(09-13 minus 11?) and Mj's regular seasons(88-91?), 2000 Shaq, um that's probably it. Some of Kareem and Wilt's regular seasons are right there, but i don't' think any were quiet as impactful. Curry dropped a ton in the playoffs, so his overall peak falls way lower.

What makes 1971 or 1972 Kareem less impactful? His defensive pressence alone makes him really good candidate, let alone his unreal offensive production. Same with 1967 and 1968 Wilt.

I've also yet to see reasonable argument for Curry over best Russell seasons (1962, 1964, 1965).

They’re right up there like i said..why do you take issue with someone taking Curry?

[70sFan]

For just regular season, it was extremely high. I'd take probably 3-5 of Lebron(09-13 minus 11?) and Mj's regular seasons(88-91?), 2000 Shaq, um that's probably it. Some of Kareem and Wilt's regular seasons are right there, but i don't' think any were quiet as impactful. Curry dropped a ton in the playoffs, so his overall peak falls way lower.

What makes 1971 or 1972 Kareem less impactful? His defensive pressence alone makes him really good candidate, let alone his unreal offensive production. Same with 1967 and 1968 Wilt.

I've also yet to see reasonable argument for Curry over best Russell seasons (1962, 1964, 1965).

They’re right up there like i said..why do you take issue with someone taking Curry?

I don't have any issue with that.