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Their is a little speculation that these could be Miami's big 3 next year with Wade, Marion and Brand.

It certainly may not happen, but I was curious on what most would think regarding this comparison.

If both trios are healthy, which one do you think is better?

Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen

or

Dwyane Wade, Shawn Marion and Elton Brand

Great players at the SG, SF and PF positions.

If Miami could trade for Brand, Marion would most likely be gone. I don't think the Clippers are high on rebuilding anymore, so they must get some present value in return. Riley hinted at trading down on picks, not giving up on the pick entirely for better players.

Ok...but this isn't the draft or trade board, its the PC board. And this is a hypothetical topic.

I think Wade/Marion/Brand are actually better at defense, despite the fact that the Celtics just posted one of the best defensive seasons in league history. While the Celtics are better shooters on the whole with more range, the hypoHeat are more diverse in terms of scoring. Marion can leak out on the break with Wade, or take the three, or hit stuff on the interior sometimes. Wade will slash, create, and handle the midrange. Brand can bang in the middle and take midrange shots. I think the Celtics might edge out this comparison because they are so good at sharing the ball. The other trio only has one playmaker (Wade), while the Celts have the best passing forward combo in the NBA. So I take the Celtics by a hair, but I think that in a game they might be about even. Wade would outperform Allen pretty handily. Marion would limit the perimeter scoring of both guys, while still being outproduced by Pierce. Brand and KG would be about evenly matched, with the edge going to Garnett. I prefer Brand's scoring. 20/10 is no slouch but his numbers would probably dip as his efficiency rises, much like KG in Boston.

It's a blowout for the Celtics. Allen, Pierce and Garnett are all top 10-15 in the league. Marion and Brand are both a tier below.

Ray Allen is not top 10 or 15 and I could make an argument that Pierce isn't either, but the weight of the world would be against me with him just winning Finals MVP.

Duncan, Dirk, Garnett, Kobe, LeBron, Wade, Dwight, Paul are all better.

You can make an argument for McGrady, Carter, Iverson, Nash, Amare, Brand, Boozer, Baron, Deron, Billups, etc. though I wouldn't take them all.

Malinhion wrote:Ray Allen is not top 10 or 15 and I could make an argument that Pierce isn't either, but the weight of the world would be against me with him just winning Finals MVP.

Duncan, Dirk, Garnett, Kobe, LeBron, Wade, Dwight, Paul are all better.

You can make an argument for McGrady, Carter, Iverson, Nash, Amare, Brand, Boozer, Baron, Deron, Billups, etc. though I wouldn't take them all.

All of Boston's top 3 had their numbers take a hit but Allen and Pierce both averaged 25 ppg for the previous two seasons. If you ranked all 3 before this season, I'm fairly sure all 3 would be in the top 15.

Brand for the previous 2 seasons before his injury was considered a top 15 player as well, while Wade (when healthy) was generally ranked higher then KG. Allen was ranked above Marion too.

I'd take Wade-Brand-Marion because Wade can dominate a game more-so then any other player in this comparison.

I'll take the Wade-Marion-Brand trio...they are crazy defensively, not only that but out rebound the Celtics trio big time. Brand when healthy is one of the best big men both defensively and offensively. Only thing the Wade-Marion-Brand are missing is the 3 point shot.

And to the poster that said Pierce and Allen are top 10-15 players in the league...no, not a chance in hell, Pierce nor Allen have ever been considered a top 10 talent, Pierce maybe this season, but not a chance in hell with Allen.

But yes, I'd easily take the Wade-Marion-Brand trio, Brand is just a beast when healthy, and there aren't enough words to describe how good Wade can be with both of them.

Worm Guts wrote:

Malinhion wrote:Ray Allen is not top 10 or 15 and I could make an argument that Pierce isn't either, but the weight of the world would be against me with him just winning Finals MVP.

Duncan, Dirk, Garnett, Kobe, LeBron, Wade, Dwight, Paul are all better.

You can make an argument for McGrady, Carter, Iverson, Nash, Amare, Brand, Boozer, Baron, Deron, Billups, etc. though I wouldn't take them all.

All of Boston's top 3 had their numbers take a hit but Allen and Pierce both averaged 25 ppg for the previous two seasons. If you ranked all 3 before this season, I'm fairly sure all 3 would be in the top 15.

Wrong. Neither was in my top 15 last season.

Defense - while Wade is definitely a better defender than Ray and Marion is probably a better defender than Pierce, I have to say the Cs are the better defensive team because as good ad Brand is on D, KG is a lot better and defenses are generally defined by their anchors.

The Heat trio have great rebounding which is cool and definitely an advantage.

On offense, Wade is the best offensive player in this group and Brand is probably equal to KG as a scorer but the Celtics complement eachother so well with all three being very accurate jump shooters and all three being able to initiate the offense and play off one another.

I'd have to with the Cs.

RIGHT NOW

The C's

How will Jesus' knees be 2 years from now.

I think the most important part of the celtics D after KG are Rondo and Perkins. They are both very active defenders that do all the dirty work. The heat may actually have two players that could replicate those key cogs if they gave Banks more burn and Zo came back healthy. A starting lineup of Banks, Wade, Marion, Brand and Zo would be amazing on the defensive end. I also think they will end up signing Pietrus in the offseason so they could go big with a lineup of Wade, Pietrus, Marion, Brand and Zo.

A healthy Wade is a little better than Garnett.
A healthy Brand is a little better than a healthy Pierce.
Marion is about equal to Ray Allen.

I'm going to say the Heat by a hair.

It's a very interesting comparison, and I think the Heat trio could compliment each other almost as well as the C's trio does, but right now I'd go with the C's trio because they've actually shown what they can do. I could see the potential Miami trio looking damn good, though...

Malinhion wrote:

Worm Guts wrote:

Malinhion wrote:Ray Allen is not top 10 or 15 and I could make an argument that Pierce isn't either, but the weight of the world would be against me with him just winning Finals MVP.

Duncan, Dirk, Garnett, Kobe, LeBron, Wade, Dwight, Paul are all better.

You can make an argument for McGrady, Carter, Iverson, Nash, Amare, Brand, Boozer, Baron, Deron, Billups, etc. though I wouldn't take them all.

All of Boston's top 3 had their numbers take a hit but Allen and Pierce both averaged 25 ppg for the previous two seasons. If you ranked all 3 before this season, I'm fairly sure all 3 would be in the top 15.

Wrong. Neither was in my top 15 last season.

What can I say. Pierce was at 25, 6, and 4 last season. Ray Allen was 26, 4.5, and 4. That's two top 15 players if you ask me.
It's not a completely fair comparison, but both Pierce and Allen have each made at least as many all-star games as Marion and Brand have combined.
On top of that there's the injury factor, Wade has missed 30+ games each of the last two seasons, Brand is coming off of a ruptured achilles tendon, and Marion missed 19 games last season while seeing a noticeable drop in scoring.

joeyyowee wrote:A healthy Wade is a little better than Garnett.
A healthy Brand is a little better than a healthy Pierce.
Marion is about equal to Ray Allen.

I'm going to say the Heat by a hair.

or go by positions.

Garnett > Brand
Pierce > Marion
Wade > Allen

Worm Guts wrote:What can I say. Pierce was at 25, 6, and 4 last season. Ray Allen was 26, 4.5, and 4. That's two top 15 players if you ask me.

Uhm, neither of those players averaged 20 points a game last season. No matter how you slice it, it is about what have you done for me lately. You can't talk about Marion's dip in production and just gloss over theirs, or talk about Brand's injury as if it's the end of his career while returning Pierce and Allen to their pre-trio days. That's exceedingly disingenuous. And speaking of unfair, pointing out Marion's missed 19 games when his new team was clearly tanking is also not exactly the purest of arguments, either...

halfHAVOC wrote:

joeyyowee wrote:A healthy Wade is a little better than Garnett.
A healthy Brand is a little better than a healthy Pierce.
Marion is about equal to Ray Allen.

I'm going to say the Heat by a hair.

or go by positions.

Garnett > Brand
Pierce > Marion
Wade > Allen

I have a problem with the whole concept of just putting a > one way or the other when talking about a trio. It's about how well they perform together, which means the individual matchups are only so important. It's about how they compliment each other, and how well they work together.

On top of that, simply putting a > between Wade and Allen really doesn't tell you how much better Wade is than Allen, and I think it could realistically be argued that he is significantly better.

Either way, until I see the potential Miami trio together, I have to go with the Boston trio. They were good enough to win a championship...

BBallFreak wrote:

Worm Guts wrote:What can I say. Pierce was at 25, 6, and 4 last season. Ray Allen was 26, 4.5, and 4. That's two top 15 players if you ask me.

Uhm, neither of those players averaged 20 points a game last season. No matter how you slice it, it is about what have you done for me lately. You can't talk about Marion's dip in production and just gloss over theirs, or talk about Brand's injury as if it's the end of his career while returning Pierce and Allen to their pre-trio days. That's exceedingly disingenuous. And speaking of unfair, pointing out Marion's missed 19 games when his new team was clearly tanking is also not exactly the purest of arguments, either...

Pierce and Allen's production dropped off on 66 win team that won the NBA championship. There production before last season had been fairly consistent over the course of their careers before that. The idea is that bringing together Allen, Pierce and Garnett was alot more impressive last year tha bringing together Brand, Marion and Wade would be this year.

I hate to compare players in different positions but.

1-Garnett
Wade

Brand/Pierce


Marion
Allen


pretty close.