Current Jokic or Prime Steph Curry? Who was the more impactful player?

[moderndarwin]

People really forgetting how insane a super prime super saiyan version of Steph is.

He put the fear of basketball Gods in grown men. They’d be scrambling over themselves to chase him around to stop his shot.

He warps a basketball floor like possibly only Shaq. His running around and movements are singular to the game. The closest we’ve seen is maybe Ray Allen and it’s not even remotely close.

Doubling outside the three point line is very different than doubling the post. The court changes shape and you up getting three on two actions from the foul line consistently. The prime Warriors got such easy shots compared to others.

[Karate Diop]

Jokic pretty easily. A lot of what Steph was able to do was due to the next level moving screens and general leeway with the rules the Warriors were afforded. Imagine a Jokic team with that level of beneficial officiating.

[dhsilv2]

But the Warriors two years prior mainly without Steph had the 26th ranked defense and the worst record in the league. Poole? Payton II? What were they doing without Steph aside from looking like possibly the worst player in the league or playing in the G-League?

The GM of the Timberwolves who quickly turned them into the team with the best defense in the league was the same GM who didn't or couldn't when he was with Denver.

The available evidence suggests Curry is easier to build a strong defense around that doesn't suffer as much on the offensive end. The Warriors offense wasn't stymied by the Celtics the way the Nuggets' was against the Timberwolves despite playing with more defensively oriented players in comparison to players like Murray and MPJ.

You're seemingly trying to change the topic.

Who had a better roster and who gets more out of players.

The gap in the rosters here is HUGE! The 2024 Nuggets have a terrible bench...like historically terrible. The 2022 Warriors had a nice bench, guys who fill roles and aren't great but they do things....and Poole who either was a great players and fell off or who knows. Either way we don't ask bench guys to be much more than guys who can fill in for various reasons. The Nuggets didn't have anyone who could fill anything. And remember we are focused on what the bench did when Steph wasn't playing, not when he was!

Now can Curry be a non factor on defense while a better defense can be built around him? Oh hell yeah...a guy like Jokic is taking up a role where defense matters more. So his lacking areas are more problematic. But that's unrelated to what I was discussing. You're trying too hard to fight for you boy...who I'd hope you've seen I"m a HUGEEEEEEEEEEEEE fan of. Vs listening to my view where I'm a biased fan boy of both players. I'm not trying to prop one over the other. These are legit my two favorite players in the league!

Wait, I thought we were comparing 2022 GSW to 2023 Nuggets, which had a more than decent bench. What's the point of comparing a champion to a second round exit? That's apples to oranges.

Ah...ok if it's 2023, then it's still the warriors by a margin. But yeah, they had a weak bench, not a terrible one on the 2023 team. It still is nowhere close to the 2022 warriors.

[Onus]

It might be worth noting that Mr Gravity is 0-12 in the playoffs when it comes to potential go ahead baskets in the last 45 seconds of a game (0-8 in last 20 secs). Steph’s biggest strength is also his weakness. He didn’t need to shoot a 3 when down by 1 in the 2019 game 6 finals when there is 8.5 seconds still on the clock. 40% is an awesome average from 3 but it’s still a low percentage shot to be taking in that situation.

Jovic also has unique range for a center so he can pull the other team’s rim protector away from the basket, so it’s not like only Curry has a special ability

But he wasn't able to pull the center away from the basket this year ...