Is Klay Thompson overrated?

[Coxy]

Who'd have thunk it, a Wiz fan turns up to back me up. Nice one Illmatic12!!!!!!

[Bandito]

Who'd have thunk it, a Wiz fan turns up to back me up. Nice one Illmatic12!!!!!!

Even he says Klay is better, lol. Not the best "back up" for having him ranked ahead of Klay.

[Coxy]

Who'd have thunk it, a Wiz fan turns up to back me up. Nice one Illmatic12!!!!!!

Even he says Klay is better, lol. Not the best "back up" for having him ranked ahead of Klay.

Meh, he says Klay is better than Beal now, but Beal will be better soon. I say he's already better and will be WAY better soon than Klay. We're both on the same thought pattern.

[Bandito]

Correction, "much better".

I've already acknowledged Beal's talent, he's got a ton of it, but he's just a pup. It takes a lot more than talent to get to the level where Klay is at.

We know first hand with a guy like Monta Ellis. He looked like a future star at age 22, incredible talent, and that turned out to be a career year.

Beal is a different type of player than Ellis, but he's got a long way to go to catch Klay, and it's no sure thing he ever will. All that being said, I think he's a very good bet to be a future all star.

[Coxy]

He's already better than Klay.

lol.

[Illmatic12]

Correction, "much better".

I've already acknowledged Beal's talent, he's got a ton of it, but he's just a pup. It takes a lot more than talent to get to the level where Klay is at.

We know first hand with a guy like Monta Ellis. He looked like a future star at age 22, incredible talent, and that turned out to be a career year.

Beal is a different type of player than Ellis, but he's got a long way to go to catch Klay, and it's no sure thing he ever will. All that being said, I think he's a very good bet to be a future all star.

I should rephrase that.. "Klay has BEEN much better than Beal" ..their production hasn't been close. Klay is at this point a grown man entering his prime, Beal was a kid drafted at 18/19.

But still, Beal has already put up postseason performances that are comparable or better than Thompson's, with tougher defensive attention focused on him. He seems to have a better feel for the moment and has the type of game that can elevate his teammates. It's kind of apparent that if he reaches his potential he'll be a higher impact player than Klay, and he may be on the verge of that now or it may be another season or two. But I wouldn't be overly surprised if Beal looks like the better player by next season.

[Bandito]

He's already better than Klay.

lol.

Yes, in your imaginary dream world, which is really weird considering you're a Warriors fan.

[Bandito]

Correction, "much better".

I've already acknowledged Beal's talent, he's got a ton of it, but he's just a pup. It takes a lot more than talent to get to the level where Klay is at.

We know first hand with a guy like Monta Ellis. He looked like a future star at age 22, incredible talent, and that turned out to be a career year.

Beal is a different type of player than Ellis, but he's got a long way to go to catch Klay, and it's no sure thing he ever will. All that being said, I think he's a very good bet to be a future all star.

I should rephrase that.. "Klay has BEEN much better than Beal" ..their production hasn't been close. Klay is at this point a grown man entering his prime, Beal was a kid drafted at 18/19.

But still, Beal has already put up postseason performances that are comparable or better than Thompson's, with tougher defensive attention focused on him. He seems to have a better feel for the moment and has the type of game that can elevate his teammates. It's kind of apparent that if he reaches his potential he'll be a higher impact player than Klay, and he may be on the verge of that now or it may be another season or two. But I wouldn't be overly surprised if Beal looks like the better player by next season.

Now you're really reaching with the "more defensive attention" and better playoff performances, better feel for the moment etc. Klay draws plenty of attention, and he's had tougher assignments than Beal. Beal did his damage vs Toronto and Atlanta.

As far as playoff performances, Klay's percentages blow Beal's out of the water just like the regular season. Beal just took more shots because his team obviously needed him to shoulder the load offensively. Beal in 10 playoff games this year hoisted up over 20 shots in 7 of those games. Klay by contrast has had 20+ attempts in only 3 of 19 postseason games. In those 3 games, Klay put up 34, 28, and 24, all higher scoring outputs than Beal's 23PPG averaging over 20 attempts per.

You're obviously a Wizards fan, and went as far as to say Beal is a better rebounder, when there is a negligible difference and we're talking GUARDS here. There's been a lot of reaching in your posts to try and find advantages for Beal, but that's understandable, and at least you're sensible enough to admit Klay is better.

Sure Beal being just 21/22 has a chance to surpass Klay one day, but he hasn't yet, it's not even close, and I wouldn't hold my breath on that happening any time soon. That's your optimistic fan side coming out saying it could happen as soon as next year. It won't. Klay has made huge strides each of the past few years, and will be a 25 year old all star with finals experience under his belt. He hasn't even peaked yet.

[Jester_]

Yeah, Beal's got potential, but saying a guy who shoots 52% TS is better than Klay is slightly absurd.

[Mylie10]

He's already better than Klay.

lol.

Hope you're joking.....in what world is Beal better, because defense matters.

[Mylie10]

On this board Klay is underrated. Klay was a top 10 per 36 scorer (IIRC) on awesome percentages and efficiency and has a huge gravitational effect as well as ability to move off ball which warps a defense. His volume and efficiency numbers for a guy in his fourth year are most definitely all star worthy. He just plays In a conference with a lot of good guards.

Beal is not better at all. Dude takes really inefficient shots and despite his hype that he can, he hardly gets to the rim. I see wizards fans complain constantly about him and his propensity for long 2s. He also has one of the best passing PGs next to him and The Truth. Beal scores 16 pts per 36 with a PER of 14 and 52 TS%. Klay scores 24 pts per 36 has a PER of 20 and a 59 TS%. Beal actually is nowhere near as good as Klay (although some similar numbers to Klay lasts year). He has had some good post seasons but Barnes has too and he's nowhere near a top 5 SF.

I'd take Klay over Beal. But I think Klay benefits big time from playing with Curry in the backcourt. Just think about how much Beal would be better if Curry played with him.

Defense matters.....and when Curry landed on his head Klay went into torch mode.

This topic has jumped the shark and sounds like ESPN with east coast bias.

[East Bay Sports]

I feel like very few people rank Klay properly. He seems to be either overrated or underrated, depending on who you are talking to.

[a8bil]

Klay is way underrated by some and slightly overrated by others. Most coaches around the league would put him at top 2-3 at the SG position, as would even his most ardent supporters. His detractors try to claim he's somewhere down around 4-5, which you wont find any support from around the league. Those bashing him are the outliers.

The head to head comparisons to Beal ignore context. Beal plays with Wall and Pierce. Wall is a top 3 PG and draws a lot of defensive attention. Pierce is their top scorer and he's elite--he draws the most attention after the ball is stopped. Beal arguably gets the third most attention defensively, but even Gortat is an important part of their offense. By contrast, teams have focused on stopping Klay and Curry in the playoffs, because they are our offensive, challenging anyone else to beat us. We had to finally bring iggy to the starting lineup to give us a third scoring threat. I don't think Beal would excel in a line up where it was just him and one other offensive player. He's good however. Maybe 4-5 among SGs.

[kaiballz]

He's already better than Klay.

lol.

Hope you're joking.....in what world is Beal better, because defense matters.

beal?

the lad's good, but comeon...

ill take klay over him on BOTH offence and defence.

[kaiballz]

Since rating the best 2 guards is too many "qualifiers" in some peoples eyes, let's just rank the best wings in the NBA, 2 or 3.

1. Lebron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. Kawhi Leonard
4. James Harden
5. Klay Thompson

Any beef with that top 5? Don't even start with the black hole that is Carmelo Anthony. He's a less efficient scorer than Klay at this point in his career and plays no defense. Klay has surpassed him.

i would like to see the anti-klay guys' arguments against this. that's a pretty elite list in the nba today.

[Illmatic12]

Correction, "much better".

I've already acknowledged Beal's talent, he's got a ton of it, but he's just a pup. It takes a lot more than talent to get to the level where Klay is at.

We know first hand with a guy like Monta Ellis. He looked like a future star at age 22, incredible talent, and that turned out to be a career year.

Beal is a different type of player than Ellis, but he's got a long way to go to catch Klay, and it's no sure thing he ever will. All that being said, I think he's a very good bet to be a future all star.

I should rephrase that.. "Klay has BEEN much better than Beal" ..their production hasn't been close. Klay is at this point a grown man entering his prime, Beal was a kid drafted at 18/19.

But still, Beal has already put up postseason performances that are comparable or better than Thompson's, with tougher defensive attention focused on him. He seems to have a better feel for the moment and has the type of game that can elevate his teammates. It's kind of apparent that if he reaches his potential he'll be a higher impact player than Klay, and he may be on the verge of that now or it may be another season or two. But I wouldn't be overly surprised if Beal looks like the better player by next season.

Now you're really reaching with the "more defensive attention" and better playoff performances, better feel for the moment etc. Klay draws plenty of attention, and he's had tougher assignments than Beal. Beal did his damage vs Toronto and Atlanta.

As far as playoff performances, Klay's percentages blow Beal's out of the water just like the regular season. Beal just took more shots because his team obviously needed him to shoulder the load offensively. Beal in 10 playoff games this year hoisted up over 20 shots in 7 of those games. Klay by contrast has had 20+ attempts in only 3 of 19 postseason games. In those 3 games, Klay put up 34, 28, and 24, all higher scoring outputs than Beal's 23PPG averaging over 20 attempts per.

You're obviously a Wizards fan, and went as far as to say Beal is a better rebounder, when there is a negligible difference and we're talking GUARDS here. There's been a lot of reaching in your posts to try and find advantages for Beal, but that's understandable, and at least you're sensible enough to admit Klay is better.

Sure Beal being just 21/22 has a chance to surpass Klay one day, but he hasn't yet, it's not even close, and I wouldn't hold my breath on that happening any time soon. That's your optimistic fan side coming out saying it could happen as soon as next year. It won't. Klay has made huge strides each of the past few years, and will be a 25 year old all star with finals experience under his belt. He hasn't even peaked yet.

Beal was heavily defended by Jimmy Butler and Paul George in last year's playoffs (in his first postseason at 20yo) and still put up 20/5/5. And those were the #2 and #1 defensive teams in the NBA that season.That was why I said that.

Compared to Klay, Beal definitely gets more contested rebounds (Beal iirc had one of the highest contested rebound rates for a guard). Thompson's rebounding is pretty pathetic for his size tbh. One thing I've noticed is that in the postseason games when players are all playing at their highest level, Thompson mainly only thinks about impacting games with his shooting (or threat of shooting) whereas Beal tries to make his teammates better, crashes the boards, pushes the break, gets to the FT line, basically does whatever he can to impact the games and elevate his team. He's shown more all-around versatility to his game than Klay right now, if he makes any type of leap he's going to leave Klay's game in his wake.

Thompson's peak statistical season was probably this past year. I don't see him making another big leap, what would that entail? Players don't improve significantly at age 26.. he may get marginally better rounding out his game. But he hasn't shown the propensity to become a more dynamic threat off the dribble who draws FTAs, and creates for teammates. His style works just fine for what GSW does and their roster, but precisely because of that I don't see him developing that much more.

Do you think Klay Thompson would put up these same stats with efficiency on another team? On your average less-talented team with less ball movement and driving lanes, what would Klay contribute at an elite level other than 3pt shooting and his perimeter D? Would he see the floor and create assists, would he rebound, would he break down a set defense, would he bring the ball up in the 4th quarter and force the issue like stars do.. not sure.

[FNQ]

Paul George is probably on that list too..

[FNQ]

Klay has something I like to call realistic potential.. Subtle improvements to his game will have a great effect. Namely, forcing less shots, more aggression on D. Right now he's a borderline star even with those deficiencies. Beal is more of a standard potential guy. Young, athletic, simply needs to just translate raw potential to results. His playoffs were encouraging, but as W's fans know re:Barnes, they can be mirages when compared to the grind of a full season

[turk3d]

Beal's got a lot of potential no doubt. But he's got a way's to go in order to match Klay at this point. Plus, he may have an injury problem as well wheras Klay so far has been pretty durable. When you start on all stars in the West (whether or not you think he deserved it) that's quite a hill to climb for Beal and as you say FNQ, just small adjustments to Klay's game over time (which he should be able to make as he's done so thus far throughout his career) and he can be even better.

I think that the biggest thing with Klay (as many of us have said) is to be more consistent which typically comes with more experience. Beal is interesting though and I do think he's someone who maybe able to compete with Klay at some point. We'll see.

[Xplatformer]

I would rank Klay ahead of Beal though.

See how the list consisted of small guys who can't play PG, and also guys aren't good/big enough to be forwards.

Arguing on "the best SG" is the same as arguing my turtle runs faster than yours. A player is a pure SG not by choice, it is because of the many other things they suck at.

The Space Cadet is a little overrated, but that's OK, he's the perfect running mate for Steph, the brother of splashes.

My SG list.

1. Harden
2. Butler
3. Beal
4. Wade
5. Klay
6. Middleton
7. Kobe
8. Derozan
9. Gordon
10. Korver
11. Monta

Edit - Forgot about Wade.

Don't sleep on Beal. That guy is seriously good. He's got a much better floor game than Klay with the outside shot to go with it. He also stays focused, unlike the Space Cadet who always looks like he's thinking about the best combination of doughnuts to go along with his banana milkshake during games.

You over rated Beal...and Wade aint Wade of 3 years ago. League Pass has shown me that Beal's game is below Klay's. Health, defense and 3 point shooting...not as good.