Netaman wrote:What exactly has Kyrie done to prove he's not an empty stats player himself?
1) won a title as a top 2 player on his team, hitting the biggest shot of the series, beating a 73-win team
2) Lead a team to 55+ wins as its best player, and a top 2 seed in the conference
KAT has done neither. or come even close.
The question isn't whether he's got great ability or worth a max - he's a bonafide all star and he is worth a max. It's about where he ranks among the subset of max players who aren't in that top tier. That second tier is full of stat stuffers but with rare abilities that in the right team environment can be championship caliber. They are projections on the hope that they will take that step up to the elite tier in the right situation the way Harden and the Greek freak did.
he is a top 12 player. period. some years he has been top 8.
If this offseason was just add kyrie or don't add him, I'd imagine everyone would be thrilled to add him because he'd instantly be the best player on the team. But it's not. The question this offseason is similarly how to rank him in relation to the other max options available, as well as how much more value he'll produce over the next several years compared to DLo. I'm less bullish on him than you are. I see some shades of both Marbury + DWill.
Kyrie is clearly behind durant and kawhi. but thats the only 2 FA's he is behind. if you factor age then no one below him is even close. he is signifcantly better then Russell, who i love and want to stay.
