Kawhi has become overrated

[triple_threat]

All i hear is dynasty stopper, best player in the league, carries teams to championships, and people trying to place really him really high up on all time lists (or say that he is on track to surpass certain players).

IMO, he is overrated. I know the pros, but some of the following are "cons" (in quotes because they are not necessarily bad things, but things that make him overrated)

1. raw career averages of only 17.7 / 6.3 / 2.4

2. myth - he stopped the miami heat dynasty - raw stats were right around his unimpressive career averages. obviously his defense doesn't always show up on the stat seat, but that victory was a total team effort. it is no more impressive than iggy's final's MVP - in fact, it is starkingly similar. one of the least impressive finals MVPs of all time.

3. myth - he stopped the gsw dynasty and carried the sorry raptors to a championship- he was obviously the clear cut best player on a championship team, but he did not carry a poor supporting cast nor can it be said (at least with a straight face) that he stopped the gsw dynasty. The raptors supporting cast is criminally underrated when Kawhi is talked about. Lowry - all-star, Siakim all-star level, Vanvleet - unsung hero, amazing team defence, etc, 18 - 4 regular season record without him. GSW's injuries stopped their dynasty IMO.

4. playmaking - among any conversation of all time great wings, his playmaking ability/court vision is relatively horrendous.

In spite of the all time great defence, with those unimpressive stats, inferior playmaking ability, and the fact (IMO) that he is not a dynasty stopper, going forward, please refrain from including him in any conversation with the likes of kobe bryant, lebron james, michael jordan, dwayne wade, larry bird, etc. He is more like scottie pippen than those guys (and that isn't supposed to be a knock).

Still only age 28, he has a lot of time to prove me wrong, but i doubt he will.

[RoyceDa59]

Why would you look at career averages? So odd when he's clearly a 27/8/4 guy now. Weird.

He just averaged 30/8/4 shooting 50/40/85 and won the title.

But I do agree, he's become slightly overrated, as I still put James & Durant ahead of him.

[XxIronChainzxX]

The career average point doesn't matter. It took him a while to grow into his dominating role but there is no real debate he's a top 3 guy in his prime. The issue is his prime is short: his health is the issue. It's why he wasn't an MVP candidate last season despite being arguably the best player in the post season.

Kawhi's health IMO is also why his defense has fallen off.

[mickie]

How is the guy who everyone was crucifying last year..overrated?

this dude proved he's the real deal. doesn't care about regular season stuff. if he's overrated then what do you call Harden, Westbrook, Dame, Curry?

[mickie]

Why would you look at career averages? So odd when he's clearly a 27/8/4 guy now. Weird.

He just averaged 30/8/4 shooting 50/40/85 and won the title.

But I do agree, he's become slightly overrated, as I still put James & Durant ahead of him.

is that after he left for the Clippers.. c'mon bruh.

[Lunartic]

Players that elevate their game in the postseason are rare

Leonard is firmly top-3 in the NBA and it's not obvious to me that any other player could have taken that Raps team as far as they went this past year.

[AJ_Joseph]

I agree. Golden State was missing like 2.5 all stars and Kawhi barely beat them. Kawhi also had all stars like Lowry and Gasol, and even Siakam to an extent.

He ain’t LeBron.

[VancouverRaps]

The dude is legitimately a top 3 player in the league, how is that overrated? It's not people are calling him a top 5 player of all time.

[triple_threat]

Why would you look at career averages? So odd when he's clearly a 27/8/4 guy now. Weird.

He just averaged 30/8/4 shooting 50/40/85 and won the title.

But I do agree, he's become slightly overrated, as I still put James & Durant ahead of him.

mainly because its a high standard in all time great convos, obviosuly not a factor in a current status convo.

in all fairness, he played less mpg early on, so on a per minute basis his career stats are better.

[Yuri Vaultin]

He is not over rated at all. Just don't count on him being healthy a full season. Dude's healing powers are the antithesis of Wolverine's.

[Michael Jordan]

Man so many garbage threads by people who didn't watch the playoffs

[triple_threat]

How is the guy who everyone was crucifying last year..overrated?

this dude proved he's the real deal. doesn't care about regular season stuff. if he's overrated then what do you call Harden, Westbrook, Dame, Curry?

all 4 of those guys are overrated lol (Curry being the least overrated, or maybe not at all because the hype seems to have cooled down), but that is another conversatoin.

i mean yah he was crucified last year, but the viewpoint has changed, but his changd too extremely IMO.

[LightTheBeam]

Id like to talk about how Kobe Bryant is overrated. In his first 6 years he averaged under 19ppg -

Sincerely - old man yelling at a cloud

[iamworthy]

I won't say overrated, but I will say we would be having a different conversion of the warriors were healthy and demolished the raptors in 5

[PistolPeteJR]

He’s slightly overrated because of 1) health, and 2) this thing that he’s a dynasty slayer.

#1 is obvious, and as for #2, let’s be real: if GS had KD, we’re not winning this chip.

People need to stop twisting narratives in favour of their poor arguments.

[triple_threat]

Man so many garbage threads by people who didn't watch the playoffs

we have to go allllll the way back to 2018 to see a better playoff performance (Lebron)... did you watch that year? Lebron gets hurt, the tune changes lol. Kawhi hurt the year before, he probably wasn't even a top 5 player lol. People go from one extreme to the other in an instant.

Coming into next season, with both guys healthy Lebron is easily better than Kawhi. Durant is injured, but when healthy he is always better than kawhi (go back to the OKC spurs matchups). Kawhi is not better than Anthony Davis IMO , but just landed in better circumstances IMO.

[Courtside]

He's not overrated. He's clearly a very gifted player and certainly in the top5 range, he's just been really lucky with the situations that he has found himself in.

1) Gets drafted to Spurs: One of the GOAT teams and already title contenders. Less pressure to develop, eases into bigger role as the team keeps winning. Makes the Finals twice. Wins a title. Earns MVP.

2) Gets traded to Raptors: Been a good team for 5 years and steps into a situation ready made to repair his rep, his leg, and make a Finals run. Gets healthy. Wins a title. Earns MVP.

3) Becomes a top option FA in the biggest money summer ever. Biggest markets with biggest money competing for him. Works the FA market to go to his home city with another star he handpicked from another team.

I mean... you only benefit from luck if you first work hard and put yourself in the situation to benefit from the opportunities you created. I am not in any way saying that his career is flukey or he's not deserving. He worked for every one of those things to happen to him, so he's earned his good luck, but it's these scenarios that maybe cause people to think he's become overrated where other players had more difficult paths or had to toil on worse teams that didn't offer the elevated opportunities that he got.

[RocketsPacers]

Overrated in the sense that people think he's better than lebron lol. His great defense make up for his playmaking deficiency.

[Strepbacter]

Overrated in the sense that people think he's better than lebron lol. His great defense make up for his playmaking deficiency.

Well he was easily better than LBJ in 2019. That's not even arguable.

[AdagioPace]

Lakers fans (and Raptors fans too a bit) have become more unsufferable about Kawhi than Spurs fans will be next season. I find it funny.