Ontario wrote:michaelm wrote:Ontario wrote:This is an absolute insult, Steph is number 1 far and away obviously someone has been hitting the bottle.... wait... what? It's not a question about shooting but actual basketball?
Ah, then yes Steph is ranked way too high, 25ish or so would be about right. Wilt at nine behind Duncan is silly Dwayne Wade and James Harden are both too high too. KD is at about the spot his talent should be but he himself has yet to live up to it.
So each of Durant and Curry is only successful because of the other and neither is all that great individually?. If GSW in 2017 in particular were an unfair team as many have argued, and were one of the greatest play-off teams as their record indicates then this was down to both players. Most other great teams have also had more than 1 great player.
Steph is the perfect guy in the perfect in the perfect system in the perfect era with the perfect coach all of those things are working together in a perfect storm to create a truly amazing career. But if you took Steph away from that additional synergy and dropped him in a gym some other time and place he wouldn't be the same guy, that's why it is silly to call him a better basketball player than Kobe Bryant for instance 14th on the list. If you are comparing "Careers" then maybe sure, but if you're comparing "Players" then Kobe just has way more tools and utility on both side of the ball.
As for Kev, he just doesn't want to work for it. Talent for miles but no perseverance.
BTW me calling them over-rated by 5-15 spots on a top 50 all time list is hardly "neither is all that great".
I specifically don’t rate him ahead or even with Kareem or Kobe at this time as I have said on this thread, and yes Kobe did have the ability to dominate on both sides of the ball although he wasn’t consistent in doing so defensively over his whole career.
I am not a great believer in deciding on the eventual rating of players while they are still playing with some exceptions such as Jordan, and Duncan who had done enough by the end of his career even though he was still playing. I don’t have much problem with Curry and Durant being rated 16 to 25 at this particular point in time if people want to rate them either.
My point was a point in logic, perhaps not Hakeem but most great players have played with other great players, even Jordan given I rate Pippen and to an extent Rodman very highly, and indeed Kobe himself won with either Shaq or Gasol. I don’t see why Curry playing with Durant or vice versa is different. Curry can also only operate under the circumstances prevailing during his career, and your assessment of how he would perform in other eras is pure speculation, and as usual you ignore his playmaking ability and facilitation of team-mates, which I don’t think Durant experienced overly at OKC and may similarly find not particularly prominent when he plays with Kyrie. I wish him well btw other than when he plays GSW, and one of the many unfortunate aspects relating to his injury is that he is unlikely to regain his full previous physical prowess to help him further prove his worth post GSW.