Without knowing the rest of the roster, which PG would you pick first: Magic or Curry?

[DCasey91]

People overrate the heck out of modern players.

Magic is getting a big usage uptick and better shooting around him, more space and more dividend from his BEST attribute passing.

It’s literally Magic + shooters, same thing as Lebron + shooters. Not hard to imagine at all.

I mean actually put the two side by side over the 11 year span. It’s Magic always

[HEAT33]

Magic. Can play any position in today’s game.
His passing game is just too beautiful to pass up on

[DCasey91]

It’s an easy exercise folks:

All star and a rim big that can shoot and roleplayers.

Magic
Ball
Ingram
Barnes
Turner

Championship contention from very very early on. Or slide him to 4 spot and play with a highly dominate guard there’s plenty around today. Easy

What’s that? Versatility

[EArl]

The person that makes everyone on the team better. Magic

[EArl]

Magic and not close. Far better in the playoffs.

Magic's post game with modern spacing would average 15 apg and break all kinds of offensive records. Can you imagine Magic in a 5 out offense? He'd find everyone and he was an automatic scorer in the post best post game ever for a "guard"

He would be less of a liability on the defensive end compared to Steph. He could probably guard most 1-5 in the modern era.

[EArl]

Curry is the better pg and shooter. Magic is the better player. If they both were in the same draft, I would draft Magic first. But if I had them both on the same team, I would play Curry at pg and put Magic back at pf.

How in the world is Curry a better PG than Magic? Magic is like definition of a playmaker. Curry is basically a short 2.

[GSP]

Magic and not close. Far better in the playoffs.

Magic's post game with modern spacing would average 15 apg and break all kinds of offensive records. Can you imagine Magic in a 5 out offense? He'd find everyone and he was an automatic scorer in the post best post game ever for a "guard"

He would be less of a liability on the defensive end compared to Steph. He could probably guard most 1-5 in the modern era.

Magic was def a better defender than Steph which isnt saying much but Magic couldnt guard 1s or 2s back then. Hes certainly not guarding them now with no handchecking and how perimeter friendly it is now. Most 1s and 2s can drive and score off the dribble now too. He can guard 3-5 tho obviously not post 5s like Jokic, Embiid, Jonas, Giannis etc.

[TheGOATWill]

First instinct: Magic. Always take the bigger player (unless it's the 84 draft Portland).
After a little thought: Magic. I read on wikipedia once that the 87 season featured 21 hall of famers. When the bar was a lot higher. Magic walked through them. There's not a lot of things scarier than Curry coming off a high ball screen. But one of them is Magic leading the break.
Fun fact. The 87 Lakers averaged 118 ppg on 5.5 3s per. A Magic Johnson team might average 130 on todays 3 volume.

[Pennebaker]

I can't imagine Magic playing today - he'd get killed on social media for not being able to shoot and not playing defense.

We would see threads titled "Who's better: Ben Simmons or Magic Johnson?" And the answer from the public might be Ben Simmons because while they both can't shoot, at least Simmons plays defense.

[DCasey91]

I can't imagine Magic playing today - he'd get killed on social media for not being able to shoot and not playing defense.

We would see threads titled "Who's better: Ben Simmons or Magic Johnson?" And the answer from the public might be Ben Simmons because while they both can't shoot, at least Simmons plays defense.

How old are you? Magic and Lebron is basically the same level of shooter we are talking about here. Magic has a 85% career FT rate ffs.

Magic’s rookie year was already better then Ben will ever be.

Magic would score 20-30 a night in this bugs bunny league and dish out 10-15 assists like clockwork.

[WarriorGM]

Curry is the better pg and shooter. Magic is the better player. If they both were in the same draft, I would draft Magic first. But if I had them both on the same team, I would play Curry at pg and put Magic back at pf.

How in the world is Curry a better PG than Magic? Magic is like definition of a playmaker. Curry is basically a short 2.

Magic cannot create plays as a decoy the way Curry can.

[JN61]

People overrate the heck out of modern players.

Magic is getting a big usage uptick and better shooting around him, more space and more dividend from his BEST attribute passing.

It’s literally Magic + shooters, same thing as Lebron + shooters. Not hard to imagine at all.

I mean actually put the two side by side over the 11 year span. It’s Magic always

Except Magic is literally heads and shoulders above LeBron as a passer and creator. Him utilizing modern offenses would be a thing of beauty.

[JN61]

I can't imagine Magic playing today - he'd get killed on social media for not being able to shoot and not playing defense.

We would see threads titled "Who's better: Ben Simmons or Magic Johnson?" And the answer from the public might be Ben Simmons because while they both can't shoot, at least Simmons plays defense.

How old are you? Magic and Lebron is basically the same level of shooter we are talking about here. Magic has a 85% career FT rate ffs.

Magic’s rookie year was already better then Ben will ever be.

Magic would score 20-30 a night in this bugs bunny league and dish out 10-15 assists like clockwork.

Westbrook basically finished the season with 14.5 assist per game rate this year with 0 spacing around him. Give Magic spacing and he averages 15 every year with 22-25ppg. With 8-11 rebounds per season.

[70sFan]

how is Magic a more versatile player than Steph?

Because he doesn't need to have a secondary ball handler and distributor next to him.

In order to unleash Curry's off-ball legendary skills, you need to take the ball off his hands and give it to someone else. Otherwise, you end up in a Mark Jackson type offense, minimizing his impact and relying on Curry's brilliance instead of a system that puts him in a position to succeed.

Magic doesn't need that. He would be pretty much ideal for nowaday's heliocentric offense style. If Doncic is capable of doing what he does, Magic wouldn't have a problem at all. He is more versatile than one of the most versatile superstars ever -Curry- because he is the whole system.

Of course, that doesn't mean Magic wouldn't benefit from having a secondary ball handler. He would. But he wouldn't need it to succeed. Curry does.

It all comes down to this:

- Curry needs a good distributor and floor general.
- Magic needs shooters and scorers.

In this current NBA landscape, I think there are more (and better on average) options for shooters than for ball handlers. Pretty much every role player is required to shoot, that doesn't happen with floor general skills.

I really respect Curry a lot, and I've stated many times that Curry is the most valuable player on the planet right now until further notice. But Magic is probably the only player who can claim to be even more portable than him. Maybe Dirk too, I don't know.

This is so wrong. Curry is an elite scorer in iso and he can run a heliocentric offensive with talent and everyone sucks if their team sucks around them enough. The thing is the topic is VERSATILE!

To be the optimal versatile guy you have to be able to switch seamlessly between being a play maker AND a spacer. Those are really the two roles in the nba today. Curry can do both at an all nba level. I'm not so sure Magic can be a spacer that seamlessly. But even if he can, can he ALSO become the guy who also can make the cuts and move off ball as needed? He was NEVER that...

He did that a lot when he was younger andplayed next to Norm Nixon. Magic was very smart off-ball player.

[trickshot]

Magic, especially if you don't have the luxury of knowing how the roster will be filled out. I know there's this infatuation with ceiling raising but there's still no offensive replacement for being good with the ball. Magic and 4 shooters will be showtime Lakers all over.

[70sFan]

I can't imagine Magic playing today - he'd get killed on social media for not being able to shoot and not playing defense.

We would see threads titled "Who's better: Ben Simmons or Magic Johnson?" And the answer from the public might be Ben Simmons because while they both can't shoot, at least Simmons plays defense.

If you compare Magic to Simmons in terms of shooting, then you can as well compare LeBron to Tony Allen in terms of scoring. Such a dumb take...

[70sFan]

Curry is the better pg and shooter. Magic is the better player. If they both were in the same draft, I would draft Magic first. But if I had them both on the same team, I would play Curry at pg and put Magic back at pf.

How in the world is Curry a better PG than Magic? Magic is like definition of a playmaker. Curry is basically a short 2.

Magic cannot create plays as a decoy the way Curry can.

Sure, he can do it his own way - which is likely more effective in the end.

[JN61]

Curry is the clear choice in todays game. You almost take Curry over anyone not named MJ or Jordan the way the game is played today. People undervalue his impact on the way the game is played. If I wanted anyone playing with LBJ in todays game for example it would be Curry over MJ, Kobe etc etc etc.

He is also more portable in todays game.

If we are talking about the 80s then Magic wins out, again it's not a fair comparison when both were the best PG's in two completely different eras and gamestyles.

No he is not... Curry has missed playoffs twice in a row now... He can't carry teams and only reason he has more championships than one is because of Durant.

[trickshot]

Curry is the better pg and shooter. Magic is the better player. If they both were in the same draft, I would draft Magic first. But if I had them both on the same team, I would play Curry at pg and put Magic back at pf.

How in the world is Curry a better PG than Magic? Magic is like definition of a playmaker. Curry is basically a short 2.

Magic cannot create plays as a decoy the way Curry can.

Those decoy plays still require another high level passer to make plays, a luxury few teams can have. In this particular scenario you go for the guy that brings the actual skill to the table. Remember you don't know the rest of the roster. No shade to curry as there are also specific setups he'd be the better fit imo.

[CodeBreaker]

Curry is the clear choice in todays game. You almost take Curry over anyone not named MJ or Jordan the way the game is played today. People undervalue his impact on the way the game is played. If I wanted anyone playing with LBJ in todays game for example it would be Curry over MJ, Kobe etc etc etc.

He is also more portable in todays game.

If we are talking about the 80s then Magic wins out, again it's not a fair comparison when both were the best PG's in two completely different eras and gamestyles.

No he is not... Curry has missed playoffs twice in a row now... He can't carry teams and only reason he has more championships than one is because of Durant.

and the only reason Durant experienced winning is because of Curry