PistolPeteJR wrote:Spoiler:
I would really love to hear the case for Curry in the top-10 already, let alone ahead of Wilt of all people. Granted, I never watched Wilt live, but the consensus by players, fans, etc., young and old is that Wilt is top-10 at the very least, and I deduce this because of a ton of cited proof as well as the fact that I’ve never heard anyone mention Curry in the top-10 already, let alone put out any form of analysis arguing so.
For starters, you don’t think Wilt has five let alone more than five MVP-level seasons?
Curry gets best shooter and off-ball threat, fine.
Wilt played 15 seasons with averages of 30.1ppg on 54.7 TS% (the second half of his career he improved his efficiency as a scorer), 19.4rpg and 15.8apg, with tremendous defense as well. Blocks and steals weren’t even recorded for him, and it’s pretty clear that they’d be significant; at the very least, blocks.
I really don’t get it.
For starters, this isn't an apples to apples comparison. The argument(s) for Curry over Wilt are based on a couple of Pillars.
1) Greatest Off-Ball Player and Shooter ever
Curry is the greatest shooter ever, and frankly, it isn't remotely close. The greatest passer may be Magic but guys like Nash and even Bird could have arguments. The greatest scorer ever in most people's mind is Jordan but Durant, LeBron and Dirk [Even Curry] are right there with him. Name another category, someone or a handful of players are in contention for The Greatest X in Basketball History. Nobody is in the discussion against Curry in regards to what makes him great, and it is the fact that Curry is multiple standard deviations away from the next player in this regard that makes Curry unique and special in a way no other player in NBA History.
2) Offensive Gravity
What makes players like Curry and Dirk [I keep bringing up Dirk with this because it's a recent topic of study of mine] have, in my opinion, the greatest Offensive Gravity ever is the places on the court they operate and how they operate offensively. Neither is being forced to operate within 8-10 feet from the basket like Giannis and Shaq's Gravity. Neither of them {Curry and Dirk] need the ball in their hands all the time like Magic or LeBron [Though Dirk needs it more than Curry], which again, isn't a slight on LeBron or Magic, but it allows Curry to maintain his impact every single offensive possession. Curry's gravity is 100% resilient and there is not a single possible way to take it away or hedge against it. His Gravity would be the same whether he is with DeMar DeRozan or Ben Simmons or LeBron James or Insert your favorite player here. Even someone like Kyle Korver, primarily used with off-ball down-screens and pin-downs, playing next to Curry would result in Curry's impact shinning full force[As evident by Klay Thompson next to Curry].
To get into "All-NBA/MVP Seasons" and "Counting Stats"...well that's the problem with relying solely on statistics for GOAT ranking. If your argument is "Wilt has more MVP level seasons" than Curry then we don't need to watch games or films or really care at all what these players provide for a statistical profile or entertainment purposes. At this point, if this is your only analysis, then who is to say you or anyone else making a GOAT list know anything at all about basketball? What is stopping a childhood friend of mine who became a Bucks fan 2 weeks ago from making a GOAT list based on All-NBA seasons, MVP finishes and looking at Career per-game averages? These tools aren't necessarily bad or inferior, but someone with 20 years of basketball analysis and someone with 2 weeks of basketball analysis could come away with the same exact GOAT ranking list using these criteria, and while that isn't in any way incorrect or an inferior way of ranking players, it leaves a lot to be desired and doesn't exactly utilize everything we, as fans of a great sport, could be utilizing to form a ranking or perform a player analysis and comparison.
It makes sense you don't see the argument for Curry over Wilt because what you apparently value (Counting Statistics, Awards) don't favor Curry over Wilt. If that's your criteria, and there is nothing wrong with having that criteria [as stated above], then it isn't possible to have Curry over Wilt in any reality.