Was Steph Curry ever one of the 2 best players in the league.

[michaelm]

It's really hard to be top 3 player(let alone the best player) in the league and be at best par on the defensive side of the ball.

Why did he need to be better defensively ?.

[Da ThRONe]

It's really hard to be top 3 player(let alone the best player) in the league and be at best par on the defensive side of the ball.

Why did he need to be better defensively ?.

To be a top 3 player he does in my book. This is no insult to Steph or his overall greatness, but to be up there with Durant, Leonard, Prime LeBron he needs to be a plus defender.

[TravisScott55]

Can't be the 2nd best player if you are such a bad one on one defender

[Stalwart]

It amazes me how hard people work to deny Steph Currys greatness. The man had a top 10 all time peak. Higher than KD and arguably higher than Lebron.

I really think both Curry and Durant nurtured their own legacies by teaming up. Curry, despite being the centerpiece for a legit dynasty gets very little credit. He's treated almost as a support player now. And Durant gets very little credit for his rings and fmvps. But imagine of Steph came back on 2017 without Durant and avenged his loss to the Cavs and most likely nab the FMVP. That would have been HUGE for his legacy. Or imagine if Durant came back with the Thunder or some other team and pulled out a ring by himself.

But as it stands now I think neither of them really have a shot at top 10 all time specifically because they teamed up.

[michaelm]

It's really hard to be top 3 player(let alone the best player) in the league and be at best par on the defensive side of the ball.

Why did he need to be better defensively ?.

To be a top 3 player he does in my book. This is no insult to Steph or his overall greatness, but to be up there with Durant, Leonard, Prime LeBron he needs to be a plus defender.

As I have said a couple of times his teams have been elite defensively, including the closing lineups which usually include him. The truth is that as far as PGs go his defense is fine, not as good as CP3's, but better than a number of others, and he actually puts in a strong effort on defense which not all elite scorers do, which feeds into the whole team ethos as does his unselfishness on offense. I can't think of any player playing his position who would improve GSW in place of him, better defense or not, and it is his overall value which counts imo. I am not even arguing he is or has been the best player in the NBA, just that the defensive liability argument is spurious.

[PistolPeteJR]

It amazes me how hard people work to deny Steph Currys greatness. The man had a top 10 all time peak. Higher than KD and arguably higher than Lebron.

There is a tremendous amount of evidence on peaks. Curry has no argument over LeBron for highest peak.

[WarriorGM]

It amazes me how hard people work to deny Steph Currys greatness. The man had a top 10 all time peak. Higher than KD and arguably higher than Lebron.

There is a tremendous amount of evidence on peaks. Curry has no argument over LeBron for highest peak.

More like LeBron has no argument over Curry.

[Da ThRONe]

Why did he need to be better defensively ?.

To be a top 3 player he does in my book. This is no insult to Steph or his overall greatness, but to be up there with Durant, Leonard, Prime LeBron he needs to be a plus defender.

As I have said a couple of times his teams have been elite defensively, including the closing lineups which usually include him. The truth is that as far as PGs go his defense is fine, not as good as CP3's, but better than a number of others, and he actually puts in a strong effort on defense which not all elite scorers do, which feeds into the whole team ethos as does his unselfishness on offense. I can't think of any player playing his position who would improve GSW in place of him, better defense or not, and it is his overall value which counts imo. I am not even arguing he is or has been the best player in the NBA, just that the defensive liability argument is spurious.

Ok so we are in the same page if you are saying you aren't arguing for him being a top 2 player. Curry is great his offensive efficiency is amazing and you could definitely say he's been a top 2 offensive player several of his years as a player and offensive is far more important than defense. Curry has consistently been a top 5 player and top 10 the majority of his career. But when grading guys it's in more of a vacuum and defense tends to be the tie breaker among the NBA very best.

[Jables]

It amazes me how hard people work to deny Steph Currys greatness. The man had a top 10 all time peak. Higher than KD and arguably higher than Lebron.

There is a tremendous amount of evidence on peaks. Curry has no argument over LeBron for highest peak.

People would just lazily point at Miami because he started winning, if that's his peak because of efficiency then Curry has him well covered for a better peak, one purposefully kept his FG% high and cruised on a superteam and the other just didn't miss from 3, was still more efficient and was the first ever unanimous MVP. Whats LeBrons argument? The defense he wasn't playing?

[mademan]

Steph's the 2nd best player of this era. Great that the W's got a couple more titles, but man did Steph sacrifice his legacy with KD joining him. Steph still gets some respect, but KD was the majority opinion best player on those 2 title teams even tho all impact stats/measures point to Steph.

[PistolPeteJR]

It amazes me how hard people work to deny Steph Currys greatness. The man had a top 10 all time peak. Higher than KD and arguably higher than Lebron.

There is a tremendous amount of evidence on peaks. Curry has no argument over LeBron for highest peak.

More like LeBron has no argument over Curry.

[michaelm]

To be a top 3 player he does in my book. This is no insult to Steph or his overall greatness, but to be up there with Durant, Leonard, Prime LeBron he needs to be a plus defender.

As I have said a couple of times his teams have been elite defensively, including the closing lineups which usually include him. The truth is that as far as PGs go his defense is fine, not as good as CP3's, but better than a number of others, and he actually puts in a strong effort on defense which not all elite scorers do, which feeds into the whole team ethos as does his unselfishness on offense. I can't think of any player playing his position who would improve GSW in place of him, better defense or not, and it is his overall value which counts imo. I am not even arguing he is or has been the best player in the NBA, just that the defensive liability argument is spurious.

Ok so we are in the same page if you are saying you aren't arguing for him being a top 2 player. Curry is great his offensive efficiency is amazing and you could definitely say he's been a top 2 offensive player several of his years as a player and offensive is far more important than defense. Curry has consistently been a top 5 player and top 10 the majority of his career. But when grading guys it's in more of a vacuum and defense tends to be the tie breaker among the NBA very best.

I see no point arguing about the rankings of the top players, it is usually a matter of opinion apart from LeBron for most of his career obviously.

We do have a disconnect, and while I have been accused of being overly wedded to Aristotlean logic I just don’t see how the argument follows that Curry should be downgraded for his defense when his defense does not cause his teams to be weak defensively.

[Roger Murdock]

With the exception of last season, the only point since 2008 I felt LeBron wasn't the best player in basketball was 2016 when Steph was coooooooking

[Stalwart]

It amazes me how hard people work to deny Steph Currys greatness. The man had a top 10 all time peak. Higher than KD and arguably higher than Lebron.

There is a tremendous amount of evidence on peaks. Curry has no argument over LeBron for highest peak.

Led one of the most dominate teams in NBA history and revolutionized the sport. He absolutely has a case when you like at impact and value.

[Time for Change]

https://www.nba.com/warriors/news-blogs/curry-espy-award-20210710

https://fansided.com/2021/05/07/shaquille-oneal-stephen-curry-best-player/

Seriously though, there are good statistical arguments for Curry being a top 2 player several times.

In real plus minus he was #2 in 2014 and 2018, and #1 in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2021. Yeah it’s regular season but he also won 3 championships and went to 5 finals in those years.

That’s just one stat, but most advanced stats agree. There was an article a couple years ago polling about a dozen advanced stat blogs/websites and they unanimously picked Curry as the best player.

[_qubik]

He wasnt, isnt and never be better than KD or Lebron, for me its no

[WarriorGM]

It amazes me how hard people work to deny Steph Currys greatness. The man had a top 10 all time peak. Higher than KD and arguably higher than Lebron.

I really think both Curry and Durant nurtured their own legacies by teaming up. Curry, despite being the centerpiece for a legit dynasty gets very little credit. He's treated almost as a support player now. And Durant gets very little credit for his rings and fmvps. But imagine of Steph came back on 2017 without Durant and avenged his loss to the Cavs and most likely nab the FMVP. That would have been HUGE for his legacy. Or imagine if Durant came back with the Thunder or some other team and pulled out a ring by himself.

But as it stands now I think neither of them really have a shot at top 10 all time specifically because they teamed up.

Do you mean nurtured or neutered?

It is a sign of the complete ridiculousness of the situation that Steph and KD teaming up supposedly harms their reputations despite creating what is likely the greatest NBA team of all-time but nearly all the other greats that joined forces doesn't. They were so objectively successful they invoke their own special category.

[Stalwart]

It amazes me how hard people work to deny Steph Currys greatness. The man had a top 10 all time peak. Higher than KD and arguably higher than Lebron.

I really think both Curry and Durant nurtured their own legacies by teaming up. Curry, despite being the centerpiece for a legit dynasty gets very little credit. He's treated almost as a support player now. And Durant gets very little credit for his rings and fmvps. But imagine of Steph came back on 2017 without Durant and avenged his loss to the Cavs and most likely nab the FMVP. That would have been HUGE for his legacy. Or imagine if Durant came back with the Thunder or some other team and pulled out a ring by himself.

But as it stands now I think neither of them really have a shot at top 10 all time specifically because they teamed up.

Do you mean nurtured or neutered?

It is a sign of the complete ridiculousness of the situation that Steph and KD teaming up supposedly harms their reputations despite creating what is likely the greatest NBA team of all-time but nearly all the other greats that joined forces doesn't. They were so objectively successful they invoke their own special category.

Yes neutered, my bad. I don't think that puts them in their own category. Take Shaq & Kobe for example. If Kobe never won those titles without Shaq do you think he would have a shot at the top 10? If Shaq didn't have consistent success outside of Kobe do you think he would be definite top 10?

I don't think so. It was vital for Shaq and Kobe's individual legacies for them to win apart from each other. And its just as vital for Steph & KD to do the same.

[mademan]

It amazes me how hard people work to deny Steph Currys greatness. The man had a top 10 all time peak. Higher than KD and arguably higher than Lebron.

There is a tremendous amount of evidence on peaks. Curry has no argument over LeBron for highest peak.

Led one of the most dominate teams in NBA history and revolutionized the sport. He absolutely has a case when you like at impact and value.

only if peak is RS. I like Curry more than most and think he's been top 2 this generation, but his peak is clearly below Lebron's if only because his playoffs has never been as great as his RS (which is accurate for almost very player)

[Danny1616]

2016 Curry was probably the best seasonal performance I've witnessed from a basketball player.