2nd best player in the nba

[queridiculo]

There's no way I can get myself to vote for Durant over Harden or Westbrook given the guys he's surrounded by.

Harden and Westbrook are shouldering the offense on a nightly basis and more often than not anything but a good to great outing bogs down their teams considerably.

Heck, I'd rate Durant even behind Leonard, to me it's Lebron first, followed by Harden, Westbrook and Leonard.

Durant was better than Westbrook every season they played together so if anything their current situations are inflating RW's value.

Durant has also proven to be an elite defender this season, he had RW and JH beat on that side of the ball too.

You can certainly make that argument, but I don't recall a situation where Durant ever carried the Thunder when Westbrook was out the way Westbrook pushed that team when Durant missed time.

Durant is a great, but you can make an argument that he isn't even the best player on his own team.

Remove Durant from that Warriors lineup and there isn't much of a drop off. Take those three other guys away and their teams fall of the cliff.

[ChilledAlex]

Durant or Kawhi imo... voted Kawhi because he is younger and on amazing contract.


And to hell y'all who voted Curry lol

[Chinook]

I think that you may be letting personal dislike of Houston or it's offensive system to taint your opinion. Houston has quality wins against the likes of San Antonio, Golden State, Toronto, etc. and the NBA hasn't exactly done them any favors with scheduling.

That's a random ad homenim. I never said Houston has had a comparatively easy schedule to everyone else this year. My point was that a number of teams in the West have exceeded expectations mainly because people expected the West to be more competitive than it has been. For SA, people expected them to fall back to the pack, but the pack has fallen back on its own.

Anyway, Houston's win against the Spurs was as quality as the Spurs' win last night against the Raptors.

[The_Hater]

Isn't the west still stronger than the east? That doesn't seem like the right theory.

Even then it should also be noted that most of the league's top defenses reside in the west.

The West is stronger than the East at the top, but it's a lot weaker than it should be, so teams who aren't horrible are sticking out. When it comes to playing other decent to good teams, Houston is mediocre and OKC is below .500. They both feasting on worse competition.

As I have said before, my perception of them will change if they perform in the playoffs. If Russ can beat a team without HCA, then I'll believe in him. As it is, I expect OKC to lose really badly. If Houston can get into the WCF and give GS or SA a series, I'll feel better about Harden. As of now, I think they'll struggle in the first two rounds and be completely outclassed if they make it to a third.

The west is 27 games above 500 vs the east this season. Any argument about playing against a weak conference seems off point.

[Side beard]

Rn Harden is my MVP. So he has to be 2nd behind Bron.

[Chinook]

Isn't the west still stronger than the east? That doesn't seem like the right theory.

Even then it should also be noted that most of the league's top defenses reside in the west.

The West is stronger than the East at the top, but it's a lot weaker than it should be, so teams who aren't horrible are sticking out. When it comes to playing other decent to good teams, Houston is mediocre and OKC is below .500. They both feasting on worse competition.

As I have said before, my perception of them will change if they perform in the playoffs. If Russ can beat a team without HCA, then I'll believe in him. As it is, I expect OKC to lose really badly. If Houston can get into the WCF and give GS or SA a series, I'll feel better about Harden. As of now, I think they'll struggle in the first two rounds and be completely outclassed if they make it to a third.

The west is 27 games above 500 vs the east this season. Any argument about playing against a weak conference seems off point.

Why do you keep pushing West versus East? That's not the point of what I'm saying at all. The middle and bottom of the West is much worse than people were predicting. Actually, it's possible the NBA at large is worse, but that's its own thing. Teams that people thought were going to push the Spurs, Thunder and Rocket down the standings have fallen off due to injury (LAC, Utah) or just bad performance (Minny, Portland). More than the first group exceeding expectations, the latter group has failed to each theirs.

[RaptorsLife]

I love Westbrook but he is gonna shatter the usg rate record by 6%. He is so much freedom to do whatever he wants

[The_Hater]

The West is stronger than the East at the top, but it's a lot weaker than it should be, so teams who aren't horrible are sticking out. When it comes to playing other decent to good teams, Houston is mediocre and OKC is below .500. They both feasting on worse competition.

As I have said before, my perception of them will change if they perform in the playoffs. If Russ can beat a team without HCA, then I'll believe in him. As it is, I expect OKC to lose really badly. If Houston can get into the WCF and give GS or SA a series, I'll feel better about Harden. As of now, I think they'll struggle in the first two rounds and be completely outclassed if they make it to a third.

The west is 27 games above 500 vs the east this season. Any argument about playing against a weak conference seems off point.

Why do you keep pushing West versus East? That's not the point of what I'm saying at all. The middle and bottom of the West is much worse than people were predicting. Actually, it's possible the NBA at large is worse, but that's its own thing. Teams that people thought were going to push the Spurs, Thunder and Rocket down the standings have fallen off due to injury (LAC, Utah) or just bad performance (Minny, Portland). More than the first group exceeding expectations, the latter group has failed to each theirs.

You brought up the point that they're feeding off WC that is 'much much worse' than it should be. I think that's a poor argument and showed why.

[The_Hater]

On top of everything else, Houston has played the league's most difficult schedule. OKC 5th most difficult.

[Chinook]

You brought up the point that they're feeding off WC that is 'much much worse' than it should be. I think that's a poor argument and showed why.

But that's not even a slightly good rebuttal. Who cares if the East is worse? We're not comparing teams from different conferences.

Plus I never even said that they were winning off the bad West. I made two different arguments:

a) They look so good because the West is worse than it should be (meaning worse that the preseason predictions expected)

and

b) They are both not very good against teams at or over .500

The joint conclusion from me is that both teams are mediocre to slightly above-average teams (in compared to teams in their positions from recent seasons) that are taking advantage of the relative vacuum of competition for seeding.

[Saciid11]

I used to think Durant was the second best player, but after the playoffs and this season..I really think Westbrook is the second best player in the league ..

[mihail_petkov]

Also Spurs are better with Kawhi off than on overall.

You may have just been responsible for the most laughable comment in RealGM history.

If facts and real stats are "laughabale" - ok, I can't argue

[Saints14]

Curry is less than a year removed from winning the first unanimous MVP and is the reigning back-to-back MVP. He pretty unanimously took the best player crown from LeBron last year up until the finals, where IMO he was not at 100%. He's not having a better season than Westbrook or Harden but he's earned the benefit of the doubt for the past few years to at least be considered the 2nd best player.

[10DayContract]

This is a trick question for me. The best player I've seen play basketball this year has been Kevin Durant.

[DROB27]

Kawhi is the most overrated player in NBA for me.

Spurs without him:
2015-2016: 7-3
2016-2017: 4-0

Spurs opponents with Leonard: 108.0 ORTG
Spurs opponents without Leonard: 97.3 ORTG

Also Spurs are better with Kawhi off than on overall.

Kawhi is good, he is the perfect second option, but if you have him as a main guy you will never win a championship. He is blessed to have the GOAT coach. Spurs are good because Popovich.

Now post the records of those teams they beat without Kawhi I'll wait

[turk3d]

For those not aware, Durant's been playing great defense this year and is one of the Warriors top defenders, defending not only SFs and PFs, but Centers and Guards as well on switches at times. Don't go by previous years, you need to look at what he's doing this year and how he now sports an all around game. With Curry,

Playing next to Curry, Thompson and Green (along with Iguodala and Livingston off the bench), he no longer has to exert as much energy on offense (not like he did in OKC) where he was the focal point on scoring (along with Westbrook) thus being able to focus much more of his effort on defense on this Warriors team.

And with the Warriors offensive passing oriented style of play he doesn't need to take as many shots as in the past and yet still scores at a very high rate, with much better efficiency however. Also, he's much better defensively using the Warriors defensive switching scheme, He's much more effective in that he's capable of guarding every position on the court, which he's much better suited for rather than a strictly man-to-man scheme.

[Left*My*Heart]

I will say Durant. He went to a loaded Warriors team and has shown just how good he is. I think he has improved his all around game and is a mismatch against virtually everyone.

I love what Harden and Westbrook are doing, but I would take Leonard at #3.

[hongdayuan]

ppl need to watch how kd plays defence this season before using two way impact to judge players, that being said I'd vote kd. Efficient ever on the offensive side and accepting and excel a new role on the defensive end.

[PeptoKlepto]

Durant or Kawhi imo... voted Kawhi because he is younger and on amazing contract.


And to hell y'all who voted Curry lol

Don't let the dip in production fool you, Curry is still a top 2 player in the NBA.

[Bergmaniac]

Durant for me, though it's close, there are lot of great players currently in the league.