Re: Who would you take?
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 5:20 pm
AbeVigodaLive wrote:Camden wrote:Q12543 wrote:Camden wrote:1. LeBron James. There is no other player on this planet that can turn a team into a title contender by himself. Everyone else needs help just to even get there. This is why the guy's still the real MVP despite the fantastic season Curry is having.
2. Karl-Anthony Towns and it's a long distance between him and my next selection. A guy that can do what he can at age 20 is absurd. He's already walking in the footpaths of some of the greatest bigs to ever play in this league (Shaq, Hakeem, David, Chris).
I'd agree with you on #1 if it were two or three years ago, but not now. If we are talking about THIS season, I'd pick Curry. He is having a season for the ages and his ability to hit shots from literally anywhere on the court opens up gobs and gobs of space for others.
Hard to argue #2. It's hard to think of another player that comes close in terms of current production + future runway. Anthony Davis would have been my pick a year ago, but KAT's rookie year is just that good.
That's your prerogative, and it honestly doesn't surprise me that you (you LOVE space and pace) chose Curry, but I'll go with legendary greatness on this one. There's a reason why people merely overlook his 25/7/7 a night. It's because it's expected from him and it's what we've seen for a decade-plus. You (general term) see the stat line from him nightly and go, "Oh, LeBron had another LeBron game. Okay."
Curry's the best scorer in the league today. I think that statement is true this year, though Durant has an argument of his own, but Curry works best on the Warriors because he's surrounded by perfect compliments. They have four above average defenders around him at all times, they have three shooters around him at all times and they have competent leadership that put it all together. If you swap LeBron and Curry on each other's teams last year in the Finals when LeBron had nobody relevant beside him because of injuries, you can't honestly tell me that Curry makes that series competitive like LeBron did. And you might think differently, but I think that would be unfair to the greatest small forward in league history whenever he retires, no disrespect to Larry Bird (huge Bird fan).
One minor "chicken and egg" discussion point... how much are those shooters responsible for Curry's effectiveness and how much are they effective because of Curry?
For example, I get Klay Thompson. He's a fabulous shooter. One of the very best. But is Green really a great shooter? Barnes? Iguodala? Barbosa? Livingston? Et al.
Heck, in a super small sample size, we saw how that court sure seemed to shrink last night, as even Klay Thompson struggled in an 8 - 29 fg game. Personally, I think the gravitational pull of Curry dictates everything else on that team. That being said, I don't dispute your basic LeBron James premise. I don't care for the guy... but his impact on the game is undeniable... and even taken for granted.
Yes, James is still great and I wouldn't push back hard against that answer. I just look at the ungodly On/Off ratings with Curry and it's just ridiculous. It's not like James is playing with a bunch of schmucks either.