Do you Agree? - Bomani Jones implies Steph Curry no superstar, 'best system player' ever

Which would make sense even if he was a net positive defender but a much less effective 1-on-1 defender compared to his teammates who, as you note, are "great defenders".

 

LeBron (we've actually seen him get to the Finals and get to Game 6 against an elite team with not one player as good as either of these guys alongside him), Harden, Kawhi, Greek Freak, Westbrook and Durant. Put any of those guys on the Warriors as is and they are in the playoffs, and not expected to suck. Cuz they are all floor raisers, which apparently does not fit into your definition of a superstar.

Historically speaking, ESPN currently had Curry ranked right behind Dream at 13:

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29105801/ranking-top-74-nba-players-all-nos-10-1

Curry is one of the few players even in the top 40 that couldn't be ok with Green and Russell as his 2nd/3rd best players. Feel free to look at some of the teams these guys played on. I mean, it's not like we don't have an example right here in Dream and some of the teammates he had. But continue to try to downplay his talent or only credit Curry for their abilities. I'm just not going to spend another 40 posts going back-n-forth about it, rehashing the same points.

 

His argument was:

The 2016 NBA Finals says false, and we might have won using the same strategy if CP3 didn't get hurt. All this runaround to refuse to acknowledge that Curry is bad defensively. But again, when you are arguing that the likes of Klay and Green wouldn't still be great elsewhere....

 

It's not about how "good" Green and Russell are. It's about how their skillsets mesh with the superstar on the team.

You just listed a bunch of ball-dominant superstars who aren't catch and shoot players (and some of those superstars aren't even good perimeter shooters). So how would they mesh with Draymond Green, a guy who can pass but can't shoot? If Green has the ball, defenses would simply sag off him and make things more difficult for Green's teammates. It doesn't make sense.

How would you compare JR Smith to D'Angelo Russell? Same tier?

 

You pointed out this play:



Do you honestly think this was bad defense? To me, it looks like good defense beaten by better offense.

 

The Warriors that you are trying to dismiss have skillsets that can mesh with all the players I listed.

The Warriors that you are trying to dismiss have skillsets that can work playing alongside ball-dominant players that aren't elite perimeter shooters. What about Howard and Josh Smith? Harden got to the WCF's with them.

Can Otis Thorpe shoot? Dream won a title with him. See above for Harden example with non shooting bigs. What shooters has Westbrook had the last few seasons while getting teams to the playoffs? Can Rodman shoot? Robinson got to the WCF's with him. Didn't the Bulls 3-peat with that non shooting guy too?

One is a proven 20 ppg scorer in this league and one is not. One is a max player in this league and one is not.

That was not bad defense on that play, similar to when Kevin Love (bad defender) played decent D on Curry prior to that. Both are bad defenders that the other team schemed to attack. The impact of PG defense is not overrated. The Cavs gameplan focused on targeting the PG. It worked. They won a title. That point was laughable. We get it, you think Curry can defend and that it doesn't matter even if he can't. No need to continue going around in circles about it.

 

I don't agree, but we will never know since he played with 4 former, current or future all-nba players on that team with Draymond, Thompson, Bogut, and Iggy.

 

No, they really don't. I've explained why I believe this. Can you explain your position?

I think you meant to say "Harden got to the WCF's because of them."

Howard could catch lobs which made him a threat inside 3 feet. Draymond Green can't.

Josh Smith was clearly past his prime with us which is why he came off the bench.

Regarding Thorpe, Rodman, and the Bulls, that was in the "illegal defense" era so it's irrelevant.

Westbrook's Thunder teams had plenty of scoring talent (Paul George, Schroder, Jerami Grant).

You're kidding, right?

D.Russell averaged 21 ppg on 19 FGA (53.3% TS) and 2.5 FTA (78%).

JR Smith averaged 18 ppg on 15.6 FGA (52.2% TS) and 3.9 FTA (76.2%).

If you can't agree that they're in the same tier, then you're arguing in bad faith.

It is. That's why we continued to build around Harden even though he was terrible at defense....because we could compensate for it. And when we tried to exploit Curry, the GSW utilized a pre-switching defense when killed our shot clock.

What you're failing to properly consider is that Lebron James is a top 2 GOAT. If your point is only made by referencing the #2 GOAT, do you think it's really a strong point?

In any case, you really haven't come close to proving anything. Your logic (that if teams target him, he must be a weak defender) is illogical. You haven't provided any stats. The only video clip you provided actually showed GOOD defense. So what? We're supposed to just take your word for it?

And if you want to get technical, Curry sprained his MCL in the playoffs that year. Don't you think that hampered his lateral movement?