Klay Thompson: I'm the best shooting guard in the NBA

40 minutes of guarding WB and he still have energy! How is that possible??

I thought you had to rest on the defensive end or it will effect your offense???

Who has the energy to move their feet when you're running around for 40 minutes!!

 

Better passer, by a slight margin.

James Harden has a career assist to turnover ratio of 1.63.

Klay Thompson has a career assist to turnover ratio of 1.30

Both of them are not bad for a SG who doesn't handle the ball that much.

Meanwhile Clyde Drexler had a stellar 2.06 assist to turnover ratio

And Michael Jordan was at 1.93 assists to turnovers.

So, while Harden is a slightly better passer, neither he or Thompson are all that great at creating in comparison to other SGs, and arguably Harden should be compared to PGs, and he SUCKS at passing compared to them.

Harden has a worse assist to turnover ratio than Jeremy Lin's 1.86, in fact, Lin is a better passer than Harden.

So, I don't buy the Narrative that Harden is a great passer, that is just wrong.

DD

 

I don't think he should be penalized, necessarily, but he would have to show that he can have as much of an impact playing off-the ball. I don't think he's shown that.

But he's defensive value makes up a lot.

 

Portland defense is *****, Harden averaged otherworldly 39.5 PPG (47.3 FG%, 36.6 3P%) 7.5 RPG 8.3 APG against Portland this year. Klay's efficiency dropped significantly when he was faced with OKC's legit defense, even with yesterday's performance, Klay is shooting below 40% (38.7% to be exact) in this series.

 

LMAO, you think all of Harden's TOs come from passing? Harden is our main scorer as well as primary play-maker. He's playing a dual role as a SG and PG, which means a lot of our offensive possessions go through his hands. Harden's turnover % (turnovers committed per 100 possessions) is 15.9%, which is less than Westbrook, Rajon Rondo and John Wall. Do you also consider them to be marginally better passers than Klay?

 

I don't think Harden is a great passer, nor do I think Klay is a great passer, you were the one making that assumption.

Harden is a risky passer, but he is far from great, or even good, IMHO.

DD

 

I think Harden's a good passer. Very talented in that area. It's his carelessness that holds him back. That'll have to improve.

 

I'm just saying pointing to TOs to discredit Harden's passing ability is ridiculous when he's our main scorer as well as creator, no other SGs or PGs in this league plays that role. Even Curry has Draymond Green, and other "pure' PGs don't have Harden's scoring burden. Harden doesn't commit that much TOs relative to possessions he's getting, and is far superior passer than Klay, this isn't even debatable.

 

Turnovers committed per 100 possessions

Harden : 15.9

Rondo : 24.7

John Wall : 17.5

Westbrook : 16.8

I guess WB, Wall and Rondo our inferior passers than Harden.

 

All of those guys have far better assist ratios.

I'd also like to see that data on live ball turnovers, wouldnt be suprised to see Harden leading there

 

And all of those guys doesn't score as much as Harden. Harden has to choose between scoring for himself and passing in every possession, other than WB, those guys are pretty much pass first PGs because they don't have that scoring burden. If Harden was to play pure PG role, I'm sure his assists numbers would go up and PPG decrease.

 

The point is he's not as good a passer as them, so you cant just forgive the turnovers. We know he's a better scorer

 

That's true and there's nothing wrong with that since he's not a PG. And you can forgive his TOs to certain extent if you take into account the sheer number of possessions he's getting. Efficiency is all about how you perform per possession, not per game. If you commit just 1 TO per game but you only get 3 possession per average, you are still a terribly turnover prone player.

 

Why do people assume that you have to be a ball dominating offensive guy in order to be a franchise player?

 

The funny thing is the majority of Harden's TO's this season were from "lost balls" according to BBall reference, he actually made less "bad passes" this year. That's the result of being forced to isolate as entire teams do.

 

Again, the point was Thompson can't create his own shot, which to me is a prerequisite to be considered the best in the league at the most important offensive position in the game.

Perhaps, we have been spoiled by the greatness of Jordan, Kobe, and even Wade to an extent at the shooting guard position since the 90s. But that has become the definition of the top shooting guard in the league - the ability to score at will, against any defense, with little to no help.

It's the visual test that Thompson doesn't pass. You may call it ISO ball, one-on-one, or whatever, but that is where the great ones have left their mark. Curry is that guy for the Warriors and not Thompson.

 

Can create his own shot =/= being ball dominant.

Ray Allen could create his own shot without being ball dominant, Klay can not.

And why do you assume Harden has to be ball-dominant? He was majorly effective in OKC while sharing the ball with Durant and WB. And it's not like Harden plays this way despite we have several superstars on this team. The arrow of causation can go either way, is it because we lack talent that Harden is ball-dominant, or is it the other way around? If OKC Harden is any evidence, the answer is probably the former.

 

Rofl. Klay can't create his own shot? What is this 18 three attempts, 30 shot attempts just this last game?

If someone shoots right a way in split seconds when he catches even from 30ft, and makes them, that's not his "own shot"; but if someone catches it from the top, dribble dribble dribble then fade-away ala iso kings like Harden, then it is his "own shot"...

Good to know.

Besides, Klay puts the ball on the floor and goes to the rim too.

 

blah blah blah

Klay thompson has come up big in the playoffs and won a championship

harden, historically has almost always had nightmare playoffs

so right now klay is the better SG

just like KD and westbrook. Until they stop falling apart in big moments, they'll never be considered historically great players

 

Harden is the better overall player without counting Defense

but Harden often plays as an oversized PG with bad turnover numbers

Klay is the better 'shooting guard' , just better at SHOOTING