Magic is up there for sure. I won't argue as you could pick either and make a case for either, and both are undoubtedly in the top 3 in that category (Kidd being the 3rd guy I'd put up there)
Good luck trying to hand check a guy with those types of handles. As good a physical defender as Derek Harper was, Steph would've shook him and put up a 30 footer by the time he could even begin to get physical picking him up at halfcourt. And even if that did impede him, his defender would then just get bulldozed by a pick from his big guy, giving him a step or a switch. And its not like he even tries to finish through contact at the rim when he does drive, so the "Jordan Rules" style defense wouldn't affect him. If Mark Price was a damn good player in that era, Curry would be a superstar back then too.
It's not that I don't think he'd still get buckets , it's that there would be a trade off . Right now there isn't a lot anyone can do to stop him . In earlier eras they could at least knock the **** out of him without it being called flagrant or fearing league punishment . Guys like Bruce Bowen would have stepped under his feet on the way down . Yeah he could still shake other guards given his lightweight and quickness , but he would be flattened by opposing bigs .
I'd say Magic is on another level by himself. Stockton, Kidd, and Nash are the second tier all time. (There might be some other older generation players I have not been able to watch very much.)
He gets like inches off the ground on his jumper. Would be close to impossible for him to get Bowen'ed. And bigs could flatten him, I guess, but its not like he tries to finish through contact at the rim anyways. Its all floaters, transition layups, flip shots, and of course jumpers.
Uh yeah, we're all aware that injuries can end star careers. McGrady didn't have some fluke year, he was legitimately supremely talented, but back injuries cut that short. Bernard King is another example, Bill Walton, etc. That doesn't in any way imply that we shouldn't take Curry seriously right now.
I don't think Magic is in a tier by himself. Magic and Oscar Robertson are in the top tier, but Chris Paul probably belongs in that tier also, ahead of Stockton, Kidd, Nash (and Isiah Thomas and Gary Payton, who I think belong in that second tier). Chris Paul is incredibly underrated. Barring injury, to me, it's just a question of whether Curry ends up near the top of the second tier or in the top tier.
None of those players - not even Nash - are in the same stratum as Curry when it comes to shooting and the amount of offense he creates by distracting 2 or 3 of the other defenders who are not even his man. It's impossible to capture how many buckets he creates with assists alone.
I just looked it up ... and found that Curry has not had a season shooting 3s below 42%. Not even the rookie season. Wow ... Not even Kyle Korver, although Korver is on his 9th straight season shooting >40%.
Yeah, people don't realize how insanely productive he's been, in terms of assists, rebounds, scoring, scoring efficiency. And he's always been a defensive asset despite his size. If he had played on championship teams, he'd already have a large contingent of people calling him the best point guard ever. As it is, he elevated a lot of otherwise-mediocre rosters throughout most of his prime.
And that production hasn't translated into MVP's and championships. That's why Chris Paul isn't in Magic's tier.
^^^this everyone keeps acting like this is some fluke. Curry has been shooting threes like this for like what? seven years or something. He's just never shot them at this volume. Where he has actually improved is around the basket. That is why he is unguardable now. Because if you do chase him off the three point line he just flips it in the basket. I'm actually starting to wonder why more players don't work on floaters.
You sure is a big fan of Paul's, but he is not even close to those guys. When you evaluate athletes in team sports, personal stats doesn't mean that much, it's the impact they have on the games, how much they make their team better. Paul is not a winner, and he has proved that so far in his career.
Chris Paul has never been the GM of his teams, so he's never had control over whether he won championships (or MVPs, for that matter, as team success plays heavily into that). Magic wouldn't have won five titles on the 2000s-era Hornets, either.
Meaningless rhetoric that basically boils down to "I want things nice and simple...whoever won the championship is the best player. Don't confuse me with complicated issues like how much talent he had around him."
So it's the GM's fault that Paul doesn't have any championships/MVP's? You're 100% right. And do you know why you're right? B/c Chris Paul isn't a transcendent talent who can have success with a weak supporting cast. Magic, Bird, Lebron, Jordan, Olajuwon, Shaq, etc... Those guys are transcendent talents, and they exploited those talents to become top 10 GOAT players. Chris Paul wasn't blessed with extraordinary raw ability, and that's why he's been unable to reach Magic's tier.
