BWAHAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA This is LeBron's 13th season. - He has a career 27/7/7 avg, on 50%, 34% and74% shooting - He has won 4 MVP's. - He finished 2nd and 3rd in MVP voting twice - He has 11 All NBA selections (nine 1st teams) and 6 All Defense selections (five 1st teams) - He has been to 6 Finals, winning 2 - He's currently #13 in career points and #19 in career assists - He's only 4 years older than Curry AND HE IS ARGUABLY NOT A TOP 10 PLAYER Curry needs around another TEN YEARS of stellar play to match what LeBron has done if he chose to retire at the end of this season.
I bet he's one of those Asian American fans who started watching basketball because of Yao Ming. This dudes a clown. Comparing Currys first 5 years in the league to Jordan's 38-40 year old Wizards years or Olajuwon's final year of which we will not make mention. Paint your face clown.
That's pretty vague. Basically, Lebron has great stats, great efficiency, 4 MVP's, and 2 championships. Using this season as a projection for the future, Curry has great stats, greater efficiency, 2 MVPs (he's a lock for this year's), 1 championship, and the distinction of being the greatest shooter in NBA history. How many more MVP's and championships do you think it would take for Curry to surpass Lebron?
I always put more emphasize on the success of the team, then consider the individual contributions. This is a team sports after all, if your team doesn't win, then there is no telling if your stats is the cause. I don't compare players across different eras, because that makes no sense since the rules, the players athleticism are all different. You can make an argument about how the players would adapt/develop/evolve, but those are all speculations. With that being said, I think it's too early to put Curry on the list of all-time great. Yes, Curry has been performing at an all-time great level on a all-time great team, but he & GSW are only doing it for about two years. If he & GSW can keep this up for 3+ years , that means 5+ titles/MVPs, I don't think anyone would argue his place on that list.
It's not vague. LeBron has, at worst, 11 seasons of elite all-time great play. Curry has, at best, 3. Curry, who is already 28, needs around almost a decade more of elite play to be as productive as LeBron on an individual basis. I think he needs another decade of elite play. As far as titles, they are team accomplishments. Are Sam Jones, Havlicek (main player on two of his eight title teams) and Horry at the top of your rankings?
The problem with that train of thought is that you're treating all "elite" seasons equally. Has Lebron ever had a season like the one Curry is having this year? It comes down to preference. Do you prefer a star that lasts longer or a star that burns brighter? Most people prefer the brighter star. That's why Lebron is generally ahead of Kobe on GOAT lists.
Yes, he clearly had a better one in 2013, and I could probably identify a few more if I looked at all of the numbers. Curry has no season prior to this one that you can even argue about any of LeBron's after say his 2nd year. There is more to the game than scoring. I don't recall too many players with a limited number of great seasons being recognized as arguably the best ever. It typically takes a full career body of work. Jim Brown may be the closest example, but the shelf life of a RB is different. Either way, his star hasn't burned brighter. What he is doing (he, not his team) isn't more remarkable than what LeBron did in 2013, when he was arguably the best player on both sides of the court and led his team in damn near everything.
The difference is, many consider Curry's season as the greatest individual season ever. Not just by the numbers but the unguardable nature of how he accomplishes it. He has range beyond 30ft and he is the BEST finisher in the league inside the paint. He dribbles around anyone any time. The only knock is he is not all nba defense, but he is certainly good at defense. Even if you don't agree with it, many consider Curry's season better than all of lebron's... Because curry has no weakness, Lebron has. Curry cannot be shutdown. Lebron can be (pack the paint, fatigue). If Curry's season is merely "as great as" others, then sure one season shouldn't put him in he conversation as other greats. But the sentiment is that no one else but arguably only a select few has ever got on Curry's current level, that's why Curry is put in this conversation so fast. On curry being old, it is sort of an anomaly that Curry is FINALLY healthy and able to play without restriction in the last two years or so. He says so himself, but it doesn't seem to get mentioned that much. Curry was held back by injuries in his early years... This much was obvious right? Most other times players greatness were cut short by career ending injuries (Walton, penny, grant hill etc), but in Curry's case, the modern staff solved his injury woes. If you watched the OKC game, that tweak was so bad, we all expected curry to miss time. But nope, he comes back and rested just one game after. This proves that Curry has turned his ankle into a strength (yes on pun). This also means, for the early part of his career, he focused on training his body to avoid injuries. Only in the last two years did he focus on the game and unleash his unlimited range style. There was an article on ESPN about his training to avoid ankle problems, and in turn it improved his balance and strengthened his play etc. He's lucky to play in this era to get the treatment and medical attention he needs. In other times his career would have ended early.
Care to elaborate? Speaking in platitudes is the hallmark of a losing argument. Then what's his weakness?
Lebron 2012-13 vs. Curry 2015-16 Stepping back and looking at this objectively, Lebron 2012-13 is not a bad comparison to Curry 2015-16. Lebron had a spectacular season and playoffs. He did it all while playing almost 39 minutes to game, which has to be much more exhausting than playing 34 minutes per game. .....LeBron/48 min...Curry/48 min...Diff G........99..............63............36 Gs.......99..............63............36 Min......48..............48.............0 Pts......32.9............43.2.........(10.3) Reb......10.0............7.5............2.5 Ast......8.8.............9.2...........(0.4) Stl......2.1.............2.9...........(0.8) Blk......1.1.............0.3............0.8 To.......3.7.............4.6...........(0.9) Pf.......1.9.............2.8...........(0.9) Dreb.....8.4.............6.3............2.1 Oreb.....1.7.............1.2............0.5 fgm-a....12.2-22.3.......14.6-28.4 pct......54.70%..........51.30%.........3.40% 3gm-a....1.7-4.4.........7.2-15.8 pct......39.70%..........45.90%........(6.20%) ftm-a....6.7-8.9.........6.8-7.5 pct......75.80%..........90.40%.......(14.60%) eff......39.0............43.9..........(4.9) Curry has Lebron on points and shooting, but Lebron rebounded better AND Lebron did this for 99 games while averaging almost 5 more minutes per game. Let's see if Curry can keep up his pace for the rest of the season AND through the playoffs where the play is more physical.
I need to elaborate about the other facets of the game besides scoring? Defense and finishing over bigger defenders in the paint. You just can rarely tell because of his team, which has multiple defenders to cover for him and tons of shooters to space the floor so he rarely has to finish over multiple defenders. Any Rocket fan should be able to easily recognize how crowded the paint is when Harden drives compared to him. And his handle isn't great. But his shot is so you can't press him as much on that team. But if he were surrounded by the likes of Brewer and Jones then it would be more obvious. But hey, let's just go with the thought of him being the one player in league history with absolutely no weaknesses in his game.
Yes. LOL. Sorry, but this is such an ignorant post. He's not going to be named to any all-defensive teams, but he's a good defender. He's also one of the best finishers in the league. Tell me the truth. Is it possible you're confusing Steph Curry with Dell Curry? Because, while it's clear you've never seen Steph Curry play, you're giving a pretty decent description of Dell Curry.
I'm not going to describe the other aspects about basketball on a Houston Rockets forum. Talk about the hallmark of a losing argument. Actually it's not. Curry is not a good defender. You rarely see him have to even play good individual defense. Ignoring how often he gets to finish with les bodies in the paint because other players can't simply leave the other shooters is ignorant. So, we both can
Jordan would out-think, out-compete and find a way to score. Midrange game, postups, drives mixed in. Think his final 3 seasons with the Bulls type of game. He would also defend the other team really well. And an elite defense would just stick with Curry. Guard him out to 30 feet. Switch everything on the perimeter, chase, etc. And Curry would have to hide on Bowen in that lineup, otherwise get abused if you replace Bowen with Kawhi. Not sure how you can have this argument and come out with a "definitively Curry" answer. Maybe it's not definitively Jordan...but it certainly isn't definitively Curry.
These days it's like people have to play kawhi Leonard defense to be labeled as good defenders. Curry has become a very respectable defender. It's definitely not as bad some people continue to think it is. The effort and decision making are definitely there
