The "Curry is the greatest shooter of all time" argument reminds me a lot of the "Russell Westbrook is an MVP" argument. All sizzle no steak. It's all about the shimmying and the glory whoring. Jimmer Fredette once sunk a bunch of shots from really deep in a tournament. Damian Lillard probably has more playoff dagger shots than Curry. As the game continues to evolve we are going to see more guys take a very high percentage of their shots from 3 and dance around like they won the championship when they beat a 10 win team at the buzzer. At least people don't try to say the same about Klay anymore.
Has always been fantastically overrated. He is a spot up shooter, like JJ Redick, Duncan Robinson, Troy Daniels. The 4 most important members of that dynasty in order were: Durant, Curry, Kerr, Green. Yes Klay deserves some credit for the first championship win, just like Rip Hamilton for the Pistons. But they're probably in the same tier. Both speedy, both work off of screens well, but Rip might actually be more versatile. People act like Thompson is a perennial all-NBA player. Bay Area hype effect.
Him believing he should have been part of the top 75 list is the most hilarious thing I've seen in a while. The irrational confidence of that belief gotta be top 20 in NBA history.
I am no Curry fan but he is the greatest shooter of all time. You can't really argue that. I don't think he's the best player by far. I don't think he can carry a team. But just shooting, no one is close. That volume with those percentages will be hard to beat by anyone.
I have always told people I thought Draymond Green was the most important player on the Warrirors. Not the splash bros, not KD. Draymond does everything those guys can't and won't do and sets them up to get all the credit with his play making. Hence they can't win when he isn't playing. They were bad enough to get Mark Jackson fired and Steven Kerr came in and just put Draymond into the starting lineup and they took off.
It looks ridiculous now but, in Jackson's defense, the Warriors started David Lee over Green the last year Jackson was there and that's because Lee was still playing at an All-Star level. Lee missed the beginning of the next season--Kerr's 1st season--and Green got the start out of necessity and the Warriors never looked back. I do agree with you that the Warriors goes as Draymond goes.
You're overrating Draymond Green. He's an elite passer, not a playmaker. He's not creating defensive breakdowns; he stands stationary at the top of the key taking advantage of the defensive breakdowns that his teammates create. We all saw how poorly GSW fared when they had a healthy Green/Russell and an injured Curry/Thompson.
fwiw: Jackson benched Jermaine O’Neil in the 2014 playoffs to insert Green in the last 4 games of a near upset vs LAC’s big lineup…7-game series. the model of small-ball v big lineup was installed by Jackson. Plus, Barnes in with Curry, Klay, Green, Iggy to do the original Death lineup was established in Game 5 of the series. Jackson started doing it in the 4Q. So, as @steddinotayto reminds us wrt Lee being inactive to start the next season, along with that injury, Kerr already had proof of the Death Lineup … which he implemented as subbing in Barnes for Bogut, and never really playing Lee.
Hard disagree. Curry is the best shooter ever. And while I think he is overrated a bit in the all time player rankings he is without question one of the best 30 players ever. Westbrook is a fraud. He is one of the top candidates currently considered a top 75 guy ever that I could see dropping out of future iterations of the all time list because people are finally starting to wake up to how empty his stat hoarding was over his career.
He also probably one of the best screeners in the league. He gets his teammates open. Green was barely healthy the year they had Russell. He was out of shape and basically going through the motions. He's missed a ton of time last few seasons. Like I agree that Draymond is on a team perfectly fit for him. He needs Steph and Klay just as much as they need him. He doesn't have as much value on other teams. But they have no shot of winning without him. He single handedly anchors their defense.
The Curry/Draymond pick and roll is effective because of Curry, not Draymond. Defenses choose to overplay Curry which leads to a 4v3. In this scenario, it's Curry who has caused the defensive breakdown. Green was healthy when they had Russell. The Warriors knew he couldn't lead them anywhere so they wanted to watch his minutes. Sorry, but that's just crap. Replace Draymond Green with any point forward, and the Warriors offense doesn't miss a beat. In fact, it could possibly improve given Green's scoring limitations. Also, I think the Warriors would've still won their first title without Green since Iguodala guarded Lebron.
