Honestly. . . . . Its a coin toss but The Lillard comparisons are the ones that drive me crazy Dame is not even close IMO to Harden I would not say he is top 5 . . .. Ja, Harden, Curry, Even CP3 and Trai IMO are ahead of him Isht like this: https://www.nba.com/magic/news/ranking-nba-top-10-point-guards-for-the-2022-23-season-20220910 Piss me off . . . .HArden at 10 and Lillard at 7?????? Honestly I liked CJ more than Dame Beale is ahead of dame .. and he not even on this list . . .. Brunson maybe nearing Dame Rocket River
I wouldn't take into account some random reporter from orlandomagic.com (lmao) ranking players. Dude probably did some superficial research and submitted the list.
Excluding Curry, those other guys were always considered good all stars and performed at or above that level in big playoff moments. Harden's problem is that he was a perennial MVP candidate during the regular season and performed like an all star in big playoff moments. He didn't meet expectations. Honestly, the real reason is that the NBA doesn't call fouls in the playoffs on his drives when people swipe his arm because he's holding them stretched out in front. Part of that's on the league for being inconsistent but at some point you have to accept it and adjust.
LMAO, a coin toss? Its not a coin toss.... Ask any GSW fan if they would take Harden over Curry, it will be a resounding hell no.... Why? Because Harden is a choker who would have never delivered what Curry has... Its not a coin toss when one player is inferior and clearly would have never gotten the franchise to where it is today. I'd say you can replace Curry with other champions who have delivered and say that's a coin a toss, But Harden lmao? Just staaap...
The tricky part is those who set expectations (media bias / fanatics of teams) always rearrange the narrative to fit their favored choice Those other players came up small in postseason as well, all those players including Harden could have showed up more in their teams losses in Finals, though I know Parker won finals MVP he still had his short coming postseason moments, just the nature of sports The question is who would you draft out of those players to start your franchise with from scratch, most would probably go with Harden or Stockton, which determines who is the actual better / best player out of that group
That is the ultimate bias move to ask a warriors fan that, of course they would pick their guy Curry choked a 3-1 lead and the year prior they beat a injury riddled Cavs squad which wasn't impressive and probably would have lost that Finals trip as well if not for those injuries Then they had to go get KD to make it a cheat code to win back to back and Curry didn't win Finals MVP in any of those trips If given equal talent Harden would probably have a ring, and with lesser talent being equal Harden would probably carry his squad further as proven somewhat when Curry choked in that play in couple years back All great players have choked, even magic who is the media GOAT point guard was called Tragic Magic in one of his Finals appearance for choking as you call it
Another way of phrasing it is, "KD chose to play in an offense led by Curry instead of an offense led by his buddy Harden." Unlikely. Draymond Green and Harden would've feuded, and the team would've collapsed internally.
Fueded how? Draymond was basically a slightly taller playmaker version of Tucker who seemed to get along well with Harden, Draymond is a emotional player but seems to know how to toe that fine line Lets just say had the common cold virus not came about, then we would have seen that Brooklyn trio, and when they all played in their very limited time it was a force of nba nature and KD could have chosen wherever, he was a free agent and chose Cali or Texas, or as you say Curry over his buddy Harden, maybe he wanted to make new buddies and literally took the phrase 'if you can't beat'em, then join'em' (after blowing 3-1 lead against Curry) to new heights the team basically collapsed with KD + Curry leading the way back then and right now today somewhat with just Curry [Poole scuffle], with Draymond as the starring role in both incidents, so depending on how much the Rockets would tolerate, it is possible, but winning cures all and that is why the Warriors have tolerated Draymond's behavior, 4 ships in 8 years
You're kidding, right? Tucker was a follower. Draymond thinks he's a leader. If you recall, Draymond feuded with KD. He would've absolutely feuded with Harden. And Harden wouldn't have won with Draymond since Draymond would've been useless in a Harden-centric offense.
Sure, it's not like KD's Thunder team led 3-1 against the Warriors, right? He obviously didn't think an upgrade from Westbrook to Harden would've gotten them over the hump. But you do you.
Draymond is a follower as well, because on his own he wouldn't produce high enough to be an all star so he rode the backs of Curry/KD/Klay for his appearance, which in turn he had to be more of a team/vocal leader based on the limitations of his game offensively more so. So i guess he would have clashed with the better player in Harden since he did it with KD who he cried/begged to join them after his so called leadership derailed that 3-1 lead against Cavs Tucker could be seen as a quiet locker room leader and by example on the hardwood, not everybody has to be screaming / vocal about it, ala T Duncan and others in the past/present. I never said them actually having the same exact players, i said talent being equal, as in Harden having his own version of a Klay / KD / Green as he had early with OKC and later the Brooklyn unit, though KD was on all those squads so replace KD with 2013 - 2018 Bron or AD and sniper/defender like a Klay and that team would have been heavy in the mix for a ship. Even with CP3 pre-injury Harden had a full cheat code healthy Warriors on the ropes, so a big 2 almost took out a big 4, imagine that I already mentioned that Draymond feuded with both KD / Poole in my previous reply Kobe and Shaq feuded and still won, and Draymond isn't that dumb to derail a ship run, and with Harden he would have been in serious contention and would just play his role of defending and quasi playmaking and taken those same wide open corner 3's that Tucker had, which he basically does with Warriors now so i don't see how it would be a problem for as volatile as Draymond is, he seems to be intelligent as well, just my 2 cents
With full hindsight, I'd actually draft Manu. He was willing to take less money and was more flexible on his role for the team's benefit. Harden was a better talent but he, like many others, couldn't lead a team to a championship. The problem is he needs to be the primary ball handler or he's not very productive.
Nothing wrong with that, Manu never led a team in the NBA to a ship neither as the alpha lead guy had the OKC trio stayed together it would be more even to discuss comparison, but Harden showed what he can do as the alpha and maxed out with WCF trips to show for it I would draft Harden over Manu if building my team from scratch, but Manu was legit in his 6th man role playing starter minutes
Mostly all the perimeter dominant HOF players needed the ball/shots to be productive from Stockton - Magic - Oscar - Iverson - Jordan etc, that's how those players produced all those dimes n buckets, having the ball in their hands or offense ran thru them to score Been like that since the 60s era
