Jeremy Lin James Harden Average age by next season: 24.5 for Steph Curry Klay Thompson Average age by next season: 24 Obviously, the ages are pretty close, but if you want to get into semantics, Curry and Thompson are younger. Contract situation wise, Curry is only getting paid 11 million per for the next few years, and Thompson is on his rookie deal still. Harden is going to get paid 60 million over 4 years and Lin is getting 16 million for 2. That means that for at least the next 2 seasons, GSW are paying Curry+Thompson about 15 million per year. While we are paying Lin and Harden 23 million. Curry has proven to be more clutch than Harden, and might be the greatest three point shooter of all-time. He also has better handles and averages 1 more assists but almost 1 less turnover than Harden. Curry is flat out a better shooter than Harden, Harden has no midrange game. Harden can finish at the rim and get fouls. That said, his decision making is awful at times, almost inexplicable and he hurts the team a lot. Advantage: Harden (marginally) As far as Thompson, he is wet. Moves without the ball well, and his defense is solid. Scored 29 points in a half against the Spurs. Averaged 16.6 PPG in his 2nd season with is great. He also plays smart basketball. I'm surprised his FG% is so bad in the regular season since he is a top 5 sniper in the NBA. Lin is pretty inconsistent, and looks like a decent NBA PG 50% of the time, but like a complete d-league scrub the other 50%. Lin plays smart sometimes, but then makes the dumbest turnovers that you can't understand. I'm not sure what his deal is but can he ever put it together in the NBA? That remains to be seen. While Thompson is without a doubt going to be a good player for a long time. Advantage: Thompson Basketball wise, marginally GSW has a better backcourt. Contract wise, they are 8 million cheaper for the next 2 seasons at least, therefore it seems obvious that GSW backcourt wins.
I don't think anyone is disagreeing with you. Upgrade us at point, and perhaps we can get the edge. (CP3 ohh yaaa)
Great points. Its a close call. A cat on here told me that you have to look at the TS% and its pretty close. Harden 60.9 Lin 53.7 Curry 58.2 Thompson 53.0 Lin plays better defense than Curry. Thompson plays better defense than Harden. But hey we shall see.
Harden is better than both curry and Thompson. People underestimate the burden he has to carry every night, he was basically our only option and still dropped 26 points a game, even while being constantly doubled and tripled. Curry and Thompson have the luxury of playing with good players like David Lee, Harrison barnes, Carl Landry, jarred jack, and Andrew bogut. Surround that kind of talent around harden and that's a championship contender.
I'm a homer and all but I still say a completely healthy Harden plus whoever trumps GS any day of the week.
Are you kidding me? Lin is the best player out of the four. Did you not watch linsanity? This guy is a superstar. He has to work so much and carry the Houston rockets to the playoffs. Lin > harden. Lin > curry and Thompson.
This might sound crazy but We crushed GSW in the regular season this year. Thompson/Curry have had what, 2 years together? Harden/Lin have had 1, and no training camp. Look out next year.
I think it depends on the question. Both Curry and Thompson are primarily outside shooters - which is great if you're seeking longevity and want two players that could probably play until they're close to 40 (i.e. Reggie Miller, Ray Allen, etc). But I am extremely partial to players that take it to the basket, draw fouls and like to get physical. To me, I'd prefer a five year window to win a title or two headed by a rim-attacking monster like Harden than having two shooters that can play til they're 40 and might not ever win a ring as the two best players on their team. I respect the hell out of Curry and Thompson, BTW. Just my two cents. P.S. I purposely left Lin out of this discussion due to the fact as far as building key pieces to a championship-level team goes, his status is somewhat uncertain; whereas, Harden/Curry/Thompson are all untouchable.
Can't agree more with this. Harden's ability to drive and draw the foul makes him more valuable than Curry.
When you have: "...looks like a decent NBA PG 50% of the time, but like a complete d-league scrub the other 50%." "...This guy is a superstar. He has to work so much and carry the Houston rockets to the playoffs. Lin > harden. Lin > curry and Thompson." "Thompson>>Lin" This thread is going to deteriorate fast and furious. Sticking to Harden vs Curry would make a much healthier discussion.
Except they don't call those fouls as much in the playoffs and just results in a turnover. I hate players who get calls like that. I am not a fan martin or durant .
As soon as Lin improve, our backcourt becomes much more better. People can't just plan for Harden and doubling him with another shooter/rim attacker
Curry at 25 is older than all of them. Harden at 23 has accomplished more in the play-offs than Curry, Thompson and Lin combined. I think Harden is better then Steph Curry by a nice margin but there is no question that Curry is a superior outside shooter. Both Curry and Harden need to improve their defense.
I think we can all agree GS has a better backcourt mostly because of Lin's inconsistency, but the thing I like about our backcourt is that they can also take it to the rim instead of primarily shooting. And our backcourt has outperformed Curry and Thompson every time we played against GS, so I'm satisfied. Curry and Harden would be a hell of a backcourt though.
Klay Thompson is massively overrated. That being said Lin has been mediocre and terrible in the playoffs. For now I would saw GSW by a little bit. As for why Klay Thompson is overrated. He isn't an efficient scorer at all(since he doesn't draw fouls and isn't really strong offensively outside of shooting 3s), sub-par rebounder, sub-par defender, etc and it shows in his mediocre PER. Overall, Harden>Curry Klay>Lin. Could give the advantage to GSWs but its close.
