Most of the attention is now fixated on which 3rd allstar Morey can add, and rightfully so because that is what's needed to truly compete with GS. But let's appreciate for a second what the Rockets already have and how rare it is. The term superstar gets thrown out liberally, as do players getting generalized into "top 5", "top x" categories. I mean there are like 8 players that people call "top 5". But why the arbitrary cut off at 5? In truth, the NBA is split into tiers of players, with the top tier being "superstars" in no particular ranking. Lebron James Kevin Durant Russell Westbrook James Harden Chris Paul Steph Curry Kawhi Leonard In the future, Giannis, Towns, Davis and Jokic could join that list, but as of today those are all the superstars. Which means there was only 1 team in the entire NBA with more than 1 superstar last season. And in years past we had Durant/Westbrook, Lebron/Wade, Kobe/Shaq. Dwight and Harden was supposed to be another superstar duo if we got the peak Orlando Dwight, but he was only (less than)half that player due to the back surgery. With Paul and Harden there are legit questions about overlapping skillsets and diminishing returns. Fact is every superstar is high usage, and whenever you put two together someone will be marginalized a bit. It happened to Wade, and it happened to Curry last year. Durant and Shaq both left because of it. I bet Harden will have to take a small step back next year. But the sum of the team has always been greater. And that is where the Rockets find themselves now, in the enviable and rare position to have 2 legit superstars. In any other year, this would be enough to compete for a championship. And I would put this team as constructed up against CLE and SAS any day, as well as GS pre-Durant. But the problem with GS today is that not only do they have 2 legit superstars, Draymond Green while not a superstar on his own, gives superstar value with the right teammates around him. (Klay was always overrated and is now marginalized into a glorified roleplayer, so not concerned with him) For this reason, the Rockets still need more. FWIW, I think the closest other player in the league to Draymond is Millsap. Or Olympic Carmelo at the PF could do the trick? Anyways, just trying to appreciate the fact that the Rockets are one of two teams to have 2 superstars, and that is a great starting place. I'm not sure people fully realize that about CP3. I'm not sure people here understand that while Harden will still be the closer and best scorer, but overall he is now the second best player on the team.
Surprised you left Ricky Rubio off the superstar list. Anybody who can take the ball off Harden and be the primary playmaker and make Harden secondary ball handler sure has to be a superstar.
Anthony Davis needs to be on the superstar list. And the 2 superstar was good enough until the Warriors happened. They've got the rest of the league worried.
You'd need a Sap + current Melo to be somewhat = to GS...just offensively...we still wouldn't be anything close to them defensively.
If it was PRIME CP3 I would agree that he would be the best player on the time, but at 32 years old? No ****ing way that is true.
Anthony Davis was looking like a shoe-in 2 years ago, but over the last 2 years he's stagnated. He is still young enough to turn it around, which is why I said he can join that list in the future. Everyone else on that list either has the ability to or already have singlehandedly carried their team to being great or at least decent. New Orleans with Davis is garbage.
Giannis is already on the list with the season he just had, and on top of that his trade value exceeds probably every player on the list. But on to main point, this is an incredible feat. And you know it's true because there are no weaknesses in Paul's game, and the league has proven time and time again that there's no such thing as a loser superstar. Everyone who wins loses is somewhat tied to their team's offensive talent, defensive talent, coaching, luck and of course playoff opponent. No one in the NBA boasts two franchise players as powerful as ours except the Warriors. Lebron and Kyrie is not a better duo. Paul is a Lebron minus the big picture GM-like thinking and easy Eastern competition. What can't Paul do? He's good on the ball. Off the ball. Defense. Offense. Passing. Stealing. Controlling pace. Efficiency. Inside, mid range, outside. He is up there in age now, but this guy is still a monster out there. You can legitimately not give him PG duties and just put him in Beverley's spot and he can put up 20-25ppg off the ball in the same system we had last season. You can put him on the ball and get Harden easier shots. But it will all be worthless if we don't improve the frountcourt. It does not have to be a superstar, but we need a decent passer at PF or C, and better defensive mobility and transition ability from our Forwards. Because there's no point having a 32 year old superstar if you're not competing from day 1.
CP3 today is PRIME CP3. There is no physical, statistical, worldly or unworldly evidence that he has declined one iota. One of these days he will. Maybe next year or 2 years or 3 years later. But not today.
You mean outside the fact that his minutes has decreased every year since in the last 4 seasons and the numbers of games in the last 3 seasons due to health? Just because his production when playing hasn't suffered, does NOT mean he has not declined.
According to that criteria, Chris Paul doesn't belong on this list. Even in his prime, he's always had another all star or two on his team and they've never passed the 2nd round.
Giannis is on that fast track. If he just repeats last year I would put him on that list. And there's no way he just repeats, at 22 he is almost guaranteed to get even better. Trade value is not everything though, because it takes into account age and potential. Like would I rather have Giannis over CP3 on my team? Hell yeah. But for today, CP3 is still the better player.
The last 4 years, really? You are counting 3 years ago when his minutes went from 35.0 to 34.8? That is some real fake news **** right there. The last 2 years his minutes went down a little because Doc has been trying to emulate Pop. But in the playoffs this year he still averaged 37 mpg against the Jazz.
