Klay is actually shooting the ball at a much better percentage than Harden, with less turnovers, and plays better defense (only because Harden didnt bother playing defense). That said, Klay also has the luxury of playing on the Warriors and not having to do much to create his own shot or the shot for anyone else. He gets to focus on shooting. They are different players in different systems. It's clear to me Harden is a more talented player, but the case could be made for Klay being up there at least based on other factors. Still I don't think many people would pick Klay over Harden if you actually had one pick to make.
Good points, especially about Klay having a greater opportunity, just by wearing that Golden State jersey. My Lord, you could lose sleep considering the possibilities of having different guys embedded in that Warriors offense. If they somehow added a guy like Kyle Korver, Dirk, Ryan Anderson or, GOD FORBID, Kevin Durant....the league would be in even greater trouble. Anyway, Klay is great. Even if I were not a Rockets fan, I'd still choose James over him though. Klay may be a better spot-up shooter, but the level of talent James has, along with the variety of moves, makes him just that much more of a threat.
Harden can put up stats but he isn't talented he got like 3 moves and an inconsistent J plus his bag of flops. He doesn't make his team better and can't come up in the clutch when we need him. And don't you forget that awful defense
Harden isn't talented???? Wtf??? I'm sure it's very easy to find someone to put up 28/7/7. Trade that worthless bum
Lou, I love ur input... If you define the best on offense alone than Harden is up there.. But the best is defined in all areas and this YEAR that is not Harden. Just because someone doesn't agree doesn't make him hate the player. If Harden were with another team a lot of people would be having a fit about Harden even being considered as one of the best. T_Man
Klay also doesn't rebound AT ALL, doesn't pass or make any plays, and sucks on defense (in reality, ya he's "considered" good, same way kobe was for years) There's a reason Klay sucks basically by all advanced stats, hell his ORT and DRT for his career are equal where most greats are +10 or better
People still don't understand the difference in playing with all-stars versus playing with no stars. Dwight Howard isn't an All star anymore. What does that mean? It means he doesn't command any attention so when Harden does what he does he does it with all focus and defenses geared to him. Curry, Klay, Draymond don't do it alone. Lower usage rates usually mean higher efficiency. SO Harden is at it with no stars with him playing 45 minutes some games having to do everything and you guys are comparing him to Klay Thompson a guy who is practically always open because he plays with other players who demand attention especially Steph Curry. Lets see how Klay plays on that team for a whole season without Draymond and Curry creating.
Pick an apple or an orange. If Harden is the better individual player with better stats, then Klay is the better player off the ball, long range shooting, whether it is spot up shooting or off dribble. Klay might be the guy that fits better with a cohesive team than Harden.... You can put Harden on any mediocre team and the mediocre team could reach 2nd or 3rd seed at times but not every year because the effort would not be always there. Harden is a mediocre 1st option and Klay is not a 1st option at all but one heck of a 2nd option
Klay is the 3rd best shooting guard in the nba, but it's amazing what a team can do with its best pg, 3rd best sg, a top 5 (at worst) pf and a top 10 centre.
I don"t know. Klay could be the top scorer if he's the first option controlling and shooting the ball a lot more.
Meh, let them hate all they want...Its kind of funny cause I bet if Harden was on the trade block or was a free agent right now so many teams/fans would slobber over having him on their team
No one would start building a team around Thompson, because he's neither a big man, nor a creator. He's a super complimentary player. In my book that's what a standard SG should be. MJ and Kobe are exceptions, one position doesn't define them. You might say Harden is poor man's Kobe, one position doesn't define him. He's OK at multiple positions, but Klay is elite at SG, that's why he's best SG right now in my opinion. Not better player than Harden, but better SG. Replace Beverley, who is our SG, with Klay, and we're back in the West finals again with Spurs.
Lol thats like saying an elite lowpost/postup bigman is better than Cousins, because thats how a bigman should play n Cousins can do it all, so therefore Cousins is somehow discredited Lol.
or put it this way, is Okafor better than Towns? Okafor plays (offensively) the way the bigman "should" play (lowpost/post up), but Carl can pretty much do it all, so why should Towns be discredited based on the fact that he can do more things on the basketball court just because that doesn't "define" his position?
