Good news: We've got 20% of the league's top 10 players! Bad news: Golden State has 30% of them AND Klay Thompson.
Kawhi has yet to be a better player than Harden. He's a better 2 way player but the Spurs aren't significantly worse when he's not playing. He's a top 5-6 guy and it's cute that everyone thinks he's so underrated that they have to continually overrate him but Harden, to this point anyways, is the guy you would build a team around first. That said I'm ok with the top 6 being any of Lebron, Durant, Harden, Westbrook, Curry, and Leonard in whatever order. It makes absolutely no sense to put any of these people outside the top 6. ESPN is great at continually displaying their complete lack of knowledge on sports in general. Kudos.
To add to this, I'm probably the biggest critic on this BBS of using advanced defensive stats for individual players. I think the formulas are hogwash compared to the perfectly good team defensive metrics from which they are pseudo derived. However, even I will say individual defensive metrics are a fine way to compare a player to himself. Kashi's defensive numbers (DRtg and DBPM) took a significant fall last season as he took a significant jump in offensive load. And his playoff numbers were even worse, as his minutes went way up. He can't lock-down the whole game like he used to. Pops is letting him rest on the weak side more. Who knows, he might become like TMac or Kobe on defense ... can turn it on when he wants, but he won't do it all game. So don't vote for him like he's out there doing Draymond Green work on defense all game. He isn't any longer.
The bs rating aside, how good does it feel to have two top ten players in the league on the Rockets?. But it would be even better to add a top five SF in Melo
Old-school sportswriters love Kawhi because he embodies what they want athletes to be: soft-spoken, stays out of trouble, does his job without complaining, doesn't question the coach, blah blah blah. They also love the Spurs system for winning titles despite being a small-market team (can't argue with them on that one). And they love Pops because... well, who doesn't love Pops? As for Kawhi the basketball player, he's a star -- very solid on both ends of the court, very consistent, and yes, very overrated.
I wonder why writers don't like Harden. Style? Not flashy enough? He's consistently good, doesn't act out, and doesn't often complain. He's no stranger to the clubs but that means nothing. Very strange.
Style, I'd guess. He got a reputation early as a flopper, then became the most skilled player in history at drawing fouls, often in an over-the-top fashion that seems cheap to some people (although he's merely exploiting the rules for his benefit). When he goes off for 50, they're thinking he's getting most of that via FTs and that's somehow semi-cheating.
AD will rank highly unless he joins the rockets ... Then he will be a "player on the decline without any playoff success" "never developed his game" "injury prone lockeroom cancer" etc ....
LBJ, KD, Curry, Kawhi, & Westbrook I can understand being ahead of Harden (though I'd put him over WB and Kawhi), but no argument can be made for AD or Paul (Westbrook's argument is weak). They're great players but they haven't led their teams anywhere, and at the top that's all you can use to separate these guys.
I would never take Curry over Harden. LeBron and Durant maybe. But I wouldnt ever take Curry over Harden and wouldn't take Leonard or Westbrook either. I get that Curry can shoot and "is the best 3 point shooter in NBA history" But that's really all he has and he only got that because of the Era of the NBA. I do think get people who put him in the top 5. I'm not even sure I would put Curry in my top 10. My opinion.
This precise scenario does NOT get brought up enough. The MEDIA never talks about this. But the PLAYERS think about it. It is why I think "among the players" guys like Westbrook & Harden get looked at more favorably. I think "among the players" they are dubious that Curry could drag a team of mediocre players like RW/JH/LeBron etc.
I remember someone here trying to argue that the media influences players feelings about players. If anything, history appears to have taught us that the opposite seems true. Players generally disdain the opinion of the media.
