Klay Thompson: I'm the best shooting guard in the NBA

it's laughable to say Klay had a better season as the stats aren't even close. Klay sometimes had better games and of course the better season as a team but not individually.

 

Of course you would.

 

All these speculation doesn't prove anything because basketball is a TEAM sports, it's not a collection of individual players.

Look at D Howard's, or TMac's Orlando team, those teams didn't have much individual talent, but went to the final. People said that DH/TMac would win big if they can team up with other good players, so they did. Look what happened with them.

It takes a TEAM to win big in NBA, but a collection of good individual players doesn't equals a good team.

 

I don't care what the naysayers say - even if he wasn't as good as 14-15, Harden was the best SG in the league by nearly every measurable metric. The competition isn't particularly stiff; Butler (down year), Thompson (overrated defender on a legendary team), Middleton (up and coming), Wade (declining, no longer a good defender) but Harden is clearly the best of that bunch.

 

Harden can still improve, but I think he has to first mature both on and off the court. He has to make some sacrifice to his stats for the betterment of the team. So what if he only averages 22-23 points a game if he plays defense and share the ball so his teammates can get into a flow/rhythm. There is no flow/rhythm to team when you have 1 guy that hold and dribble the ball for 16-20 seconds. Make himself useful when you doesn't have the ball..set a screen for your teammates, cut(get easy buckets), or just move around and make his defender play defense...HONESTLY, WHO CAN CREATE FOR HARDEN WHEN HE JUST STANDS/WAITS AT 3 FEET BEYOND THE 3PT LINE?

 

^LOL...Swapped Harden with Klay on GSW we would be seeing OKC vs Cleveland in the Finals right now.

 

You are one of the more knowledgeable posters..respect.

 

Wrong. Harden wouldn't have disappeared like Klay did for 5 games.

 

^SMH..keep telling yourself that if it makes you happy. Sir, who would Harden guard on OKC?

 

Harden may drop 26-30 points, rest on defense and lose game 5. Stat padding 101

 

lose in 5 games*

 

Andre Roberson

 

Then who would Curry guard? Exactly my point, OKC WILL BEAT GSW if Klay and Harden were to swap.

 

Harden carries the full offensive load on the Rockets. He wouldn't have to do the same on the Warriors. He would a way better and efficient Harden in OKC that did defended.

 

I feel like Harden has a much better chance defending OKC than GSW.

Is Harden/Curry as good defensively as Klay/Curry? Of course not. But as many have pointed out, Klay also disappeared for much of that series and is an overrated defender, except on ball.

GSW defense works because of great schemes, the ability to switch, and overall players with length and athleticism.

Harden could never be Klay defensively. But against OKC, don't think it would be quite as big a deal. OKC wasn't running fluid offense where James would be required to chase someone around the court. It's pick and roll isolation stuff, where James's shortcomings might be at least a little mitigated by the fact that he wouldn't be completely overmatched switching onto Durant, Roberson, etc.

The big issue would be James trying to guard Westbrook, which would not end well. But then, it didn't end well for Klay for 4 games, and then only did as much because of Russ as anything. The best way to defend Westbrook is to let him be a super high usage player, lol.

 

What makes GSW deadly is Klay and Steph coming off screens and catching and shooting. Can Harden do that? Harden's lazy ass would just STAND 3 FEET BEYOND THE 3PT LINE and kill the flow of GSW's offense. Harden's OKC defense was overrated by his contract year.

Harden is very good player, like I said earlier he has to mature and MAKE sacrifices for the team to win. Yes, even stars have to make sacrifices.

 

The Warriors wouldn't share the ball like they do if Harden was on their team. While probably a better individual player, he would most likely make them a little worse.

 

I don't know why it's so hard for people to understand this, the collection of better individual talent doesn't mean a better team.

There are many teams with better overall individual talent than the Warriors in the history of NBA, but only two teams have every won 70+ games.

The #1 option for most of GSW's plays is to get Curry/Thompson open for 3, be it ball movement, or player movement, that's how they build their team around. You can argue that L James, or Harden are better players than Thompson, but they cannot do what Thompson is doing, which is what GSW needs to be the greatest regular season team ever, and on its way to win 2nd title in a row.

If you put L. James, or Harden, or other star players in Thompson's place, the Warriors will be a total different team, the result will be just speculation.

The only player I see to make GSW better is to replace Thompson with KD, who can do everything Thompson is doing & better, and with better rebounding. Or if they can add someone who can provide 20+ minutes a game as the backup for Green & Bogut, that's the only weakness they have.

 

Could be the stupidest post ever written, klay even with the good game 6 overall sucked in the series

 

Which is more stupid? Klay as the lead man outplayed James in the first round. Klay doesn't kill the flow of offenses and plays D.

Klay shot .406 in the OKC series sans game 6.
Harden shot .410 in first round and .376 sans game 5.

Offense is the only thing Harden can be compared to Klay, and even in offense, Harden will fall way short in the context of GS's team play. Even with his fts and drawn fouls, that cannot compensate for the team play spirit of the championship team.

The players constantly remind each other about sharing the ball and playing for each other in defense etc. I never heard that once from James, and dunno how he'll fit in there. He is for sure far less of a chemistry player than Klay is.

It is pretty clear that Klay makes GS much better than James potentially would.

Can you argue with the results? No Super teams ever assembled even come close to what GS has achieved. That's cos Superstars still have to share the ball and play D in order to win. Harden is the last guy we can think of.