I think you could make case since about 2007 Lebron James has been the best player in the NBA. His advanced stats have dropped and you can make the case he will lose the tittle soon. The contenders AD- The obvious choice. 30+ PER. KD - You could make a case he was better last year than lebron, but he hasn't won the ring yet. Harden - Took a huge leap last year and he is pretty young, and did take a team to WCF Curry - The MVP. Won a ring. RW - a mini version of Lebron. Blake Griffin - Has improved his game leaps and bounds. Long shots: Wiggins - Hyped to be the next Phenom Parker - Also Hyped as next best thing
if somehow another top 15 player ends up playing next to him it will be very hard for anyone to beat them. that is a big question mark though.
It's easily AD, but as we saw last night, having the best player in the league doesn't mean you'll win anything.
curry the best shooter ever? you may have a case there. but mvp? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Most_Valuable_Player_Award looking at the list, he's clearly one of the weaker winners - if not the weakest. producer/director mr. silver must come up with better script for the annual drama in the future.
It's hard to choose between Davis and Durant. Durant is better offensively. In fact, Durant is probably the best offensive player when healthy. He's not a Curry level of shooter, but he's really really good. Last 4 years shot 39% or higher from 3 every year, on a decent number of attempts. But Davis is obviously the better defender. Still, it's increasingly a backcourt league, and while AD can defend across all positions, I'd probably still prefer KD defending Steph Curry on a PnR switch than AD. I'd rather have AD everywhere else defensively, but that wing/3point defense has become so important. So I vote KD. Assuming health. Category 1 = Lebron, Durant, AD Category 2 = Curry. He gets this category on his own, considering he just won the MVP, he just won the title, and his shooting is so so amazing and unique that it opens up everything else for that team. But not a great defender, and such cohesion, chemistry and injury luck with that team. Curry could drop easily. Category 3 = Harden. He gets this category on his own because he took his injury depleted team to the WCF. I think CP3 and Blake skill wise are up there with James, but you can only choke so many times. James needs to become 5%-15% better shooter. Offensively, that's all I'd work on. It seems crazy to say when you look at his stats... but we're talking about the best of the best. He shot 37.5% from three this year, which is certainly very very solid... Durant has been at 39% or higher consistently, Curry is 45%, Chris Paul was at 40%. Again, this is nitpicking, but you can tell he knows sometimes his shot just isn't quite where he wants it, and that has hurt his game every 5th game or so in the playoffs, where he isn't always getting the calls he wants. Category 4 - CP3, Blake, Westbrook, maybe some others.
^^ KD is certainly up there. but to me the difference is we've seen his best (he can maintain level for many yrs), while AD still has a lotta room to improve imo.
voting aside, this is a good list of players for the next era of the NBA, assuming AD and KD dont continue to have health problems
True, and the Durant injury is a bit of a question mark. But if I'm choosing for the next 2-3 years, and assume Durant is healthy, he's my #2.
KD (if healthy) and AD are in a class of their own, either could legitimately be the "next best player".....though it's a lot more likely that it's AD because KD has quite a bit of wear and tear on him and I think he'll struggle to stay healthy. Tier 2 is guys like Harden, Griffin, and Westbrick. They are really good but all have flaws that keep them out of the top tier. Tier 3 is Curry who is basically Kevin Martin with better handles and passing.
lol @ putting k-mart in the same sentence w/ curry like that. did you mean the same kevin martin who used to play here in houston? so shaq is basically another dj with better scoring?
Yup, that Kevin Martin. Super quick shot, 3 point specialist. Again, give Martin better handles and passing and you have Curry. If only we had thought to send waves of illegal screens at Martin, imagine what he could have done?
Anthony Davis easily. The Brow will get a quadruple double sooner rather than later and become the 5th player in NBA history to do so
Putting the horse before the cart. AD has the talent and the opportunity, but I can count on one hand how many times he totally took over a game (regular or postseason). The "best player alive" or even MVP leap is HUGE
Y'all are crazy. It's a healthy KD for me. AD may be the first player you take in a draft, the best option to build around, but he cant put a team on his shoulders and will them to victory right now the way KD can. That ability only comes with experience. You can count on Durant to score or find a way to win with everything on the line... Davis doesn't have the experience yet. Sure he's a mismatch for most defenders but he still doesn't have the offensive polish. He's not calm in crunch situations. He's not demanding the ball relentlessly. He's not an overwhelming offensive force when in crunchtime. He's not a closer. Not consistently anyways. Not yet.
