What a sad, sad list vs years past & an example of this watered-down league.
Hard to argue KD at #3 these days because of the injuries.
Obviously a healthy Durant in the past would be #2, but no telling what player we see now.
Hard to argue your list at all Chop but here it goes...
All based on players being healthy again...
1. LeBron James
2. Kevin Durant
3.Russell Westbrook
4. James Harden
5. Anthony Davis
6. Stephen Curry
7. Chris Paul
8. Kobe Bryant
9. Blake Griffin
10. Dwight Howard
Hard to argue KD at #3 these days because of the injuries.
Obviously a healthy Durant in the past would be #2, but no telling what player we see now.
Hard to argue your list at all Chop but here it goes...
All based on players being healthy again...
1. LeBron James
2. Kevin Durant
3.Russell Westbrook
4. James Harden
5. Anthony Davis
6. Stephen Curry
7. Chris Paul
8. Kobe Bryant
9. Blake Griffin
10. Dwight Howard
Until he retires, can't walk, or another average player, he has to be there imo.
Not his fault he plays on a horrible team, has been injury-riddled lately, and getting older, yet still an all-around player.
Before he got hurt midway through season...
22.3 ppg
5.6 apg
5.7 rpg
1.3 stp
1)LeBron
2)Harden
3)Westbrook
4)Durant
Amazing that 2,3,4 were all drafted by the same team. Imagine OKC with the 3 of them healthy for years. Missed oppty at a dynasty
5)Curry
6)Davis
7)Griffin
8)Paul
9)Wall
10)Rose
Not a real C on the list and that's why the NBA is weaker than it's ever been. Shaq was the last dominant big man.
2)Harden
3)Westbrook
4)Durant
Amazing that 2,3,4 were all drafted by the same team. Imagine OKC with the 3 of them healthy for years. Missed oppty at a dynasty
5)Curry
6)Davis
7)Griffin
8)Paul
9)Wall
10)Rose
Not a real C on the list and that's why the NBA is weaker than it's ever been. Shaq was the last dominant big man.
Yep was thinking about that, and he might actually still believe to be in there.
Just hard to tell right now...
It's been 4-5 years I believe, but there was an article I posted somewhere, which basically predicted what we are now seeing in the NBA with a lack of true Superstars.
It also mentioned how about every so many years, a new great Center would come along, and how once Shaq was gone, that was it.
I don't really think a certain percentage of people are playing different sports over basketball, so it's baffling as to what's happening...
That's pretty solid. I'd just moveup Harden over CP3 and Curry, a little easier to build around and a little more durable, all 4 of those middle guards are close though. Healthy Paul George probably on the fringe of that, Tim Duncan just plays less minutes but is still up there and Aldridge I'd put just outside. Once you get past the top 10-15 players, it mostly comes down to a preference of what said team would need. 2 way players and guys who don't need the ball to be effective easier to fit into teams though.
Kobe is closer to top 80 than top 8, I'd take MJ with the Wizards over Kobe right now. He's pretty bad, putting up bulk stats on an awful team isn't that hard if you're gonna shoot 20x a game and you're so bad the other team isn't even D'ing up that hard. There are just tons of better players who can play both ends.
Kevin Love's a good player but people always rate guys like that too high. Just the way the game is played now, help D is more important than ever. If you can't switch or help well then you can really only be so valuable to your team.
Dwight Howard from '09-12 with Orlando was clearly a dominant big. Has had a lot of injuries since.
They had injuries but they were also loaded with talent. More so than perhaps any other team. Corey Brewer and Josh Smith would start for a lot of teams and Houston had them off the bench.
Harden is a great offensive player but he's still a liability on the defensive end.
The Rockets would have been tough in the playoffs with Beverley was around. Might have taken out the Warriors. PBev can take the best scoring guard of the opposing team since Harden needs to be on the worst of the 2. Without him the Rockets had to use Ariza for that job a bit and it messed up the defense. PBev and Ariza and Howard are all top-end defenders and you can mask Harden provided he's surrounded by all that talent. Without it he becomes a bit of a liability and in my list you get dinged for that.
Ultimately guys like Harden and Durant and Curry make the list anyway because they are so strong offensively, but they are not complete players. Same for Westbrook.
In my book you get dinged for that.
Nah, Harden carried a pretty weak team all year. His offensive #s were off the charts. Few guys would be able to carry that burden. Better defender than you think too. Nobody would categorize the Rockets as "loaded" with talent given Dwight's dropoff and health this year.
You might like watching Jimmy Butler play more than Kevin Durant or something, but on no planet is he a better basketball player. It might be a little subjective, but it ain't that subjective. All 30 GMs and all 30 coaches are taking KD over him.
You might like watching Jimmy Butler play more than Kevin Durant or something, but on no planet is he a better basketball player. It might be a little subjective, but it ain't that subjective. All 30 GMs and all 30 coaches are taking KD over him.
If Harden is so good why hasn't he won anything? Hell he was on the same team with KD and Westbrook (2 other guys that are insane scorers that don't play D) and they still didn't win. He's always been on loaded teams and has no rings. How do you explain that?
He's one of the great offensive players in the NBA but defense wins in the playoffs. He's still top 10 in my list but needs his teammates to be healthy on this Rockets team to win it all. They can't mask him defensively without Beverley which makes him a liability.
Why hasn't Jimmy Butler? Why hasn't Aldridge? Why hasn't John Wall?
Cmon that's a weak retort. Harden won more playoff series this year than Aldridge has in his career. He hasn't been on loaded teams with the Rockets. With OKC, they were all 22 years old and lost to the Heat in the finals after beating an SA team 4 straight. You're reaching.
Durant is better at basketball than Jimmy Butler and Lamarcus Aldridge man. You're probably the only person in the world who would think otherwise.
Nobody is taking those 2 over Harden or Durant.
Cmon that's a weak retort. Harden won more playoff series this year than Aldridge has in his career. He hasn't been on loaded teams with the Rockets. With OKC, they were all 22 years old and lost to the Heat in the finals after beating an SA team 4 straight. You're reaching.
Durant is better at basketball than Jimmy Butler and Lamarcus Aldridge man. You're probably the only person in the world who would think otherwise.
Nobody is taking those 2 over Harden or Durant.
You are aware they made the conference finals in the superior conference this year? If they couldn't "mask him defensively" they would've lost to the Clippers in rd 2 because they were 1 of the best offensive teams in the NBA. Also Harden not being a good defender is 2013-2014, it's common knowledge he was pretty solid this year despite having to carry an insane offensive workload. When your 2nd best player is Trevor Ariza for most of the year, your D tends to suffer.
