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Is Steph Curry a top 3 PG of all time?

flyerhawk

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2 time league MVP. 3 time NBA champ. Arguably the greatest shooter of all time.

Magic is still the king. And Oscar Robertson is probably No. 2. But is there a PG you would put above Steph after that? Nash? Stockton?
 

CitySushi

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2 time league MVP. 3 time NBA champ. Arguably the greatest shooter of all time.

Magic is still the king. And Oscar Robertson is probably No. 2. But is there a PG you would put above Steph after that? Nash? Stockton?

At this point no, but he's on a solid trajectory to be considered there one day. I think right now I'd have him around 5-7. Still think guys like West, Kidd, Payton, Isiah all should be considered ahead of him due to their distinguished careers. The MVP awards help Curry's case, but he'll need 5-7 more years of dominance/titles/current pace to be considered at 3.
 

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He's a POINT guard???
 

Shanemansj13

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1. Magic
2. Oscar
3. West
4. Stockton
5. Payton
6. Isiah

You can kind of flip some of those around but right now, 7 or so. Could he be in the top 5 someday, probably will be but all those guys at the top or most were great defenders and some of the best passers all-time. No doubt he is the best shooter of all-time, pure point guard he will never be the best
 

OregonDucks

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Good question really. He's probably the best scoring PG, but as far as TRUE PG's I would think Stockton and Payton are better.
 

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No doubt he is the best shooter of all-time, pure point guard he will never be the best

Good question really. He's probably the best scoring PG, but as far as TRUE PG's I would think Stockton and Payton are better.

That's what I'm thinking, he doesn't fit the mold of pure PG...but Magic Johnson really didn't, either.
 

flyerhawk

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That's what I'm thinking, he doesn't fit the mold of pure PG...but Magic Johnson really didn't, either.

He fits the mold of PG for the Warriors pretty much to a tee.
 

CitySushi

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Right now Curry has a higher career APG than Jerry West and Gary Payton. It's hard to say what a "pure PG" is. Curry has arguably revolutionized the position. All the PG's you will see come after him will not be consider "pure PG's". At least not anytime soon. All the guards that are coming out of the NBA have a similar skill set to Curry or are trying to emulate it.

The Pure PG argument is a weak one because basketball is always evolving. Positional needs and skill sets are changing. Is Dirk a pure PF? He didn't bang down low. He didn't rebound or defend at a high level. He didn't set a ton of screens. But he's clearly one of the best PF's to ever have lived.
 

OregonDucks

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Right now Curry has a higher career APG than Jerry West and Gary Payton. It's hard to say what a "pure PG" is. Curry has arguably revolutionized the position. All the PG's you will see come after him will not be consider "pure PG's". At least not anytime soon. All the guards that are coming out of the NBA have a similar skill set to Curry or are trying to emulate it.

The Pure PG argument is a weak one because basketball is always evolving. Positional needs and skill sets are changing. Is Dirk a pure PF? He didn't bang down low. He didn't rebound or defend at a high level. He didn't set a ton of screens. But he's clearly one of the best PF's to ever have lived.

You're right about positions changing. Look at the Centers now in the NBA. They shoot 3's and they hardly post up and do anything physical down low. The "stretch 5"
 

flyerhawk

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Right now Curry has a higher career APG than Jerry West and Gary Payton. It's hard to say what a "pure PG" is. Curry has arguably revolutionized the position. All the PG's you will see come after him will not be consider "pure PG's". At least not anytime soon. All the guards that are coming out of the NBA have a similar skill set to Curry or are trying to emulate it.

The Pure PG argument is a weak one because basketball is always evolving. Positional needs and skill sets are changing. Is Dirk a pure PF? He didn't bang down low. He didn't rebound or defend at a high level. He didn't set a ton of screens. But he's clearly one of the best PF's to ever have lived.

Pretty much this.

There is no such thing as a pure anything really because positional requirements change so much as the game changes.

There is no question that Steph is the PG for the Warriors. And he is one of the top 5 or 6 players in the league. However his game is different than past PGs because his passing doesn't come off drives to the hole, normally, but getting defenders to commit to him on the perimeter to prevent the 3 which opens up the passing lanes.
 

flyerhawk

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You're right about positions changing. Look at the Centers now in the NBA. They shoot 3's and they hardly post up and do anything physical down low. The "stretch 5"

And it isn't just the stretch 5s that play that way. Embiid is a classic center is body type but no one would confuse his game with Shaq's.
 

Wamu

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Right now Curry has a higher career APG than Jerry West and Gary Payton. It's hard to say what a "pure PG" is. Curry has arguably revolutionized the position. All the PG's you will see come after him will not be consider "pure PG's". At least not anytime soon. All the guards that are coming out of the NBA have a similar skill set to Curry or are trying to emulate it.

The Pure PG argument is a weak one because basketball is always evolving. Positional needs and skill sets are changing. Is Dirk a pure PF? He didn't bang down low. He didn't rebound or defend at a high level. He didn't set a ton of screens. But he's clearly one of the best PF's to ever have lived.


I don't think the pure PG argument is weak. Steph's career average is 6.8. Magic's is an all time best 11.2. It really comes down to an individual choice. Steph's the best shooting PG of all time. For me I'd rather have Magic as my starting PG. But you can't go wrong w/ either selection. I might be a bit biased though. While I have never liked the Lakers I loved watching Magic play.
 

CitySushi

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Pretty much this.

There is no such thing as a pure anything really because positional requirements change so much as the game changes.

There is no question that Steph is the PG for the Warriors. And he is one of the top 5 or 6 players in the league. However his game is different than past PGs because his passing doesn't come off drives to the hole, normally, but getting defenders to commit to him on the perimeter to prevent the 3 which opens up the passing lanes.

Actually this is where the Warriors hurt Steph's reputation. Go back and look at the two years under Mark Jackson, versus when the change to Steve Kerr happened. Under Mark Jackson those were his two highest assist years and it was because Jackson ran a pick and roll offense letting Curry be the facilitator. In that role, he showed he was not only a capable play maker but an excellent one.

The change happened under Steve Kerr where he doesn't run ANY pick and rolls for Steph. That actually makes Steph's assists even more valuable because he gets them within the flow of an offense instead of being able to try to make a play. Because Steve Kerr's offense doesn't utilize Steph as the primary handler, doesn't mean it's not outside of his capability.
 

CitySushi

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I don't think the pure PG argument is weak. Steph's career average is 6.8. Magic's is an all time best 11.2. It really comes down to an individual choice. Steph's the best shooting PG of all time. For me I'd rather have Magic as my starting PG. But you can't go wrong w/ either selection. I might be a bit biased though. While I have never liked the Lakers I loved watching Magic play.

I get what you're saying, but you're comparing him to Magic who's a top 3-5 guy to ever play the game. He's obviously not a great comparison here, nor is Oscar. Those two are clearly the best 2 at their position.

But the argument comes is Curry better than Stockton at their peaks? As a player, in my mind no question. But then if you alter the argument to "Pure PG", well that's a different conversation isn't it? Because you have decide what a Pure PG is. You then have to set parameters for qualifying. It just murks up the whole situation.
 

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Right now Curry has a higher career APG than Jerry West and Gary Payton. It's hard to say what a "pure PG" is. Curry has arguably revolutionized the position. All the PG's you will see come after him will not be consider "pure PG's". At least not anytime soon. All the guards that are coming out of the NBA have a similar skill set to Curry or are trying to emulate it.

The Pure PG argument is a weak one because basketball is always evolving. Positional needs and skill sets are changing. Is Dirk a pure PF? He didn't bang down low. He didn't rebound or defend at a high level. He didn't set a ton of screens. But he's clearly one of the best PF's to ever have lived.

Then why do we keep using the same nomenclature?

If Dirk didn't post up, defend, or rebound, how can he legitimately be called a PF? He's an over-sized 3-Guard when you break it down like that.

Trust me, as the undisputed #1 Golden State fan in the world, I loves me some Curry, but I don't call him a 1/PG
 

douggie

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I think Irving is better as a PG(passer, ball-handler, distributor), but Curry is the best shooter I've ever seen!
 

CitySushi

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Then why do we keep using the same nomenclature?

If Dirk didn't post up, defend, or rebound, how can he legitimately be called a PF? He's an over-sized 3-Guard when you break it down like that.

Trust me, as the undisputed #1 Golden State fan in the world, I loves me some Curry, but I don't call him a 1/PG

The positions are really outdated because in previous era's there were clear cut criteria which made you into your position. These days, lots of players are interchangeable.

If you're going to classify Steph as a 2, virtually 1/2 of the PG's in the NBA would lose their title as well. Any guard who's primary job is to score the ball would be eliminated. Dame, Russ, Kyrie, IT, Lowry, Kemba, Holiday, etc, would all lose their titles as a PG.
 

flyerhawk

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Then why do we keep using the same nomenclature?

If Dirk didn't post up, defend, or rebound, how can he legitimately be called a PF? He's an over-sized 3-Guard when you break it down like that.

Trust me, as the undisputed #1 Golden State fan in the world, I loves me some Curry, but I don't call him a 1/PG

What would you call Curry if not a PG? A SG?
 

Mecca

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Not a knock on Steph, he's the greatest shooter in history.

But, no....

Because he's not a traditional pg.

Ffs.....he doesn't even lead his own team in assists.
 
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