Is Steph Curry still a top 5 player in the league?

[DorianRo]

Harden can get to the rim and FT line and draw fouls like its nothing. The only difference is, Harden now in his prime doesn't have stacked supporting help like Curry.

The game comes easier when you got buttloads of help like Curry does. Harden doesn't have that

 

[CodeBreaker]

Harden can get to the rim and FT line and draw fouls like its nothing. The only difference is, Harden now in his prime doesn't have stacked supporting help like Curry.

The game comes easier when you got buttloads of help like Curry does. Harden doesn't have that

Harden doesn't have help?
Lol. You think Lou, Eric Gordon, Beverley, Nene, Ryan Anderson are scrubs? Those guys actually wanted to win in that do or die game against the Spurs, but Harden just choked the fvck out.

 

[Great Dayne]

Harden doesn't have help?
Lol. You think Lou, Eric Gordon, Beverley, Nene, Ryan Anderson are scrubs? Those guys actually wanted to win in that do or die game against the Spurs, but Harden just choked the fvck out.

They're not scrubs but they're not all star caliber players either.

 

[LogicMan]

LOL, wut?

Now Sushi, we dont need to agree on everything...................

 

[Heatles84]

Harden can get to the rim and FT line and draw fouls like its nothing. The only difference is, Harden now in his prime doesn't have stacked supporting help like Curry.

The game comes easier when you got buttloads of help like Curry does. Harden doesn't have that

Harden was the primary reason the Thunder lost against the Heat in 2012. Then he was playing alongside Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka.

Curry's top 5. And he's better than Westbrook and Harden - both of whom are the one stars on there respective teams and bloat their stats.

The Thunder's offense allows Westbrook to grab rebounds as well as dominate the ball. He is a lazy defender and his steals come off jumping the passing lanes. But when it comes to on-the-ball and perimeter defense - he's no better than Curry. When Westbrook's athleticism escapes him, he's going to fall off a cliff, which with his size is going to come sooner than later.

Harden's even worst. He's probably the worst defending guard in the league by a wide margin. In the Rockets biggest game of the year, he didn't choke. Dude never even showed up. On top of that, Harden shattered the record for turnovers in a season.

All 3 are good guards, but Curry's the most well rounded of the bunch.

 

[HurricaneDij39]

Now Sushi, we dont need to agree on everything...................

Even though I would take Harden at this point, I could definitely see the argument for taking Curry over him. The one reason why I'd take Harden at this point is because he is bigger and could score in more ways.

However, one has to seriously consider the circumstances Westbrook. He was forced to take considerably more threes this season with the loss of Durant, which hindered his overall FG percentage. And he actually shot a career-high from three with more attempts.

Maybe this is the Jerry Stackhouse fan in me speaking, but I have no problem with a player forcing the issue when surrounded by mediocre role players and misfits. Stack had no choice but to take on a greater scoring burden for the 2000-01 Pistons after they had lost Grant Hill and Lindsey Hunter the prior summer.

Westbrook, obviously, has blown Stack out of the water with his performance this year. He's going to be the 2016-17 MVP and future hall-of-famer and you haters are just going to have to deal with it (looking at you, @tlance ).

 

[HurricaneDij39]

1. LeBron
2. Westbrook
3. Durant
4. Kawhi
5. Harden
6. Curry

 

[tlance]

Even though I would take Harden at this point, I could definitely see the argument for taking Curry over him. The one reason why I'd take Harden at this point is because he is bigger and could score in more ways.

However, one has to seriously consider the circumstances Westbrook. He was forced to take considerably more threes this season with the loss of Durant, which hindered his overall FG percentage. And he actually shot a career-high from three with more attempts.

Maybe this is the Jerry Stackhouse fan in me speaking, but I have no problem with a player forcing the issue when surrounded by mediocre role players and misfits. Stack had no choice but to take on a greater scoring burden for the 2000-01 Pistons after they had lost Grant Hill and Lindsey Hunter the prior summer.

Westbrook, obviously, has blown Stack out of the water with his performance this year. He's going to be the 2016-17 MVP and future hall-of-famer and you haters are just going to have to deal with it (looking at you, @tlance ).

LOL.

I am not a hater. I am realist. Westbrook is a future HOF player for sure. That does not make him better than any of the guys on your list above (except maybe Harden).

What he accomplished statistically was great and all. Ranking him ahead of KD and Kawhi fails to consider context. If Curry had a usage rate over 40% his stats (aside from rebounding) would be better than westbrook's. The smart posters on here are saying Curry is better then Russ. You are saying Russ is better than KD and Kawhi. That should tell you something.

It brings me back to last summer when people were adjusting their player rankings in anticipation of the stats Russ and Harden were about to post. Volume stats don't make them better players. Maybe Russ had to force, maybe he didn't. Bottom line though, that was always the knock on him when KD was in town also. The extreme volume wasn't there, but the issues were the same. Too many bad shots and sloppy TOs when forcing action.

Again, KD took a ton of heat to play with Steph because he knew it would be best for his career in the long run. Steph makes the game easy for teammates. Russ does not.

 

[tlance]

1. LeBron
2. Westbrook
3. Durant
4. Kawhi
5. Harden
6. Curry

1. LeBron
2. KD
3. Kawhi
4. Curry
5. Westbrook

The gap between 1-3 is as close as it has ever been, with 2 and 3 interchangeable depending on your outlook. The gap between 3 and 4 is really wide. This is where the list departs from elite 2 way players and finds offensive superstars lacking on the other end of the court.

 

[Kold]

Dude averaged 29, 9, and 9 in the Finals when Cleveland's entire defense was focused on him everytime he came off the pick and roll, and also while having to sacrifice touches to KD. Not only that, but he had a good season as well. He's top 5

 

[tlance]

Here is why you can't overreact to the stat lines when determining who the best player is.

There were many people last year who legitimately thought Curry was the best player in the league. Now, people are questioning whether or not he is top 5 and many want to vault Russ ahead of him. Curry is the exact same player he was last year. People overreacted to his stats and the Warriors' team success last year, just like some have overreacted to Russ' and Harden's seasons this year.

LeBron, KD and Kawhi are the 3 best players in the league, hands down.

 

[Heatles84]

Here is why you can't overreact to the stat lines when determining who the best player is.

There were many people last year who legitimately thought Curry was the best player in the league. Now, people are questioning whether or not he is top 5 and many want to vault Russ ahead of him. Curry is the exact same player he was last year. People overreacted to his stats and the Warriors' team success last year, just like some have overreacted to Russ' and Harden's seasons this year.

LeBron, KD and Kawhi are the 3 best players in the league, hands down.

Thing is, we all were having fun with Cavs fans when Curry won his second MVP (unanimous). Any smart poster would've realized though that Lebron's total skillset outweighed Curry's and that the latter was not the best player in the league. I go with KD then Kawhi as well in my order. But that's only because KD's defense has gotten significantly better in Oakland. In OKC he was an elite offensive player but average defender; while Kawhi is an elite defender and good offensive player. But those two are neck-in-neck.

 

[Heatles84]

1. LeBron
2. Westbrook
3. Durant
4. Kawhi
5. Harden
6. Curry

Westbrook better than Durant and Kawhi. Shows you're a complete dumbass.

 

[Vyle203]

Westbrook better than Durant and Kawhi. Shows you're a complete dumbass.

I don't think he is neccesarily better than Harden either.

 

[SteelersPride]

No

James
Durant
Leonard
Wall
Davis


all those players are better.

id toss in harden, westbrook is awesome but makes others around him worse

 

[SteelersPride]

Curry isn't better than Harden. ROFLMAO

lebrons in your head

thats definitely you and bron bron

 

[Heatles84]

I don't think he is neccesarily better than Harden either.

You could make that argument. Putting Westbrook ahead of KD AND Kawhi? Nah. You're an idiot if you honestly believe that he's better than either of those players.

 

[trojanfan12]

it was Durant during that collapse that let that team down far more than Russ.........

Exactly what series did you watch?

As during the last 3 games of that series, late in games, Westbrook went hero ball and was putting up crazy shots and making wild, out of control drives to the basket. He completely forgot that he had arguably the best pure scorer in the game on his team.

If you want to say that KD should have demanded the ball, that's a fair criticism. But it was Westbrook's hero ball that cost them that series. Not KD.

It's literally the reason he left. He's on a team with a guy who's trying to win the series by himself while seeing the opponent make an amazing comeback because they were playing the game the way it was meant to be played.

 

[trojanfan12]

Westbrook has as much physical ability as any player in the league, including KD and LeBron, but he is lacking on the mental side. I just do not think it is possible to lead a championship team in today's NBA without complete command of the mental game. Russ just makes too many mistakes.

^^^This^^^

Westbrook is essentially Kobe and MJ before they learned that you can't win a title by yourself. If Westbrook can learn that, he will be able to win at least 1 title and maybe more.

If he doesn't, he'll join the long list of great players who never got a ring.

 

[trojanfan12]

You knock Curry for his defense, well guess who is a worse defender than Curry?

Curry certainly isn't an elite defender, he's too small. However, he is a very good at team defense and he puts forth quite a bit of effort defensively.

Harden doesn't even try on defense.