Please rank these players . . .

[Rock Strongo]

disregarding salary and length of contract. i.e. you have them for one year and you have yet to acquire any other players for your team.

Jimmy Butler
Kyrie Irving
Paul George
Isaiah Thomas

george
irving
butler
thomas (if only he were 6'3)

 

[tlance]

disregarding salary and length of contract. i.e. you have them for one year and you have yet to acquire any other players for your team.

Jimmy Butler
Kyrie Irving
Paul George
Isaiah Thomas

Pretty easy, IMO.

1. Butler
2. George

sizeable gap

3. Kyrie
4. Thomas

 

[tlance]

Player Comparison Finder: Jimmy Butler vs. James Harden | Basketball-Reference.com

Harden is practically better or they are at the same level in every statistic, offense and defense, than Butler aside from Offensive Rebounding. Harden is also much better than Butler when it comes to playoffs.

James Harden is a terrible defender. If you are basing your analysis on simple stats (blocks, steals, rebounds) than your analysis is non-existent. There are many bad defenders that get a lot of steals because they gamble.

 

[Yo Tee]

James Harden is a terrible defender. If you are basing your analysis on simple stats (blocks, steals, rebounds) than your analysis is non-existent. There are many bad defenders that get a lot of steals because they gamble.

Like I've said earlier, the defensive fundamentals don't exist in James Harden, but OVERALL, which is offensive and defensive, Harden is a clear choice for me over Butler. Which is why I would take IT over the other three because I can turnaround and pickup James Harden or Dwight Howard or Rudy Gobert of DeAndre Jordan or Hassan Whiteside for the defensive side of the ball.

 

[tlance]

Like I've said earlier, the defensive fundamentals don't exist in James Harden, but OVERALL, which is offensive and defensive, Harden is a clear choice for me over Butler. Which is why I would take IT over the other three because I can turnaround and pickup James Harden or Dwight Howard or Rudy Gobert of DeAndre Jordan or Hassan Whiteside for the defensive side of the ball.

Nobody is saying Butler is better than Harden overall.

But, if you believe that Harden is anything but a bad defender, you deserve to be mocked and ridiculed.

If your opinion is that defense doesn't matter, then I strongly disagree, but I won't argue.

Lastly, good luck "picking up" one of those players. They aren't just available for nothing. Like others have said, the rim protectors you mentioned are less valuable today than ever before because of the way the 3 point line is used. You can't just cover up bad perimeter defenders with a Rudy Gobert like you could in the 80s.

 

[CitySushi]

Like I've said earlier, the defensive fundamentals don't exist in James Harden, but OVERALL, which is offensive and defensive, Harden is a clear choice for me over Butler. Which is why I would take IT over the other three because I can turnaround and pickup James Harden or Dwight Howard or Rudy Gobert of DeAndre Jordan or Hassan Whiteside for the defensive side of the ball.

I would take IT too over PG and Butler, if I could pick up Lebron, KD, Kawhi and Draymond Green too.

 

[CitySushi]

Nobody is saying Butler is better than Harden overall.

But, if you believe that Harden is anything but a bad defender, you deserve to be mocked and ridiculed.

If your opinion is that defense doesn't matter, then I strongly disagree, but I won't argue.

Lastly, good luck "picking up" one of those players. They aren't just available for nothing. Like others have said, the rim protectors you mentioned are less valuable today than ever before because of the way the 3 point line is used. You can't just cover up bad perimeter defenders with a Rudy Gobert like you could in the 80s.

I'll take IT over PG if I surround him with Hakeem, Rodman, Lebron, and Jordan.

 

[tlance]

I'll take IT over PG if I surround him with Hakeem, Rodman, Lebron, and Jordan.

Agreed. Me too.

 

[Yo Tee]

Nobody is saying Butler is better than Harden overall.

But, if you believe that Harden is anything but a bad defender, you deserve to be mocked and ridiculed.

If your opinion is that defense doesn't matter, then I strongly disagree, but I won't argue.

Lastly, good luck "picking up" one of those players. They aren't just available for nothing. Like others have said, the rim protectors you mentioned are less valuable today than ever before because of the way the 3 point line is used. You can't just cover up bad perimeter defenders with a Rudy Gobert like you could in the 80s.

I never said Harden was a good defender, I am just making the comparison, statistically, that Butler and Harden put up the same stats, so I can get someone LIKE Harden or someone else instead of choosing Butler over Isaiah Thomas.

This question is essentially, what three players can your team do without. In my opinion, my team can do without Butler, Irving and George because I can pick up 4 other guys that can put up the same statistics and level of play as those can defensively. I can piece together a squad that can be just as good as the defense that Jimmy Butler can bring. I don't think I can piece together a squad that will match the shooting capabilities of a guy like Isaiah Thomas unless I'm guaranteed to be able to sign LeBron James or Steph Curry of Klay Thompson. If I choose Butler over Thomas, once again in my opinion, what I would be losing in offensive production doesn't equal what I would be gaining in defensive play in comparison to Isaiah Thomas.

Thomas is a better offensive player than Butler is a better defensive player...if that sentence makes any sense lol

 

[tlance]

I never said Harden was a good defender, I am just making the comparison, statistically, that Butler and Harden put up the same stats, so I can get someone LIKE Harden or someone else instead of choosing Butler over Isaiah Thomas.

This question is essentially, what three players can your team do without. In my opinion, my team can do without Butler, Irving and George because I can pick up 4 other guys that can put up the same statistics and level of play as those can defensively. I can piece together a squad that can be just as good as the defense that Jimmy Butler can bring. I don't think I can piece together a squad that will match the shooting capabilities of a guy like Isaiah Thomas unless I'm guaranteed to be able to sign LeBron James or Steph Curry of Klay Thompson. If I choose Butler over Thomas, once again in my opinion, what I would be losing in offensive production doesn't equal what I would be gaining in defensive play in comparison to Isaiah Thomas.

Thomas is a better offensive player than Butler is a better defensive player...if that sentence makes any sense lol

You can't piece together squads like that.

You can find specialists. Sure. But, it you have a team full of defensive specialists, your offense won't be any good regardless of who your offensive ace is. See what happened in OKC if you don't believe me.

That is why two way players like Butler and George are so valuable. They are good on both sides of the ball.

 

[trojanfan12]

The point is, there are arguably better options for defense than George and Butler.

Not really. Especially not with the combination of offense and defense that both bring.

 

[Yo Tee]

You can't piece together squads like that.

You can find specialists. Sure. But, it you have a team full of defensive specialists, your offense won't be any good regardless of who your offensive ace is. See what happened in OKC if you don't believe me.

That is why two way players like Butler and George are so valuable. They are good on both sides of the ball.

You can piece together a squad like that, NBA teams do it all the time by signing guys like Dwight Howard who is NOT as good offensively as he isn't defensively, Marco Bellineli who isn't as good defensively as he is offensively. You have to piece together your team and cancel out one players weakness with another players strenghts.

 

[Yo Tee]

Not really. Especially not with the combination of offense and defense that both bring.

I disagree.

 

[Taddy Mason]

disregarding salary and length of contract. i.e. you have them for one year and you have yet to acquire any other players for your team.

Jimmy Butler
Kyrie Irving
Paul George
Isaiah Thomas

Butler
George
Irving
Thomas

They can score, not all of them can defend.

 

[tlance]

You can piece together a squad like that, NBA teams do it all the time by signing guys like Dwight Howard who is NOT as good offensively as he isn't defensively, Marco Bellineli who isn't as good defensively as he is offensively. You have to piece together your team and cancel out one players weakness with another players strenghts.

Dwight Howard sucks at this point. He is no longer the defensive anchor he used to be. That is why he has been available the last 2 off season. He isn't that valuable and every team knows it.

If your pieced together squad is relying on IT and Dwight as its foundational players, you aren't making it out of the first round. Dwight and IT actually fit together pretty poorly too. IT thrived in Boston because their bigs could all shoot and those driving lanes were wide open at all times.

 

[Taddy Mason]

Dwight Howard sucks at this point. He is no longer the defensive anchor he used to be. That is why he has been available the last 2 off season. He isn't that valuable and every team knows it.

If your pieced together squad is relying on IT and Dwight as its foundational players, you aren't making it out of the first round. Dwight and IT actually fit together pretty poorly too. IT thrived in Boston because their bigs could all shoot and those driving lanes were wide open at all times.

I only read the first four posts and the last four posts, Dwight has been a cancer. The fact the Hawks voted him best teammate this past year makes me laugh.

 

[trojanfan12]

Dwight Howard sucks at this point. He is no longer the defensive anchor he used to be. That is why he has been available the last 2 off season. He isn't that valuable and every team knows it.

If your pieced together squad is relying on IT and Dwight as its foundational players, you aren't making it out of the first round. Dwight and IT actually fit together pretty poorly too. IT thrived in Boston because their bigs could all shoot and those driving lanes were wide open at all times.

Agree. At this point, any team signing Dwight is signing him based on who he used to be and the potential he used to have, but never fulfilled.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

disregarding salary and length of contract. i.e. you have them for one year and you have yet to acquire any other players for your team.

Jimmy Butler
Kyrie Irving
Paul George
Isaiah Thomas

George
Butler
Kyrie
I.T.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

yah...

according to Kyrie dinosaurs never existed, and aliens live among us like men in black....

He def beats to the sound of his own drum.

 

[Ickey Shuffle]

disregarding salary and length of contract. i.e. you have them for one year and you have yet to acquire any other players for your team.

Jimmy Butler
Kyrie Irving
Paul George
Isaiah Thomas

1. Butler
2. George
3. Kyrie
4. Thomas

Gotta have defense as my leader.