Denver in 5 or sweep

[Phoenix]

Well duh, Jokic is obviously on that level. It's not like I said that AD is the best player in the league and it's not close. You could argue for Jokic or Giannis or Embiid or Curry as well, depending on your bias and what you value most.

Well duh, but you said AD is arguably the best in the league. If he was 1) reliable health-wise and 2) consistent enough game to game, maybe he's in the conversation. But he's neither of those things so no, it isn't arguable. Is Joker 'arguably' the best in the series, or definitively? Because if you feel its the latter, than your sentiments on AD are negated.

[ImKobe]

Well duh, but you said AD is arguably the best in the league. If he was 1) reliable health-wise and 2) consistent enough game to game, it would be arguable. But he's neither of those things so no, it isn't arguable.

AD has missed 3 games since returning from injury (jan 25th).

He is arguably the best player in the league when healthy, which he is right now.

[Phoenix]

AD has missed 3 games since returning from injury (jan 25th).

He is arguably the best player in the league when healthy, which he is right now.

No he isn't, even when healthy. Is Joker 'definitely' or 'arguably' better than AD at the moment?

[SouBeachTalents]

Jokic is better than AD. It is what it is.

[ImKobe]

[/B]

No he isn't, even when healthy.

That's your opinion. Haters say he's not consistent enough yet he's a monster on defense damn near any game and it far outweighs the 5 or 10 more points he could have scored if the team actually needed him to be the focal point on offense all the time. It's like saying Tim Duncan wasn't consistent enough because he didn't try to score 30 every game. AD can be mediocre to bad on offense and still have a great game, which is something you can't say about Jokic or Curry.

[Phoenix]

Jokic is better than AD. It is what it is.

As is Embiid and Giannis. Now could AD on any given day match or outplay those guys in a game? Sure, he has that level of ability. But 'best in the league' typically takes how one performs game to game, week to week, month to month into account and he doesn't have an argument over those guys on that front. Hell, if someone walked off an alien ship and was exposed to basketball for the first time 2 weeks ago, he/she/they might have caught Booker playing out of his mind and coming to the conclusion 'WOW, that guy must be the best player?!' But that's not how it works.

[Phoenix]

That's your opinion. Haters say he's not consistent enough yet he's a monster on defense damn near any game and it far outweighs the 5 or 10 more points he could have scored if the team actually needed him to be the focal point on offense all the time. It's like saying Tim Duncan wasn't consistent enough because he didn't try to score 30 every game. AD can be mediocre to bad on offense and still have a great game, which is something you can't say about Jokic or Curry.

Thanks, I wouldn't have know that otherwise. Well now that we've established that we're throwing our opinions out there, my opinion is you hype him for the same reason I've you hype Kyrie, and it has nothing to do with AD or Kyrie.

In my opinion, he's not better than Giannis, Joker, and Emibiid. He can't carry a team over the course of a season like the first two especially, regardless of what specific skill by skill edges he may have over one or the other. Now could he go batshit over a series and be a two way monster? Absolutely. Doesn't make him 'arguably' the best player. Unless you're making the case that you'd take him for a season over those guys. Because if you wouldn't, then.....

[ImKobe]

Thanks, I wouldn't have know that otherwise. Well now that we've established that we're throwing our opinions out there, my opinion is you hype him for the same reason I've you hype Kyrie, and it has nothing to do with AD or Kyrie.

In my opinion, he's not better than Giannis, Joker, and Emibiid. He can't carry a team over the course of a season like the first two especially, regardless of what specific skill by skill edges he may have over one or the other. Now could he go batshit over a series and be a two way monster? Absolutely. Doesn't make him 'arguably' the best player, though.

Tim Duncan was never even arguably the best player in the game because he wasn't consistent enough at scoring points by your logic.

[SouBeachTalents]

As is Embiid and Giannis. Now could AD on any given day match or outplay those guys in a game? Sure, he has that level of ability. But 'best in the league' typically takes how one performs game to game, week to week, month to month into account and he doesn't have an argument over those guys on that front. Hell, if someone walked off an alien ship and was exposed to basketball for the first time 2 weeks ago, he/she/they might have caught Booker playing out of his mind and coming to the conclusion 'WOW, that guy must be the best player?!' But that's not how it works.

Bottomline is those 3 bigs you mentioned don’t have the luxury of scoring less than 20 points on numerous occasions and still have their team win multiple playoff series. He tried to equate it to Duncan which feels disingenuous, Duncan despite sacrificing his attempts for the sake of the team was still the Spurs leading scorer for 4 titles, and 22 ppg in 2005-2007 does not equal 22 ppg today.

[Phoenix]

Tim Duncan was never even arguably the best player in the game because he wasn't consistent enough at scoring points by your logic.

I haven't made a single point about scoring so no, that's not my logic.

[Phoenix]

Bottomline is those 3 bigs you mentioned don’t have the luxury of scoring less than 20 points on numerous occasions and still have their team win multiple playoff series. He tried to equate it to Duncan which feels disingenuous, Duncan despite sacrificing his attempts for the sake of the team was still the Spurs leading scorer for 4 titles, and 22 ppg in 2005-2007 does not equal 22 ppg today.

In 2020 AD averaged 26ppg on a team that averaged 113ppg. In 2002, what's recognized as a very tough defensive enviroment with repressed scoring, Duncan dropped 25.5(26 rounded) on a team averaging 97( granted he was playing higher minutes, and we all know AD would fold like an accordian if asked to play 40mpg). Now, when he's firing on all cylinders I do think AD is a more explosive scorer, but as you said....

[ImKobe]

Bottomline is those 3 bigs you mentioned don’t have the luxury of scoring less than 20 points on numerous occasions and still have their team win multiple playoff series. He tried to equate it to Duncan which feels disingenuous, Duncan despite sacrificing his attempts for the sake of the team was still the Spurs leading scorer for 4 titles, and 22 ppg in 2005-2007 does not equal 22 ppg today.

It's just stupid to use his recent scoring numbers as the reason why he can't be arguably the best player in the league when he's been an efficient high-volume scorer almost his entire career. Even this season he averaged 26 ppg on on ~63%TS with the injuries and all the games he left early in, but post-ASB he's been healthy and pretty damn consistent on defense with great scoring stretches when they've needed it.

[Phoenix]

It's just stupid to use his recent scoring numbers as the reason why he can't be arguably the best player in the league when he's been an efficient high-volume scorer almost his entire career. Even this season he averaged 26 ppg on on ~63%TS with the injuries and all the games he left early in, but post-ASB he's been healthy and pretty damn consistent on defense with great scoring stretches when they've needed it.

Let's cut to the chase of what I said earlier: Over the course of a season, RIGHT NOW, are you taking AD over Giannis/Joker/Embiid? If you believe AD is 'arguably' the best player and you're likely to get the best team result with him if all things are equal, then your answer can only be 'yes'. We can beat around the bush on all the other back and forth, but that's a fairly easy question to answer.

[ImKobe]

In 2020 AD averaged 26ppg on a team that averaged 113ppg. In 2002, what's recognized as a very tough defensive enviroment with repressed scoring, Duncan dropped 25.5(26 rounded) on a team averaging 97( granted he was playing higher minutes, and we all know AD would fold like an accordian if asked to play 40mpg). Now, when he's firing on all cylinders I do think AD is a more explosive scorer, but as you said....

Ok, so you ignore the difference in pace when mentioning Duncan's mpg.

They started cutting Duncan's minutes already at 26 years old (went from 39-40 to 36). He averaged just 34.8 mpg at 29, which is how old AD is right now, and AD played 34 mpg in the RS and 36 mpg in the POs and he has to move a lot more defensively than TD ever did.

[SouBeachTalents]

Let's cut to the chase of what I said earlier: Over the course of a season, RIGHT NOW, are you taking AD over Giannis/Joker/Embiid? If you believe AD is 'arguably' the best player and you're likely to get the best team result with him if all things are equal, then your answer can only be 'yes'. We can beat around the bush on all the other back and forth, but that's a fairly easy question to answer.

You just have to have a huge bias to say yes to this AD’s great but he just does not have the track record those 3 do, period. His only notable success came with a still BITW caliber LeBron in the bubble he and others like to shit on lol.