How good do you think Chet's talent is?

[John8204]

You really think Porzingis is the 4th or 5th best player on the team?

White's played every game this season correct? So yeah I would go Tatum than Brown than White then Porzingas

[3ba11]

He's already reached peak prime Pippen-caliber performance

[FultzNationRISE]

White's played every game this season correct? So yeah I would go Tatum than Brown than White then Porzingas

This is one of those cases where it’s okay to say there is no clear chronological ranking.

I mean if you do think it is concrete and clear, the separation from one guy to the next thats fine. But I believe you could make arguments for and against all of these guys as being the most important or least important guy.

The reality is theres no meaningful way to prove any order. One might be better in some situations and the other better in another. And they all need each other to succeed. It’s okay to say “theyre all important, theyre all at about the same level.” We dont have to always fall into the trap of forcing arbitrary rankings. “This guy is the batman, and this guy is the robin, this guy is third fiddle, that guy is fourth option.”

Teams can have multiple players of roughly equal value. We dont have to always separate them and assign a pecking order.

This has become an obsession in the sports world and fascinating how ingrained the urge to do it is.

[John8204]

This is one of those cases where it’s okay to say there is no clear chronological ranking.

I mean if you do think it is concrete and clear, the separation from one guy to the next thats fine. But I believe you could make arguments for and against all of these guys as being the most important or least important guy.

The reality is theres no meaningful way to prove any order. One might be better in some situations and the other better in another. And they all need each other to succeed. It’s okay to say “theyre all important, theyre all at about the same level.” We dont have to always fall into the trap of forcing arbitrary rankings. “This guy is the batman, and this guy is the robin, this guy is third fiddle, that guy is fourth option.”

Teams can have multiple players of roughly equal value. We dont have to always separate them and assign a pecking order.

This has become an obsession in the sports world and fascinating how ingrained the urge to do it is.

I don't disagree with anything you are saying here...but my underlying point for Porzingus he's never going be an All-Star or All-NBA again. He can't reach that level on the Celtics...Chet on the other hand has a higher ceiling he's going to make All-Star teams in the future...he;s going to have a Hall of Fame chance and establish a legacy. He's not getting to the Bosh/Anthony/Malone/Dirk level but he's got a better shot than Porzingus...who is basically the Celtic's Iggy.

[elementally morale]

Chet ain't like that. He ain't coming into Steph Currys team and taking the lead role away from him.

The way I saw that defenses were focusing on Curry so much that it made Durant's job fairly easy in comparison with hit situation before and after his Warriors stop. Not saying Durant wasn't great but it wasn't his team. He didn't take any role away. He played his own role exceptionally well. Which is great. But in my opinion is takes nothing away from Curry. Defenses tried stopping Curry first and Durant second. Maybe I should rewatch some of the games but that's how I remember them.

[Carbine]

The way I saw that defenses were focusing on Curry so much that it made Durant's job fairly easy in comparison with hit situation before and after his Warriors stop. Not saying Durant wasn't great but it wasn't his team. He didn't take any role away. He played his own role exceptionally well. Which is great. But in my opinion is takes nothing away from Curry. Defenses tried stopping Curry first and Durant second. Maybe I should rewatch some of the games but that's how I remember them.

https://youtu.be/XE-BFmWb9f8?si=nbTDKzviCxMzH0Mk

Obviously playing with Curry (and Klay) will help any player. You are likely to pay a heavy price of you help off them.

However, a lot of KDs points aren't because of Curry. There are examples in the playoffs (which is what this video is) where Curry has both hands on his knees bent over in the corner just watching Kevin.

Kevin was dominant because he was just that good. He wasn't playing with a bunch of non shooters anymore, you have to remember he played heavy minutes with Westbrook and Andre Robertson. His scoring efficiency was going to go up regardless of where he went because that was likely the worst shooting supporting cast around a star player on a contender.

Anyways just watch how Kevin scores with the Warriors. He scored because he's Kevin Durant, at his peak.

[elementally morale]

https://youtu.be/XE-BFmWb9f8?si=nbTDKzviCxMzH0Mk

Obviously playing with Curry (and Klay) will help any player. You are likely to pay a heavy price of you help off them.

However, a lot of KDs points aren't because of Curry. There are examples in the playoffs (which is what this video is) where Curry has both hands on his knees bent over in the corner just watching Kevin.

Kevin was dominant because he was just that good. He wasn't playing with a bunch of non shooters anymore, you have to remember he played heavy minutes with Westbrook and Andre Robertson. His scoring efficiency was going to go up regardless of where he went because that was likely the worst shooting supporting cast around a star player on a contender.

Anyways just watch how Kevin scores with the Warriors. He scored because he's Kevin Durant, at his peak.

I don't doubt anything you are saying here. Durant was a top player then. All I'm saying is he never 'took the team' from Curry. There was also no need to. The Warriors were really close to winning the year before Durant arrived. It took a Draymond suspension and some really heroic play from James and Irving to close out that series. Had they played again and again without Durant Golden State would've had chances at another title. Did Durant help? Absolutely. Was he playing well? He played great. But I never saw him 'taking the team'. The term superteam is used way too often but if anything that team was a superteam led by Curry and Durant. Curry caused the defense to collapse and Durant capitalized many many times. And the opposite happened too. All I was arguing is that it is an exaggeration to say Durant became the top dog. And his personality is not really like that anyway. He is someone whose feelings are often hurt due to not getting his 'proper recognition' or at least what he thinks he deserves -- but he rarely does anything about it on the court. He tells us afterwards. It doesn't make him a worse player. But he isn't the leader type capable of taking or even want to take a team from someone else.

[Carbine]

When you have 2 guards/perimeter oriented players and one comes into another's team and leads the team in scoring two playoffs in a row, wins FMVP both times and is the 'go to' guy when the team is in high leverage situations more times than not, what else can that be described as?

That's part of Stephs greatness. He doesn't care about it. Neither should we. Curry and Durant are possibly the easiest perimeter players to play with of all time in terms of surrounding him with other great players. It's why the transition was so seamless so quickly with those teams.

But someone had to be #1... And it was Durant.

[tpols]

I don't doubt anything you are saying here. Durant was a top player then. All I'm saying is he never 'took the team' from Curry. There was also no need to. The Warriors were really close to winning the year before Durant arrived. It took a Draymond suspension and some really heroic play from James and Irving to close out that series. Had they played again and again without Durant Golden State would've had chances at another title. Did Durant help? Absolutely. Was he playing well? He played great. But I never saw him 'taking the team'. The term superteam is used way too often but if anything that team was a superteam led by Curry and Durant. Curry caused the defense to collapse and Durant capitalized many many times. And the opposite happened too. All I was arguing is that it is an exaggeration to say Durant became the top dog. And his personality is not really like that anyway. He is someone whose feelings are often hurt due to not getting his 'proper recognition' or at least what he thinks he deserves -- but he rarely does anything about it on the court. He tells us afterwards. It doesn't make him a worse player. But he isn't the leader type capable of taking or even want to take a team from someone else.

Nah you're spot on with it. Teams would literally blitz Curry and either leave KD open or in total single coverage. It was actually wild they would let KD get open midrange shots and even dunks to prevent a Curry 3pt avalanche. That's what made the situation so deadly. Curry never had a superstar teammate outside KD and once he had one it was Game. Over.

Durant was dumb as hell to leave Golden State. He could've been a 4-5 time champion and no matter what his rep would've jumped compared to playing for the Nets or Suns which are iso ball teams and littered with injury.

[elementally morale]

But someone had to be #1... And it was Durant.

It doesn't matter much either way but we have to agree to disagree. Curry won before and after Durant. I think Steph was the most important player on the team when they played together. You say Durant was. But leading the team in scoring is not the right argument. For example I can imagine Jason Tatum playing with Nikola Jokic and becoming the top scorer on the Nuggets while the team goes on to win a title or two. Actually I think it would be very likely to happen in this scenario. This wouldn't change who the best player is.

Doesn't really matter though. I'm not against Durant at all I just don't see him as being a true leader on the court. He is a great player capable of playing with others. But he didn't really 'take over' anywhere. Even when he was the best player I never saw him as someone willing to be 'that guy'. On another note: why should he be something he is not? He is a top 20ish player of all time. I have Curry above him. I suspect you see this the other way which I don't agree with but neither am offended by.

[Carbine]

Nah you're spot on with it. Teams would literally blitz Curry and either leave KD open or in total single coverage. It was actually wild they would let KD get open midrange shots and even dunks to prevent a Curry 3pt avalanche. That's what made the situation so deadly. Curry never had a superstar teammate outside KD and once he had one it was Game. Over.

Durant was dumb as hell to leave Golden State. He could've been a 4-5 time champion and no matter what his rep would've jumped compared to playing for the Nets or Suns which are iso ball teams and littered with injury.

You can't find three examples of all the points Durant scored in the 2017 playoffs that are like what you're describing.

I watched the video, it doesn't exist. There's 2 or 3 clips that get thrown around that are like what you're describing and simpletons or agenda driven people seem to think this was a regular occurrence - it wasn't.

The evidence is in that video. You're not interested in facts though, that is clear for the years you've been posting here. You are an agenda driven individual who trolls.

[Im Still Ballin]

[Axe]

The way I saw that defenses were focusing on Curry so much that it made Durant's job fairly easy in comparison with hit situation before and after his Warriors stop. Not saying Durant wasn't great but it wasn't his team. He didn't take any role away. He played his own role exceptionally well. Which is great. But in my opinion is takes nothing away from Curry. Defenses tried stopping Curry first and Durant second. Maybe I should rewatch some of the games but that's how I remember them.

It totally helped durant because he was a superstar talent. But if he used to be someone tiers below that, he'd just be a mere role player who can only set up multiple screens for the hottest shooter in the league.

[TMac&Luther]

2 points and fouls out.. the kid has talent, but here's the problem.. I saw it with Yao and every other stick figure giant. They have to add mass to become elite. Once they do that their feet/legs go to shit.

Everyone gets enamored with the giant, but I wouldn't draft anyone over 7'2

[ImKobe]

2 points and fouls out.. the kid has talent, but here's the problem.. I saw it with Yao and every other stick figure giant. They have to add mass to become elite. Once they do that their feet/legs go to shit.

Everyone gets enamored with the giant, but I wouldn't draft anyone over 7'2

Kareem was pretty skinny though. I guess you might not consider him in that same height category since he wasn't quite 7'2, but he weighed like 230 and had the best longevity out of all the bigs. Chet could definitely add 20-30 pounds though, I think he's barely 200 right now.