Outrageous take or no?

[nayte]

Not a totally outrageous take. I would take curry tho. Luka still has a lot to work on . especially without the ball

[Axe]

I think there's little to no argument against it tbh. 2016 Steph obviously is considerably better on 3s and at the FT line, but you'd give everything else to Luka offensively. He's ~84%FG inside 3 ft and is also unstoppable from 3-10 this season. Cavs managed to take away Steph's looks from 3, and Steph was injured obviously as well which slowed him down, but we've seen an injured Luka multiple times in the POs and he didn't miss a beat production-wise because he's able to bully his way to the rim when he has nothing else going. He's just a more polished all-around offensive player and has the size advantage that Steph doesn't.

Until I see Luka get completely shut down in a PO series like Steph I can't really doubt him tbh. The WCF vs. Golden State might have been his worst because of the scoring efficiency, and he still averaged 32/9/6/2/1 56%TS. You could argue that he's a stat-padder like Bron, but he's yet to hit a serious low in the POs.

Good take. Chef may be able to impact games heavily because of his shooting but once opposing teams have found effective ways to shut him down, he can't be relied on that much anymore. In the playoffs, i doubt he's clutch and there's not much he can do on defense when opponents have the ball. That should've been some kind of last resort thing he could do to offset ugly shooting nights but still leaves so much to be desired, esp. when his team badly needs it. He's just so freaking lucky to have other hof teammates tho that have bailed him out bt.

Luke otoh, despite being a ballhog, like you said at least has the size and athleticism that help to allow him have a range of arsenal in the offense. He's a more complete player overall. Just needs to share the ball more often, be a better team player and improve defensively. If that happens, along with the mavs getting the final right pieces en route to becoming perennial title contenders, then they could become the next dynasty.

[Stephonit]

I think there's little to no argument against it tbh. 2016 Steph obviously is considerably better on 3s and at the FT line, but you'd give everything else to Luka offensively. He's ~84%FG inside 3 ft and is also unstoppable from 3-10 this season. Cavs managed to take away Steph's looks from 3, and Steph was injured obviously as well which slowed him down, but we've seen an injured Luka multiple times in the POs and he didn't miss a beat production-wise because he's able to bully his way to the rim when he has nothing else going. He's just a more polished all-around offensive player and has the size advantage that Steph doesn't.

Until I see Luka get completely shut down in a PO series like Steph I can't really doubt him tbh. The WCF vs. Golden State might have been his worst because of the scoring efficiency, and he still averaged 32/9/6/2/1 56%TS. You could argue that he's a stat-padder like Bron, but he's yet to hit a serious low in the POs.

People have had the opportunity to witness Steph all these years and still don't understand a thing about what makes his game special. Case in point this post above. It didn't matter that Luka got his numbers; he didn't have the impact Steph has and his team was out in 5. Steph can be "shut down" in comparison—but still have more impact. That's why the Celtics were lost and discombobulated after game 5 of the 2022 finals. They "succeeded" in "shutting down" Steph—and were obliterated anyway.

Listening to all the commentary about how Steph needed to be trapped and doubled from people who obviously don't follow the Warriors was a hoot.

[tpols]

Honestly...

It is outrageous some of the arguments being made like "We've never seen Luka have a bad playoff series". When the inverse comparison is we've never seen Luka win 4 rings putting up superstar production. One train of logic clearly outweighs the other.

And in fact, if we do use that logic... Luka is the GOAT.

Because even MJ and Lebron and Kobe and Kareem and Hakeem and Shaq and Bird and Duncan and Wilt and Magic etc. have faltered in playoff series.

It's retarded to hold the bad that much above the good. It's actually total backwards logic.

[Street Hunger]

I feel like this is a legitimate question, and not even a hot take. I actually don't know which one I would select. Do we know who the teammates are? if we're just picking one player and don't know who else is on the team, then maybe you do go with Luka