Versatility Is Overrated

[CTbasketball92]

SI and ESPN rank Draymond Green too high on their lists. Being "versatile" isn't inherently better than being a great volume scorer, and on teams without other stars, they give you about the same value at BEST. I'd say that it only matches or exceeds being a great scorer when that person also scores at a perennial All Star level. LeBron scores at a superstar level while also doing everything Draymond does (obv. at a higher level, when fully engaged, not that anyone ever makes this comparison). Paul George is a 6'9" small forward who can score like a perennial all star and defend the best player every night and initiate an offense. He isn't dependent on other players, when things get tough, he can flatout score at will, even if it's inefficiently (like 53 TS%). Draymond is an incredibly useful role player, but if he's being ranked on how he'd perform in a vacuum, being anywhere in the top 15 is ridiculous.

By extension, Klay Thompson's two way play isn't as valuable as Harden's ability to score somewhat efficiently seemingly no matter what while also running an offense. Not sure how many ISH argued that Klay was better, but again, if GSW has Harden instead of Klay, they win the finals handily.

[Smoke117]

Draymond is a top 3 defensive player in the league as far as impact. If you couple that with the rest of his game...he's not overrated at all.

[juju151111]

Dray is top 5 defense and a top 10 offensive impact player on a great team. Obviously he won't be has impactful on a team like say the pelicans, but he not on the pelicans is he.

[Jacks3]

Nah. Green is the best or second best defender in the league, the best passing big in the game, and stretches the floor. He's a ridiculously good player...easily top ten in the league.

[Young X]

Nothing ridiculous about him being ranked in the top 15.

The problem is you undervalue defense.

He was the most impactful defender last season.

Combine that with being a solid/good although limited offensive player and you have a top 10 type of player.

[CTbasketball92]

Nothing ridiculous about him being ranked in the top 15.

The problem is you undervalue defense.

He was the most impactful defender last season.

Combine that with being a solid/good although limited offensive player and you have a top 10 type of player.

In a vaccuum, he's definitely not as good as Klay Thompson, and top 15 players don't score in single digits in consecutive games during the playoffs, especially when they're still getting fried on defense. Put Draymond on a bad team, and he fails to lead that squad anywhere near the playoffs, essentially making him no better than the volume scorer -- and isn't that how most of you or Bball twitter evaluates a player's worth? For all of his great defense, LeBron still lit him tf up in the finals, especially after he talked all that s**t before game 6. Hey Draymond? Why don't you get an efficient 20+ points per game instead, since Steph. and Klay take all of the attention off you and you're wide open for all of your shots. Put PG on GSW instead of Draygod, there's no chance that GSW loses.

[Young X]

In a vaccuum, he's definitely not as good as Klay Thompson, and top 15 players don't score in single digits in consecutive games during the playoffs, especially when they're still getting fried on defense. Put Draymond on a bad team, and he fails to lead that squad anywhere near the playoffs, essentially making him no better than the volume scorer -- and isn't that how most of you or Bball twitter evaluates a player's worth? For all of his great defense, LeBron still lit him tf up in the finals, especially after he talked all that s**t before game 6. Hey Draymond? Why don't you get an efficient 20+ points per game instead, since Steph. and Klay take all of the attention off you and you're wide open for all of your shots. Put PG on GSW instead of Draygod, there's no chance that GSW loses.

He was on pace to win FMVP and was the best player on his team in the series. You're acting like he was trash.

[Smoke117]

In a vaccuum, he's definitely not as good as Klay Thompson, and top 15 players don't score in single digits in consecutive games during the playoffs, especially when they're still getting fried on defense. Put Draymond on a bad team, and he fails to lead that squad anywhere near the playoffs, essentially making him no better than the volume scorer -- and isn't that how most of you or Bball twitter evaluates a player's worth? For all of his great defense, LeBron still lit him tf up in the finals, especially after he talked all that s**t before game 6. Hey Draymond? Why don't you get an efficient 20+ points per game instead, since Steph. and Klay take all of the attention off you and you're wide open for all of your shots. Put PG on GSW instead of Draygod, there's no chance that GSW loses.

Ben Wallace did this many times and he was certainly top 15 when in his prime defensively.

[Jameerthefear]

He was on pace to win FMVP and was the best player on his team in the series. You're acting like he was trash.

people forget how well dray played in that g7

[tpols]

In a vaccuum, he's definitely not as good as Klay Thompson, and top 15 players don't score in single digits in consecutive games during the playoffs, especially when they're still getting fried on defense. Put Draymond on a bad team, and he fails to lead that squad anywhere near the playoffs, essentially making him no better than the volume scorer -- and isn't that how most of you or Bball twitter evaluates a player's worth? For all of his great defense, LeBron still lit him tf up in the finals, especially after he talked all that s**t before game 6. Hey Draymond? Why don't you get an efficient 20+ points per game instead, since Steph. and Klay take all of the attention off you and you're wide open for all of your shots. Put PG on GSW instead of Draygod, there's no chance that GSW loses.

Dray had one of the greatest game 7's of all time ... and outshot Bron 73 to 48 in true shooting percentage.. 172 to 98 in ORTG.. lmao. yea, he got lit up.

meanwhile klay sh!t the bed in historic fashion on both sides of the ball, bricking everything on offense, and getting torched by kyrie on defense.


mods??

[Pointguard]

He was on pace to win FMVP and was the best player on his team in the series. You're acting like he was trash.

This.

And he was far better than any other Warrior by the end of the series. And his versatility/aggression definitely trumps TS% here (as the OP hypes). Same case with Lebron the last three years.

[CTbasketball92]

Dray had one of the greatest game 7's of all time ... and outshot Bron 73 to 48 in true shooting percentage.. 172 to 98 in ORTG.. lmao. yea, he got lit up.

meanwhile klay sh!t the bed in historic fashion on both sides of the ball, bricking everything on offense, and getting torched by kyrie on defense.


mods??

Great game, but he was also getting left wide open because the Cavs were focusing on guarding Steph and Klay. The Cavs knew he was only a decent shooter and that there was a good shot that he'd miss, so they gave him those shots. Give him credit for knocking them down, though. He shot 6/8 from three lol clearly out of the ordinary and that's in most ways, not replicable. Still doesn't make-up for his three str8 awful games. 4/17 between games 3 and 4, before he got suspended for Game 5 and played like TRASH against LeBron in Game 6, getting lit up for 41 points while only scoring 9 points on a pedestrian percentage. Klay bailed GSW out several times throughout the playoffs, but even he's not as good as people think. If either of them were really as good as people think they are, there's no way they would've lost. Neither of them "choked" either, they just aren't great at creating offense for themselves, and they never have to because they can rely on making the extra pass because of all of GSW's shooters and the space that Curry creates for them. He's a great defender and a decent offensive player, but that doesn't get you many places on a bad team. He's a system player. A really good one, but not sure he'd be that successful individually on many other teams.

[CTbasketball92]

This.

And he was far better than any other Warrior by the end of the series. And his versatility/aggression definitely trumps TS% here (as the OP hypes). Same case with Lebron the last three years.

Stop. LeBron scored a TON of points with his second and third best players missing due to injury. Draymond has all the spacing in the world and is on the world's most well-balanced team, and he still disappeared during key stretches, namely the games I already mentioned. LeBron scores the ball like an all time great, Draymond scores like a player that gets left open and gets opportunistic buckets.

[KiiiiNG]

Honestly, GSW are a bunch of role players who play perfectly together. Durant ushers in a whole new ball-game with his GOAT tier takeover abilities. KD does it inside and out unlike steph.

KD is the first superstar on this new-age Warriors team. It's scary to think he'll be surrounded by three of the best role players in basketball. Un****ingthinkable how great they're gonna be.

[bizil]

The ULTIMATE BLEND is a great scorer and a versatile great all around player in one! U have versatility in terms of numbers AND versatility in terms of positions a player can play. So these are the legends like MJ, Bird, Magic, Bron, Kobe, Hondo, Barry, Baylor, Big O,etc. For players 6'4 and under, guys like West and Wade would fit this bill. These guys are the cream of the crop perimeter wise. Great scorers like a Gervin, Nique, King, etc. weren't as complete all around.

Great all around players like a Pippen, Draymond, Pressey, Iggy, Odom, etc. didn't have the great scoring ability. So in the case of THESE guys, versatility can be overrated at times. For example, Odom was a better all around player than Dirk was. BUT Dirk was clearly the better player. Pippen was a better all around player than a Bernard King. BUT King in my book was CLEARLY the better player. Lowry is a better ALL AROUND PLAYER than Kyrie. BUT Kyrie is clearly the better player. So just because a player is more versatile than certain great scorers, IT DOESN'T MEAN they are the better player. Some people DON'T seem to get this, thus some premier All Star caliber players can become overrated.