Will Curry guard LBJ in the Finals?.. Otherwise, he's nowhere near MJ

[bigkingsfan]

Lol

Magic wasnt very good in defense but he made it up in passing.

Curry's strength is not better than Magics.

Curry combination of scoring/passing is easily better than Magic

[ImKobe]

Magic didn't make a defensive team once.

well he led the league in steals in b2b years, not many players ever did that, don't know the story behind his defensive teams but he wasn't a bad defender.

[ImKobe]

Curry combination of scoring/passing is easily better than Magic

Rookie Magic went off for 42 pts 15 reb 7 ast playing Center in Game 6 of the Finals @Philly to secure the title with Kareem injured

[bigkingsfan]

well he led the league in steals in b2b years, not many players ever did that, don't know the story behind his defensive teams but he wasn't a bad defender.

Steals are not indicator of elite D, Curry was the league leader.

Rookie Magic went off for 42 pts 15 reb 7 ast playing Center in Game 6 of the Finals @Philly to secure the title with Kareem injured

He doesn't even average 20 for his playoff career.

[3ball]

Steals are not indicator of elite D, Curry was the league leader.


He doesn't even average 20 for his playoff career.

Pretty sure Magic is ahead of Curry in every defensive statistical category (dbpm, etc) other than steals.. This is because Magic was basically a big man on defense - he banged inside the lane, and naturally had a bigger defensive impact, JUST LIKE MOST BIGS OVER GUARDS.

Now if Curry was one of the top defenders at the point guard position, he would still have a greater defensive impact than bigs, for obvious, intuitive reasons.... but he isn't.
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[34-24 Footwork]

I'd be MUCH MORE WORRIED about the guy that dropped 57 on K Leonard. Steph will have his hands full. Lebron will take care of himself.

[bigkingsfan]

Pretty sure Magic is ahead of Curry in every defensive statistical category (dbpm, etc) other than steals.. This is because Magic was basically a big man on defense - he banged inside the lane, and naturally had a bigger defensive impact, JUST LIKE MOST BIGS OVER GUARDS.

Now if Curry was one of the top defenders at the point guard position, he would still have a greater defensive impact than bigs, for obvious, intuitive reasons.... but he isn't.
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Neither were elite defenders. Just replying to the other comment.

[raprap]

Curry will lockdown MJ

[3ball]

Curry will lockdown MJ

Jordan didn't have teammates spreading the floor for him either - teams only attempted 5 threes per game when Jordan won his first ring in 1991, compared to 25 attempts per game for today's teams.

So today's player benefits from teammates that space the floor and cause defenders to cover more ground - three-point shooters benefit [COLOR="Navy"]the most[/COLOR] from scrambling defenders, which is why 80% of today's 3-pointers (including Curry's) are "open" or "very open", as described on NBA.com's stats page.

Otoh, Jordan achieved his stats WITHOUT teammates spreading the floor.. In today's spaced-out game, his stats would explode because he has the same (better) athleticism as Lebron/Westbrook, but they can't shoot, and Jordan could - he had goat midrange efficiency, better than Curry's, which puts him in Curry's category as a goat shooter, and gives him a similarly massive advantage over non-shooters Lebron and Westbrook.
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[raprap]

Today's teams average 25 three-point attempts per game, compared to 5 per game when Jordan won his first ring in 1991.

So today's player benefits from teammates that space the floor and cause defenders to cover more ground - three-point shooters benefit the most from scrambling defenders, which is why 80% of today's 3-pointers (including Curry's) are "open" or "very open", as described on NBA.com's stats page.

Otoh, Jordan achieved his stats WITHOUT teammates spreading the floor like today's game.. In today's spaced-out game, his stats would explode because he has the same (better) athleticism and ball-handling ability as Lebron/Westbrook, but they can't shoot, and Jordan could - he had goat midrange efficiency, better than Curry's, which puts him in Curry's category as a goat shooter, and gives him a similarly massive advantage over non-shooters Lebron and Westbrook.

Curry will lockdown MJ

[ImKobe]

Steals are not indicator of elite D, Curry was the league leader.


He doesn't even average 20 for his playoff career.

Magic was 6-9 though...takes a lot more effort to average 3.4 steals for an entire season for a guy his size, who routinely guarded SFs/PFs

and he also wins in other categories

DRTG: Curry 106, Magic 104
DBPM: Curry -0.5, Magic +1.5

Curry's best DBPM for a season is 0.3, Magic's is 3.6

Magic never had a negative year in that category

[bigkingsfan]

Magic was 6-9 though...takes a lot more effort to average 3.4 steals for an entire season for a guy his size, who routinely guarded SFs/PFs

and he also wins in other categories

DRTG: Curry 106, Magic 104
DBPM: Curry -0.5, Magic +1.5

Curry's best DBPM for a season is 0.3, Magic's is 3.6

Magic never had a negative year in that category

Neither were elite defender, which was the original point you were trying to make. I don't care if he was better on D. Stop trying to rewrite history.

[ImKobe]

Neither were elite defender, which was the original point you were trying to make. I don't care if he was better on D. Stop trying to rewrite history.

Magic is an elite defender compared to Curry.

[bigkingsfan]

Magic is an elite defender compared to Curry.

I don't really care. Your original comment was the one I was replying to.

all players in the top 10 all-time list were at one point elite on the defensive end, even Larry Bird.

[3ball]

Curry will lockdown MJ

It would take Jordan literally 2 seconds to score on Curry, just like against KJ: