This is insanity. Average without Curry? No. Not guaranteed to win a title, but FAR from average. What if you replaced Curry with Lilliard? Lowry? Kemba Walker? I don’t think the drop off would be very significant.
Yes dude, average without Curry. Go back and look at the win/loss records I posted earlier. Without Curry they are just another 50 win team. Just this year alone, with Curry they are scoring the highest points per possession in NBA history. Without him they are just average for today's NBA. None of those guys are comparable to Curry. Drop-off would be noticeable.
All Curry needs to get his shot off is about half a second from the defender. He doesn't need traditional spacing like every other player in the game. He can get his shot any time, from anywhere on the floor and he is the only player that I have ever seen be able to do that efficiently. May not win anything without them but he will still light teams up on a nightly basis and put up historically great percentages while doing it.
Damien Lillard is a 6'3" version of Carmelo Anthony. Kyle Lowry has continually choked in the playoffs. Kemba can't even win a playoff series in the East.
There’s a difference between having to adjust you style and gameplan after a key injury vs preparing as a team without that key player having ever been a factor. I disagree with you wholeheartedly about a noticeable drop off no matter who you plug in his place.
dude is shooting 50% from 3 this year....ehh, just replace him with one of those guys shooting 33%. It'll be fine.
Didnt you just fault all the other guys for “not winning anything?” This is the definition of a double standard. Kemba is averaging 29, 4, and 6, but he’s not winning anything, so it doesn’t matter. But if Curry is lighting teams up on a nightly basis, it doesn’t matter if he’s winning anything?
Christ man, the question isn’t “can another player step in and shoot 50% from 3?” The question is whether another player could take his place and the team still be similarly successful. You’re acting like they would ask these other players to play exactly the same way Curry does, which is ludicrous.
Look, you are posing a hypothetical to try to make a silly point, not me. Don't get mad at me when I shoot it down with logic. Steph Curry is considerably better than any name you mentioned. Kemba [uck fay]ing Walker? Best player on a bad team, can't even lead a team to a series win in the East. That guy is replacing an all-time great on a championship caliber team with no drop-off? Lillard and Lowry aren't even the best players on their own teams.
Curry is going to win his 4th ring this year. He has already won, you are still in hypothetical land, I am dealing with reality.
That would be a huge drop-off. Their offense is built around defenses being terrified to give Curry a half-second of an open look or a few inches of space, out to like 35 feet. None of those guys have an impact anywhere close to that. Lillard can make deep 3s too, but not near that level.
The guy who wrote that article has continually said that Curry is a top 3 player who is closer to LeBron than he is to Harden/Kawhi/Giannis/whoever, so maybe not the best reference. He’d laugh in your face for the point you’ve been trying to make. This is like saying “Jared Goff is having a breakout year, so he’s pretty much the same as Aaron Rodgers now”
But, I do really like Kemba a lot. He’s fearless and clutch, and the exact type of player who would be beloved by millions if Charlotte got more exposure. And I’m a lot higher on Lillard than GahLee is, and disagree emphatically that McCollum is somehow better.
I don’t think he’d laugh in my face if I told him I thought Golden State would still be the best team in the league if you replaced Steph with Kemba.