Kemba Walker v. Steph Curry v. James Harden v. Who Cares

Yes, exactly. Neither of them has a title that doesn’t come with an asterisk. There are tons of people that won’t feel Durant’s legacy is cemented until he wins a title away from Curry and the Warriors.

But no, it doesn’t affect Durant’s status as second best player in the world because anyone that MIGHT be able to challenge him doesn’t have those accomplishments either. It’s not like anyone currently ranked 3-10 is laden with titles.

You can certainly make that claim, and many have. But that doesn’t make it a good claim. There’s a massive difference between “Cleveland’s 2nd and 3rd best players were out for the entire series (save one game for Kyrie),” and “the Warriors 3rd best, maybe 4th most important, player was out for one game.” The main difference is that the former is 2 players for a longer period of time, and the other key difference is that Draymond’s suspension was 100% under his own control, while injuries are usually 100% out of a player’s control. And you can SAY that the Warriors would have won, but that’s nothing more than a guess about a toss up game.

I’m hesitant to even respond to the second part of your LeBron doubts, but oh well. Ray Allen hit a late 3? Isn’t that the exact reason they brought him into the fold (Also, notice how much smaller the impacts are in your arguments are vs mine? I point out 2 players missing a 6 or 7 game series, and you point out 1 player missing 1 game and 1 player making a single shot)? And no one is saying LeBron’s Miami titles were won alone, just like no one is saying Curry has to win a title by himself. If he had won the title the year before Durant arrived, I doubt anyone would be putting an asterisk by it. If Durant leaves and he wins another without adding another huge superstar, there likely wouldn’t be an asterisk by that one either. But I don’t think I see that happening.

 

You can spin it however you want, but “Draymond’s suspension cost the Warriors the series” (up 3-1 and 39-2 at home) is a lot more widely accepted around the NBA than “the 2015 title has an asterisk because the Cavs would have pulled off that damn miracle 2 years in a row if only Kyrie played.” That is a stretch that only someone trying to downplay Curry’s accomplishments would make. Love could barely stay on the floor against the Warriors, because he was a gigantic defensive liability against literally anyone in the Steph/Klay/Iggy/Barnes/Draymond lineup.

My point was that talking about “asterisks” when someone has 3 rings is a ridiculous exercise. Every championship involves some luck and injuries, but no one would have been saying that Tom Brady’s ring would come with an asterisk if he beat the Eagles without Wentz. You may have a point if someone won all of their rings with this insane Durant-Curry superteam, which is funny because that applies to Durant and NOT Curry, yet this is somehow being used against Curry but not against Durant. Go figure.

 

Durant has 2 rings and 1 MVP. Curry has 3 rings and 2 MVPs (and is one of like 10-12 players in history with multiple MVPs). Durant is locked in at #2 because he’s been great and no one below him has accomplished more. All of that is true for Curry, who has even more accomplishments and whose 2016 was better than any season Durant has ever had, but he’s not only not locked into the top 3, he’s “worse” than a lot of people like Anthony Davis who have never been MVP and have barely even made the playoffs at all, because........

...because Curry doesn’t have a Finals MVP. It really seems like that’s the only justification for what is otherwise an impressively inconsistent argument.

 

This has gone on for five pages now. Time to get to the closing arguments.

 

Closing argument: It takes 5 pages of mental gymnastics to explain why Curry’s historically elite accomplishments as the centerpiece of a historically elite team don’t actually count.

 

I honestly don't know who is arguing what at this point.

 

If that is the case, he is as clueless as you are.

 

Closing argument:

Curry is a great, great player, but I believe he is closer to Kawhi, Giannis, and Davis than he is to LeBron and Durant for the following reasons:

1. His first title came against a shell of a team, and his second and third titles came while playing with the second best player in the league, on what could be the best team in history.

2. The above mentioned players can still contribute in other ways, even if they have an off night offensively. Curry is always a defensive liability, and if he’s not hitting his 3’s, he’s not doing much else for you.

3. He’s never been “the guy” in a finals series. People looooooove to talk about regular season accomplishments, as if they mean anything at all, but Curry has played in 4 finals series and has never managed to be “the guy.” I was always under the impression the best rose to the top when the most was on the line.

4. The team around him is ridiculous and always has been. Obviously he plays a key part, but as I have mentioned, I think the current team is just as good if you replace Curry with any of a number of great PG’s. I think that my point will be proven if Durant and Klay leave. He will still get his stats, but he won’t be able to carry them the way a top 2 or 3 player should.

 

Masterful job by Indy in refusing to admit you were wrong.

 

Looks like the last 5 or so pages of this thread.

 

Is this you claiming victory over a point you haven’t proven? Please post more regular season stats and accomplishments for me to read and laugh at.

 

Klay Thompson has played 6 games in January. His point totals have been:

26
20
43
30
16
31

That’s an average of 28 ppg this month. How many teams even have a second option who can put up these kinds of scoring numbers? Any?

And he’s the Warriors’ 3rd option. Are we still pretending that they aren’t the far and away best team in the NBA?

 

Is this actually a thing? I feel like it’s not.

 

Read back through the Curry debate.

 

It’s not.

 

They’re the best team, mostly because of their offense, which has arguably the best offensive weapon in the league in Curry. Indy has been trying to insinuate that he’s something like a passenger on the bus, when he’s driving it.

 

Just to be clear here, you are agreeing that the Warriors are the, far and away, best team in the NBA this season? A simple yes or no will do here.

 

They're all passengers. If there's a driver, it's Durant.

 

Dude. That isn't helping you.

 

I’m not going to assume the basis of your stance with just a one sentence post. If you have an opinion, back it up with something that will allow me to respond.