Because you mentioned back to back MVP's. He is having one of the best seasons ever this year. It's still not the best season we have seen this decade, and the guy to give that to us is arguably not even a top 10 guy and he's working on his 11th elite season in a row or something. And Rockets fan should be able to recognize how a player can put up individual numbers that don't lead to winning. Was Hakeem only elite in 94 and 95? Winning is a team sport. Either way, none of the dudes in the top 10 are exactly short on the winning department either. Kobe has won 5 times. He's arguably not a top 10 player.
As predicted as right now, he would at least have two MVPs, three to five NBA titles, two or more final MVPs. He would break several NBA records in the end, and Durant could join his team next year, then GS will dominate more years as we speculate right now. Lebron has said he was top five player last year, then Curry would be the top five top with that resume if he is not going get a big injury. I am not a GS fan, but just use your common sense if someone keeps arguing in otherwise.
I guess it just comes down to our different definitions of best seasons. If all that is accomplished as previously mentioned and he closes the last 20 games out at the same rate and impact thus far. That is going to be considered one of the best seasons ever in my book coming from the best player on a title team.
You say this as if LeBron was not holding Paul George or Tony Parker come crunch time in the postseason. Were we watching different games? This is not hypothetical. He wasn't on them from opening tap, but come winning time he was the primary defender. He made the All NBA team and was arguably the best defender in basketball (received the 2nd most votes). One player was arguably the best in basketball on both sides of the court. The other wasn't. If you were picking a team from scratch you would pick the guy that's great offensively and ok defensively or the guy that's great offensively and great defensively?
Curry is on pace to have one of the greatest seasons ever in NBA history. Right now, the record for a single season is OBPM is 9.82 by Jordan. There have only been 9 seasons in NBA history where a player's had an OBPM > 9 (including Steph last year). http://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/obpm_season.html This year Steph's OBPM is 13.2. !!! All time PER record is 31.82 by Wilt, Curry 32.98!!! http://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/per_season.html BPM: curry at 13.3, record is 12.99 by LeBron http://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/bpm_season.html Win Shares/48 minutes: Curry at .340, record is .3399 by Kareem http://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/ws_per_48_season.html Curry's TS is currently at 685. while scoring over 30 points, no player in nba history has had a TS anywhere close to that while scoring that many points nor has any player not name Jordan or Chamberlain ever scored at a higher rate per minute at such volume. Of course, one all time great season, one great season and a couple very good season is not enough to crack the all time top 10 rankings. However if Curry over the next four or five years performs at a level similar to his past two seasons and wins another MVP/championship or two, he'll be in the discussion. Keep in mind, Curry is just entering his prime. IMO if he keeps this up 3mvp and 3 rings are the minimum of what he might achieve. If he finishes his career with 4 mvp and 4 or 5 rings, will people really still be dismissing his greatness?
also for those citing Jordan, Lebron and elite defense as reasons to exclude Curry from potentially being top 10, Magic and Bird werent exactly defensive juggernauts either.
Yes, all your data support my argument. Not saying he will be top five in the end, but he would be there as GS is such a great team, he has lots of chance to get there. Anyone who watched the GS-OKC game last Saturday should know that that guy can play the ball at a level that other can not play, either Kobe.
Bird has the exact same career average in steals and blocks as LeBron AND has more DWS than LeBron even though LeBron has played almost 100 more games already. Not saying he's better than LeBron at that side of the ball, but don't underestimate his incredible hand-eye coordination and defensive IQ.
Magic won a title in year 1, where he stepped up in G6 and won Finals MVP. He won 5 titles and went to 9 Finals in 13 seasons. He has a 20/7/11 career avg. He could play 3-4 positions. Larry Bird got to the ECF's in year 1 and won a title in year 2. He won 3 titles and went to 5 Finals in 13 seasons. He has a 24/10/6 career avg. He finished 4th in MVP voting as a rookie then finished 1st or 2nd for the next 6 seasons. He finished 3rd and 2nd the following 2 seasons. He could play 3 positions (arguably 4 in this era). So Curry, who is 27, has around 7 more elite seasons to go before he can match what those two did for their career. He would be 34 then.
I'm not a big fan of DWS as a measurement for individual defense, ie. Curry was 15th best defender in the league last year by that measurement. But I agree that Bird had very good hand eye coordination and defensive IQ. Those qualities made him a relatively good team defender and adept at making steals, but he was also undeniably an average individual & on ball defender - much like Curry. The fact is, Bird was not a lockdown defender. Opposing teams weren't afraid of him shutting down their players or disrupting their offense. Saying Bird and magic or Curry were not great defensive players doesn't impugn their greatness.
He is posting a better season than either of them ever came close to, and is poised to do it as the centerpiece of the most dominant team in NBA history. Yes they have longevity over them, but he is burning brighter right now.
Agreed! Bird and Magic were great and Curry has a ways to go to catch up to them. The difference between my position and yours is that while I think Curry can reach them, by playing like he has the past 2 seasons and winning championships and mvps, you seem to think even if he does end up with 3-4 rings, 3-4 mvps, he's still not great?
Don't underestimate longevity... its why Pete Maravich isn't whispered in the same breath as any of the usual greats, but by all accounts he could do things on the court that nobody had ever seen before. (albeit only for 5 or so elite, but injury-riddled seasons).
I never said he wasn't great. I said he doesn't have the resume to be a top 10 guy and based on his age it's highly unlikely that he will accumulate enough on his resume to get there. Kobe Bryant has 15 elite seasons, 5 titles and is arguably not a top 10 player. LeBron has 12 elite seasons, 2 titles, has been to the finals nearly half his career and is arguably not a top 10 player.
Yes, because you were explicitly citing regular season and the 2016 postseason hasn't happened yet. You will find nobody more willing than me to credit LeBron with the best post-season runs in history, bar none.
No he isn't. He may be having a better scoring season than either of them ever came close to depending on how much value you place on efficiency. Curry's W/S this season are 13.4. Bird posted a higher total from 83-88, with a high of 15.8. How can you conclude that a player avg 30/5/7 is posting a season Bird hasn't come close to when he has seasons of 29/11/7? Magic has a 23/8/13 season, and he hasn't come close to what Curry is doing this year? He has seasons where his W/S eclipsed Bird's. Dream has a 24/14/3/2.1/4.6 season. He has a season where he won MVP, DPOY and the title without a 2nd star on the roster! What Curry is doing is more dominant than that? No sir, it's not.
He was holding them come crunch time in the regular season as well. Bottom line, LeBron was arguably the best player on both sides of the court that season. Regular season (what DPOY teams are based on), postseason, hell maybe even preseason. I'm not trying to knock Curry. That top 10 is no joke though.
Total WS is a little misleading in this case since Curry sits out so many 4th quarters. that's why there's a WS/48 column. Still he's on track of 2710 season minutes and 19.1 total WS (assume 80 games). Bird in 85-86 took 3113 minutes to get the 15.8 total WS (82 games).
But again when Oscar played there was no three point shot. If you discount the Big O because of pace you need to discount Curry because so much of his game is hitting three pointers.
