Is harden top 5 player in the NBA? First take quarantine shares its thoughts

First Take's Top 15 players
15. Jimmy Butler
14. Kyrie Irving
13. Paul George
12. Russell Westbrook
11. Joel Embiid
10. Nikola Jokic
9. Damian Lillard
8. Luka Doncic
7. Anthony Davis
6. James Harden
5. Stephen Curry
4. Kawhi Leonard
3.
2.
1.

 

3. Westbrook (40+ points in 2012 finals
2. Andre iguodola (2015 finals mvp)
1.lebron james

 

KD too high

 

Lillard remains overrated because he hit a couple game winners in the playoffs. The rest looks fine.

 

Giannis in top 5 is laughable.

 

saw this pic on Twitter



but Steph on stacked teams is supposed to be better...LMAO

What would CF be saying if Harden was averaging Steph’s numbers against the Rockets when he faced GS?

 

Not anymore.

Not with the emergence of Alex Caruso.

 

These lists are always subjective and designed to start a fight but what has Luka done to be ahead of anybody on that list? All those guys have been a key part, if not led, playoff runs. I’m not saying Luka isn’t talented but I need to see a playoff run first.

 

Giannis has never even made ECF but he is top 5 player and soon to be 2× MVP.

 

I think he’s arguably top 5. I think the Bucs were in the ECF last year, unless I have my series mixed up. Luka the only guy on that list who hasn’t even been to the playoffs. I have no idea how he’s a top 8 player. Lol

 

He was in the ECF last season.

 

My bad, been to EFC once and played flaccid.

Raptors had stiffer challenge from 76ers.

 

First Take's Top 15 players
15. Jimmy Butler
14. Kyrie Irving
13. Paul George
12. Russell Westbrook
11. Joel Embiid
10. Nikola Jokic
9. Damian Lillard
8. Luka Doncic
7. Anthony Davis
6. James Harden
5. Stephen Curry
4. Kawhi Leonard
3. Kevin Durant
2. Giannis Antetokounmpo or LeBron James
1. LeBron James or Giannis Antetokounmpo

 

Last 3 and a half regular seasons: Since October 2016.

Scoring leader: James Harden
Winshares leader: James Harden
Winshares per minute leader: James Harden
Box-score plus-minus leader: James Harden
Value over replacement player leader: James Harden
PER leader: James Harden

MOST GAMES WON: ALSO JAMES HARDEN
(hey, did you know that TJ McConnell has won more regular season games in the last 4 years than Steph or KD?)

Absolutely crazy that anyone would look at that and go "OK, looks like about the sixth best player in the league".

The "but playoffs" thing is a real argument but it's an argument that maybe he's not #1, not that he's only as good as Anthony Davis.

 

Great the #5 and potential #3 not in the Playoffs.

 

The Giannis adoration is sickening.

If rings determine top 5 status, what has he accomplished to rank him so highly?

Pathetic

 

Why is Steph Curry on this list at all? Presumably this list is based on current (this year) performance. If that is the case, Steph Curry has barely played, and when he did his team still stunk.

On the other hand, if we are saying this is based on career achievements / cumulative performance, then LeBron, KD, and Steph should be 1,2,3 and Giannis should be somewhere lower down with Russell Westbrook.

 

I would even argue that Russ has accomplished more than Giannis if criteria is cumulative as well.

Giannis has only been top 10 good the last two seasons.

 

Who has Harden had as a number 2?

An injured CP3? A washed up Dwight Howard?

 

Smh. ESPN's numbers must be down. They only talk about the Rockets/Harden in a negative view in order to get clicks and views. They take Harden and compare him to Steph/warriors and create dumb agendas trying to feed off what most "casual" fans already believe about the Rockets. This gets them to tune in and just trash the rockets/Harden even more. It's the same old things. I guess Max drew the short straw for today's "argument."