The Pacers played team ball. Also, Reggie Miller was INCREDIBLY good at moving off the ball. Klay is very good at that, but not Miller level, at least not yet.
A Klay Thompson led team is a walking first round exit, a true superstar can carry his team to at least the second round without any other all star talent.
By that definition, there are almost no superstars. You are asking for not only making the playoffs, but defeating your first round opponent with just one superstar and scrubs.
Just like James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James, and Stephen Curry have all done in their careers?
well there were many on here who considered him to be better than Harden and would’ve traded Harden for him so it’s not surprising another player that used to get overrated on here was Paul George before he joined OKC...he’s no superstar either
Not until he shows he can lead his own team. Right now he's just a super role player. (+Defense and +scorer)
I wouldn't say there are "many on here" who thought he was better than Harden. Just a few Harden haters. If anything, I think Klay Thompson is mostly underrated on CF overreacting to those who think him better than Harden. Klay is what he is, one of the best 3&D guys in the league who is lucky to be on a team with Curry and Draymond. He could score more point than he is now if he was the best option of the team and the coach design an offense that would maximize his strengths. But that team wouldn't be a contending team.
Why not? I think you could swap Kawhi Leonard and Klay Thompson and the Spurs wouldn't fall off that much. Leonard is better than Thompson for sure but I think Popovich could make it work. If you consider those old Pacers teams contenders under Reggie Miller, Klay could have also played the Reggie role.
Klay has nowhere near the off the dribble abilities that Kawhi does, The Spurs would lose 5-7 more games over a season.
I agree that overall Leonard is better. Thompson however is the better shooter especially from 3. The Spurs won 61 games last year. If they lost 5-7 more games, their record would be 54 to 56 wins, same as Rockets last year. I consider last year's Rockets contenders. So Spurs with a record same as Rockets would also be contenders.
Some years that makes no difference at all, other years thats enough to go from #2 to #7 see: 2014-15
I really want to see Klay outside of Golden State. I don't believe he can carry his own team. Just the thought of him having to carry his own shots night after the night makes me wonder if he really is an "all-star".
If anyone would be dumb enough to offer you Klay for EG, you’d be orders of magnitude dumber if it takes you more than an instant to accept...
EG ain't exactly a superstar either, 0 career all star selections. Nobody here is arguing he's better than Klay Thompson.
Klay is not as versatile as Kawhi. That's the problem with him being the best option. If you want to maximize Klay, you'll have the whole team working for getting him open. That pretty much limits the team's offensive diversity. Kawhi doesn't need that. He can create for himself or he can play off ball. That frees up the team to have multiple weapons on offense.
You are vastly underrating his ability to create his own shot, just because we haven’t seen him rely on it doesn’t mean he can’t do it. He’s probably a extreme case of someone playing within the role and system, he is a good finisher around the basket and if anything his jumper allows everyone to play up on him.
