Yeah in the greatest of all time rankings discussion. I find these things quite meaningless and a distraction from enjoying each individual’s greatness. I think it’s widely accepted that MJ, KAJ and Lebron are top 3. Then you’ve got that next section of Kobe, Magic, Bird, Shaq and Duncan. I think Curry, Durant, Hakeem, Wilt, Russell, West are behind those first two tiers.
This is probably consensus, but both should be even higher imo. The guys older than Kareem are overrated. https://i.imgflip.com/7gqmj4.jpg
People usually put Wilt & Russell there, but if you want old school players out of top 10, then move all those guys below MJ/Bron/Kareem up by two places, and that includes Kobe, Magic, Bird, Duncan and Shaq in any order. But then you'd probably end up with Hakeem & Steph #9 and #10, also in any order.
Kobe #4 Steph > Bird, so Steph #8 If Steph won another won, that would boost him up into the #4-6 tier and there would be even more of a debate, as people could then def argue for him vs Kobe vs Magic.
I won't argue any of that. It's a matter of taste at that point (most complete offensively/best 2-way player/peak/longevity/rings/being "the man"/most all-round game etc.). It's mostly in tiers, as svtzr mentioned. Organize them in any order and it looks reasonable.
Kobe would have won 7 WCF MVPs if they had them. He was the most dominate in the conference finals I've ever seen.
Here are those 82games stats. I'm not claiming that this is the best stat to show the impact of having to guard Curry so deep. But here's the first bit of data: 1. Opponent Stats (82games.com) per 48. Nash 04-05 18.9 FGA .464 eFG% 2.9 FTA 24% iFG 4.4 Reb 8.8 Ast 3.7 TO 0.3 Blk 4.4 PF 19.8 Pts 14.3 PER 05-06 18.4 FGA .510 eFG% 4.1 FTA 24% iFG 4.9 Reb 7.2 Ast 3.6 TO 0.2 Blk 5.2 PF 21.7 Pts 15.2 PER Curry 14-15 20.1 FGA .429 eFG% 4.5 FTA 21% iFG 5.3 Re 8.2 Ast 4.5 TO 0.2 BLK, 3.9 PF, 20.9 PTs, 13.4 PER 15-16 22.0 FGA .436 eFG% 5.0 FTA 24% iFG 4.8 Reb 8.6 AST 3.5 TO .5 Blk 4.5 PF 23.1 Pts 15.2 PER Curry's opponent (the person guarding him) shoots more frequently, shoots a much lower effective FG%, gets more FTs, blocks more shots, scores more, and is slightly less efficient than Nash's opponent. Here's another stat that might indicate this component: 2. On Court vs. Off Court Effective FG% and Assisted FG% Curry 14-15 eFG% 56.3% vs. 49.0% on vs. off assisted FG% 66% vs. 64% on vs. off 15-16 eFG% 58.9% vs. 50.4% on vs. off assisted FG% 68% vs. 66% on vs. off Nash 04-05 eFG% 55.5% vs. 49.4% on vs. off assisted FG% 60% vs. 50% on vs. off 05-06 eFG% 54.5% vs. 51.8% on vs. off assisted FG% 64% vs. 60% on vs. off Curry's team shoot a higher eFG% with him on the court than Nash's teams did with him on the court. Curry's teams shot a lower eFG% with him off the court than Nashs' teams did with him off the court. Curry's team assisted on a higher % of their shots with him on the court, but they also assisted on a much higher % of shots with him off the court. Conclusions? Limited data. I chose MVP seasons. Curry makes teams shoot better. Nash increases assists.
Steph is the only gunner who takes a ton of "wtf" shots and somehow still makes his teammates better and they love playing for him
I only think it’s fair to label a GOAT for each era. The game changes so dramatically over each decade or so that it’s not really fair or reasonable to compare guys from different eras. Jordan was the GOAT of his era. Kobe was the GOAT of his, and LeBron the GOAT of his.
