Why are Steph and even Luka in consideration for being some of the best basketball players ever when they don’t play defense? In my eyes the top 10 should be the best players on both sides of the ball, not just one. Can Steph really be considered a top 5 player all time without ever being an above average defender?
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There’s a difference “Steph is top 10 ever and it’s set in ston” and “Steph is in the convo”
Admittedly, Steph is a difficult one to gauge. He can be the greatest offensive player ever in a 20-minute stretch when he gets hot, and it happens it a lot. That, along with his accolades, is more than enough to put him in the convo. But he looks telestial when he’s in slump. And his defense is definitely lacking in top-10 standards. Without these ‘buts’, he would be a consensus top 10.
Net rating and on/offs are notoriously noisy stats and require context, but I think as concepts they’re useful, and if a player improves their team by say 10 points, to me, it doesn’t much matter how much of the breakdown is offense or defense
Good thing your eyes is not mine and other people’s eyes.
The best players are the ones who will make your team win.
Setting aside that Steph’s defense is not that bad and he was a part of some great defensive teams, how many players out there would you really choose over him if your goal was winning a game of basketball?
if you want to go that route than you have to discount Magic because his defense was doo
Making a 3 is worth more than preventing a 2. Hope this helps.
Also, like others have pointed out. There is a tipping point where offense overshadows defense. Steph probably won’t end up top 5 because it’s fucking stacked. But will end up ahead of the other PG, Magic johnson.
And like another pointed out, it’s why he’s not higher. If bro could defend as well as kawhi, he’d be above lebron and would have won 2016 and then possibly 2019.
Probably having an amazing defensive player doesn’t correlate with wins as much as having an amazing offensive player
Steph won four championships despite being an average defender. Sometimes the best defense is a amazing offense.
First of all, Steph can defend. He’s not elite, but he’s not a minus either, at least hasn’t been for years now. Far better than a Trae Young or Jordan Poole lol.
In his last championship year 2022 he was 4th in net rating with the same defensive rating as Tatum at 103.4(!) and was better than Rudy Gobert’s. No DRTG isn’t a perfect stat, and Steph’s rating is probably boosted by the team defense designed to carefully “curate” who he has to defend, but go ahead and find me a well known bad defender with a 103 rating for a season. For comparison, Lillard was 114, who certain types of fans love compare Steph to, but this just one good example for how theyre not even in the same league.
So I would argue his generational offensive contribution combined with being at least a wash on D allows him to be in a top 10 convo. You can argue he shouldn’t be up there for other reasons(?) but I wouldn’t disqualify him for defense alone. If anything I would argue his biggest weakness is dumbass turnovers at the worst times.
I’m sorry but Steph is 100% a minus defensively lol. He had a really incredible defensive run in 2022 that made people start saying “he can defend guys!” and it was true, he was really great that season, but really since then he’s been pretty bad defensively. That being said, guard defense is incredibly overrated especially when they’re producing like Steph does on the other end.
You know he’s 36 right? It’s expected that he would have a defensive drop off.
He’s been average to slightly above average defensively throughout his prime years, especially considering the offensive load he’s expected to carry.
I know. He’s a 36 year old 6’2 point guard, which is a big part of the reason he’s a bad defender now. We agree lol
You win by scoring more points than the other team and those guys help you do that.
If one player scores 30 but gives up 40 is he better then one who scores 20 but gives up ten
Ignoring the fact that Steph does play defense & has had moments where he looks perfectly fine vs the likes of Harden, LeBron, Ja, etc. in the playoffs. Whether that’s with help defense or not. The most important thing is your impact on winning at the end of the day & offense matters way more than defense unless you’re a C in the NBA. Best offensive player in history is more valuable than beat defensive player.
Also It’s not like Magic is a defensive force yet he’s in everyone’s top 10.
Steph puts effort into playing defense and has been an average-good POA defender and good team defender. People act like just because you’re not All-Defense means you can’t be an average-good defender.
That 2022 GSW was a top defensive team despite only Draymond getting All-D 2nd team honors and Steph playing the most minutes on the team.
Thought it was very clear when Poole was on the floor during the 2021-22 GSW run how not bad Steph was. Put this “only plays one side of the ball” shit to rest.
Is it really that hard to think Steph isn’t Top 10 caliber?
Someone with his offensive range and dominance alongside being the first unanimous MVP ever with a dynasty and championships both with KD and without?
My answer: Players like him are in consideration because people have actual eyes and can see that greatness.
They aren’t as much as they try to change narratives and criteria the best players are elite both sides of the basketball all time
Curry is considered a top alltime player because he’s without doubt the best 3 point shooter ever and was the primary reason that 3 pointers, especially catch and shoot 3 pointers and long distance 3 pointers became the main offensive focus in today’s game.