“I think Steph is at his absolute peak right now, physically and emotionally. This is probably as good as he's ever going to be. I think he's better now than he was last year or the year before. And that's saying something.
“He is the most impactful offensive player, in terms of what he does to the defense, maybe ever. There's guys, obviously Michael Jordan impacted things, but the way Steph plays puts the fear of God into defenses like no one I've ever seen. Nobody has been able to shoot off the dribble from 35 feet in a normal setting. But he does that, which changes the entire game. So everything we do revolves around Steph.
“You can talk about where he stands in terms of the best players in the league. He's obviously one of the best, by that standard he's the best. If you want to just say: ‘Who affects the game the most offensively?' Steph is the best player in the NBA. But there's different ways of measuring that stuff. From a two-way standpoint, if you like the two-way guys, maybe it's Kawhi Leonard or (Kevin Durant) or LeBron because they're bigger or stronger and can protect the rim.
“Steph is an excellent defender though. He does not get the credit he deserves. There's a lot of guys in the playoffs who are great one-way guys. Steph, he's a two-way player. He gets his hands on passes, deflects the ball. All you have to do is look at the impact he makes every time he's on the floor for us to know that everything we do, everything we run offensively, the other guy's ability to make plays — Shaun (Livingston), Andre, Draymond (Green) — it all starts with Steph's gravity.
“And what's amazing about Steph, what continues to add to all that is his personal character, his unselfishness, the way he approaches the game. His usage rate is maybe 30th in the league. He could easily be like, ‘Hey, why don't I have the ball? I'm the best offensive player in the history of the game?' We could run high pick-and-roll every time.
“But he understands the power of the group. He understands that Shaun and Andre and Zaza and Draymond and David (West) are all great passers and, as a group, we are a better team when we are sharing. I've said it many times. He reminds me so much of Tim Duncan in that he has this incredible package of skill, arrogance and humility. It's a weird combination and the result is this powerful force that drives our entire organization.”
- Steve Kerr
for the correct position to guard him. Just think about that
