Remember when you had to be a good player on both ends of the floor to be considered great?

Loose

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I swear it wasn't till Jordan came along that I started to hear about the best player in the league having to be good on both ends of the floor.
It's always been like that

Wilt , kareem, magic ( yeah he was a solid defender) Jordan , kobe /duncan, LeBron
 

Goatpoacher

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But when its followed by Kobe and Bron both being great on that end too :yeshrug:

Kobe played strong defense for 2 seasons. Lebron played strong defense for 5 seasons. Lebron looked like the DPOY one season. Kobe never was close to DPOY.

Elite means the best. Truth is, Jordan wasn't even the best perimeter defender on his team. Lebron's first year in Miami he looked like the best perimeter defender in the league, but he's slacked on that front every year since.

Sadly, nobody mentioned TD or KG, two actual elite defenders...
 

Consumed

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Its been a lot of GOAT talk lately. Can you potentially be the GOAT while not playing elite level defense?

The serious Curry GOAT discussions are offense only where he's legit producing a GOAT tier season. Everyone knows his defense hurts the argument against the likes of Jordan & LeBron who are two of the greatest wing defenders of all time on top of being dominant individual offensive forces, and as a PG there's only so much he can really do to influence the way that his team defends.

Doesn't really mean he can't build a case among the top 10-15 players of all time which is absolutely not filled with elite defensive players and in terms of peak he's already there on the strength of his unprecedented match of volume scoring + efficiency and playmaking that goes beyond the box score.
 

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The serious Curry GOAT discussions are offense only where he's legit producing a GOAT tier season. Everyone knows his defense hurts the argument against the likes of Jordan & LeBron who are two of the greatest wing defenders of all time on top of being dominant individual offensive forces, and as a PG there's only so much he can really do to influence the way that his team defends.

Doesn't really mean he can't build a case among the top 10-15 players of all time which is absolutely not filled with elite defensive players and in terms of peak he's already there on the strength of his unprecedented match of volume scoring + efficiency and playmaking that goes beyond the box score.

To be considered the greatest basketball player, or near the GOAT, you have to play defense in my eyes.

It says greatest basketball player, and a basketball player is just more than shooting and offense. Defense is half the game.

Curry is amazing. Not taking anything away from him but he can't defend. At all.
 

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To be considered the greatest basketball player, or near the GOAT, you have to play defense in my eyes.

It says greatest basketball player, and a basketball player is just more than shooting and offense. Defense is half the game.

Curry is amazing. Not taking anything away from him but he can't defend. At all.

Defense is half the game from a team perspective, not individual especially for perimeter players who do not have the same influence on a defense than a big that can shut down the paint and help blow up P&R possesions.

Again, people are arguing Curry as GOAT from an offensive perspective. Complaining about his defense as compared to MJ/Bron is a moot point since no one is seriously saying that he's better overall.

Curry CAN defend especially for what his position asks of him, and it doesn't take away from his status as best in the league or among the greatest we've seen from a peak perspective.
 

AlbertPullhoez

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We still got Kawhi though

May repeat as DPOY while averaging 20+ ppg while flirting with a 50/40/90.

Jimmy Buckets is another . But there really isn't many great perimeter players who are elite at both ends now.

Kawhi, Butler, Bron and who else?
 
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