He is a defensive stud and he can guard every position well. Thing is, there's skill and then there's being a physical masterpiece. In my view, he's a very good NBA defender from a skills POV. But he's not elite, but he can be an elite defender without having elite defensive skills. There's no shame in that. The #2 defender in the league doesn't need to be the guy who has the best skill as a defender. It's not like Giannis is the best shooter or the most skilled post player, either. But he's gonna get buckets and he's certainly going to get a lot of them in the low post.

Some of what he does well is overvalued but Giannis is in my view the most effective player in the NBA outside of maybe Lebron or, at times, Kawhi Leonard. I'm not saying AD isn't in the conversation, because he's a dominant presence, too.

Giannis really showed he's better than LeBron by once again being a regular season champion, once again having the best record in the league, winning MVP, DPOY, and then getting KNOCKED OUT BY A 5TH SEED!!

For fucks sake, if thats the case Harden is EASILY top 5 in this list. He dominates the regular season with no issue. He's above Curry either way rofl.

This post was edited by Sixers on Dec 10 2020 03:57pm

You could definitely make a case for Harden over everyone if it wasn’t for his ASTRONOMICAL usage % being higher than literally every superstar by 5%-10%+...

But I agree with you that if the playoffs WERE taken into account the regular season awards would be completely different. Like Max Kelerman said, in a league that over 50% of the teams make the playoffs, I don’t think we should have awards that don’t include the most important part of the season. It would be great if they did but they don’t. So I will go off of the majority sample size of the season, & my list stands.

This post was edited by Dominicano on Dec 10 2020 04:02pm

Wow, the Sixers would have been better by swapping a 21/22 year old in his second season for a 30 year old 10 year veteran.

Tell us something we don't know lol. Any team would be better by trading their super young player in their second season for Curry at that time. But long term? No, just no.

Curry is almost 10 years older than Simmons. One is still like 3 years from his prime years, the other is approaching his mid 30's and his best years are behind him. We're good lol.

In every world he's not a top 100 player on pure skills. I wasn't talking about skill per size or per position. I didn't say anything about his size, but coordination isn't a skill. Court vision favours taller guys who carry the ball because they can in fact see the court better. He has great handles for his size. I'll give him that. But let me know when he's shooting 40% from 3 or when he develops a legitimate skilled post game even at the level of Kevin Love, because I don't see either of those things happening, and I don't think Kevin Love was exactly a maestro down low. Then again, Kevin Love wasn't the most athletically gifted dude, even in his prime.

It depends on what you mean about domination if we're talking about Harden. He dominates the ball, gets every call possible, gets handed free rebs, and travels halfway across the Sahara at will. Is he an offensive genius? Yes. Is he in my view one of the best offensive juggernauts in league history? Yes. But does he defend? He dominates one side of the floor. I think that DOES qualify him as a dominant force in the league. But I don't like it And he will never dominate like Giannis does in my view unless he starts to play defence.

I'm doing that thing I do when I put to question what COUNTS as greatness, because it can be different things.

What I will say is that Lebron and Kawhi are two guys I can see being argued to be in the top 10 list of an awful lot of categories. And yet they're freaks.

This post was edited by RewtheBrave on Dec 10 2020 04:07pm

Sixers have the opportunity in front of them right now, so it is a valid discussion. Simmons for Harden could be a move that is the difference between a chip and an early exit

Not worth it, at least not right now. Simmons isn't even sniffing his prime years yet, and already has accomplished a lot in just 3 seasons. There's too much potential and too much yet to be seen now under a real head coach and a team with actual shooters.

Sixers have two All-NBA talents that are 24 and 26 years old. Trading one of them for a 31 year old, although a great 31 year old, cuts down the potential of developing something great that can last for many years.

Plus, while Harden and Embiid would be awesome to watch their style of play is like completely opposite to one another. Not to mention chemistry issues with Harden.

This post was edited by Sixers on Dec 10 2020 04:14pm

I take the better odds for a title personally but I can see the greed perspective. What amplifies the trade, for me, is there isn’t a super team the likes of the KD warriors out there. Down the road there is a chance that even if Simmons and Embiid do grow, another team could become even better.

Considering Portland is not 0-10 against GSW in playoff games.
Your graph is a little off.

If it isn't broken, don't fix it.

Sixers have won OVER 50 games in 2 of Simmons first 3 seasons. Him and Embiid have proven that even at a very early point in their career, with the right players around them they can be a VERY good offensive AND defensive team.

Last season was a hot mess, from coaching to the players assembled (i.e. fitting Horford in) it was a disaster but that was fixed in just one off-season as Morey proved. Upgraded coaching, got rid of Horford, and added multiple proven shooters as role players. This roster now looks VERY similar to the one a couple of years ago that produced statistically the most productive starting unit in the NBA when it was Simmons/Redick/Roco/Saric/Embiid.

You can't blow this team up yet, you just can't. And Morey isn't done yet, there's so much flexibility coming next off-season to add a big piece if they want which I believe is Morey's plan.