Steph Curry- Is he a GOAT or no?

[RockThatBlue]

He is for sure the greatest shooter of all time...even people who dislike him cant deny that. But do you have him as one of the all time greatest players? Where would you rank him?

[Myles]

He's not Michael Jordan

[2006Coltsbestever]

*He is the greatest shooter ever, only Reggie, Ray Allen, and Larry Bird comes close as far as shooting from deep distance in clutch situations.

 

*My Post-Merger Top 10. Post-merger, meaning 1977 to now which is a 46 season sample size. Read that carefully where players like Chamberlain, Russell, and Big O would not be on this list. I am going post-merger.

 

1. Michael Jordan - 6 Championships, 5 League MVP's, 6 Finals MVP's.

 

2. Magic Johnson - in just 12 seasons, 5 Championships, 3 League MVP's, 3 Finals MVP's. Also won Finals MVP as a rookie scoring 42 Points, getting 15 Rebounds, and 7 Assists to close out Doc and company.

 

3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - still 3rd not even counting pre-merger stats/accolades. Post-merger he still won 2 League MVP's (1977/1980), 1 Finals MVP= (1985 at the age of 38), and 5 Championships. He scored a ton of points as well and the most unstoppable shot in the history of the NBA - Skyhook.

 

4. LeBron James - Stats, 4 Championships, 4 League MVP's, 4 Finals MVP's.

*That is the Mt Rushmore IMO

 

5. Kobe Bryant - won 2 without Shaq, that puts him in the top 5.

 

6. Larry Bird - Easy ranking here. Pure greatness.

 

7. Shaq O'Neal - More dominant than Duncan. When he played the Spurs during their 3Peat run (2000-2002), he dominated Duncan and Robinson both. His 2000 season was the most dominant season ever by a Big Post-merger. Duncan has 1 more Championship but by eye test Shaq kicked his butt more when they played head to head in the playoffs.

 

8. Tim Duncan - 5 Championships.

 

9. Steph Curry - 4 Championships, as many as LeBron lol.

 

10. Hakeem Olajuwon - what would be a Top 10 without this Big. He was just flat out great in every area. He won League MVP, Finals MVP = a Championship, and Defensive player of the year in the same year, 1994. He also made Patrick Ewing look like a fool in the 1994 Finals.

*My top 10 post-merger (1977 to now). I can't stand LeBron but he has been the best player of this generation. It pains me to say that but when you do lists you block stuff out and can't be biased. He switching teams to try and get rings bothers me. Having said that he is going to end up being the all-time scoring leader and in all 4 championships he has won, he has been the best player. Steph is at #9 for me. He has changed the game but the 8 players I have in front of him were better. That is my opinion. Steph is top 10 but not the GOAT. 

[Myles]

I won't put up a big argument, but I would have Duncan over Shaq.   Their stats are pretty comparable outside the FT %, of course.   Mostly I put Duncan before Shaq because teams started implementing a hack-a-shaq procedure on him which was pretty successful. 

[2006Coltsbestever]

56 minutes ago, Myles said:

I won't put up a big argument, but I would have Duncan over Shaq.   Their stats are pretty comparable outside the FT %, of course.   Mostly I put Duncan before Shaq because teams started implementing a hack-a-shaq procedure on him which was pretty successful. 

I have Shaq at #7 and Duncan at #8 so it is really like splitting hairs. I just remember Shaq dominating him and Robinson at the same time for 2 years straight in the playoffs. Duncan even had help from another Hall of Fame Center in Robinson and Shaq still put up huge numbers against the Spurs. In 2001 the Lakers beat them 4-0 (WCF), in 2002 the Lakers beat them again 4-1 (WC semis). Shaq and Kobe both dominated a loaded Spurs team that had Duncan and Robinson both. 

 

Regarding FT shooting, yeah Shaq was bad at times but the funny thing is he made some big one's in that Sacramento series in the 2002 WCFinals to help the Lakers win that series. The NBA also changed the rules because of Shaq as in you just can't hack someone in the last 2 minutes of a game. Now if someone hacks a player that struggles from the line in the last 2 minutes, the team that gets fouled can choose their FT shooter. Duncan wasn't that good at FT's either (69.6% lifetime, not even 70%, close but still nothing to brag about) and outside of 12 feet he couldn't shoot either. I had Larry Bird ahead of both based on Bird had a way more dominant outside game but also could dominate inside. Had it not been for Magic, Bird would've won 5 Championships.

[chad72]

Steph Curry is a better version of Reggie Miller that has been fortunate to be on better teams compared to Reggie, IMO. 

 

When they allowed zone defense to be played, 3 point shooting became a natural way to beat such Ds. MJ benefited from a lot of 1-on-1s but also had to deal with lot more physical guys in the middle going to the lane owing to the type of Ds played. Playing as many seasons as MJ played with that physical brand of basketball would be unheard of, nowadays. If D styles were reversed, MJ would learn to shoot more 3s if he HAD TO but I do not think Steph Curry would be able to play a physical brand of basketball and endure too many seasons at a high level if the rules dictated more 1-on-1s and more physical checks and contact allowed. 

 

When it is all said and done, Steph would crack the Top 10 post merger when his career is over as the best shooter of all time. 

[AwesomeAustin]

Steph Curry is a very good player.  Hope he keeps having success but for now there are plenty of players ahead of him.  That may change by the time his career ends. 

[LJpalmbeacher2]

I don't watch much basketball but I'm not crazy about his Subway commercials ......in fact I'm not a fan of SubWay.

Here in south Florida we have Publix grocery stores and many people, including me, prefer a sub from their Deli by far over Subway. Jersey Mike's is good too AND a Meatball parmesan sub from a local Italian restaurant. ......yummy 

 

But yeah Curry is a pretty good shooter. 

 

[LJpalmbeacher2]

On 6/20/2022 at 10:44 AM, Myles said:

I won't put up a big argument, but I would have Duncan over Shaq.   Their stats are pretty comparable outside the FT %, of course.   Mostly I put Duncan before Shaq because teams started implementing a hack-a-shaq procedure on him which was pretty successful. 

 

I disagree. 

I'd put Shaq over Duncan strictly for the General Car Insurance commercials. 

 

[LJpalmbeacher2]

Here's my short list AND NOT GOING BY RINGS, MVP's. 

 

1a. Bert Jones .....

 

1b. Lebron

2.  Magic

3.  Chamberlain (my brothers favorite)

4. Jordan, but I never was a fan

5. Curry (one of the best 3 pt. shooters the Warriors currently have)

 

My favorite era was when they played "fast break"!!! Liked watching that especially the 76ers, Lakers back then.

That's going back but I enjoyed that type of game. They were so athletic and fast pace game. 

[2006Coltsbestever]

If I had to say the best I have ever seen at their peaks, it would be:

 

1. Michael Jordan

2. Tom Brady - but what a cheater 

3. Magic Johnson 

4. Peyton Manning - MVP trophy should be named after him.

5. Mike Tyson - from 1985 to 1989 he was unreal. Killing everyone.

[Myles]

4 hours ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

If I had to say the best I have ever seen at their peaks, it would be:

 

1. Michael Jordan

2. Tom Brady - but what a cheater 

3. Magic Johnson 

4. Peyton Manning - MVP trophy should be named after him.

5. Mike Tyson - from 1985 to 1989 he was unreal. Killing everyone.

Pretty good list.  My only knock against Tyson was him dodging Foreman.   That would have been a good fight.   Foreman's stance would have reduced Tyson's effectiveness a bit.  I would have still picked Tyson to win.  

[2006Coltsbestever]

2 hours ago, Myles said:

Pretty good list.  My only knock against Tyson was him dodging Foreman.   That would have been a good fight.   Foreman's stance would have reduced Tyson's effectiveness a bit.  I would have still picked Tyson to win.  

The only guy that really gave Tyson a good fight was Tony Tucker in 1987. I watched that fight and Tucker actually won 4 of the 12 rounds and never went down. Tucker was 34-0 going into that fight and just KO'd Buster the fight before, he was no joke. Tyson won by  decision. That was from 1985-1989. When Buster beat Tyson, Tyson didn't even train, that was a fluke in 1990. Tyson was enjoying the Japan ladies too much and the food  .

[2006Coltsbestever]

I will never forget the Tyson vs Spinks fight. Dad said this will be Tyson's toughest test. You know why I will never forget it, I didn't even see it live  . I was at my dad's. He ordered us 2 large pizza's, I was only 17 at the time. I seen the introductions and told dad I needed to use the restroom, by the time I got out the fight was over 

[Myles]

44 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

The only guy that really gave Tyson a good fight was Tony Tucker in 1987. I watched that fight and Tucker actually won 4 of the 12 rounds and never went down. Tucker was 34-0 going into that fight and just KO'd Buster the fight before, he was no joke. Tyson won by  decision. That was from 1985-1989. When Buster beat Tyson, Tyson didn't even train, that was a fluke in 1990. Tyson was enjoying the Japan ladies too much and the food  .

Back when I watched Tuesday Night Fights, Tucker fought on there quite a bit.  I was bummed when they cancelled Tuesday Night Fights.  

[2006Coltsbestever]

1 hour ago, Myles said:

Back when I watched Tuesday Night Fights, Tucker fought on there quite a bit.  I was bummed when they cancelled Tuesday Night Fights.  

Tony Tucker really impressed me, he could take a punch and was 6'5. He was like Lennox Lewis as in he could box. He gave Mike a little trouble and he had some power. He wasn't intimidated by Mike which was unusual. Mike won the fight 9 rounds to 3 on 2 of the score cards, I had it 8-4 as did one other judge. Which is still a win but that was the 1 fight where I said "wow" = that Tucker guy is really great.