Put lebron on any team and they instantly make the playoffs and all but like 2 would be legit championship contenders. But kawhai or curry on any team and they wouldn't even make half the league legit contenders. Curry is in the perfect system to hide is awful defense and cannot impact the game when he's not scoring. Kawhai is possibly the best perimeter defender ever but his offense isn't that great he's a system player.
While I agree on the general sentiment you take it too far. While it may be true that LBJ for most of his career has not had a supporting cast as strong as prime MJ's or Kobe's (though it's really debatable just how wanting the later editions of his pre-Decision Cavs were) it's also true that his competition has not been as strong either. If my math is correct he now has defeated all of 9 teams with 50 or more regular-season wins in the playoffs (including this season's Raptors), which is less than half of MJ's or Kobe's total at a comparable point in their respective career. Put LBJ in the West and there's no way he'd make all but two of the teams instant championship contenders.
As for Kawhi being a system player that bring us to this:
Which is a lot of the reason why he was as efficient as he was. For the record he played less than 1 minute less than Curry per game. And scored 9 points a game less. You replace Lebron with Kawhi on the Cavs and you honestly think they are ANYWHERE near the same team? Flip that around and the Spurs are literally unstopabble. Kawhi is MAYBE the 4th best player in the league, he's not capable of leading a team anywhere near Lebron, KD, or Curry.
You missed the part about Curry handling the ball more. I don't have the exact numbers but I guarantee you Steph had possession of the ball a lot more than Kawhi in their 30-something minutes.
Also you guys make the all-too-common mistake of assuming a player would play virtually the same way in these what-if scenarios. Yes, Kawhi is a system player, but so is just about anyone else and under Pop's system both LBJ's and Curry's point totals would drop dramatically. And if you really think Kawhi wouldn't be able to pad his stats on other teams get this: this season, the first time Pop really trusted him to take over the SA offense (along with Aldridge), Kawhi played barely one more minute (1.3 if you wanna be anal) than last season but increased his output by nearly 5 points (4.7)
while improving his shooting %s everywhere.
Of course that's not to say he'd ever be able to match MJ or Kobe on the offensive end, because I know he wouldn't (for one thing those two were more creative than Kawhi ever was or will be). But considering Kawhi's sizable advantage on the other end over Steph and even LBJ it's surely no stretch to think he's indeed the best player in the world today.
Lebron is still the best.
Currys offensive game in this modern times makes it close. But Lebron is the most versatile player since magic Johnson. He could play center in this upcoming series or he can be the PG.
Actually I'd say LBJ is more versatile. Magic was an even better facilitator especially on the run but he was never a great shooter, nor was his defense up to par. Same reasons why I'd put Kobe above Magic too.
I mean I agree Lebron is the best, but can we get rid of this idea that he could play center for more than a play or two? Because it's ********. He would get battered in the post, and his offense would suffer horribly. Look at what happens to Draymond when he actually plays against real centers..
Here I agree with you. Yes LBJ would get abused in the post by the bigs, and even now he has trouble guarding fleet-footed guards (individual D is where he takes another backseat to MJ and Kobe, at least when the latter set his mind to it which he usually did in the playoffs).
Also I know you dislike him, but Draymond himself is the most versatile player in the league today. Like it or not GS is probably the only team with three legit current top 10 players.
