Source
r/nba•
BenEmbiid

Is the Curry era the most talented ever?

Post 2013. Rundown of the 9 Best players: LeBron, KD, Curry, Kawhi, Harden, Giannis, Embiid, AD, and Kyrie. Joel Embiid is averaging 27 and 13. He is a nightmare defensively and a nightmare offensively. He can put up 40 and 15 like it’s nothing and just dominate. Joel Embiid is not considered a top 5 player in the league. However, put him in any other era and he is top 5 no doubt. Put James Harden in any other era he is top 5. How is the second most unguardable player ever not even top 3? Giannis is averaging 27 13 and 6 and isn’t top 5 to many. Even Dame Lillard who can average 27 for a season isn’t a top 3 PG and doesn’t make some all star games. Put him in the 2000’s and he is arguably the best PG. Jason Kidd was a star in the 2000’s. He is not in Todays league. So much more talent.

Posted Dec 31, 2018, 5:15 PM UTC

071
brandoiLakers•

What about when the league had KG, Duncan, Dirk, Nash, Kobe, TMac, Shaq, Lebron, Wade, CP3, Deron, Melo?

Joel Embiid would absolutely not be a top 5 player in the list of players I just mentioned.

52
LooperstooperLakers•

Man, the nephews don’t know how good DWill was in his Utah days.

34
BenEmbiidOP[PHI] Ben Simmons•

I do because I actually grew up in the 2000’s. He was a 20-10 player in his prime.

7
ctye85[LAL] Kareem Abdul-Jabbar•

Yes, and a 20-10 PG is insanely valuable.

11
BenEmbiidOP[PHI] Ben Simmons•

I agree. Why do you think I’m shitting on these players? I’m not. I grew up as a kid watching Steve Nash Duncan Kobe Dwill and KG. I’m just saying that I think today’s players are better

19
dmavs11Mavericks•

Meanwhile, today we constantly shit on the two point guards who can average 20 and 10 (Westbrook and Wall) D Will was great but he can't touch the point guards today.

6
murphadam420Warriors•

He was very good, but the quality of PGs is crazy right now. Curry, Dame, CP3, Westbrook (until this year) are probably all better than D Will at D Will's best. And if you count Harden then him too.

7
andrew2018022[ORL] Mohamed Bamba•

Yeah but they played against coal miners and paperboys sooo

9
SpaceCowboy170Jazz Bandwagon•

The thing that people don’t get is that one day even KD will just have been a milkman

5
ginger_banks•

The thing that people don't get is back in those players were actual part-time milkmen that's why the stereotype exists.

1†
Thedudewhosmokedpot•

But KD is a milkman part time

6
im__new__hereNBA•

in the 2000s? Wut?

2
rumballytronRaptors•

strong point.

2
rukqoa[GSW] Kevin Durant•

Embiid isn't even close to the top 5 of the "curry era" aka post 2013. I wouldn't put him in top 10 of all players post 2013.

You're listing people in the same era but their primes weren't all the same year. I mean, if you're going to list everyone who played in that era, every single person on your list except Shaq played post 2013.

2†
ET_Tony[PHI] Ben Simmons•

You don't watch Embiid play do you, I wouldn't say he's definitely Top 10 but he sure as hell has an argument. He single handedly changes our whole team when he plays. It's night and day the effect he has on both sides of the floor. You can't drive against him, you can't leave him 1v1 in the post or he will cook your center unless they are Horford or Gasol.

2
rukqoa[GSW] Kevin Durant•

Top 10 since 2013? There's a lot of good players since 2013 though.

In no particular order, we've got LeBron, Curry, KD, Kawhi, AD, Russ, Boogie, PG, Gasol, Harden, Giannis, D Rose, John Wall, Kyrie, LMA, Lillard. And then, we add in the guys that weren't in their prime but have still played past 2013: KG, Duncan, Dirk, Nash, Kobe, Wade, CP3, Deron, Melo.

Hard to put Joel in front of 10 of those people, especially because he's only played a couple years.

1
ginger_banks•

MJ also was around until 03. And you gotta add Iverson and Arenas.

1
ericc99•

I mean thats like including Kobe in this post 2013 era

2
goatmade[WAS] Gilbert Arenas•

Dirk

He is better than Dirk

CP3, Deron, Melo?

LMFAO

-3
BenEmbiidOP[PHI] Ben Simmons•

All these players were better at different points. 2005 Shaq was not better than Embiid is now. Embiid would be over Dirk. He would be over Deron Williams. I think Duncan would be over him and KG would be what AD is to Embiid now. On equal footing. Other than LeBron Kobe and Duncan I would not put anyone over Embiid in the mid 2000’s.

-13
brandoiLakers•

Lmao, you're going to put Embiid over Dirk? Relevant username I guess. Pick any season in the 2000s and Embiid still wouldn't be a top 5 player.

10
BenEmbiidOP[PHI] Ben Simmons•

All time? No. Embiid this season and going forward? Yes tf. Embiid is better on the defensive end by a wide margin. It’s why Duncan was better than Dirk.

-6
DoobieHauserMC[CHI] Dennis Rodman•

There’s a lot of reasons why Duncan is better than Dirk, but it doesn’t mean Embiid is better than Dirk

5
ctye85[LAL] Kareem Abdul-Jabbar•

What kind of argument is that? Put Embiid against prime Shaq. You don't get to just pick and choose the weakest year for each 2000s player in this comparison.

1
BenEmbiidOP[PHI] Ben Simmons•

Prime Shaq was closer to 99 which is not the 2000’s.

-2
ctye85[LAL] Kareem Abdul-Jabbar•

Take Shaq from 2000-2004...any year, he's more valuable than Embiid is now. He would have mauled Embiid. In fact, take first year Miami Shaq, he was damn near the MVP.

3
pyrotech_supportKnicks•

Lol at Embiid being better than Dirk and AD being equal to peak KG. KG had the offensive numbers, and he was one of the few best defenders ever.

0
pohmeeLakers•

Yo we still the LeBron Era.

28
YourMajesty90NBA•

It's still so weird seeing Laker flairs backing and defending LeBron in every threat. Over the years I got used to seeing Laker Flair's on 90% of the comments bashing LeBron. Oh how the turn tables.

4
jcw4455Clippers•

Laker Flairs are confusing as hell now.

You don't know if you're getting a LeBron Stan, or a Kobe Stan, or even a Lonzo Stan. Any one of them coming from a different place to defend their guy.

Then there are the Laker flairs who are willing to trash any one of them if they're playing badly and hurting the team. Only to get into an argument with another Laker flair, who's defending that guy.

7
sithsoulLakers•

Well I mean he ain't wrong. It's still the Lebron era because he's still the best player on the planet.

2
Haejang-gukWarriors•

Whether you think that LeBron is the best player in the league or not, he's had nowhere near the influence on the overall game that Curry has, unless you believe that the three-point revolution of recent years has been a coincidence.

-5
bobertbros•

Actually Lebrons Heat team is the reason we have small ball 5s and the Spurs team where Danny green broke the 3pt record is the reason we see so many 3s. So yeah we’re still in the Lebron era.

1
[deleted]•

[removed]

1
Raf_CamoraNBA•

I've seen people with lakers Flair bashing kobe, it's so funny lol.

1
gustriandos[PHI] Eric Snow•

The what now?

27
KelseyPlumFan[GSW] Klay Thompson•

You heard my man he said the curry era

-9
SilentKiwi23Lakers•

the what now?

6
Anti_Thon[OKC] Russell Westbrook•

You mean the KD to the Warriors era

4
wttd40Pelicans•

There’s a Curry era?

18
Haejang-gukWarriors•

Well, you may have noticed that everyone has started chucking up threes in the past half-decade or so. While I think that attributing it to Curry alone is a bit much, he was arguably the straw that broke the camel's back when it came to convincing coaches around the league that it was possible to win a title with a three pointer-heavy offense.

6
Questionable_Ethics2•

Curry era ???????

16
BigBallerBreen[ORL] Tree Rollins•

Whose Era Is It Anyway?

10
KuyaJohnny[SAS] Boban Marjanovic•

This thread is why everyone hates teenagers

8
BenEmbiidOP[PHI] Ben Simmons•

I’m in my 20’s

-1
washedup101•

Saying the curry era killed all credibility of this post. No need to read after the title. Back to class young man.

7
killerbootsman87Spurs•

Go to sleep.

6
SilentKiwi23Lakers•

You call it the Curry era but have him 3rd?

6
losangelesqueensNuggets•

jkidd would absolutely be a superstar in today's league lmao

5
BenEmbiidOP[PHI] Ben Simmons•

He would not be close to a superstar. He is not even remotely close to players like Curry Giannis KD Kawhi LeBron James Harden etc. He is closer to Ben Simmons.

-18
paraMAYBE_DO_LESSLakers•

Go back to sleep.

19
brandoiLakers•

You just looking at numbers or what?

8
jeyybirdHeat•

No, he said he grew up during the 2000s, which means 10 year old him was a Jason Kidd expert.

4
Tieguy87Hornets•

So disrespectful in so many ways.

5
LeNBA23•

Jason Kidd's prime was basically like what Russ described as himself: The best rebounding/defensive PG in the league and arguably the best passer. He was also the perfect team leader, and was talented enough offensively to be the 2nd option on a contender... Don't disrespek.

4
BenEmbiidOP[PHI] Ben Simmons•

I grew up watching Jason Kidd. His lack of a jump shot would hurt him badly in today’s league. What you said also describes Rajon Rondo at his peak.

-3
LeNBA23•

Would it surprise you to know that Kidd is 9th on the list in 3-pointers made? He developed a respectable jumper my man.

6
[deleted]•

This fucking nephew...

4
ThtGuyIKnwCeltics•

Eh. it's the most offensively focused period in a while but that's also a product of rules changing and different spacing being pushed more.

But I wouldn't say it's the most talented.

2
murphadam420Warriors•

Embiid would not be a top 5 player in any era. There are some ridiculously top heavy eras, pretty much. [Look at this murderers row of talent] (https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards_1987.html)

2
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
rumballytronRaptors•

I think the difference in the top 10 is not much, but take the 20th-50th players and compare them and it will be obvious. we have guys like bradley beal, kyle lowry, demar, zach lavine, aaron gordon, who hover around the edge of these conversations but are probably more skilled than their counterparts from days past.

1
lpo33[DAL] Dirk Nowitzki•

If you're only looking at a top-10 or so, it would have to be some time in the late 80's/early 90's. Just look at the 1990 MVP voting for example. MJ, Magic, Bird, Hakeem, Malone, Robinson, Barkley, Ewing, etc.

I think the league is deeper now though.

1
FlynnPatrick•

there's a difference between talent and skilled.

most talented player ever IMO is LeBron.

mix of talent + skill Jordan

most skilled player ever, Curry has a legitimate argument

1
BenEmbiidOP[PHI] Ben Simmons•

James Harden does as well IMO

1
FlynnPatrick•

I'll also throw in Pete Maravich. He would have been a sight to see in this era

2
LeNBA23•

I think it pretty clearly is. It will likely be true moving forward too, as the sport continues to grow in areas outside of the US. Of course, you could also break it down further into eras like "Best for Centers, Best for Wings, etc." and then you might come to different conclusions. As far as overall talent level goes though, yeah I don't see how it's not.

-2†