With Kawhi leading the raptors to their first championship, there's been a lot of discussion of how great a player he is (deservedly so). In this realm, there's even been talks of him being the best player in the world, and while it may not be a consensus, it is not an unpopular opinion to hold right now.

Even with myself trying as hard as possible to affirm this notion, It's almost impossible for me to think that he is the best.

I'll lay out why I think so, and maybe I am making mistakes in my own rationale and hopefully that will be pointed out.

Also, to preface: I do not care about accolades, legacy, "clutchness" or any other buzzword. I care about impact and who could increases a teams chance to win the most.

Accolades do nothing for me. They are extremely subjective and context driven. Him not winning an mvp doesn't concern me the same way him winning 2 FMVP's doesn't concern me.

Legacies are just narratives, and with how much this sub likes to shit on Skip Bayless and Max Kellerman, it indulges in the same narratives they built their careers on.

Being clutch is not relevant to me. I will never evaluate a player on one game, let alone a couple of shots missed/made in a quarter.

Strengths

Offense

His greatest strength at the moment is definitely his isolation scoring. His first step is quite good, and his strength allows him to create seperation and/or finish at the rim. His mid-range is good, scoring at 0.91 PPP in the playoffs, but his finishing at the rim is amazing at 1.37 PPP.

However, his prowess in this regards may be a bit overstated. He was in the 61st percentile in isolation (17.6% FREQ) scoring these playoffs, behind KD at 66th percentile (20% FREQ), James Harden at a crazy 76th percentile given the volume (47% FREQ) and Stephen Curry at an impressive 97th percentile albeit with low volume (9% FREQ).

Because this statistic doesn't necessarily account for opponent defense, and is a smaller sample size, it's harder to draw many conclusions from this. It is clear however that Kawhi is an elite isolation scorer, but may not have an argument for being a top 3-4 isolation scorer.

His general ability to draw fouls is valuable, coupled with his strong spot-up shooting makes him extremely versatile. These two skills would be very valuable in any offense, especially one with contemporaries (LeBron?).

Defense

His man defense has always been great. He has a long wingspan and huge hands, making him a constant pest to the ballhandler. His lateral quickness is elite, and he rarely gets beat by wing-players in this regards. He has enough length to recover when beat, and his help defense is quite good as well.

Weaknesses

Offense

His glaring weakness seems to be his passing ability and vision. His strong isolation game forces teams to double team him which subsequently creates opportunities for his teammates. The problem is that he regularly cannot punish these choices due to his poor vision.

His player archetype rarely (subpar passer, strong isolation scorer) leads all-time level offenses, which is indicative of the importance of passing and creating. While his resilient scoring is very valuable in raising a teams floor, his ball-pounding iso style make it hard for me to rate his offense higher.

We can see that the effect of his offense didn't drastically improve the raptors offense in the postseason. They went from a rORTG of -1.2 last season to a rORTG of 1.4 these playoffs.

Defense

Although his defense has always been quite exceptional, his performance on that end these playoffs was somewhat disappointing. He was the 6th best defender on his own team according the PIPM (0.4 D-PIPM). This may be slightly noisy, but I feel like this makes more sense in context. It is clear that his defense has suffered due to his increased offensive load, which is understandable. However, his reputation as a DPOY has definitely carried the perception of his performance on that end. I think it is inarguable that the reason the raptors are great is because of their defense. I also think it is inarguable that Kawhi was not the explicit reason the defense was so great. It is definitely a mix between amazing performances from Pascal, Ibaka and Gasol (1.6 D-PIPM, 1.6 D-PIPM and 1.9 D-PIPM respectively) and a great effort from everyone else.

Contemporaries

LeBron James

With LeBron being injured, the best player in the world conversation opens up a lot. His ability to pressure defenses with his scoring + passing makes him the best floor-raiser in history.

His strong post-game also makes him versatile, and allows him to play with more talented players.

LeBron, despite some narratives, continues to be a postitive defender. His man-defense is quite good, and his rim-protection, while inconsistent, has shown to be valuable in help instances. He's clearly past his defensive prime, mainly due to age and offensive load, but he is far from a negative defender.

If he was healthy and performed around the level we expect from LeBron, he would easily have an argument for number one.

Stephen Curry

Obviously, I'm a massive Stephen Curry fan. With LeBron being injured, I believe Curry is the best player in the world. His ability to space the floor, score w/ all-time level efficiency, and punish teams for doubling/trapping makes him the premier offensive player in today's nba. His multi-year PIPM is 7.38 highest in the league, his 5-year RAPM is also the highest in the league at 12.13, with LeBron and CP3 not too far behind.

These playoffs he took a limited offensive team without Durant to a rORTG of +4.3, which was the best in the playoffs. This speaks to his ability to a raise the floor of a team, and coupled with the fact that he is one of the greatest ceiling raisers ever (has led offensive dynasty) gives him a strong argument for the best player in the league.

Kevin Durant

KD was having a monster playoffs this year before getting injured. His offensive skillset makes him extremely valuable. His ability to space the floor and spot-up shoot makes him versatile. He also is arguably the premier isolation scorer in the nba, next to James Harden.

While his passing is not great, it is not necessarily bad. He passes in the PnR and post with good skill, but suffers passing out of double teams. However, it is harder to rate his passing because he rarely gets trapped in Golden State.

When KD came to golden state, he turned a 67 SRS team into a 73 SRS team. He effectively made an all-time level team into the greatest ever, which speaks to his ceiling raising capabilities.

Conclusion

While Kawhi had a great playoff run, I think it's time to pump the breaks on the best player conversation. His scoring, while all-time great, didn't really translate to team offense and his defense has also been overstated these playoffs.

Compared to his peers, like KD, Steph and LeBron, his affect on offense isn't nearly as profound. If his defense was at his old level, I would easily entertain this conversation, but with how things are now, I don't see the argument for him being the best in the world.

Also, I apologize for the lack of effort towards the end lol. This shits hard man. Definitely appreciate some of the good OC's on this sub a lot more now.

NOTES:

A lot this came from Ben Taylor's new video on the top 10 players in the nba. His methodology is really grounded, and I've never seen an such an in-depth analysis of a top 10 list. I highly recommend watching this video, and reading his other works like his top 40 GOAT list.

While I disagree with some of his placings (AD at 4, LeBron at 6), this list was never about the exact placing of the players. It's more about the rationale of evaluating players, which is much more valuable than just rankings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93zief7g2Jk

I'd also appreciate some criticisms of my writing style, formatting, rationale, etc...