Weaker position: shooting guard or head coach?

[baseline bum]

The shooting guard used to be such a talented position in the league: you had McGrady, Iverson, Wade, Ginobili, Carter, Bryant, Allen. Now what do you have? Harden and? Klay Thomspon? Bradley Beal? DeMar DeRozan?

Or is coaching worse off in this league right now? There are maybe four good coaches in the league in Pop, Carlisle, Rivers, and Thibedeau. Five years back you had all of them and Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloan, Larry Brown, and Rick Adelman.

So which position is worse in today's NBA?

[100%duncan]

Shooting guard. At least we have pop rick and doc but the sg who are in their primes right now aren't special

[MeloHype]

Other than Regular season James harden, the SG is trash

[spurraider21]

the one with kobe

[lefty]

Good thread imo

[z0sa]

SG imho

[romain.star]

The real question should be: is SG weaker than C?

[testies]

:lol Rivers a good coach

[Killakobe81]

:lol Rivers a good coach

Rivers is very good at in bounds plays. At least the equal of RC and Pop ...But they coach circles around him in all other areas.
SG is almost as shitty as HC but center is much worse.

[ClipperLuva]

The shooting guard used to be such a talented position in the league: you had McGrady, Iverson, Wade, Ginobili, Carter, Bryant, Allen. Now what do you have? Harden and? Klay Thomspon? Bradley Beal? DeMar DeRozan?

Or is coaching worse off in this league right now? There are maybe four good coaches in the league in Pop, Carlisle, Rivers, and Thibedeau. Five years back you had all of them and Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloan, Larry Brown, and Rick Adelman.

So which position is worse in today's NBA?

I look at coaches like George Karl, Jerry Sloan, Doug Collins and Rick Adelman as "tenured" but not necessarily "good". Larry Brown was good, you could argue for or against Phil but not against his results.

George Karl never could coach, sure he was tenured and liked but couldn't coach. Doug Collins has had his shot a few times, had some success but he's a whiner and I don't think people want to listen to him talk. Adelman was a tenured white man, maybe never had the horses but I never thought he was a good coach.

Don Nelson was a good coach, a bit unorthodox but damn effective at building teams.

The problem today is we have too many black coaches. I don't mean that to sound racist, but black coaches try to buddy up with players, be their dawg... Doc seems to be just a bit on the fringe of that, but still does it. You look at other black coaches and you see basically just shit worse than if the team captain did all the coaching himself.

So yeah, the coaching is rather weak, but there are some promising young guys on their way up.

The shooting guards you mentioned are just shit. No way around it.

[baseline bum]

I look at coaches like George Karl, Jerry Sloan, Doug Collins and Rick Adelman as "tenured" but not necessarily "good". Larry Brown was good, you could argue for or against Phil but not against his results.

Jerry Sloan had an amazing system. So many times you'd see shitty players look good in Utah. Bryon Russell looked like a legit starting SF in Sloan's system, but he was completely worthless once he left Utah even though he was only 32. Howard Eisley was an excellent backup point guard when playing for Sloan, but both before and after playing in Utah he was nothing more than an end of the bench guy. Of course the most glaring example is Deron Williams, who almost everyone considered the best point guard in the league when he was in Utah and who now is just a piece of shit with a big contract since going to the Nets. Sloan got so much out of such shitty players, and Utah has been in a tailspin since losing him.

[ClipperLuva]

Jerry Sloan had an amazing system. So many times you'd see shitty players look good in Utah. Bryon Russell looked like a legit starting SF in Sloan's system, but he was completely worthless once he left Utah even though he was only 32. Howard Eisley was an excellent backup point guard when playing for Sloan, but both before and after playing in Utah he was nothing more than an end of the bench guy. Of course the most glaring example is Deron Williams, who almost everyone considered the best point guard in the league when he was in Utah and who now is just a piece of shit with a big contract since going to the Nets. Sloan got so much out of such shitty players, and Utah has been in a tailspin since losing him.

Utah didn't just lose their coach. They lost their best two players and a couple more that were solid when healthy (AK47 and Okur). They've been in the playoffs since Sloan left, which is more than you can say for the Wolves regardless who's coaching.

Sloan missed the playoffs 3 years running, then lost in the 1st round 3 years running. Once they broke through, it was a hard push for the conference finals, then down hill after that. I don't think Sloan did that much in Utah after Malone and Stockton.

[baseline bum]

The real question should be: is SG weaker than C?

Center is a way stronger position than Shooting Guard in today's NBA. Dwight Howard is a way better player than James Harden. The next best shooting guards are Klay Thompson, Bradley Beal, DeMar Derozan, and TOSB Wade. And none of those four would be chosen by a GM ahead of Marc Gasol, Joakim Noah, Andre Drummond, or Demarcus Cousins. Hell, I wonder if Harden would be chosen over them.

[Robz4000]

SG easily. At least the league currently has a couple HoF coaches currently employed among the multitude of garbage. Meanwhile the best SG in the league is James fucking Harden.

[Michael Jordan.]

Center is a way stronger position than Shooting Guard in today's NBA. Dwight Howard is a way better player than James Harden. The next best shooting guards are Klay Thompson, Bradley Beal, DeMar Derozan, and TOSB Wade. And none of those four would be chosen by a GM ahead of Marc Gasol, Joakim Noah, Andre Drummond, or Demarcus Cousins. Hell, I wonder if Harden would be chosen over them.


I like Dwight, but that is false. Also, what Centers are there besides Dwight? Davis is a PF isn't he? Center is just as weak as SG.

[~O~]

The league is plagued with forwards, small and power. The point guard position remains defined. Everything else has changed because of small ball and now we have taller players playing point guard and forward at the same damn time.

[baseline bum]

I like Dwight, but that is false. Also, what Centers are there besides Dwight? Davis is a PF isn't he? Center is just as weak as SG.

Are you Floyd Mayweather son?

[Michael Jordan.]

Are you Floyd Mayweather son?

The talent dropoff from Dwight to the other centers is about as bad as the SGs.

[baseline bum]

The talent dropoff from Dwight to the other centers is about as bad as the SGs.

So you're taking Klay Thompson over Marc Gasol, Joakim Noah, Andre Drummond, and Demarcus Cousins?

[Michael Jordan.]

So you're taking Klay Thompson over Marc Gasol, Joakim Noah, Andre Drummond, and Demarcus Cousins?

Westbrook is a SG playing PG. So is Rose. If you include them into the SG pool it isn't close. If you exclude them Im still taking Beal, Curry, Thompson, Ellis over that center list in which 2 of them don't make any kind of impact on winning.

[baseline bum]

Westbrook is a SG playing PG. So is Rose. If you include them into the SG pool it isn't close. If you exclude them Im still taking Beal, Curry, Thompson, Ellis over that center list in which 2 of them don't make any kind of impact on winning.

Wow, that was a fucking stretch. No wonder they capped your pops tbh.

[baseline bum]

What if we threw Davis and LeBron into the center pool? Who would you pick then?

[Michael Jordan.]

Wow, that was a fucking stretch. No wonder they capped your pops tbh.

Westbrook and Rose are true PGs?

[baseline bum]

Westbrook and Rose are true PGs?

How about sticking Blake, Love, Ibaka, Aldridge, and Horford in the center pool also?

[Michael Jordan.]

What if we threw Davis and LeBron into the center pool? Who would you pick then?

This completely misses the point and makes no sense even in a joking fashion. Westbrook and Rose play the point because they are athletic and can win one on one matchups, not because they can run a team well.

[kobe4life]

With God coming back the SG position is now the strongest in the NBA and its not even close.

[Michael Jordan.]

How about sticking Blake, Love, Ibaka, Aldridge, and Horford in the center pool also?

Like I said, Westbrook and Rose prefer to shoot first than run a team.

[Malik Hairston]

:lol C is a solid position nowadays..it isn't like the early 2000s where it was Shaq + a bunch of scrubs..

It's much better than SG, obviously..35-year old Wade, 38-year old Ginobili, Monta Ellis, Klay Thompson, Derozan, etc..just awful, tbh..

Marc Gasol is easily a top 20 player in the league, and much better than any non-Harden SGs..Al Jefferson is a much better player than any non-Harden SG, too..Cousins is far better than any non- Harden SG, as well..

Even players like Noah(although overrated), Horford and Lopez are arguably better than any non-Harden SG, at this point..

[Michael Jordan.]

:lol C is a solid position nowadays..it isn't like the early 2000s where it was Shaq + a bunch of scrubs..

It's much better than SG, obviously..

Dwight is the best center by default and his mechanics suck. No it's not a solid position.

[Malik Hairston]

You can easily make the argument that there are 4 Cs that are top 20 players in the league..I'd say that's absolutely solid..if you include Bosh, who will probably play the majority of his minutes at C this season, that's another one on the list..

Not to mention that there's an abundance of solid role player Cs, too(Chandler, Drummond, Bogut, Asik, Jordan, Splitter, Nene, Gortat)..

[Michael Jordan.]

The dropped from Dwight to the next guy is still immense.

[spurraider21]

You can easily make the argument that there are 4 Cs that are top 20 players in the league..I'd say that's absolutely solid..if you include Bosh, who will probably play the majority of his minutes at C this season, that's another one on the list..

Not to mention that there's an abundance of solid role player Cs, too(Chandler, Drummond, Bogut, Asik, Jordan, Splitter, Nene, Gortat)..
assuming the positions were equally distributed, you had have 4 from each position in the top 20. by that basic (and obviously not comprehensive) reasoning, center is kinda average right now. shooting guard is the most thin by a significant margin

[Malik Hairston]

assuming the positions were equally distributed, you had have 4 from each position in the top 20.

It's rarely distributed equally in reality, tbh..

[spurraider21]

It's rarely distributed equally in reality, tbh..
true, which is why some positions are stronger and some are weaker. center having 4 guys in the top 20 means its decently distributed, assuming the rankings are accurate. we only have 1 SG in the top 20, which makes it the weakest by a landslide, etc

of course we're only talking about the top 20 in the league as opposed to the 150 starters in the NBA :lol

[TDMVPDPOY]

The dropped from Dwight to the next guy is still immense.

anthony davis?

[Michael Jordan.]

anthony davis?

I mean if we are talking Centers. Davis plays PF doesn't he?

[DMC]

I don't know if it's a drop off in ability or talent, or if it's just that none of them are interesting enough to watch.