Bill Simmons and ther ringer crew ranks Kawhi 25th in the all time list...

[apalisoc_9]

Too low
or
Too High

[lefty]

Too low

Would have averaged 50 ppg vs Ehlo, Starks and Majerle

[Laker_1995]

Nigga already top 20.

[Rosewood]

Just like with a lot of players the last 20 years, he'll slowly fall down on that list. Kobe while playing was ranked top 5 by most pundits, now he doesn't even crack top 10s in a lot of cases.

Also, if you can't form your opinion without the help of media, you're a fucking square.

[daslicer]

Just like with a lot of players the last 20 years, he'll slowly fall down on that list. Kobe while playing was ranked top 5 by most pundits, now he doesn't even crack top 10s in a lot of cases.

Also, if you can't form your opinion without the help of media, you're a fucking square.

The media always overrates guys when they are winning but then downgrades them when they are losing. The incredible hype Curry got before the 2016 finals is the best example I can find of this. You had idiots proclaiming he was the second best PG of all time and that he could pass Magic.

[ambchang]

Kawhi, as of now, isn't even Dirk level great. He had one truly great season, with another one or two very good season.

[Spurtacular]

Too low

Would have averaged 50 ppg vs Ehlo, Starks and Majerle

:lol 86 Rockets 12th man = Dad Killer's Nemesis

[Laker_1995]

I find it weird how in SA he started getting much more media attention Towards the end as he should he deserves it however the day he leaves now people talk like he’s the goat I mean to me it’s like the NBA wanted this nigga out. Or MR Dennis had the master plan lol idk

[Kobe'sAchilles]

I don't see any reason to keep him out of the top 10 tbh

[R. DeMurre]

Right now, Kawhi is closer to Bill Walton in terms of a career than he is to Kareem, Russell, MJ, LeBron, etc.
His peak level is incredible, but the same can be said for guys mostly forgotten by today's fans like Walt Frazier, Dave Cowens, Elvin Hayes, etc...
If his two year long nagging injury leads to him missing playoffs and/or seasons in the future, he could very well become the Terrell Davis of the NBA.

[whitemamba]

He needs to play a full fucking season without being a bitch, and not run into an injury riddled team in the finals to scratch top 10. Im with Bill here. No respect for the old school no more in here.

[Yogatti]

He needs to play a full fucking season without being a bitch, and not run into an injury riddled team in the finals to scratch top 10. Im with Bill here. No respect for the old school no more in here.

like who? Karl Malone who disappears in the playoffs but scores a ton of point in meaningless regular season games? :lmao

[Chris Fall]

Kawhi’s legacy in NBA history is a very unique case. He has two championships and two Finals MVPs for two different teams, which would lead you to believe he’d climb most objective rankings pretty high. On the other hand, he’s only had three seasons (of 8, 7 if you don’t count the 2017-18 season) in which he put up allstar / all NBA seasons. I think the hesitancy to rank him higher is because of that, shortcomings in regular season production. When he’s playing and healthy, he’s been universally viewed as a top 3 player in the game. And he’s closed the deal twice in the playoffs, as THE guy. I think his career likely needs several more all NBA caliber regular seasons to cement his legacy as a top 25, and possibly at some point top 10 player.

Right now, if he were to retire today, I don’t have him down as a top 25 all time. So I think the ranking is probably high.

[whitemamba]

like who? Karl Malone who disappears in the playoffs but scores a ton of point in meaningless regular season games? :lmao

at least malone played. But Kawhi sitting out against the MVP because his vagina is leaking. stop

[Yogatti]

at least malone played. But Kawhi sitting out against the MVP because his vagina is leaking. stop

Oh you mean when Kawhi back door swept the MVP in the ECF? :lmao

[whitemamba]

Oh you mean when Kawhi back door swept the MVP in the ECF? :lmao

and then ducked him the next match? even more beta

[Yogatti]

and then ducked him the next match? even more beta

He backdoor swept the MVP. :lobt2:

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

In the world of "what have you done for me lately", then sure. Anyone with half a brain can come up with 25 all-time greats far better than Kawhi in like 5 minutes, including a couple from the Spurs alone.

[whitemamba]

He backdoor swept the MVP. :lobt2:

yeah i remember that. but hes also hiding from him..

[140]

Kawhi’s legacy in NBA history is a very unique case. He has two championships and two Finals MVPs for two different teams, which would lead you to believe he’d climb most objective rankings pretty high. On the other hand, he’s only had three seasons (of 8, 7 if you don’t count the 2017-18 season) in which he put up allstar / all NBA seasons. I think the hesitancy to rank him higher is because of that, shortcomings in regular season production. When he’s playing and healthy, he’s been universally viewed as a top 3 player in the game. And he’s closed the deal twice in the playoffs, as THE guy. I think his career likely needs several more all NBA caliber regular seasons to cement his legacy as a top 25, and possibly at some point top 10 player.

Right now, if he were to retire today, I don’t have him down as a top 25 all time. So I think the ranking is probably high.
Personally I wouldn't consider him being "THE guy" in 2014. Other than that I agree with the overall sentiment tbh

[lefty]

:lol 86 Rockets 12th man = Dad Killer's Nemesis

:lol

[FrostKing]

No regular season MVPs?

Who is the greatest/highest ranked player without that achievement?

[Yogatti]

yeah i remember that. but hes also hiding from him..

He's not hiding from him. He already beat him at the biggest stage while Giannis shrinked like a litle bitch that he is

[FrostKing]

Not taking a direct shot at Leonard but how far off would Pippen be today? He was overshadowed by Shaq and Hakeem. Or even the Utah duo.

[FrostKing]

like who? Karl Malone who disappears in the playoffs but scores a ton of point in meaningless regular season games? :lmao
When did Malone disappear?

Looking at his numbers, his FG% dipped but his regular season numbers transitioned to the playoffs.

[DMC]

Kawhi has been the beneficiary of some pretty amazing circumstances. He's a fantastic ball player but the traffic lights synchronized pretty well for him with injuries on other teams, timely moves of major NBA power players to the other conference, being traded to a team that already had the best conference record the prior year and the overall decay of the NBA in general. If he deserves accolades for anything, it's the ushering in of the "my pussy hurts" era. At least in Kobe's day he'd wait until he lost to use that as an excuse. Even then it would be "leaked" conveniently ala Lebron's hand.

One thing is for certain though, KL doesn't give 2 shits about regular season awards.

[endrity]

Kawhi’s legacy in NBA history is a very unique case. He has two championships and two Finals MVPs for two different teams, which would lead you to believe he’d climb most objective rankings pretty high. On the other hand, he’s only had three seasons (of 8, 7 if you don’t count the 2017-18 season) in which he put up allstar / all NBA seasons. I think the hesitancy to rank him higher is because of that, shortcomings in regular season production. When he’s playing and healthy, he’s been universally viewed as a top 3 player in the game. And he’s closed the deal twice in the playoffs, as THE guy. I think his career likely needs several more all NBA caliber regular seasons to cement his legacy as a top 25, and possibly at some point top 10 player.

Right now, if he were to retire today, I don’t have him down as a top 25 all time. So I think the ranking is probably high.

This!

I've said it before on here as well that Kawhi is going to be the hardest player to rate all-time from the greats of the current generation (which I think are LBJ, KD, Steph and him). He has the top-level accomplishments without the body of work that usually goes on with that kind of career, which is the opposite of what happens most often. That being said, he's "only" 28. A regular-season MVP or two would go a great way towards balancing his career out so that he has a legitimate case for a top-15/20 career.

[endrity]

Not taking a direct shot at Leonard but how far off would Pippen be today? He was overshadowed by Shaq and Hakeem. Or even the Utah duo.

I don't think he cracks the top-30. Which isn't bad, to be fair. 20 years have passed since he was last relevant, that is almost two entire generations of players, each of whom have had about 3-4 players with careers to match or surpass Pippen. If he was top-20 in the 90s, it's just normal that he starts to slide a bid as new stars build their CVs.

[Laker_1995]

Kawhi has been the beneficiary of some pretty amazing circumstances. He's a fantastic ball player but the traffic lights synchronized pretty well for him with injuries on other teams, timely moves of major NBA power players to the other conference, being traded to a team that already had the best conference record the prior year and the overall decay of the NBA in general. If he deserves accolades for anything, it's the ushering in of the "my pussy hurts" era. At least in Kobe's day he'd wait until he lost to use that as an excuse. Even then it would be "leaked" conveniently ala Lebron's hand.

One thing is for certain though, KL doesn't give 2 shits about regular season awards.

Yea kawahi Hates interviews so fuck the awards lol. I said the same shit in another post and dudes said I’m just jealous but kawahi has been extremely fortunate. He was traded to SA where he played with the GOAT PF, Goat coach who took time to show him the ways, great vets in manu, diaw, Parker. He obviously was huge in 2014 but that spurs team was a fucking machine and Duncan was not losing 2 in a row so for people to say he was the MAN in that series is lying. Even diaw could have won that award based on the impact he had. ( didn’t pop sub in diaw for splitter in the lineup ? I might be wrong ). Then he gets traded to a ECF team with the cavs broken up and faces a GS team with an injured KD and klay. That doesn’t mean kawahi isn’t a top player of all time but this is the year he shows he’s the best. If he goes through the west and wins the finals then we can begin the top 10-15 talk.

[Arcadian]

It's difficult to rank someone mid-way through their career, but he's certainly on pace to be top 25. Very rarely does someone solidify their ranking in the first half of their career - a notable exception being Tim Duncan, and to a lesser extent Lebron James. Lebron had a strong start statistically, but not with winning. Tim is a rare case of immediately being All-NBA and leading his team to a championship early in his career. I knew as early as 2003 that Tim was a top 10 player of all time.

[Floyd Pacquiao]

Idk. People forget he was struggling in the 14 playoffs and had 3 good finals games to win fmvp, then he choked hard in 2015 and didnt show up in 2016 either. Only in 2017 did he truly put it all together before he got hurt.

[LkrFan]

The Load of Shit Manager gets no props from me. He's cheating the game. Imagine running a 26-mile marathon. Runner A runs the whole thing. Runner B starts at the 10 mile mark. Runner B wins.

Should we give props to Runner B? It's like giving props to a team who won a "championship" during a 50-game season, then comparing them to all other champions who played all 82.

Both are wrong and immoral tbh.

[lefty]

Kawhi 2019 NBA Champion, not the Spurs