Reply With Quote
Parker is my favorite player. I pattern my poor man's game after him.Situationally I could an argument in the past being made for him over Paul. If he goes back to 2013 form, again, I could see it. He has taken over playoff series before on his own.
But Paul is so damn consistently dominant. It's not his fault that the best player he's ever ran the floor with is ensian street urchin's version of Tim ing Duncan. Duncan has a legitimate claim to be a top 5 player in history. Paul's best teammate might have an outside shot at a top 25 player of all-time, but it's pretty long odds right now unless Blake continues to catapult his game forward. That's not a knock on Parker, that's a realization that he's been extremely fortunate to play his entire career with one of the best guys ever to lace them up. Parker has had to lead his team... at times. Paul has never been able to stop leading his team from Day 1, because he's been the man 100% of the time. That's a lot of burden to shoulder. But holy , prime Paul with prime Duncan would have been something marvelous to see. The other 3 Spurs on the court could have taken a smoke break on offense for how efficiently destructive they would have been together.
This is so absurdly simplistic. Especially considering KG HAS a ring, and took a hapless Minnesota team to the playoffs year after year. How have they been doing since? Thought so. I hate KG but the dude is one of the best PFs in league history.
That said, there IS a major difference between Duncan and KG, and it has nothing to do with "knowing how to win". Duncan is one of the best weak-side help defenders in the entire history of the league. There's a reason healthy Tim Duncan-led teams are always near the top of the charts in defensive prowess. KG has always been an elite on-ball defender, but he's not nearly the interior presence on defense that Tim is. Duncan in his prime even guarded prime Shaq quite well, which is a noteworthy accomplishment.
On offense, Duncan was a wrecking ball. What he did to the Thunder and Ibaka in Game 6 of OT was merely a flash of what he used to do every damn game. As good as KG was on offense, he was never a guy that forced an entire defense to be aware of him at every second. Statistics should really do more to show forced doubles, because for many years Duncan was up there with any other player in the league, including Shaq. His ability to get easy buckets at a high rate was something that dismantled defensive schemes.
In case you weren't around for that Rob, check this out:
1:41 is the epitome of what Tim Duncan has meant to the Spurs over his career. Just unparalleled ability to shut things down.
Both elite players, both unquestionable winners that in their prime make any franchise around an echelon better. The same is true for Parker/Paul. Paul just does it every damn game at a high level. If HE had a subpar series, the Clippers would get swept in the first round, every time. Parker had an uneven playoffs, and we won the le.
You mean the guy who can't get past the 2nd round? That guy is a winner? By your logic Kevin Garnett was a better player than Duncan the last 14 years. Don't let your Manu sucking get it the way of recognizing Parker as one of the best in the game.
