Uh oh, Steven A. Smith just called Klay Thompson a better TWO WAY player than Kawhi!

[GSH]

Way to take it out of context, my point wasn't that Michael Redd was trash but that if Klay played on the Bucks then NOBODY would be calling him the best "two-way" player besides his defense is OVERRATED!

BTW, Michael Redd was a a more VERSATILE scorer than Klay which is something you can't always discern from looking at stats "off some website" but rather from IN' WATCHING him play.

The rains down so thick in here sometimes, I can't tell what half of you are trying to say. Michael Redd has no place in the discussion, so I guess I whiffed that one.

Klay Thompson is a very good offensive player, but the one simple fact is that this wouldn't even be a discussion if he wasn't a deadly 3P shooter, on a team that gets him a lot of uncontested looks. The rest of his offensive game is good, but far from great. The Spurs are a defensive rebounding team that runs a half-court offense. Put Klay Thompson on a team like that, force him to grind for boards and take away his transition points? He would be a talented player, but NOBODY would be talking about him being one of the best two-way players. Nobody. Even Steven A. Smith wouldn't stoop that low to try and stir up controversy.

[still.focused]

Klays not in KLs class defensively. Not even close
He however is quite better offensive
Oddly enough as Great Value KL is a a playmaker Klay is even worse
Hes really has no game with the ball

[Obstructed_View]

KL has been a scorer for one year. Bet you 20 bucks that Thompson has a higher career PPG and FG% at the end of their careers.

It's like saying some big (D12 for example) regularly shoots 4/5 from the field so he's better offensively than a guy who averages 20. You can't extrapolate efficiency with being able to be a first option. KL will never be a reliable first option because he just can't generate all those points on his own. He's a damn sold 2nd banana though. Just look at how he deferred to TP in game 6, and got his team eliminated. And then look at what Klay did when the MVP wasn't doing a damn thing and his team was down 3-1 and 3-2.


Put it this way. If Leonard gets 25 in a game he's awesome here. If Klay gets 27 in a game in the bay, he didn't do enough most likely. 30-40 is where he's been in the playoffs. Just look at the stats.

In other words, you couldn't find a single stat to back up your argument. KL is a far better player right now. If Klay averages 30 points per game next year we can revisit, but it's not really relevant to this discussion.

[Keepin' it real]

Uh oh, Marc Jackson just agreed with Smith by calling Klay Thompson the best two way player in the league. And JVG seemed to agree.

The Spurs are doomed ...

[DPG21920]

he tried to sell that Klay and not Kawhi guards the opposing team's best players consistently. What an idiot.

[Kawhitstorm]

he tried to sell that Klay and not Kawhi guards the opposing team's best players consistently. What an idiot.

He got caught off guard & made up a false narrative. (Kawhi checked WestBrick more than Klay & Curry did a better job)

[tholdren]

Klay is better - he's playing KL is not

This year versus the Thunder in the playoffs:

Klay outscored KL PER GAME
Kay actually WON a momentum changing game and possibly the series for the Warriors
Shot 41% from 3 compared to KL 28% from 3

KL is probably the better all around player, but thompson has the 3 and will shoot to kill mentality that KL does not.

Disagree with better 2 way player, but would say that I would want KT on my team just as much as KL in a playoff series.

[YGWHI]

This year versus the Thunder in the playoffs:

Klay outscored KL PER GAME

By one single point and with worse TS%.

His scoring numbers vs. OKC(the only decent team he played against in these playoffs) were virtually the same as Kawhi's vs. OKC, despite having Curry's gravity..

Thompson vs. OKC: 24.7 PPG on 54.5% TS
Kawhi vs. OKC: 23.2 PPG on 55.4% TS

The scoring numbers are virtually the same, despite Kawhi creating way more for himself, and also being asked to do much more(Thompson doesn't do anything outside of score and occasionally defend, where he's a little above average)..

[skulls138]

Speaking of the Warriors, their supposed best player, Curry, isnt really doing much of anything. How come they are winning? Oh I know, the TEAM is picking up his slack...so get off KL and LMA back for not being perfect because they got practically nothing from the rest of the Spurs

[phxspurfan]

The ABC Finals announcer (Mike Tirico I think) said the same thing in game 2 telecast (Klay best 2 way player in the league, guards the best on the other team and still scores 20 a game etc). The other guy said what about Kawhi Leonard? He was like naw. Then I think the woman (Doris Burke maybe) said what about James Harden rofl

[SpursFan86]

It was Mark Jackson who said that during last night's game.

Generally speaking, if Mark Jackson and Stephen A. Smith are saying the same thing, it's probably a safe bet to believe the opposite

[SPURt]

It was Mark Jackson who said that during last night's game.

Generally speaking, if Mark Jackson and Stephen A. Smith are saying the same thing, it's probably a safe bet to believe the opposite

When JVG suggested Kawhi, Mark said "Klay is defending Kyrie, Kawhi can't do that". Kawhi would be guarding Lebron, Klay couldn't do that. Mark is a GS homer since he coached all those guys, so I wouldn't expect anything different.

[Horse]

There's a reason he's announcing and not coaching. His argument was klay guards the opposing teams best player cause he was guarding kyrie, ing re ed seeing that lebron is their best player. Besides Kawhi is clearly the better defender and has a better overall offensive game.

[hitmanyr2k]

I saw the Mark Jackson comment and just shook my head when he had to come up with a reason for not mentioning Kawhi when put on the spot. He could have said both players are 1a and 1b but just mumbled some bull and wasn't challenged on it. ABC/ESPN just puts out a ty product period. The only guy I can stand to listen to on that network is Doug Collins.

[TampaDude]

Klay is a better outside shooter, but Kawhi is THE BEST perimeter defender in the NBA. No comparison there.

[cjw]

Klay is a better outside shooter, but Kawhi is THE BEST perimeter defender in the NBA. No comparison there.

54.6% of Kawhi's regular season buckets were assisted. 81.0% of Klay's were. One player had to create a lot of the offense, while the other feasted off others creating the offense.

- Kawhi's three point percentage was 2% higher, albeit on less than half the number of shots

- More of Klay's threes were catch and shoot (83.5% vs. 78.4%). 61.3% of shot attempts had no dribbles compared to 36.9% of Kawhi's

- Kawhi took many more attempts late in the shot clock, where FG% tends to be a lot lower ... 10.4% of his attempts with the shot clock under 4 seconds vs. Klay's 3.7%; not perfect statistics, but if you reweighted Kawhi's shot attempts for when Klay shot the ball, his eFG% moves from 56.7% to 58.1% (to Klay's 56.9%)

- Klay took more open shots. From 10+ feet, 15.4% of Kawhi's shots were very tightly contested and 35.1% had a defender within 4 feet (50.5%). Klay took only 36.4% of these shots with a defender within 4 feet. Once again, reweighting Kawhi at Klay's percentages pushes Kawhi up to 58.6% eFG%.


Unless the two guys played the exact same role, it's very hard to compare. That said, Kawhi stacks up decently compared to Klay when considering these factors as a shooter. In all other facets of the game, Kawhi is far and away the better player.


Kawhi: http://stats.nba.com/player/#!/20269...gular%20Season
Klay: http://stats.nba.com/player/#!/20269...gular%20Season

[rasuo214]

Why are they hyping him up to be the best 2 way player (not even close to true) when they can just talk about him being the best SG in the league (which is at least arguable)? Also since when did Kyrie become the best player on the Cavs that it became so special to guard him?

[tholdren]

By one single point and with worse TS%.

Had KL scored 1 more point during any of the Thunder series it would have changed the outcome. meanwhile KT plays for a ring.....

My Theory - YGWHI = SATranny
- both player fans
- both accept any of their players flaws
- both think their favorite player is the best player in the nba
- both get beat down regularly on ST and have stupid quotes as sigs.

[YGWHI]

Uh oh, Marc Jackson just agreed with Smith by calling Klay Thompson the best two way player in the league. And JVG seemed to agree.

The Spurs are doomed ...

Mike Breen just destroyed Mark Jackson with "How about Kawhi Leonard"...After that, Jackson looked stupid trying to to justify his point.

Had KL scored 1 more point during any of the Thunder series it would have changed the outcome

Some trolls are bad at math but you don't even know how to count...

both get beat down regularly on ST

Don't project your on me. You're the only guy saying that 1 more point would have changed -14, -4, -14, three consecutive losses.

[Spurs9]

Klay is still in the playoffs tbh

[Kawhitstorm]

Klay is still in the playoffs tbh

...so is Harrison Barnes.

[Keepin' it real]

So the "best player" can only play on the best team?? Hmm, noted.

[TheDoctor]

...so is Harrison Barnes.

And so is James Jones for his 6th straight trip to the Finals

[tholdren]

Mike Breen just destroyed Mark Jackson with "How about Kawhi Leonard"...After that, Jackson looked stupid trying to to justify his point.


Some trolls are bad at math but you don't even know how to count...


Don't project your on me. You're the only guy saying that 1 more point would have changed -14, -4, -14, three consecutive losses.

This is exactly why player fans shouldn't be allowed to post. 1 point at any given time could have turned the momentum/stopped or started a run/changed the pace. Kudos to you for not understanding the game.

[Hoops Czar]

Mike Breen just destroyed Mark Jackson with "How about Kawhi Leonard"...After that, Jackson looked stupid trying to to justify his point.


Some trolls are bad at math but you don't even know how to count...


Don't project your on me. You're the only guy saying that 1 more point would have changed -14, -4, -14, three consecutive losses.

There were posters here that said Danny Green was a better player than Klay Thompson. Talk about having egg on your face.