I hate to say it BUT... 2017 Leonard > 2013 Duncan

[urunobili]

Let Kawhi get a quadruple double to clinch a Larry O'Brien and then bump the thread...

[UNT Eagles 2016]

Op knows bc he was 8

9 for the homestretch of the season and playoff/championship run. March '94

[UNT Eagles 2016]

Let Kawhi get a quadruple double to clinch a Larry O'Brien and then bump the thread...

Again, raw stats. Kawhi isn't the type of guy to even go after a triple double, particularly the assists. Lebron is the only SF I've ever seen who gets a lot of assists and so many of those are inorganic.

Westbrick is the kind of guy who's more likely to stumble on a 40 point night on 13/35 FG, 4/11 3FG, 10/12 FT with 10 rebounds, 11 assists, and 10 steals... but still lose the game.

[dabom]

Manu and Kawhi were probably the best players during the 2014 run, but it's tough to rank the players, since everybody was fairly inconsistent from series to series(deepest team of all-time negated the lack of stars)..

I don't know how to rank Duncan(was more of a super role player, at that point) and Parker(put up usage numbers, but had by far the worst on/off metrics on the team, they were better whenever he left the floor)..

Tim, kawhi, manu/tiago in that order.

[HarlemHeat37]

Tim, kawhi, manu/tiago in that order.

That team is tough to rank, tbh..if you look into the advanced metrics, there's no team in league history that even approaches them in terms of depth

They had SEVEN rotation players with a WS/48 above .146(Splitter, Duncan, Kawhi, Manu, Green, Mills, Diaw), which is ridiculous..any advanced metric, actually, shows that they were unrivaled in depth throughout the history of the league, those 7 players played at an extremely high level, and that isn't even including Parker, who had stretches of really good basketball, too..pretty much only Belinelli didn't show up

[UNT Eagles 2016]

That team is tough to rank, tbh..if you look into the advanced metrics, there's no team in league history that even approaches them in terms of depth

They had SEVEN rotation players with a WS/48 above .146(Splitter, Duncan, Kawhi, Manu, Green, Mills, Diaw), which is ridiculous..any advanced metric, actually, shows that they were unrivaled in depth throughout the history of the league, those 7 players played at an extremely high level, and that isn't even including Parker, who had stretches of really good basketball, too..pretty much only Belinelli didn't show up

Parker scored the most ppg in 3 of the 4 series. He sucks now, sure, but that was his last good year and he was actually pretty darn good most of the time.

[dabom]

That team is tough to rank, tbh..if you look into the advanced metrics, there's no team in league history that even approaches them in terms of depth

They had SEVEN rotation players with a WS/48 above .146(Splitter, Duncan, Kawhi, Manu, Green, Mills, Diaw), which is ridiculous..any advanced metric, actually, shows that they were unrivaled in depth throughout the history of the league, those 7 players played at an extremely high level, and that isn't even including Parker, who had stretches of really good basketball, too..pretty much only Belinelli didn't show up

"But he hit that big shot even...though we lost the big lead cause of him"...

[HarlemHeat37]

Parker scored the most ppg in 3 of the 4 series. He sucks now, sure, but that was his last good year and he was actually pretty darn good most of the time.

I don't think he was bad or anything, but it's a pretty unique case..he led the team in scoring, but he was also the only player in playoffs history to lead a Finals team in scoring, yet have negative on/off numbers..weird case..

[UNT Eagles 2016]

"But he hit that big shot even...though we lost the big lead cause of him"...

We didn't lose the lead because of him. I blame Gary Neal's stupid chucking and all the unforced turnovers and defensive breakdowns leaving guys wide open, even if they're missing a shoe you can't let a white guy who's a career >40% 3 point shooter shoot a practice shot from 3. Parker was actually pretty damn good in the second half while Duncan and Manu laid eggs.

[dabom]

We didn't lose the lead because of him. I blame Gary Neal's stupid chucking and all the unforced turnovers and defensive breakdowns leaving guys wide open, even if they're missing a shoe you can't let a white guy who's a career >40% 3 point shooter shoot a practice shot from 3. Parker was actually pretty damn good in the second half while Duncan and Manu laid eggs.

You'RE getting your finals mixed up.

[tonight...you]

You'RE getting your finals mixed up.

sic 'em, big dog...

[dabom]

I also meant to say lead decreased. Not that we had lost it entirely.

[r0drig0lac]

ing

[TD 21]

The initial topic isn't worthy of a response, but Duncan was the best player in '14. Ginobili was non existent in the Trail Blazers series and as usual, played significantly less minutes and far more of the ones he did against bench players. While is was an ensemble cast, Duncan would still have stretches (including the penultimate one of the run) where they played through him in the post, unlike Leonard, who had virtually no creative responsibilities.

When healthy, Duncan never really stopped being at least the co best player until around the beginning of '15 and even then, he was once more the best player in the playoffs.

[dabom]

The initial topic isn't worthy of a response, but Duncan was the best player in '14. Ginobili was non existent in the Trail Blazers series and as usual, played significantly less minutes and far more of the ones he did against bench players. While is was an ensemble cast, Duncan would still have stretches (including the penultimate one of the run) where they played through him in the post, unlike Leonard, who had virtually no creative responsibilities.

When healthy, Duncan never really stopped being at least the co best player until around the beginning of '15 and even then, he was once more the best player in the playoffs.

I think you are undermining Kawhi a little too much. We don't sniff anything without Kawhi in 2013 or 2014. And Although Tim was the best player in the 2014 Playoffs, it was Kawhi only that could get us that 'chip.

[UNT Eagles 2016]

I think you are undermining Kawhi a little too much. We don't sniff anything without Kawhi in 2013 or 2014. And Although Tim was the best player in the 2014 Playoffs, it was Kawhi only that could get us that 'chip.

Parker was better than Duncan, though it was both Duncan and Manu who were magical in the biggest game of all (OKC game 6).

[dabom]

Parker was better than Duncan, though it was both Duncan and Manu who were magical in the biggest game of all (OKC game 6).

Parker better than Duncan?

Come on dude.

[UNT Eagles 2016]

Parker better than Duncan?

Come on dude.

2007-2014, with a few minor exceptions, yes

[dabom]

2007-2014, with a few minor exceptions, yes

We're talking about the 2014 Playoffs dude.

[UNT Eagles 2016]

We're talking about the 2014 Playoffs dude.

Parker was outstanding in the Dallas series, decent in the Portland series, bad in the OKC series, and pretty good in the Miami series.

[dabom]

Parker was outstanding in the Dallas series, decent in the Portland series, bad in the OKC series, and pretty good in the Miami series.

Kid I saw all the series. Porker was trash, and he wasn't better than Duncan. That's not even a vanilla mainstream fan take.

[Hoops Czar]

Tim hasn't been gone a year, and people are already forgetting how good he was.

Ginobili and Parker are still playing and people have already forgotten how good they were.

[r0drig0lac]

Ginobili and Parker are still playing and people have already forgotten how good they were.

[daledondale]

Ginobili and Parker are still playing and people have already forgotten how good they were.

Yep, this.

[Hoops Czar]

Duncan is still easily better until Kawhi strings some elite playoff series' together(at the very least), but to be fair, it'll be much more difficult for Leonard to establish himself with teams like the Warriors and Cavs in the league, tbh..the 2003 Spurs played in the dark ages of the NBA, where the Nets made the Finals, and their only real challenge was a Lakers team that was burnt out from 3 consecutive runs to the Finals..

That's kind of like saying the Spurs beat a Heat team that was burnt out from winning two straight championships after three straight finals appearances in 2014, a Portland team that was severely challenged on the defensive end, had no depth and couldn't cope with prosperity after making it out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time in 14 years and the first time in Aldridge's career (thanks to Liliard) and an OKC team that didn't have Ibaka (Spurs killer) for the first two games of the series followed by a 30% Ibaka for the rest of the series. KD and RW were run into the ground early in that series because of OKC's lack of bench depth. One could say the 49 win eighth seeded Dallas Mavericks were the Spurs only real challenge in 2014.

See how that two-sided coin works?