I can't stand the dude but he is a straight up baller. Great defender, clutch shooter, length and motor. If not, is he a Clipper? What about Kemba Walker? Will Charlotte max him? Terrible defender but great bucket getter. I need my Blazers to make a splash this offseason. Somehow, someway. We've developed our draft picks to the max. We need a piece to go with what we have.
No question they'll give him the max. He's well worth it and it's at least 50/50 (if not likely) that they'll lose Durant. They're not going to let the whole team fall apart and Thompson has said he wants to remain in Golden State. If they max him, he's guaranteed to stay.
I heard some radio host say that KD to NY was 100% going to happen. I know... I don’t have names to drop and I don’t remember who said what, but I definitely heard it!
Thompson is overrated. My brother made this graph mainly to show that MJ and LeBron are significantly better than anyone else, but just pointed out to me that Thompson is hidden behind Rudy Gay, Darren Collision, and Jason Terry. (He's working on making it easier to see all the players.) Dame is between/behind T-Mac, KG, and Clyde.
Yeah they will give Klay the max. I expect Durant leaves, unless he doesn't play and the east wins. If GS wins a title I'd guess Durant leaves. Without Durant maybe they get a trade exception or something, it's a freaking tough team without Durant and they might have a better bench.
We have Evan Turner and Mo Harkless earning about max money. I'd love to have a player like Klay in place of that. With 30 teams there is close to, room for 100 max players in this league.... Klay is much better than most on that list. Comparing him to a bunch of retired hall of fame greats is stupid. Larry Bird can hardly walk I wouldn't pay him $10 to play NBA basketball today.
Not all of those players are HOF greats.. specifically not the three he is closest to on the graph. Those three don't even have any all star appearances between them.
I have trouble with that notion...not the concept that he might be overrated...but that he's a really difficult player to place on a ranking scale. I think he's better than CJ, if for no other reason than that he's a great 2-way player. Apex 3&D value in a 6'7 frame. But that could, and apparently does, leave him as a lower-level all-star...which seems to be about where he's generally ranked. There are certainly several wings better than him. And just like CJ, Klay's inability to get to the FT line means his shooting and scoring efficiency is only marginally above average but where Klay excels is being the perfect complement to Curry and Green, and the last 2 years to Durant as well. The average time of his touches is one of the shortest in the league. And a defense absolutely has to account and track him or they will get burned. I suppose you can assume if he went to another team he wouldn't look as good, so then, overrated. Maybe, but we just don't know. Maybe he'd bloom like Oladipo.
Agreed. He's a fantastic role player and fits his roster very well. But he's basically Bruce Bowen with a better dribble. Try to build a roster around him though, and you'll see he's nothing more than a terrific role player.
It seems all the Warriors are under-rated compared to Kevin Durant, which is weird. Durant is said to be the best scorer or something of all time. Maybe he is. But the combination of Steph , Klay and Draymond gets you to 5 finals in a row. If not for Draymond's antics, it could be 5 finals wins in a row. Who were Steph/Klay/Draymond playing with against Portland in game 4? We beat OKC and Denver but got swept in game four by Steph, Klay, Draymond, and who? Kevon Looney? Can you even remember the others? The other under-rated involved is whomever (I suppose it's Steve Kerr) who made them a defensive team that can throw out traps and double teams, while easily dispatching those looks when opposing teams try them. Terry offensive guru Stotts has yet to figure this elementary stuff out.
I, at one time disliked Klay but after I heard interviews and his commitment I found him to un movable in their organization. Respect his work.
Does anyone acknowledge that basketball is a team sport? It's not tennis or golf. It's really meaningless (to me at least) who is the best player individually if they don't mesh/complement teammates. Why does anyone care how Klay Thompson would do if he were on a different team? He's hugely important (to me) on a team with Steph Curry as it's star. The Warriors have a backcourt with a 1st rate stopper. The Blazers? Absolutely not. We can't even get rebounds from no-names.
If Klay Thompson wasn't paired with the GREATEST shooter of all time, how good would he be then? I hope he leaves. If they don't offer the max he will.
After this disappointing series with them, Durant proved he isn't really needed. Of course, we fucked up in turnovers and stagnant defense and the blame is really on us.
Great points. Klay may help the warriors more than Durant. Who cares if Durant has better stats on the shitty Knicks than Klay would have. Klay is one of the big 3 pieces of the best team in the history of the game.
