« Reply #65 on: August 23, 2017, 08:37:01 PM »
Curry is right there with Bron, KD, and Kawhi for most impactful player in the league.
Irving has been a top 10-20 guy. Maybe he's more impactful than that on the Celts in an expanded role. He may have the talent to equal Curry -- though likely never what Curry did in 2016 during the regular season -- but he hasn't been particularly close to this point.
Klay and Thompson are comparable talents, perhaps, but I think Klay's exceptional shooting is more of an outlier skill than anything Hayward brings to the table, so he's more difficult for the other team to handle.
Agree with all of that but I think it's worth noting that Curry didn't even make an all star team until his 5the season when he was 25 (the age that Kyrie will be this coming season) and he wasn't a top 5 MVP candidate until he was 26. Irving, having spent 6 years under Lebron, hasn't had a chance to break out and this could be the season he realizing his potential a la Curry in '15 or '16.
BTW, Looking at Curry's numbers, it's sort of bizarre that he didn't make the AS game in his 4th year.
I don't think anyone's going to make the argument that Kyrie can't break out. He's one of the most talented offensive players in the league and has a virtually unrivaled resume for a 25 year-old, but banking on that break out is where you misstep. A Curry-like development from star to megastar is beyond rare. Kyrie certainly has the baseline talent necessary to become that sort of player, but so much more has to go right for that transformation to occur. Here's to hoping playing for Stevens, alongside Horford and Hayward provides the right environment for Kyrie's emergence, but I won't be holding my breath.
I didn't mean to sound like I'm banking on it (although I am optimistic that it'll happen) only that
if it were to happen, this is when it does happen for some players. Curry, for one.
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