Klay Thompson as a Team's Best Player?

[Roundball_Rock]

Two questions: 1) How good could a team be with Klay Thompson as its best player (both in terms of win totals and playoff performance)? 2) What type of stats would he put up as a team's best player (both in terms of his line and his efficiency splits)?

[ImKobe]

Depends on the roster, he'd do well on a team like the Heat, but I question whether he'd actually consistently be the best player on a winning team, as he doesn't have the tools to handle the ball & run the offense, so he'd have to give you 25-30 a game as an off-ball player to be seen as the best individual player, which seems unlikely. Sure, he could average 25 on like 55-58%TS as the leading scorer on a bad/average team,but I don't see him as a 60%TS high-volume scorer with the low FT rate that he has.

[Turbo Slayer]

Depends on the roster, he'd do well on a team like the Heat, but I question whether he'd actually consistently be the best player on a winning team, as he doesn't have the tools to handle the ball & run the offense, so he'd have to give you 25-30 a game as an off-ball player to be seen as the best individual player, which seems unlikely. Sure, he could average 25 on like 55-58%TS as the leading scorer on a bad/average team,but I don't see him as a 60%TS high-volume scorer with the low FT rate that he has. This.

[hold this L]

Think Dame with zero playmaking skills and actual elite defense.

[Roundball_Rock]

He is a great defender. So it is possible another player could be the best offensive player with Klay still the best overall player.

Could a team make the playoffs with Klay as the best player? Could a team win 50+ (e.g., be a good team)? Could a team contend for chips?

Miami or something like GS with prime Green, prime Iggy are scenarios where I could see them scraping to 50 wins but I can't see a team contending with him as their best player. The more likely scenario would be 40 wins, give or take a few, with him as a team's best player if you are talking random teams. Miami would have Bam (a bigger Green type) and Dragic along with other solid players like Herro, Robinson.

[warriorfan]

Klay is a Robin, not a Batman.

[starface]

I mean if you have a bunch of guys who are as good at their position as Klay is at his, youre in damn good shape.

If by best player you mean Klay is the go-to playmaker/scorer, which is not his natural role, then youre not going too far. But it would make no sense to put him in that role in the first place.

[Roundball_Rock]

If by best player you mean Klay is the go-to playmaker/scorer, which is not his natural role, then youre not going too far. But it would make no sense to put him in that role in the first place.

I had in mind best player but left it open for people to think scoring as well.

You aren't going to win a chip with him as your best player but there are 30 teams and he is a borderline top 10, no worse than top 15, guy when he is healthy. So at least half the league would love to have him as their best player compared to what they have now.

[Reggie43]

Depends on how he reacts to being the focal point of the franchise and the defense. He would get his numbers obviously but being succesful depends on his team and how he handles the pressure of being the main guy and the responsibilities that come with it.

[HBK_Kliq_2]

I would imagine they would be a mediocre 8th seed at best. Klay has been spoiled his entire career by playing next to an MVP and GOAT shooter Curry, a GOAT defensive anchor Draymond.

Klay is a top 3-5 shooter ever with mediocre ball handles, mediocre defense, worse then mediocre playmaking ability. That type of player just never leads great teams.

As a 2nd or 3rd option scorer and put defensive players/passers around him is when his value is at max level.

[SouBeachTalents]

I would imagine they would be a mediocre 8th seed at best. Klay has been spoiled his entire career by playing next to an MVP and GOAT shooter Curry, a GOAT defensive anchor Draymond.

Klay is a top 3-5 shooter ever with mediocre ball handles, mediocre defense, worse then mediocre playmaking ability. That type of player just never leads great teams.

As a 2nd or 3rd option scorer and put defensive players/passers around him is when his value is at max level.
Lol

[Roundball_Rock]

I would imagine they would be a mediocre 8th seed at best. Klay has been spoiled his entire career by playing next to an MVP and GOAT shooter Curry, a GOAT defensive anchor Draymond.

Klay is a top 3-5 shooter ever with mediocre ball handles, mediocre defense, worse then mediocre playmaking ability. That type of player just never leads great teams.

As a 2nd or 3rd option scorer and put defensive players/passers around him is when his value is at max level.

Mediocre defense?

[HBK_Kliq_2]

Mediocre defense?

I'm not really high on his defense. He's not an embarrassing defender where he becomes a liability or anything. He was a 0 or negative defender in DBPM for warriors entire 2015-2019 run. Good man to man defender but he lacks help defense and team defense I think.

Again, spoiled next to Dray/Iggy/Bogut his entire career.

[HBK_Kliq_2]

I mean if you have a bunch of guys who are as good at their position as Klay is at his, youre in damn good shape.

If by best player you mean Klay is the go-to playmaker/scorer, which is not his natural role, then youre not going too far. But it would make no sense to put him in that role in the first place.

If you put Klay on 2016 warriors and just take away Curry? They would still be a 50+ win team because the team is perfectly built around him.

I think OP is asking if Klay is just on a random lottery team, that's when I think his weaknesses will stand out.

[warriorfan]

I'm not really high on his defense. He's not an embarrassing defender where he becomes a liability or anything. He was a 0 or negative defender in DBPM for warriors entire 2015-2019 run. Good man to man defender but he lacks help defense and team defense I think.

Again, spoiled next to Dray/Iggy/Bogut his entire career.

Ah yes. The myth of Klay Thompson’s elite defense. It’s always great when there is basically zero statistical evidence to back this up. :lol

He’s a decent and somewhat consistent defender, will contest a good percentage of shots and stay pretty focused at that end throughout the game. He’s not some elite defensive guy putting the clamps down on anyone though. Especially vs the elite players. He doesn’t deter those guys much at all. Agree with the lack of help defense part as well.

And to Roundball Rocks scenario where he’s with prime green and prime Iggy..... LoL then Klay isn’t even the best player on his team anymore. Prime Green is an actual elite DPOY caliber defender, ball handler, and passer. Prime Iguodala is in the same boat. A team lead by a Draymond or Iguodala will take a cast much much further than the same cast lead by Thompson. As people said before, Thompson struggles as a ball handler, and forget about passing, he’s known as the black hole on GS. Which is okay considering he’s a great finisher a lot of the time but if you are the best player on a team that’s not gonna fly. He’s never averaged 3 assists while playing heavy minutes in Golden Ststes offense. That’s not an easy task.

Mods. You can close this thread now. It’s a wrap.

[Roundball_Rock]

I think OP is asking if Klay is just on a random lottery team, that's when I think his weaknesses will stand out.

I left in vague to let people have a broader range of responses. Most likely if he is your best player you are a lottery team or a .500 team but in unique scenarios like if he is on Miami in place of Butler or the Warriors I can see them getting to the 45-50 win range. The stats part was partly due to the Miller scoring 30 PPG talk. If people have Miller scoring 30 PPG, what do they have this era's Miller doing? 28 PPG?

A team with Klay as its best player isn't going far but at least half the league would benefit from him being its best player if he is randomly assigned to a team (in reality, his cost is too high for a team to spend that kind of money for him to be their best player--teams would just keep their checkbooks open until a superstar hit the market).

[HBK_Kliq_2]

I left in vague to let people have a broader range of responses. Most likely if he is your best player you are a lottery team or a .500 team but in unique scenarios like if he is on Miami in place of Butler or the Warriors I can see them getting to the 45-50 win range. The stats part was partly due to the Miller scoring 30 PPG talk. If people have Miller scoring 30 PPG, what do they have this era's Miller doing? 28 PPG?

A team with Klay as its best player isn't going far but at least half the league would benefit from him being its best player if he is randomly assigned to a team (in reality, his cost is too high for a team to spend that kind of money for him to be their best player--teams would just keep their checkbooks open until a superstar hit the market).

Yeah I was looking at it as putting Klay on a 2017 thunder team and replacing Westbrook? I don't see that team getting anywhere.

However, replace Reggie miller with Klay on 1998 pacers? I still see them being a contender because he has Mark Jackson next to him and a good team.

[NBAGOAT]

yea at least on the warriors, draymond had a lot bigger impact. starting lineups with 5 good players is just unrealistic because of the salary cap so I dont see 55 wins even. klay's unfortunately in that range where he deserves a max but only a top 15-20 player so he's not that cost effective.

best hypothetical I can do if a team went pacers style and signed a bunch of good players for good but not bargain deals. pg:brogdon(21mil), sg:klay(38 mil),sf: oubre(15mil),pf: role player/young guy, c:lopez(13 mil). That's almost 100mil for your starters and luxury tax is at around 130. so you can build an ok bench. think that team is in the pacers range so even 50 wins is no guarantee. need luck to make the 2nd round even in the east

[AlternativeAcc.]

Warriors almost won a title with him as the best player in 2016. A real title unlike 2015.

Carried them past OKC, but came up short against the goat.

I remember Colin cowherd getting shit for ranking Klay ahead of Westbrook a few years back. He was right though. I'll take klay on my team 10 times out of 10 even if he's the 1st option.

[Roundball_Rock]

best hypothetical I can do if a team went pacers style and signed a bunch of good players for good but not bargain deals. pg:brogdon(21mil), sg:klay(38 mil),sf: oubre(15mil),pf: role player/young guy, c:lopez(13 mil). That's almost 100mil for your starters and luxury tax is at around 130. so you can build an ok bench. think that team is in the pacers range so even 50 wins is no guarantee. need luck to make the 2nd round even in the east

Yeah, that is the type of scenario he would need to even have a shot at 50 wins. 50 wins and bounced in the first round is probably the ceiling of any team with Klay as the best player. 50 wins if everything breaks that way luck wise, probably 40-45 wins as the average for a team with him as their best player for 5-6 years.


However, replace Reggie miller with Klay on 1998 pacers? I still see them being a contender because he has Mark Jackson next to him and a good team.

Yeah, different era. If the Pacers have Klay along with Jackson, Smits, and Davis they can contend. Klay would score slightly less than Miller but he could play better defense on MJ than Miller and maybe that is enough to reverse the outcome of the 98' ECF?

[HylianNightmare]

Michael Redd / Ray Allen gave us 26 a game. I would expect something like that

[DMAVS41]

I'm not sure the rules here, but I think you would want a bit more shot creation and offense out of the point with Klay. I really like the Lopez fit. Something like;

Starters:
Russell (28)
Klay (38)
Crowder (8)
Covington (13)
Lopez (13)

Throw in some decent bench guys. Like some of the Mavs as an example...DFS (4) / Brunson (2) / Maxi (10)

I don't know...I could see a team like that potentially being really good. Maybe close to the current Raptors if the pieces fit. You'd be lacking shot creation, but all those guys excel in team ball outside of Russell (which might be a positive) and the defense would be really good.

[NBAGOAT]

I'm not sure the rules here, but I think you would want a bit more shot creation and offense out of the point with Klay. I really like the Lopez fit. Something like;

Starters:
Russell (28)
Klay (38)
Crowder (8)
Covington (13)
Lopez (13)

Throw in some decent bench guys. Like some of the Mavs as an example...DFS (4) / Brunson (2) / Maxi (10)

I don't know...I could see a team like that potentially being really good. Maybe close to the current Raptors if the pieces fit. You'd be lacking shot creation, but all those guys excel in team ball outside of Russell (which might be a positive) and the defense would be really good.

yea considered dlo but kind of went away from it since he's overpaid with the bad defense. fvv too but his size is a big issue when scoring at the rim, brogdons much better at that which is a good compliment to klay. You got some cheap good defensive wings so that makes up for it. I dont think this team is nearly as good as the raptors however, the raptors still have quite a bit more shot creation and a weak link in the defense in dlo that prevents them from being top 3 defensively.

[DMAVS41]

yea considered dlo but kind of went away from it since he's overpaid with the bad defense. fvv too but his size is a big issue when scoring at the rim, brogdons much better at that which is a good compliment to klay. You got some cheap good defensive wings so that makes up for it. I dont think this team is nearly as good as the raptors however, the raptors still have quite a bit more shot creation and a weak link in the defense in dlo that prevents them from being top 3 defensively.

It would depend on the bench and how much money you are actually working with. You could add in Tucker and Lou. Then the 3 Mavs and I think that takes you to around 130...which quite a few teams currently have in terms of payroll.

I'd like that team a lot.

The Raptors have an average offense and elite defense. I think this team could have a bit better of an offense actually, but probably wouldn't have the #2 defense...although I think it would still be top 10.

[NBAGOAT]

It would depend on the bench and how much money you are actually working with. You could add in Tucker and Lou. Then the 3 Mavs and I think that takes you to around 130...which quite a few teams currently have in terms of payroll.

I'd like that team a lot.

The Raptors have an average offense and elite defense. I think this team could have a bit better of an offense actually, but probably wouldn't have the #2 defense...although I think it would still be top 10.

well cant disagree then. tbf lou's still a great bargain and I maybe tried to hard to stay away from those guys. You can just go with a defensive focused starting lineup and have lou+harrell lead your bench when you often cant find one player as good as either for their combined salary