12-21-2020, 01:21 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-21-2020, 01:21 PM by StepBackJay.)
(12-21-2020, 12:40 PM)Kammrath Wrote: It's BOTH. Data supported AND my opinion.
FACT 1: AD was -2.4 on/off defense last year and -1.2 on/off overall (ranking 7th on his OWN team among those with 1000+ minutes, Lebron was 1st).
FACT 2: AD was ranked 35th in the NBA in RPM last year (Lebron was 2nd).
So my shortened opinion: AD is overrated.
My longer opinion: AD is overrated in comparison to current hype. He was indeed GREAT in the playoffs and was a perfect complement to Lebron. But when he was "the man" he was not able to accomplish anything like this past season. He is a great basketball player, but a second banana. I think he is top 15 in the NBA, but not top 5-7 like most rate him. Hence my opinion is that he is overrated (by about 10 ranking spots).
AD is great but to your point he couldn't carry a team on his own. So he is an enigma in that regard. But I would say he isn't overrated if he is part of a good core, similar to most other players. In recent memory, LeBron is the only guy that could consistently carry a team deep in the playoffs almost by himself.
I look at it through this lense, all things being equal could LeBron and Gobert have won a championship this past year instead of LeBron + AD? No way. They would have been good but those guys + also-rans would not win a championship even tho they compliment each other in some ways. AD's unicorn-abilities + LeBron being who he is propelled them to that championship.