Mark Jackson Calls Klay Thompson a 'Top-Five' Shooting Guard in the NBA Today

Mark Jackson's faith in his players knows no limits.

Last April, per CSN Bay Area's Kyle Bonagura, the Golden State Warriors head coach called Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson "the greatest shooting backcourt in the history of the game." Now, he's at it again.

"He's a top-five (shooting) guard in this league, and I'm being respectful," Jackson said of Thompson, according to the Bay Area News Group's Marcus Thompson.

Essentially, Jackson is putting the younger Splash Brother in the company of elite talents like James Harden, Dwyane Wade and the injured Kobe Bryant. Absolute madness, right?

Actually, no.

The shooting guard position has become increasingly thin on topliners. Point guards and point forwards are praised for their existence while the occasional 7-footer is overrated because he's too tall to buy off the rack.

Star shooting guards don't surface as frequently. Once we move past Harden, Wade and Kobe, we're left to celebrate the likes of Monta Ellis and Kevin Martin, talented scorers who don't shift the fortunes of a franchise the way traditional bigwigs should.

Holding the third-year Thompson, who currently leads the Warriors in scoring at 20.9 points a night, in similar esteem as the Kobes and Hardens isn't unjustified then.

In his latest player rankings, Bleacher Report's Adam Fromal named Thompson the third-best shooting guard in the NBA (not including Kobe). Can you honestly say that's wrong?

Often associated with three-point shooting, Thompson has developed into so much more. He's the only guard in the NBA averaging 20 or more points on at least 55 percent shooting, but his defensive rating (103) is also markedly higher than fellow shooting guards Harden (106), Ellis (108) and Joe Johnson (111).

And yeah, he can shoot, better than almost anyone in the league. He leads a team headlined by Curry in three-pointers made (35) and, among those who attempt at least one trey a night, deep-ball percentage as well.

In fact, he's the only player in the league sending up more than five bombs a night and hitting on at least 50 percent of them. Early or not, those marks are outstanding.

Thompson himself is outstanding, too. Jackson knows it, his Splash Brother knows it, the entire Warriors team knows it, and it's about time the rest of Association recognized it.

"He's a better player," Jackson said, via Thompson. "He's a better defender, better pick-and-roll basketball player, a better decision maker and overall just a better player—no question about that. ... (What he does on) both sides of the court puts him in a different class."

A class tenanted by the select few. The Kobes, the Hardens, the Wades.

The star shooting guards.

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*All stats in this article were compiled from Basketball-Reference and are accurate as of Nov. 18, 2013.