Ask the Lakers? He was awful in that series. Could you please clarify? I am having trouble understanding this. I do not think Westbrook is quite enough to win a title with, if that's what you meant. Durant had some serious problems against elite defenses this season so he has to sort that out.
I see Carmelo Anthony as the best comparison for Kevin Durant. Not in style of play (as Melo is obviously 100 times stronger [barely an exaggeration] and plays more of a power game) but in terms of talent and what aspects of the game they're strong at. Both can be counted for a ton of points even as the defense's main focus, both rebound and both play passable defense.
Yeah I just want to add, to all those people thinking he's just a "McGrady", don't be too nonchalant about that. McGrady still has the higher peak, and has been a superior post-season player. Same goes for Dirk.
Durant is going to be a very good player. I think the Dr. J thing is where I think he will go - the face of the league for a little while - very good player, and a championship or two in his resume. Sure fire hall-of-fame player (if not injured) - better than T-Mac when all is said and done - but not going to be as good as LeBron or Kobe are going to be when all is said and done. Great player, overall, just not one of the very best top-5/10 all-times imho.
I think Kobe is better than T-Mac, due to longevity. I wouldn't say he had the higher peak though. I'm not sure what Durant's prime will be but he probably doesn't have the same back problems T-Mac did.
Until McGrady declined due to injuries, I'd say he and Kobe were virtual clones. Offensively and defensively. Kobe had a superior defensive rep because of two reasons, in my opinion: 1. He had Shaq behind him. Shaq was not a great individual defender in his Lakers days, but he was still an intimidating presence in the middle that forced slashers to change their routes and shots. Having such a presence in the middle allowed Kobe to play much tighter man defense, defend the jump shot and gamble for steals, because being beaten by a first step mattered less. McGrady had no such advantage. 2. Shaq carried the offensive load the majority of the time. Kobe was allowed to conserve more energy for the defensive end. Jordan is still the only player I've seen who had the endurance to be able to go full speed at both ends of the court for full games, for full seasons. McGrady was always the guy carrying the entire offensive load for his teams until he reached Houston (which is when he began breaking down physically). So yes, I'd place Kobe way ahead of McGrady in historical context due to the longer great career. But for the first seven years of his career, I'd rate him very much on par with Kobe (and McGrady's peak seasons were at least as good as Kobe's peak seasons post-Shaq). If Durant reaches McGrady's (and thus Kobe's) prime level, that will be highly impressive. As I said, I think he's more of a Carmelo Anthony talent, which is still big-time.
Doubt you'll find many intelligent analysts that will place Horford above Durant as the second best pick. Yes, Durant is one-dimensional. Yes, he can't pass well. Yell, he'll never be a top 50% of the league defender. Yes, he'll likely never win a title since he's too one-dimensional to make others around him good enough to get to that level. But you're not going to find many that will say Horford is better than Durant. Try again.
Until last season you could say that. In fact, I critisized his poor rebounding and poor defense. But then, he improved his rebounding. Started playing defense. Really steped up his overall game and is now a very impressive ballplayer. He won't be Jordan good. Jodan was an All-NBA defender, as well as a relentless and unstoppable offensive force. I think Dr. J is Durant's future. Without an legit All-Star big, Durant can't win titles plural.
You have to compare him to someone of the same height and slenderness. I make the rule. Any of you could have made a rule, but you didn't, so it's too late and it's your fault. Marcus Camby.
He rebounds at a much better rate than Gervin or Wilkins, and he actually plays defense. I don't think he can be compared to a player since other members of Team USA claim Durant is really 6'11" now. Throw in his 7'6" wingspan, and we're talking Connie Hawkins, but more complete? Seriously though, who does he compare to historically? I think he's a transcendent player like a Jordan, a Chamberlain, a Magic, a Lebron James, an Oscar Robertson, or a Bird. You'll never see anything like him before or after.
Well, other than rebound at an 8 rpg clip, draw double teams and still dominate, and have a PER of 26.2. Have you read Breaks of the Game yet, Ed? LOL
Which Dr. J? ABA Doc, or NBA Doc? NBA Doc won an MVP in 1980-81 with these stats at age 30. Doc was a beast in the ABA, but then, so were David Thompson and George McGinnis. Erving 25 ppg/8 rpg/ 4 apg/ 2 spg/2 bpg 52% FG/79% FT/22% 3pt Loaded team wins 62 games Durant last season at age 21 30 ppg/ 8 rpg/3 apg/1 spg/1 bpg 48% FG/90% FT/37% 3pt Crap team wins 50 games. Durant is already at Doc's NBA apex, and he's only 21 right now.
Kobe Bryant without having the benefit of playing with Shaq in his prime but with the benefit of not having everyone hate him.
His PER is largely based on his scoring, and based on what I've seen he doesn't draw that many double teams. Double-teaming a guy with no post-up game is a waste of time, generally. He's a very very good player, for sure, and he might continue to improve (based on his youth, it's likely he WILL improve) to the point where he redefines the game. I don't see it, though, based on how his game is right now. Ed O.
He's definitely unique. I think I mentioned this in another thread (or maybe it was one of the earlier posts in this thread), but he lacks many of the elementary fundamentals that have a high probability relationship with the greatest players of all time. He doesn't have that killer instinct that we saw in MJ or in Kobe or even non GOAT guys like Isiah, Reggie & Magic. He doesn't have the passing ability that you see with guys even like LeBron and even big men like Shaq and Kareem. So yes, he's unique and could be one of these players that is remembered for some special way he played (Shawn Bradley was remember for his unique play, or Spud Webb for his unique "small" play). But I don't think you can say without the fundamentals that he'll ever get himself remembered as one of these top 20 of all time like the Wilt's and Magic's of past. He just screams of a stick figure that has absurdly long arms and uses them to get a lot of touch foul and get himself to the line. He also uses his wingspan to get a larger number of rebounds than he physically should normally be getting. And he can score a multitude of ways which makes him a great scoring threat. But then he also screams of a guy that will have to get injured at some point with that stick frame. And also in seeing how he mentally folded when Texas played an underdog 5-seed in the 2007 NCAA playoffs, and see how he mentally folds every OT game against a playoff caliber team, and seeing how he mentally folded against the Lakers in the playoffs last year, it is hard to imagine that his unique scoring and rebounding stat abilities will ever transcend the game and translate to anything like going deep in the playoffs and certainly not a ring.
As someone who doesn't rate PER, I can say in confidence, this is an asinine statement. Oh look who it is.
At this point, I just have to think that you're stirring the pot. Either that, or you don't know shit about basketball. I'll go with the latter, based on your embarrassing lack of knowledge of the book Breaks of the Game. A "very, very good player" is at age 21 2nd in the MVP vote and the unquestioned Alpha Dog on an undersized and extremely young Team USA. You flip-flop all over the place, Ed.
