RealGM

I'm assuming most of you since you are RealGM posters believe that LeBron is better than Durant. What do you guys think Durant needs to do or what does he need to improve on to surpass LeBron? If you think he is already better than LeBron than just say so but I doubt many of you will say so.

Improve defense

Continue development of his court vision and assists

continue improving his offense, he clearly is able to take people off the dribble now

win championships

thats it really.. KD is 23 and lebron is 27 with an extra year of experience in the NBA. I am sure Kevin will be a threat longer than lebron as well because of his shooting ability, where lebron relies on his athleticism which fades closer to 30 and on..

rings, rings, rings

Winning rings might (might) put Durant ahead of LeBron on all time lists. But rings are a team accomplishment, and Durant would have to put up huge postseason numbers and win Finals MVP's to eclipse LeBron. As a player, he's not that close IMO, at this point. His best bet is if he moves to PF and has 30/10 type seasons with good defense. If they both remain at SF then LeBron is just too productive. He already has two MVP's, probably will get a third...

slick_watts wrote:Winning rings might (might) put Durant ahead of LeBron on all time lists. But rings are a team accomplishment, and Durant would have to put up huge postseason numbers and win Finals MVP's to eclipse LeBron. As a player, he's not that close IMO, at this point. His best bet is if he moves to PF and has 30/10 type seasons with good defense. If they both remain at SF then LeBron is just too productive. He already has two MVP's, probably will get a third...

Well I should have clarified but I don't mean in the all-time list rankings and such. I simply mean being the better player NOW, like what does Durant need to do to become the best player in the league.

Be the better closer

Lebron is much better defensively, passing wise and offensively, both can contribute points in a number of ways. Rebounding wise is the same as well both are good rebounders for SF.

If you believe in PER than Lebron is just far and away too productive to catch up with, but his major knock is that he's not a closer, so Durant's only chance is to continue knocking down those winning shots.

Note: Lebron might still develop into a closer but he's just too good at a few aspect of his games that you can't blame him for passing to the open man if he made the pass.

Win Championships!! Superstars are measured by success

Wait until LeBron starts declining?

I'm more interested in how the Thunder surpass the Heat in a playoff match up.

Maybe he can add a little more muscle mass. He already has a great first step.

Air Poohdini wrote:Maybe he can add a little more muscle mass. He already has a great first step.

yep, that and improved basketball IQ but that comes with experience. Also would like to see more fight in him, but I dunno if he is just a naturally laid back guy.

I think this will be explained by how Durant will do to dominate in playoffs.

I have a feeling that Durant's playoffs numbers will be much different than these numbers he's putting.

They are two different players. Durant is a cold blooded scorer. He can do other things as well but he looks to score the ball #1, and is IMO a better scorer then Lebron. Lebron is an all around guy like a Magic or Orscar Robertson. Those guys will always have jaw dropping numbers, but what Durant is averaging isn't bad at all.

If your question is who is a better player, Durant in one point of view already is...in another it's Lebron. At the end of the day I think it comes down to rings as well and how well they perform to get them. Durant is already > Lebron in this sense.

Still don't get why people knock his vision and playmaking, he's perfectly capable he's just looking to score the majority of the time. He does a great job of moving the ball and making the passes that lead to the assist.

BirdmanPresents wrote:They are two different players. Durant is a cold blooded scorer. He can do other things as well but he looks to score the ball #1, and is IMO a better scorer then Lebron. Lebron is an all around guy like a Magic or Orscar Robertson. Those guys will always have jaw dropping numbers, but what Durant is averaging isn't bad at all.

If your question is who is a better player, Durant in one point of view already is...in another it's Lebron. At the end of the day I think it comes down to rings as well and how well they perform to get them. Durant is already > Lebron in this sense.

Still don't get why people knock his vision and playmaking, he's perfectly capable he's just looking to score the majority of the time. He does a great job of moving the ball and making the passes that lead to the assist.

Completely agree with everything you say, I just want to make a note here, that his "playmaking" skills are still far from LeBron's and its not even because of the passing, but the fact that he turns the ball over way to often while dribbling and passing. He needs to and will improve in this area.

^ Agreed you are right didn't think of that but more of the aspect how people are knocking his vision.

Krodis wrote:Wait until LeBron starts declining?

This is the correct answer.

Winning a title wouldn't hurt, but on court, he's worse than LeBron and he really isn't better in any category right now besides 3pt shooting and FT shooting.

Durant: Vastly inferior playmaker. Not any better a rebounder (about the same though), not as good of a defender at all. If he's not scoring well, he's likely not making a large impact. LeBron on the other hand, makes an impact even if he's not scoring. I'd much rather have LeBron right now than Durant, unless all I need is a scorer out of that position.

That said, we already know what we're getting from LeBron, and it's great. Durant can potentially improve, but he's also at that point where he probably isn't going to get much better. It's his 5th season now, not 3rd or 4th. What we see is pretty much what we'll get. He's not really any better than 3 years ago. Pretty similar statistical production. So it's safe to say this is basically the third year of Durant's prime now. He may have a peak year upcoming in the next few years, but overall, I don't expect his stats to get any better. Dude mainly just needs to work on the D', and maybe pass a little more so his teammates can more benefit from the defensive attention he draws.. No big tweaks needed, especially considering he's the second best SF right now, and the only guy even close behind is Melo who is a notoriously lazy worker.

Durant's defense is highly underrated, and I think is honestly completely on par with Lebron. It doesn't result in flashy steal and block statistics, but on-ball he's right there with him. Rebounding is about equal, Durant is the better scorer. The big area of separation is in the playmaking department. While Durant has shown the aptitude to add a Lebron-like playmaking dynamic to his repertoire, it still isn't refined enough and is resulting in turnovers while trying to make great passes.

BirdmanPresents wrote:They are two different players. Durant is a cold blooded scorer. He can do other things as well but he looks to score the ball #1, and is IMO a better scorer then Lebron. Lebron is an all around guy like a Magic or Orscar Robertson. Those guys will always have jaw dropping numbers, but what Durant is averaging isn't bad at all.

If your question is who is a better player, Durant in one point of view already is...in another it's Lebron. At the end of the day I think it comes down to rings as well and how well they perform to get them. Durant is already > Lebron in this sense.

Still don't get why people knock his vision and playmaking, he's perfectly capable he's just looking to score the majority of the time. He does a great job of moving the ball and making the passes that lead to the assist.

Great post, I agree with everything.

Durant is a violin player and the best out there while LeBron is a violin player and a conductor. He isn't the best at either one though, jack of all trades kind of deal.

JimboSlice wrote:Durant's defense is highly underrated, and I think is honestly completely on par with Lebron. It doesn't result in flashy steal and block statistics, but on-ball he's right there with him. Rebounding is about equal, Durant is the better scorer. The big area of separation is in the playmaking department. While Durant has shown the aptitude to add a Lebron-like playmaking dynamic to his repertoire, it still isn't refined enough and is resulting in turnovers while trying to make great passes.

Seriously? C'mon, now! I know you didn't keep a straight face while typing that.

rings. lebron is just a naturally better athlete,,,,like maybe of all time. durant will not surpass lebron in all around skills.

besides rings the only other bball trait i see for durant to come close is on D.