All time: Curry vs. Durant

[Gus Fring]

No it doesn''t. Not even close.

Steph has been a relevant basketball player for 4 seasons. He doesn't jump any of the all time greats.

Well we're talking about Durant and Curry, I'm not comparing Steph to other all time greats, and if Steph isn't close to any all-time greats than neither is Durant. In Steph's 4 relevant seasons he has one more MVP and one more title than Durant has had. He also, statistically speaking, may have had the best offensive season of all time while also leading possibly the greatest team of all time. Again, what has Durant done that's more impressive than Curry's 4 relevant years? He's made 1 finals appearance, has 1 mvp, has 4 scoring titles. I dont know how that's so much better than 2 mvps, 2 finals appearances, 1 title, 1 scoring title, and an all-time great individual and team season. I don't think the "he's been doing it longer" argument for Durant really comes into play in this situation.

Durant's 2012 playoff run was better than any of Curry's so far. He would have finished it with a title too if Wade and Bosh weren't playing. They both lost the only time they saw LeBron with a full-strength team. Durant played much better than Steph did in that loss though.

I'm not going to say Durant is way higher than Curry on the all time great list just because he played well in one playoffs where he got backdoor swept in his only finals appearance. And saying someone would've won if 2 of the other teams 3 best players weren't playing doesn't mean anything. Thats like me saying Curry would've won this year if Kyrie and Tristan Thompson weren't playing and using that as my basis to justify Curry > Lebron. I'll take Currys one extra mvp and 1 extra title over Durants 2012 playoffs any day of the week.

[dreamshake]

Well we're talking about Durant and Curry, I'm not comparing Steph to other all time greats, and if Steph isn't close to any all-time greats than neither is Durant. In Steph's 4 relevant seasons he has one more MVP and one more title than Durant has had. He also, statistically speaking, may have had the best offensive season of all time while also leading possibly the greatest team of all time. Again, what has Durant done that's more impressive than Curry's 4 relevant years? He's made 1 finals appearance, has 1 mvp, has 4 scoring titles. I dont know how that's so much better than 2 mvps, 2 finals appearances, 1 title, 1 scoring title, and an all-time great individual and team season. I don't think the "he's been doing it longer" argument for Durant really comes into play in this situation.

Durant's 2012 playoff run was better than any of Curry's so far. He would have finished it with a title too if Wade and Bosh weren't playing. They both lost the only time they saw LeBron with a full-strength team. Durant played much better than Steph did in that loss though.

I'm not going to say Durant is way higher than Curry on the all time great list just because he played well in one playoffs where he got backdoor swept in his only finals appearance. And saying someone would've won if 2 of the other teams 3 best players weren't playing doesn't mean anything. Thats like me saying Curry would've won this year if Kyrie and Tristan Thompson weren't playing and using that as my basis to justify Curry > Lebron. I'll take Currys one extra mvp and 1 extra title over Durants 2012 playoffs any day of the week.

Umm, that's the point. You're using Curry's title as reasoning why you have him above Durant, when he won that title against a team missing 2 of their best 3 players. My point was that if Durant had faced a team that weakened in 2012, he would've won too. You're giving credit for circumstances rather than performance. Durant's actual play was much better in the '12 Finals than Curry did either of the last 2 years.

If you value Curry's 1 extra regular season MVP as reason enough to put him over Curry then that's your call. I would argue that Durant has had a much larger volume of high-level play (6 All-NBA seasons to Steph's 3).

[JordansBulls]

Both are top 30 all time right now and possibly even top 20.

Top 30? Maybe IF even that. Top 20? Hell no. Not yet at least

If they both win a couple titles in the next few years then they'll be top 20.

I don't see why they wouldn't be top 30 now if Nash is

[Whirrun]

Eh, nope I don't buy that. Miami won in 5 games. They were just the better team that year.

-As good as KD was, LeBron was better.
-Wade still had a bit left in the tank that year.
-Battier was still defending well and was on fire from 3
-Ibaka was bad
-Harden was worse

OKC outscored Miami when Perkins wasn't on the floor. There's nothing to disagree with.

You can believe what you want, but saying "there's nothing to disagree with" about the opinion that a series that ended in 5 games would go the other way based on a coaching change is kind've silly. There's plenty to disagree with. Perkins played 23mins/game and those minutes would have to go to someone. I don't believe that the difference in 23 mins of Perkins and 23 more mins of Collison/Ibaka (wasn't playing well)/whoever would be enough to swing the outcome of that series. Not with Harden playing the way he was and Westbrook making the amount of mental mistakes that he did. Miami was worse in the '13 playoffs than they were in '12 and they still beat the Spurs, who were a better team and a worse matchup than the '12 Thunder.

It isn't an opinion. OKC outscored Miami when Perkins was sitting. Fact.

[MisterHibachi]

OKC outscored Miami when Perkins wasn't on the floor. There's nothing to disagree with.

You can believe what you want, but saying "there's nothing to disagree with" about the opinion that a series that ended in 5 games would go the other way based on a coaching change is kind've silly. There's plenty to disagree with. Perkins played 23mins/game and those minutes would have to go to someone. I don't believe that the difference in 23 mins of Perkins and 23 more mins of Collison/Ibaka (wasn't playing well)/whoever would be enough to swing the outcome of that series. Not with Harden playing the way he was and Westbrook making the amount of mental mistakes that he did. Miami was worse in the '13 playoffs than they were in '12 and they still beat the Spurs, who were a better team and a worse matchup than the '12 Thunder.

It isn't an opinion. OKC outscored Miami when Perkins was sitting. Fact.

Perkins +/- by game:

Game 1: -2
Game 2: -16
Game 3: +3
Game 4: +4
Game 5: -14

[swaelo]

I actually think Durant in 2014 was better than anything we have seen of Curry. And he has the better longetivity

[swaelo]

if u switch Curry and KD since day one, KD has like 4 MVPs and 3 titles

[MisterHibachi]

if u switch Curry and KD since day one, KD has like 4 MVPs and 3 titles

How? In what years?

[YehdoM]

KD and I don't think it's close. I don't think the comparison is even fair.
Durant has been a Top 3 player since 2010, arguably the best in 2014, has had one of the greatest scoring primes in the history of the game and quite honestly, I don't think '16 Curry is that far ahead (or even ahead at all) of '14 Durant peak wise. Certainly not enough to give a player who's been (all-time wise) relevant for about 2 years the edge over a well established generational superstar in Durant. KD is a 29/4/8 on 62%TS, 27 PER guy over the last 6 years, he's not a two or three season wonder. And it's not like he isn't a clearly better defender, rebounder and a more dominant scorer overall. I mean, I'd personally take '14 Durant over any version of Curry even though I reckon they are very close peak wise. But just look at KD's prime... Curry's Title only means so much really, I wonder what '14 Durant would do with that kind of supporting cast.

[HardenTime]

Curry better peak, KD has more consistent seasons. I want to say KD but Curry has 1 Champ n 2 MVP to go with it. So, Curry.

curry doesnt play defense though

[cpower]

if u switch Curry and KD since day one, KD has like 4 MVPs and 3 titles

if u switch Harden and KD since day one, Harden has like 4 MVPs and 3 titles.

[JackZZ]

Curry better peak, KD has more consistent seasons. I want to say KD but Curry has 1 Champ n 2 MVP to go with it. So, Curry.

curry doesnt play defense though

He does, but only somewhere between decent to good defender. Definitely not in elite category.

[YehdoM]

Curry better peak, KD has more consistent seasons. I want to say KD but Curry has 1 Champ n 2 MVP to go with it. So, Curry.

curry doesnt play defense though

He does, but only somewhere between decent to good defender. Definitely not in elite category.

Curry is a +0.0 on defense at most. He's just plain average.

[Whirrun]

Perkins +/- by game:

Game 1: -2
Game 2: -16
Game 3: +3
Game 4: +4
Game 5: -14

Was there something more to this, or are we in agreement?

[Joseph17]

Curry. If Golden State won game 7 this wouldn't even be a discussion. I hate letting one game determine where I rank a player on an all-time list especially when the player was probably injured.

[StepBackCrack]

KD and I don't think it's close. I don't think the comparison is even fair.
Durant has been a Top 3 player since 2010, arguably the best in 2014, has had one of the greatest scoring primes in the history of the game and quite honestly, I don't think '16 Curry is that far ahead (or even ahead at all) of '14 Durant peak wise. Certainly not enough to give a player who's been (all-time wise) relevant for about 2 years the edge over a well established generational superstar in Durant. KD is a 29/4/8 on 62%TS, 27 PER guy over the last 6 years, he's not a two or three season wonder. And it's not like he isn't a clearly better defender, rebounder and a more dominant scorer overall. I mean, I'd personally take '14 Durant over any version of Curry even though I reckon they are very close peak wise. But just look at KD's prime... Curry's Title only means so much really, I wonder what '14 Durant would do with that kind of supporting cast.

Perfect post. Thank you. I'm glad to see someone being fair to KD here. KD 2013-2014 MVP season is ridiculously underrated. Even tho Steph had the perfect supporting cast for his skillset, KD during that season still achieved the biggest difference ever between FGA and PPG in a season. 32 PPG with only 20.8 FG attempts per game!! That's unreal efficiency! (32-20.8= 11.2). Slightly better than Steph's 30.1 PPG and 20.2 FGA. (30.1-20.2=9.9). MJ's peak difference was at 10.6 (35 PPG-24.4 FGA= 10.6) in his 1988-1987 season. MJ is the greatest for sure but I'm just putting these numbers to show people how underrated KD's 14 MVP season is. After his injury, he became really underrated as a player.

So yeah, Imo KD in his 2013-2014 season was at least as good as Steph in his 2nd MVP season. Especially when you consider their supporting casts. GSW's supporting cast is perfect for Steph. KD on the other hand, had to create almost everything for himself with awful spacing in OKC. And also awful coaching with no real system. Given all that, the scoring he put in that season was beyond amazing.

I love Steph. He is one of my fav players and I love watching him but I don't get how someone rank him over KD all-time after only 2/3 elite seasons from Steph. KD had more quite elite seasons and his peak season wasn't worse than Steph's at all considering everything. He has been a top 3 player since 2010 as you said. That's a long period of elite excellence. That said, atm I have no issue with considering Steph the better player because these 2 are pretty close atm. Both are Tier I players. Only 3 players I consider Tier I atm and they are pretty obvious to me.

[SlowPaced]

Curry better peak, KD has more consistent seasons. I want to say KD but Curry has 1 Champ n 2 MVP to go with it. So, Curry.

curry doesnt play defense though

He does, but only somewhere between decent to good defender. Definitely not in elite category.

Curry is not a good defender. The way Warriors hide him on defense and allow him to gamble tricked people into thinking he became a good defender but he got exposed to the max in the Finals. He's a decent defender at best. Somewhere between average and decent.

That being said, KD isn't exactly a defensive stalwart himself. (The size helps him be more effective though)

----

To answer the question, I don't have a GOAT list right now but if I had one, I'd probably rank KD higher.

[StepBackCrack]

curry doesnt play defense though

He does, but only somewhere between decent to good defender. Definitely not in elite category.

That being said, KD isn't exactly a defensive stalwart himself. (The size helps him be more effective though)

Have you seen him vs GSW in the playoffs? His D was elite in that series and Dray had huge issues with KD's defense. The is a reason Dray looked that bad vs OKC. KD at the 4 was the biggest reason. Also Kevin has the ability to switch which is extremely valuable in today's game. Steve Kerr praised his defensive versatility in one of his interviews and said he was surprised. What hurt KD in the series was mostly his offence. It was surprisingly off. His defense was certainly better than his offense in the playoffs. His length and speed (for a big player) makes him valuable on the defensive end if he is locked in. In the RS obviously, his effort isn't the same on D but still in general his D is underrated I would say. He improved it over the years but people always talk about his scoring and ignore everything else he does. He is certainly a good defender and playmaker at his position. He is no LeBron in those 2 aspects of course but he is still above average in them.

[SlowPaced]

I didn't say he was a bad defender. He probably fits the decent to good billing better than Steph does.

[StepBackCrack]

I didn't say he was a bad defender. He probably fits the decent to good billing better than Steph does.

Fair enough. Personally I wouldn't say Steph is bad on D. He is certainly decent at least. Average or tiny bit above average at best. He has great footwork so I think he can stay with his "normal" opponents on D but people want him to guard a freak athlete like Russ or someone with perfect handles like Irving. That's a tough assignment to any PG to be fair to Steph. Also people just ignore that he wasn't 100% in most of the playoffs. His movement were affected a bit but just like Steph I won't make it an excuse for their loss in the finals. He obviously can't guard Irving even if he is 100%.

In the end, at least Steph is no Steve Nash on defense and that's certainly a good thing. PGs aren't supposed to have a big impact on the defensive end so being decent only on D as a PG isn't a terrible thing imo.