Kevin Durant gives Dirk Nowitzki props after Mavs game

[LakersLegacy]

"You know, he's the career you want to look at and try to, you know, emulate if you're a player."

Attempt failed, Kevin.

Dirks won one is more impressive than Durants two for joining a previous championship team

[MavsDirk41]

Well deserved by Dirk. Everybody respects his finals win in 2011 over a team with 3 allstars in their prime. Dirk never demanded a trade, never teamed up with another allstar player, and stayed with the franchise that drafted him for 20 years. Dirk, Roger Staubach, and Tom Landry are probably the 3 most beloved sports figures in DFW.

[MrGoat]

Not really surprising. Dirk was KD's favorite player growing up, if you were the tall kid on your team at a certain age Dirk was going to be your favorite player. That even went for DeAndre Jordan, when we finally signed him years later he almost had to be removed from the weight room the first time because he fanboyed so hard when he saw Dirk was in there, apparently on his high school team the head coach had a deal with DeAndre that he could launch one 3 early in the game and if he made it he could take another, this was because Jordan was such a big fan of Dirk and I imagine the coach had to put up with that because of how dominant Jordan was at the high school level.

[cpower]

So you think you are right no matter what… that is cute and funny…hahaha

When it comes to basketball, I'm right far more often than I'm not. Certainly more credible than someone saying Durant isn't close to Kobe, Shaq or Duncan, despite:

- Two-time Finals MVP/Champion
- League MVP
- 4-time Scoring Champion
- Multiple All-NBA 1st team selections
- Greatest Olympics player in Team U.S. history
- Most efficient volume scorer in the history of basketball
- Best player on arguably the best team in the history of basketball
- Either matched or eclipsed LeBron in every Finals matchup
- Highest average game score in the history of the NBA Finals
- Member of the 50/40/90 club and on pace to do it again and be the first player to ever do it while averaging 30 PPG
- Currently having the best mid-range shooting season in the history of basketball
- Easiest superstar to fit into any offensive system in the history of basketball

Read on Twitter

I'm far from unbiased when it comes to ranking KD, but this board far too often swings way too much on the opposite side of the spectrum, just because he's the main reason LeBron's legitimate shot at becoming GOAT crumbled into pieces.

if you actually look into impact not PPG then KD is not that good, at least not that good on paper. If he is that good then he would have crushed all advance stats but he has not been in the top tier for his career, which says something to his actual impact.

[alebaba]

What?! The NBA itself should build a statue for KD.
This is a transcendent, all-time mostly consensus top 10 talent, and IMO best scorer ever.
B.S. drama aside, enjoy him while you can because you will definitely not find many KDs around, if any.

He ain't in the top 10 of all time and hes def not the best scorer ever, Celtics playoff series shows that.

A series in which he struggled, yet still averaged 26/6/5, is all the proof you need? Don’t forget the NBA Finals series where he averaged 35 PPG.

He shot freaking 42% for the series..Do I have to remind you Westbrook average a triple doubles. You talking about the finals where the Cavs was busy guarding Klay and Curry at the three point line and giving Durant open lane to the hoop, that finals? If he was top 10 why does he demanded the Nets trade him? Dude has been playing on a stack team since his 3rd year and only got 2 rings to show for it.

[YamaChan]

So you think you are right no matter what… that is cute and funny…hahaha

When it comes to basketball, I'm right far more often than I'm not. Certainly more credible than someone saying Durant isn't close to Kobe, Shaq or Duncan, despite:

- Two-time Finals MVP/Champion
- League MVP
- 4-time Scoring Champion
- Multiple All-NBA 1st team selections
- Greatest Olympics player in Team U.S. history
- Most efficient volume scorer in the history of basketball
- Best player on arguably the best team in the history of basketball
- Either matched or eclipsed LeBron in every Finals matchup
- Highest average game score in the history of the NBA Finals
- Member of the 50/40/90 club and on pace to do it again and be the first player to ever do it while averaging 30 PPG
- Currently having the best mid-range shooting season in the history of basketball
- Easiest superstar to fit into any offensive system in the history of basketball

Read on Twitter

I'm far from unbiased when it comes to ranking KD, but this board far too often swings way too much on the opposite side of the spectrum, just because he's the main reason LeBron's legitimate shot at becoming GOAT crumbled into pieces.

if you actually look into impact not PPG then KD is not that good, at least not that good on paper. If he is that good then he would have crushed all advance stats but he has not been in the top tier for his career, which says something to his actual impact.

Lol. I like how not a single point I mentioned was strictly about points per game, yet you quoted me to claim that's all I looked at. Huh?

Really, you're not going to be taken seriously if your premise is "KD is not that good". What a ludicrous take. Yeah, his impact is so bad.

That's definitely why the 2022 Nets went on a 11-game losing streak the moment KD got hurt, and lost 16 out of their next 20 games without him. Because KD is not that good and doesn't have any impact.

KD's Warriors, especially the 2017 iteration, are in the discussion for best team ever because he's not that good and has little impact, I'm sure.

Stop it. Why did you even quote me for this?

[djw]

Oh cool…we are going to do what ifs for him too just like every stan does for their player…

Everyone likes to do that because you are always right when you do that.

Yes, we are, because it's blatantly obvious the 2019 Warriors wouldn't have lost to the likes of the Raptors if KD was healthy. He looked like the best player on the court even in the game he got injured in.

And do you honestly think the 2021 Nets don't win the title, when KD almost soloed the eventual champions by himself?

It doesn't take great intellect to see how those situations would've played out if health wasn't an issue.

You do realize for every “what if you put”another team or player can do the exact same thing for them to trump “your what if”…

I guess some people don’t grasp the obtuse logic when using “what if” scenarios, but it is ok… been here long enough to read enough absurdities that I am never surprised by what people say and post.

No worries, guys. With the concept of infinity, every possible outcome will eventually happen once. So we will find out rather later than sooner but we will. Also looking forward to Ben Simmons making 1,000 free throws in a row.

[hardenASG13]

Yep, that's pretty much it.

You don't think it'd change if he led Phoenix to a title this year? The team that barely beat Zionless New Orleans, then lost to Dallas (who had no business in the conference finals) last year, and had to give up Bridges and Cam Johnson to get him?

Wouldn't he be the big difference that turns them from pretenders (they also beat 0 remotely healthy teams on their finals run the previous year) into champions, if they were to win it? They're replacing Bridges and Johnson with KD, if they win it its a major statement to his dominance as a player.

Over the previous two seasons Phoenix has had the most wins in the league and played a very competitive Finals against a healthy Bucks squad.
"Major statement to his dominance" seems like an overstatement to me.

If only we could go back in time. It's not two years ago. Two years ago KD had those very bucks looking inferior to his team, before Kyrie went down. It really doesn't matter what they did over the last two years. Do you think they had a shot this year, after watching them in last years playoffs and seeing their start this season? Their window had shut. Plus they gave up Bridges and Johnson from their rotation. So if he takes them from also rans to champions by replacing Bridges and Johnson with him, it's saying quite a lot

[MavfanAus]

I gotta give my boy YamaChan some credit here. He loves his guy KD and he's showing that he'll go down to the end of the world defending him. That's some Ben10Simmons and LilOJMayo level of love there.

[kan_t]

KD paid tribute to Dirk and somehow people are arguing who's better and how KD is overrated.

[Hsker4Life]

"You know, he's the career you want to look at and try to, you know, emulate if you're a player."

Attempt failed, Kevin.

Dirks won one is more impressive than Durants two for joining a previous championship team

Maybe, but Durant had one of the all-time great Finals performances, averaging over 35 PPG.

[Hsker4Life]

He ain't in the top 10 of all time and hes def not the best scorer ever, Celtics playoff series shows that.

A series in which he struggled, yet still averaged 26/6/5, is all the proof you need? Don’t forget the NBA Finals series where he averaged 35 PPG.

He shot freaking 42% for the series..Do I have to remind you Westbrook average a triple doubles. You talking about the finals where the Cavs was busy guarding Klay and Curry at the three point line and giving Durant open lane to the hoop, that finals? If he was top 10 why does he demanded the Nets trade him? Dude has been playing on a stack team since his 3rd year and only got 2 rings to show for it.

Right. The guy has averaged over 30 PPG on great shooting over the course of 4 different NBA Finals, but because he struggled in one series for a few games, that’s all the proof you need. You aren’t biased. Nope, not even a little bit. L-O-L

[cam24thomas]

Durant is the friendliest person in the NBA. His image suffered because of the burner accounts, but if you compare Durant to your favorite aunt, you'll probably find Durant is nicer than her.

[maverick_41]

So at least from a numbers standpoint (looking at FG% by distance, how much of his fgs are assisted, etc) Durant has better shooting numbers in basically every area except from 16 feet to the 3 point line (.451 vs .474).

Looks like if they shoot 20 times per game both players will hit 9 shots.
In they shoot 150 times (a 6 or 7 game playoff series) one player will hit 68 shots and the other - 71.

A good mathematician will say it’s a tremendous margin and definitely one player is superior over the other.
The best mathematician will say that a player’s influence on the game and his team overall success is so much more complicated that 3 shots difference over the playoff series.

I was responding to a claim about shooting alone and provided concrete numbers as best as I could.

I'd welcome it if you had numbers or even further reasoning behind your implication that Dirk had more influence on the game than Durant.

I just tried to think out loud if such numbers matter or not. To me people tend to overrate the meaning of 2-3 % difference in FG %.

Don’t have anything to say to compare very different players in very different situations. I think prime Dirk could help Warriors too. Plus he was an iron man and could help in 2019.

If I am starting a franchise I am picking Dirk due to mental toughness and leading by example. Great player to be around.

[chuck_wagon44]

Dirk is great. But KD is in another league of his own compared to Dirk.

Dirk is vastly overrated these days. It's crazy

[celticfan42487]

KD paid tribute to Dirk and somehow people are arguing who's better and how KD is overrated.

That's because the things KD paid tribute to Dirk for, things that get you statues in front of buildings and streets named after you... are the exact opposite of what KD has done his entire career.

It's not hard to see why people laughing at the irony.

Like I said right now KD's career is more similar to Robert Horry joining teams that have already won and have 73 wins or went to the Finals in the past couple of years than Dirk. Same career strategy. Maybe KD can once again be the clutch guy to hit wide open shots for the Suns like he was for the Warriors as a bus rider and complete role player since he's a failure as a #1 option this year. Guess we'll find out.

[MavsDirk41]

Dirk is great. But KD is in another league of his own compared to Dirk.

Dirk is vastly overrated these days. It's crazy

Who was Dirks best teammate on that 2011 finals team? 38 year old Jason Kidd? Shawn Marion? Tyson Chandler?

Name another superstar player who won a championship without an allstar teammate?