Will Kevin Durant ever win a Championship as the best player on his team?

[Iwasawitness]

I don’t agree and I am a GSW fan who has Curry as his all time favorite player.

Bottom line is that they were unstoppable together in 2017. The defensive focus may even have been more on Curry as some have hypothesised in the past because there was an ultimately of course vain hope that there was some vague chance of stopping Curry and hence the duo while there was almost nothing which could be done about KD if he was next to Curry.

Westbrook was very talented athletically, even more so before the knee injury, but didn’t play smart basketball back in the KD days and OKC sometimes came unstuck because a dual iso game plan didn’t maximise their talents or their benefit to the team, and both were both prone to poor decisions in the denouement of close games.

It is indeed remarkable that LeBron is a great PG along with everything else but since when have all small forwards needed to be point guards ?, particularly one who is possibly the tallest SF ever and quite likely the purest scoring SF ever. He actually said outright that he was going to GSW to play with Curry and to play a more team game, which proved to be a fairly good plan when he duly executed said plan in 2017. Kerr didn’t even go all out because he has a philosophical belief in ensemble play and keeping everyone involved both offensively and defensively, had he chosen he could have just run constant Curry/KD pick and roll plays about which absolutely nothing could have been done. Sure KD flourishes with someone else primarily running the team, but so what ?. As above he played the SF position and some center minutes for GSW,

Curry getting more defensive focus isn’t a hypothesis… it’s a fact.

Lebron guarded Durant and got lit up, then chose not to guard him the following year sooo…

no excuses. Durant FMVP

1. LeBron lit up Durant, despite Kevin having far superior defensive talent around him. It goes both ways.

2. I’ve already explained why saying he chose not to guard him next season means nothing. He chose not to guard any opposing teams best player. This is just desperation on your end because you have no leg to stand on.

But sure… Durant FMVP. Congrats to him beating LeBron while being on a significantly better team… twice. If only they had faced on an even playing field.

Oh wait, they did, in 2012… and LeBron gentlemen swept him.

[michaelm]

Defense literally ceases to exist when the opportunity to downplay Durant is there. People will argue til they're blue in the face about Durant's offense being less than Curry's, and the fact he was a nationally lauded defensive anchor that postseason will never cross their mind. And then they'll probably go right into another thread and argue on both sides to the ball again.

KD literally broke people's brains when he broke the league, and that's the reason he'll never be respected the way he could/should.

So none of the Golden St. players should lose any respect for recruiting him throughout the 2016 season?

Woj writes about it right here
https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/report-warriors-players-recruited-kevin-durant-throughout-season

I don't understand what that has to do with what I wrote.

Nothing, and LeBron fans have no case to question the choices made by KD or GSW given the much stronger and longer collusion involved in the formation of the Heatles, and even more so that a top 5 player in AD who was managed by LeBron’s player agency ffs actually broke a contract to join LeBron resulting in the 4th title won by a team which had LeBron as a member.

[The4thHorseman]

Defense literally ceases to exist when the opportunity to downplay Durant is there. People will argue til they're blue in the face about Durant's offense being less than Curry's, and the fact he was a nationally lauded defensive anchor that postseason will never cross their mind. And then they'll probably go right into another thread and argue on both sides to the ball again.

KD literally broke people's brains when he broke the league, and that's the reason he'll never be respected the way he could/should.

So none of the Golden St. players should lose any respect for recruiting him throughout the 2016 season?

Woj writes about it right here
https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/report-warriors-players-recruited-kevin-durant-throughout-season

I don't understand what that has to do with what I wrote.

Cause you said he'll never get respected like he should for signing so Curry and teammates get off Scott free for recruiting him considering they're the current champs and have won 39 of their first 44 games? The b2b current MVP at the time needed a top 3 player in the league?

[brackdan70]

lol. He already has.

[Special_Puppy]

The advanced stats and lineup data don't really support the idea that KD was the best player on the 2017-2019 Warriors.

[Iwasawitness]

So none of the Golden St. players should lose any respect for recruiting him throughout the 2016 season?

Woj writes about it right here
https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/report-warriors-players-recruited-kevin-durant-throughout-season

I don't understand what that has to do with what I wrote.

Nothing, and LeBron fans have no case to question the choices made by KD or GSW given the much stronger and longer collusion involved in the formation of the Heatles, and even more so that a top 5 player in AD who was managed by LeBron’s player agency ffs actually broke a contract to join LeBron resulting in the 4th title won by a team which had LeBron as a member.

LeBron’s fans definitely have the right to criticize it because the two situations aren’t comparable. But if you wanted to compare the two, you could at least start by not making **** up.

[NoStatsGuy]

he was the best player on gsw. some people considered him the best player in the league at that time. will he win another one as the best player? probably not

[michaelm]

I don't understand what that has to do with what I wrote.

Nothing, and LeBron fans have no case to question the choices made by KD or GSW given the much stronger and longer collusion involved in the formation of the Heatles, and even more so that a top 5 player in AD who was managed by LeBron’s player agency ffs actually broke a contract to join LeBron resulting in the 4th title won by a team which had LeBron as a member.

LeBron’s fans definitely have the right to criticize it because the two situations aren’t comparable. But if you wanted to compare the two, you could at least start by not making **** up.

My apologies. So AD wasn‘t managed by LeBron’s player agency, wasn’t contracted to the Pelicans for at least 2 more years, was either a journeyman player or didn’t play for the Lakers when they won the title in 2019, and the Heatles made a snap decision to get together after the 2010 season ended, with the Heat quite coincidentally having cleared enough cap space to sign Chris Bosh and LeBron.

[Iwasawitness]

Nothing, and LeBron fans have no case to question the choices made by KD or GSW given the much stronger and longer collusion involved in the formation of the Heatles, and even more so that a top 5 player in AD who was managed by LeBron’s player agency ffs actually broke a contract to join LeBron resulting in the 4th title won by a team which had LeBron as a member.

LeBron’s fans definitely have the right to criticize it because the two situations aren’t comparable. But if you wanted to compare the two, you could at least start by not making **** up.

w XC
My apologies. So AD wasn‘t managed by LeBron’s player agency, wasn’t contracted to the Pelicans for at least 2 more years, was either a journeyman player or didn’t play for the Lakers when they won the title in 2019, and the Heatles made a snap decision to get together after the 2010 season ended, with the Heat quite coincidentally having cleared enough cap space to sign Chris Bosh and LeBron.

The AD part you're spot on about (even though it's still not comparable to what GS did with Durant). But it's common knowledge at this point that LeBron did everything in his power to try to get people to come to Cleveland first. Going to Miami was a last resort and wasn't his original intention.

[Iwasawitness]

Defense literally ceases to exist when the opportunity to downplay Durant is there. People will argue til they're blue in the face about Durant's offense being less than Curry's, and the fact he was a nationally lauded defensive anchor that postseason will never cross their mind. And then they'll probably go right into another thread and argue on both sides to the ball again.

KD literally broke people's brains when he broke the league, and that's the reason he'll never be respected the way he could/should.

Now hold up.

I will always praise Durant for the strides he made defensively that season, but in no way was he their defensive anchor.

[picc]

So none of the Golden St. players should lose any respect for recruiting him throughout the 2016 season?

Woj writes about it right here
https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/report-warriors-players-recruited-kevin-durant-throughout-season

I don't understand what that has to do with what I wrote.

Cause you said he'll never get respected like he should for signing so Curry and teammates get off Scott free for recruiting him considering they're the current champs and have won 39 of their first 44 games? The b2b current MVP at the time needed a top 3 player in the league?

When did I say anything about Curry and the rest of the Warriors?

[picc]

Defense literally ceases to exist when the opportunity to downplay Durant is there. People will argue til they're blue in the face about Durant's offense being less than Curry's, and the fact he was a nationally lauded defensive anchor that postseason will never cross their mind. And then they'll probably go right into another thread and argue on both sides to the ball again.

KD literally broke people's brains when he broke the league, and that's the reason he'll never be respected the way he could/should.

Now hold up.

I will always praise Durant for the strides he made defensively that season, but in no way was he their defensive anchor.

He was one of their defensive anchors. He and Draymond. Especially during the finals.

But you won't always praise him for the strides he made, because defense apparently doesn't exist when you're debating he vs Curry.

[The4thHorseman]

I don't understand what that has to do with what I wrote.

Cause you said he'll never get respected like he should for signing so Curry and teammates get off Scott free for recruiting him considering they're the current champs and have won 39 of their first 44 games? The b2b current MVP at the time needed a top 3 player in the league?

When did I say anything about Curry and the rest of the Warriors?

You didn't, I wasn't suggesting you did. Guess I could've done a better job clarifying that.

[Iwasawitness]

Defense literally ceases to exist when the opportunity to downplay Durant is there. People will argue til they're blue in the face about Durant's offense being less than Curry's, and the fact he was a nationally lauded defensive anchor that postseason will never cross their mind. And then they'll probably go right into another thread and argue on both sides to the ball again.

KD literally broke people's brains when he broke the league, and that's the reason he'll never be respected the way he could/should.

Now hold up.

I will always praise Durant for the strides he made defensively that season, but in no way was he their defensive anchor.

He was one of their defensive anchors. He and Draymond. Especially during the finals.

But you won't always praise him for the strides he made, because defense apparently doesn't exist when you're debating he vs Curry.

It does, it just isn’t enough to tip the balance in his favor.

[picc]

Now hold up.

I will always praise Durant for the strides he made defensively that season, but in no way was he their defensive anchor.

He was one of their defensive anchors. He and Draymond. Especially during the finals.

But you won't always praise him for the strides he made, because defense apparently doesn't exist when you're debating he vs Curry.

It does, it just isn’t enough to tip the balance in his favor.

Of course not.

[michaelm]

LeBron’s fans definitely have the right to criticize it because the two situations aren’t comparable. But if you wanted to compare the two, you could at least start by not making **** up.

w XC
My apologies. So AD wasn‘t managed by LeBron’s player agency, wasn’t contracted to the Pelicans for at least 2 more years, was either a journeyman player or didn’t play for the Lakers when they won the title in 2019, and the Heatles made a snap decision to get together after the 2010 season ended, with the Heat quite coincidentally having cleared enough cap space to sign Chris Bosh and LeBron.

The AD part you're spot on about (even though it's still not comparable to what GS did with Durant). But it's common knowledge at this point that LeBron did everything in his power to try to get people to come to Cleveland first. Going to Miami was a last resort and wasn't his original intention.

I had some problem with “The Decision” TV thing at the time, but not now having discovered that it generated money for charity and allowing for LeBron being quite young at the time, but no problems with LeBron forming the Heatles, the Cavs were a terrible organisation who were never going to get their act together sufficiently to give him a shot at success, and he and Bosh were Free Agents. Imo there wasn’t the marked difference from KD’s move that some like to posit, particularly given KD was cut no slack for being beaten by the Heatles with his homegrown team of 22 and 23 year olds. Like LeBron he had given OKC more than a good college try, and I don’t see why he was obliged to keep losing next to Westbrook as Russell played back then. People like to talk of things LeBron didn’t fo like joining up with the Celtics big 3, which it probably was not possible to do given the salary cap and which it wouldn’t have been in his interests to do given they were fairly old and the Celtics title was pretty much the last hurrah for two of them. Particularly after the AD to the Lakers move I see no evidence that LeBron imposes any limits on what he will do himself superteam-wise.

[Iwasawitness]

w XC
My apologies. So AD wasn‘t managed by LeBron’s player agency, wasn’t contracted to the Pelicans for at least 2 more years, was either a journeyman player or didn’t play for the Lakers when they won the title in 2019, and the Heatles made a snap decision to get together after the 2010 season ended, with the Heat quite coincidentally having cleared enough cap space to sign Chris Bosh and LeBron.

The AD part you're spot on about (even though it's still not comparable to what GS did with Durant). But it's common knowledge at this point that LeBron did everything in his power to try to get people to come to Cleveland first. Going to Miami was a last resort and wasn't his original intention.

I had some problem with “The Decision” TV thing at the time, but not now having discovered that it generated money for charity and allowing for LeBron being quite young at the time, but no problems with LeBron forming the Heatles, the Cavs were a terrible organisation who were never going to get their act together sufficiently to give him a shot at success, and he and Bosh were Free Agents. I don’t think there was the marked difference from KD’s move that some like to posit, particularly given KD was cut no slack for being beaten by the Heatles with his homegrown team of 22 and 23 year olds. Like LeBron he had given OKC more than a good college try, and I don’t see why he was obliged to keep losing next to Westbrook as he was then. People like to talk of things LeBron didn’t go like joining up with the Celtics big 3, which it probably was not possible to do given the salary cap and which it wouldn’t have been in his interests to do given they were fairly old and the Celtics title was pretty much the last hurrah for two of them. Particularly after the AD to the Lakers move I see no evidence that LeBron imposes any limits on what he will do himself superteam wise.

Sorry but “what if’s” don’t apply when it comes to something like this. It doesn’t really matter if LeBron couldn’t go to Boston… the fact is, he didn’t do it, and he probably wouldn’t have if he had the opportunity. While I definitely agree LeBron has inserted his influence in more times than necessary, the simple fact of the matter is… Miami wasn’t his first choice. This isn’t up for debate.

[michaelm]

The AD part you're spot on about (even though it's still not comparable to what GS did with Durant). But it's common knowledge at this point that LeBron did everything in his power to try to get people to come to Cleveland first. Going to Miami was a last resort and wasn't his original intention.

I had some problem with “The Decision” TV thing at the time, but not now having discovered that it generated money for charity and allowing for LeBron being quite young at the time, but no problems with LeBron forming the Heatles, the Cavs were a terrible organisation who were never going to get their act together sufficiently to give him a shot at success, and he and Bosh were Free Agents. I don’t think there was the marked difference from KD’s move that some like to posit, particularly given KD was cut no slack for being beaten by the Heatles with his homegrown team of 22 and 23 year olds. Like LeBron he had given OKC more than a good college try, and I don’t see why he was obliged to keep losing next to Westbrook as he was then. People like to talk of things LeBron didn’t go like joining up with the Celtics big 3, which it probably was not possible to do given the salary cap and which it wouldn’t have been in his interests to do given they were fairly old and the Celtics title was pretty much the last hurrah for two of them. Particularly after the AD to the Lakers move I see no evidence that LeBron imposes any limits on what he will do himself superteam wise.

Sorry but “what if’s” don’t apply when it comes to something like this. It doesn’t really matter if LeBron couldn’t go to Boston… the fact is, he didn’t do it, and he probably wouldn’t have if he had the opportunity. While I definitely agree LeBron has inserted his influence in more times than necessary, the simple fact of the matter is… Miami wasn’t his first choice. This isn’t up for debate.

You may think it isn’t up for debate but that is you, and as with many things on the internet saying something repeatedly or vehemently doesn’t make it true/other than a matter of opinion.

Again, why pray tell do arcane rules apply to what KD is allowed to do particularly as a Free Agent while LeBron has done what he pleased 3 times to increase his chances of winning titles ?.

[balrog27]

Um... I dont know the numbers, but I remember watching basically every game of those finals where the warriors won and their lost vs the raptors, KD was clearly the best player on the warriors, not curry. The media at the time thought so, the posters on this forum agreed too lol.

[JustBuzzin]

KD can't even pick a good running mate.

He joins players who don't compliment him. Booker and Kyrie like cmon bruh you should have played with Jokic.