Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now?

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who do you rank higher all time?

Poll ended at Fri Jul 22, 2022 1:14 pm

Giannis
56
35%
KD
104
65%
 
Total votes: 160

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SecondTake
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Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now? 

Post#1 » by SecondTake » Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:14 pm

Giannis
2 x MVP
1 x DPOY
1 x championship (high value)
1 x FMVP

KD
1 x MVP
2 x championship (lower value)
2 x FMVP (lower value)

Personally I think Giannis resume is more impressive now. His one ring I believe is higher value than Kd's two - the best way to illustrate why is ask yourself if replacing KD with current Giannis on those GSW teams still results in two rings? I think the answer is it most certainly does.

Who do you rank higher all time right now?


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Re: Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now? 

Post#2 » by Optms » Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:19 pm

KD for his longevity wins easily. His rings are meaningless but Giannis going through Trae Young and Devin freaking Booker isn't exactly a crowning achievement. Another 2 years as an MVP level player and Giannis gets the nod for me.
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Re: Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now? 

Post#3 » by SecondTake » Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:22 pm

Optms wrote:KD for his longevity wins easily. His rings are meaningless but Giannis going through Trae Young and Devin freaking Booker isn't exactly a crowning achievement. Another 2 years as an MVP level player and Giannis gets the nod for me.
Giannis literally went through KD too though. Yes Kyrie and Harden were injured, but the bucks don't have anyone like them so that simply evened the series, boiling it down to KD vs Giannis. Good old school basketball.

I admit they didn't go through the toughest road but Giannis had an all time run, and the road they did go through is a lot more impressive than what KD ever went though on GSW. Bucks aren't a superteam so they won fairly even series

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Re: Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now? 

Post#4 » by SUPERVILLAIN » Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:23 pm

Sorry but this is silly. This one is easily KD.
Young Stapler wrote:Completely off topic but SUPERVILLAIN got a crazy post/And1 ratio O_O

Just an observation. Carry on :usa:

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Re: Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now? 

Post#5 » by SecondTake » Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:26 pm

SUPERVILLAIN wrote:Sorry but this is silly. This one is easily KD.
How though? Giannis has more hardware. Dpoy, an mvp and a high value ring as a solo act in a small market.

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Re: Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now? 

Post#6 » by ANTETOKOUNBROS » Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:29 pm

I respect Giannis' accomplishments more than KD even if KD is still the better offensive closer/shooter--this is the only thing he has on Giannis now though, IMO. Everything else is now perception and reputational arguments for KD and people still getting used to the idea that Giannis' has officially surpassed him in every other important facet of the game.
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Re: Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now? 

Post#7 » by Patches Perry » Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:32 pm

Giannis at his current pace will eclipse KD in terms of career resume in 3-5 years, but KD still has the better resume today. I think Giannis is the slightly better player right now, but Durant has been a top 5 player for 10 years. Giannis only about 3-4 years. That is reflective on their career resumes.

Just to add some points in favor of KD:
Durant 24k career points vs. Giannis 12k career points
Durant 6 All-NBA 1st team appearances vs. Giannis 3 All-NBA 1st team appearances

This is the same thing I said against the Kawhi hype a couple years ago - you don't get to shortcut your way onto all-time lists. You need to put in the work in both the regular season and the playoffs for a long time. Durant has been playing at a high level for a long time. Giannis has been playing at a high level for less than half that time. He's 26, so he has time, but he must continue to do the work.
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Re: Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now? 

Post#8 » by SUPERVILLAIN » Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:33 pm

SecondTake wrote:
SUPERVILLAIN wrote:Sorry but this is silly. This one is easily KD.
How though? Giannis has more hardware. Dpoy, an mvp and a high value ring as a solo act in a small market.

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"High value ring"

That term instantly makes this whole discussion silly. That's a super, duper subjective argument.

And you say it's a "high value ring" like nobody was injured during this playoffs. Let me remind you and everyone, here's the list of injured stars.

Read on Twitter
?s=21

WOW HIGH VALUE RING!
Young Stapler wrote:Completely off topic but SUPERVILLAIN got a crazy post/And1 ratio O_O

Just an observation. Carry on :usa:

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Re: Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now? 

Post#9 » by ANTETOKOUNBROS » Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:34 pm

SUPERVILLAIN wrote:
SecondTake wrote:
SUPERVILLAIN wrote:Sorry but this is silly. This one is easily KD.
How though? Giannis has more hardware. Dpoy, an mvp and a high value ring as a solo act in a small market.

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"High value ring"

That term immediately makes this whole discussion silly. That's a super, duper subjective argument.

And you say it's a "high value ring" like nobody was injured during this playoffs. Let me remind you the list of injured stars.

Read on Twitter
?s=21

WOW HIGH VALUE RING!


You're forgetting and taking for granted one injury. Giannis'

Giannis destroyed his knee 3 weeks ago and put in the greatest closing performance in NBA finals history when everyone including Giannis' thought he was done for the playoffs. If you think that is subjective, go and look at how badly that injury looked; borderline gruesome.
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Re: Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now? 

Post#10 » by Winsome Gerbil » Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:36 pm

No no -- this all time stuff is all too early for Giannis. He's 26. Right now he's only a half career guy. You don't get to go hop over legendary tier players and be called a Top 20 all time guy for a good start.

With longevity this would be a good thread, assuming Giannis stays healthy. Come back in 5-6 years and start it again. :)
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Re: Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now? 

Post#11 » by Winsome Gerbil » Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:38 pm

ANTETOKOUNBROS wrote:
SUPERVILLAIN wrote:
SecondTake wrote:How though? Giannis has more hardware. Dpoy, an mvp and a high value ring as a solo act in a small market.

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"High value ring"

That term immediately makes this whole discussion silly. That's a super, duper subjective argument.

And you say it's a "high value ring" like nobody was injured during this playoffs. Let me remind you the list of injured stars.

Read on Twitter
?s=21

WOW HIGH VALUE RING!


You're forgetting and taking for granted one injury.

Giannis destroyed his knee 3 weeks ago and put in the greatest closing performance in NBA finals history when everyone including Giannis' thought he was done for the playoffs. If you think that is subjective, go and look at how badly that injury looked; borderline gruesome.


Come on now -- he obviously did NOT destroy his knee. That was the incredibly lucky break. He certainly looked like he might have, but he dodged a huge bullet there. A bullet which has taken down so many major stars in recent years.

The funny thing is I think the whole injuries in the playoffs angle doesn't really have much to say about Giannis. If people had been healthy, its entirely possible Giannis' TEAM would have lost. But Giannis himself was incredibly dominant in these playoffs -- to the tune of 30.2pts 12.8reb 5.1ast a game. Even accounting for today's inflated stats, that's an all time playoff statline, and whether his TEAM was good enough to other TEAMS shouldn't have much to say about either inflating or deflating those numbers.

Giannis' problem is that he's just getting started on a greatness run and has less than half the numbers of most of these guys people keep throwing him up against.
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Re: Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now? 

Post#12 » by iamworthy » Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:47 pm

I voted Durant. He's been in the conversation for best player for a while. It just so happens that the guy standing in his was is LeBron James.
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Re: Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now? 

Post#13 » by ANTETOKOUNBROS » Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:49 pm

Patches Perry wrote:Giannis at his current pace will eclipse KD in terms of career resume in 3-5 years, but KD still has the better resume today. I think Giannis is the slightly better player right now, but Durant has been a top 5 player for 10 years. Giannis only about 3-4 years. That is reflective on their career resumes.

Just to add some points in favor of KD:
Durant 24k career points vs. Giannis 12k career points
Durant 6 All-NBA 1st team appearances vs. Giannis 3 All-NBA 1st team appearances

This is the same thing I said against the Kawhi hype a couple years ago - you don't get to shortcut your way onto all-time lists. You need to put in the work in both the regular season and the playoffs for a long time. Durant has been playing at a high level for a long time. Giannis has been playing at a high level for less than half that time. He's 26, so he has time, but he must continue to do the work.


You do if you join a 73-9 team that eliminated you the season before apparently. So much cringe still for me. Still never looked at him the same.
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Re: Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now? 

Post#14 » by Harry Garris » Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:51 pm

SecondTake wrote:
SUPERVILLAIN wrote:Sorry but this is silly. This one is easily KD.
How though? Giannis has more hardware. Dpoy, an mvp and a high value ring as a solo act in a small market.

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KD objectively has more hardware. I get that a lot of you want to believe that KD's championships don't count because he joined a great team, but they do. If we go down this path of comparing titles and only the "really difficult" ones count as a championship we'd get to the point where only guys like Dirk in 2011 have a championship and no other title in NBA history has ever been determined... That seems a bit extreme.
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Re: Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now? 

Post#15 » by PistolPeteJR » Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:53 pm

I don't want to hear about ATG rankings for players who haven't even been playing for 10 years yet, personally.
The only exception to that is Bill Walton.
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Re: Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now? 

Post#16 » by Pachinko_ » Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:54 pm

I mean, KD has 6 more years in the league, Giannis is basically just entering his prime about next year. And because he's a total lifestyle maniac who lives in the gym, it will probably be a long ass prime.
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Re: Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now? 

Post#17 » by Patches Perry » Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:54 pm

ANTETOKOUNBROS wrote:
Patches Perry wrote:Giannis at his current pace will eclipse KD in terms of career resume in 3-5 years, but KD still has the better resume today. I think Giannis is the slightly better player right now, but Durant has been a top 5 player for 10 years. Giannis only about 3-4 years. That is reflective on their career resumes.

Just to add some points in favor of KD:
Durant 24k career points vs. Giannis 12k career points
Durant 6 All-NBA 1st team appearances vs. Giannis 3 All-NBA 1st team appearances

This is the same thing I said against the Kawhi hype a couple years ago - you don't get to shortcut your way onto all-time lists. You need to put in the work in both the regular season and the playoffs for a long time. Durant has been playing at a high level for a long time. Giannis has been playing at a high level for less than half that time. He's 26, so he has time, but he must continue to do the work.


You do if you join a 73-9 team that eliminated you the season before apparently. So much cringe still for me. Still never looked at him the same.


A good number of people do hold that against Durant, but even disregarding those years, he still has a powerful career resume. Giannis at 26 is far more accomplished than KD at 26, but Giannis has to keep working to climb the ranks.
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Re: Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now? 

Post#18 » by ANTETOKOUNBROS » Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:58 pm

Harry Garris wrote:
SecondTake wrote:
SUPERVILLAIN wrote:Sorry but this is silly. This one is easily KD.
How though? Giannis has more hardware. Dpoy, an mvp and a high value ring as a solo act in a small market.

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KD objectively has more hardware. I get that a lot of you want to believe that KD's championships don't count because he joined a great team, but they do. If we go down this path of comparing titles and only the "really difficult" ones count as a championship we'd get to the point where only guys like Dirk in 2011 have a championship and no other title in NBA history has ever been determined... That seems a bit extreme.


This was arguably the single best chip in the last 20 years -- the journey matters if we are talking legacies. Otherwise, we would be talking Kostas Antetokounmpo > Giannis before this year.
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Re: Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now? 

Post#19 » by Harry Garris » Thu Jul 22, 2021 2:01 pm

ANTETOKOUNBROS wrote:
Harry Garris wrote:
SecondTake wrote:How though? Giannis has more hardware. Dpoy, an mvp and a high value ring as a solo act in a small market.

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KD objectively has more hardware. I get that a lot of you want to believe that KD's championships don't count because he joined a great team, but they do. If we go down this path of comparing titles and only the "really difficult" ones count as a championship we'd get to the point where only guys like Dirk in 2011 have a championship and no other title in NBA history has ever been determined... That seems a bit extreme.


This was arguably the single best chip in the last 20 years -- the journey matters if we are talking legacies. Otherwise, we would be talking Kostas Antetokounmpo > Giannis before this year.


Yeah that's why you don't ignore context. Comparing Giannis's win this year to KD's championships on the Warriors isn't evidence on its own that Giannis is a better player than KD because he had less help winning. The competition you went up against matters and how Giannis and KD performed on the way to those championships matter as well.
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Re: Giannis vs KD: who do you rank higher all time now? 

Post#20 » by Patches Perry » Thu Jul 22, 2021 2:01 pm

PistolPeteJR wrote:I don't want to hear about ATG rankings for players who haven't even been playing for 10 years yet, personally.
The only exception to that is Bill Walton.


This is a great rule. 10 years or retired.

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