This kid was born for basketball and nothing else. I am no longer a skeptic but a believer. I am not so sure Lebron is the best player in the league right now. If he is it would be for long, he'll have company. Durant basically took the torch from Kobe last night. Ron Artest couldn't guard him, Kobe couldn't guard him, I don't know who can. Great player and seemingly great kid. He's the real deal and if he continues, will one day push someone out of the top 50 greatest list. I am by no means a Durant worshiper (and not an real NBA fan), but I recognize game. He's a joy to watch.
If you had to pick one or the other to be the premier guy on your team, would you pick James or Durant? I'd go with Durant in a heartbeat. Today's game, and the Pacers series in general, may end up being a defining moment in LeBron's career. He will either rise or fold, and no matter how "good" his physical talent and skill set are, he'll never be considered among the greatest ever if he can't bring home at least a banner or two. Dude's been in the league 9 seasons, and he's sniffed one. Durant is awesome - I think he could put up a couple more boards and a couple more assists a game, if he wanted to do that. Statistically, he's fairly close to LeBron, except in assists. Durant, however, has already proven that he's a big shot maker. Can't teach that, and given that LeBron is in his 9th season and you can't fill one hand up with the big shots he's hit, he might go the rest of his career without developing any kind of clutch. Might say, with double entendre, that LeBron is "Mr. Automatic." As in, the guy has no clutch in him. How you figure the Trailblazers are feeling?
You think we could have used Durant on our 2006/07 team??? The kid was pretty much set to head to Storrs...
*Top 5 I'm not sure he's the best player in the NBA (yet), but for a lot of reasons (great teammate, humble, best clutch player, etc.) I'd take him over LeBron.
not only do i love durants game, but his attitude towards the game and the respect he shows makes me like him more along with him saying that he wants to stay put and win a title in okc
Durant vs. James both supremely talented...one has heart...one, not so much. Think Bron-Bron has the sack to make the "banners" comercial?
I don't think so. As I remember, it wasn't a clear cut decision. They were both seen as can't-miss prospects. Blazers went with Oden because of a team need.
I wont put him as the the top player yet but he is definetly in the discussion and very close to being the top dog in the NBA, if he can beat the Spurs in the WCF who know how to defend then thats a huge step for him.
Im not so sure how much Bynum would have helped us, he would be like having Drummond this past year, a talented, developing player, our team was already stacked, Durant on the other hand is another story.
While there was speculation that Durant could end up going #1 because of the absolutely spectacular freshman season that he put up combined with the fact that there had never been a prospect quite like him (being billed as a 6'11" SG), it was pretty clear that Oden would have been the choice by nearly every team in the league. Oden had been extremely hyped all throughout high school as the next "big thing", and he didn't do too badly once he finally played in college either, being the best player on an eventual national runner-up. But I can't stress how much Oden was hyped. There were a lot of people saying that he was the next Bill Russell, a center who would be great offensively, but really dominate the game on defense and on the boards. Being compared to Russell, who some claim is the best player of all-time, is some high praise. Combine that with the fact that in the draft you always draft "big" and Oden was the clear pick at the time. (As an aside, I strongly encourage everyone to read the Grantland article about Greg Oden. Very insightful and just a good read overall. Link Here) As for the LeBron v. Durant debate, give me LeBron. I know he's not labeled as a "winner" and it's an unpopular pick because the guy is so polarizing, but the difference for me is that LeBron is essentially a point guard. A massive, insanely athletic point guard who is great in every facet of the game. Durant is getting better and better as a passer and defender, but he's not even close to LeBron in those areas. LeBron is the most versatile defender in the league, and there was a strong case to be made that he could have been defensive player of the year this year. Defense is half of the game and LeBron stands pretty far ahead of Durant in that regard. Also, something that I feel is never brought up enough and is often lost in the LeBron "no heart, isn't a winner" discussion is that, as a 22 year old, he essentially single-handedly willed the Cavs to the NBA Finals. Durant is currently 23 and has a much, much better team around him than LeBron did in Cleveland. That much isn't very close. But not only did LeBron carry the team to the Finals in just his fourth season in the league, but he had some impossibly clutch performances down the stretch that season. Most notably, Game 5 of the ECF LeBron scored the Cavs' last 25 points, and 29 of their last 30 in a 2-point OT win. To this day, I don't recall seeing a more clutch performance (other than Kemba's heroics of course!). When it comes down to it, LeBron impacts the game in more ways than Durant. Durant may be seen as a better scorer, but through their first 5 years in the league, LeBron even averaged more points and at a more efficient rate. Durant is an absolute stud, and at his current pace is going to go down as one of the all-time greats. But despite his shortcomings, LeBron James is still the best player in basketball by a decently wide margin.
I still don't think that team would have been all that good, but to have Durant (and Bynum) associated with UConn would have been great for the program.
I don't know. I remember at the time that Oden already had a reputation for being injury prone. His legs were known to be different lengths. He looked like an old man. He walked like an old man. He had a hand injury at OSU. There was the Sam Bowie history. He also fouled out of a game in the NCAA tourni and was in foul trouble much of the time (almost 4 fouls a game average) - a big warning that proved to be prophetic. Fact is, it was not nearly the certainty you portray it as - the guy was not David Robinson or Ewing. He had issues
I think James could slow Durant down though. But with all Lebron 4th quarter problems its real close.
Hindsight is 20/20. There may have been warning signs, sure, but as I stated in my previous post, Oden had been hyped beyond belief for years. He wasn't a Robinson or Ewing, but he was hyped that way and you can't pass on that type of player. For the record, it's just purely speculation and my personal opinion, but had he not been consistently injured, I think Oden would be a top 3 center in the league. He'll be forever haunted for being picked ahead of Durant, but Oden really was a great prospect and looked good when he did play. It's just a sad story, really.
I would bet if you took a poll of 50 NBA execs and guys who write about the NBA for a living and asked them who the best player in the league is you'd get one answer, and it wouldn't be Kevin Durant. He's a great scorer, will probably break the NBA scoring record by a significant margin (so Kobe might as well stop trying), is really fun to watch, and seems like a great kid, but he's not the best player in the NBA.
This is an example of the issue I have with the LeBron stuff. This game and series can't all be laid at his feet. Not when you have a guy in Dwayne Wade who has pretty much cost them two games. Everyone talks about James missing free throws in game two but they seem to forget about the potential game winning layup that Wade tanked, or the 3 or 4 possessions down the stretch where he turned it over, showed terrible shot selection and just basically killed their offense. This isn't even to mention the debacle he put up in game three. The Heat could have played with 4 guys and would have been in better shape than they were with Wade pretty much sabotaging things. I believe that James has a lot to prove, but I also believe that Wade is standing in the way of that happening.
lebron hit a ton of big shots his first five years in the league, playoff and regular season. he hit more big shots in game 5 of the 2007 ECF than durants hit in his playoff career. people just never give him credit/forget about it when he hits them, its pathetic.
