The Kevin Durant Conundrum...

[Everythingg]

So by "stack the odds in his favor", you meant, "Play on a squad that had at least some chance of winning the title, rather than one that had none."

You could make the same list of "top 5 this" or "top 5 that" for nearly every superstar that has ever played the game. If you're not playing with at least one top-5 player at some position, then either you have an extremely balanced roster with great coaching or your team isn't going to win. The years you listed were just 10 out of 20 in Bron's career, and you could reduce that down to around five if you only counted the years those stars finished the year healthy and in that top-5 position. He's also had the 2007 Finals, 2015 Finals, and 2018 Finals where he drug his team there without any top-5 shyt, but those apparently escaped your memory. Even the 2019 squad you claim "stunk it up" was in great position until Bron went down with the groin pull.

I meant every time Bron left a team he purposely went to another team that had another top 5 player at their position(if not 2)on the team. And I said that in a thread where person is complaining about a person not “anchoring” a team when Bron was doing the exact same thing KD did.

The former champions did not have this ability to dictate who they played with to this extent. And it’s great that Bron doing this empowered players to carve their own paths out instead of mostly leaving it to the front office. The problem comes when people try to discredit KD, because he did what Bron did but better..

Because Bosh and Love's games before Bron weren't good enough to win a playoff series, let alone a title. Of course they had to change. No one is ever winning a title off of Bosh or Love's offensive games or defensive games if they play the way they were pre-Bron.

More cap. He totally moved them out the paint and pretty much turned them into catch and shoot PFs.

And guess what happened in LA? AD, who hadn’t accomplished anything either before LA, came and didn’t have to change his game to fit. So your excuse about their lack of success ain’t cutting it.

Golden State didn't have to change as much because they won a fukking title before KD. Why would you fukk with that? But claiming they didn't change is completely disingenuous. They were MUCH more fluid before KD got there, their offense changed to fit KD and KD wasn't even shy about putting that out there.

Warriors' offense adjusting around Durant

After Kevin Durant's first scrimmages with his new Warriors squad, it's become apparent that Golden State will let Durant be his dominant self, even if it means reduced minutes for others.

www.espn.com

Kevin Durant rips into Warriors coach Steve Kerr's motion offense

Kevin Durant has spoken. After ditching the Warriors for the Nets in free agency with little-to-no reasoning, Durant opened up on everything from his messy Oklahoma City exit to his Achilles rehab to his Warriors tenure. That includes how he fit into Warriors coach Steve Kerr’s offense. Durant...

www.nbcsports.com

Steph Curry fires back after Kevin Durant criticizes Warriors offense

Kevin Durant has sent some mixed messages about what he wants in his basketball situation. He was the man in Oklahoma City, co-starring with Russell Westbrook in an offense heavily predicated on isolation basketball. In search of playing a more beautiful game, Durant left OKC in 2016 to join the...

www.nbcsports.com

No no no. How did Curry have to change his game? Of course when you bring in a top 5 scorer of all time your OFFENSIVE SCHEME will have to adjust. But how did Klay or Curry have to change their games to fit with KD?

Bosh and Love were practically turned into 3 and D PFs when playing with Bron while Curry and Klay still played to the same strengths they played to before KD when he came…

 

[Versa]

All those paragraphs could easily be summarized with "I can't deny his greatness. I just don't like how he moves."

 

[Everythingg]

This thread isn't about LeBron, but I'll play since Bron is certainly in your mind...

When LeBron went to Cleveland in 2014, Kyrie wasn't seen as a Top 5 point, he was viewed as one of the best young players in ball, and he was just 3 years into his career. He rounded into a Top 5 player at his position playing with Bron. He hasn't been to a Finals before or after Bron, now in his 12th season, he's played 9 years without Bron...

More cap. Kyrie didn’t have the resume to be called a top 5 player, but anyone who watched his game KNEW what he brought to the table. Bron knew that too. I’m not counting a guy going to a top 5 player (or 2) as anchoring if you’re not going to count KD going to GS and being their best player as anchoring. Can’t have it both ways

AD played 7 years before playing with Bron. He only made the playoffs twice. In his 4 years with LeBron he's struggled to stay healthy, and he's struggled to carry the squad when Bron has been hurt.
AD has always been viewed as a Top 5 "talent" but never materialized it to a definitive Top 5 player, the best AD years saw the peaks of Bron, KD, Steph, Kawhi, Giannis, and Harden. Yall OD'ing giving AD this definitive Top 5 status, and you're doing mental gymnastics to say a guy who never did anything in 7 years, quite a sample size, without Bron is the "anchor" for Bron's LA success...

Irrelevant. Anchoring is what Curry and Giannis did. What Kobe did after Shaq left. What MJ and Hakeem did. It ain’t running team to team with other top players to win then as soon as the going gets tough jumping to another team with a newer crop of top 5 player(s). And I’m just going by the logic of this thread.

Wade was a champion before LeBron abd the emotional anchor of the Heat, no argument from me there.

And this is all I need. So for two of his ships he wasn’t the anchor right? So that leaves maybe one in Cleveland that he was the anchor because there’s an argument to be made that AD was more valuable that year they won than Bron considering he was great on BOTH sides of the ball.

I already knew your intent with this thread which is why I brought up Bron to see if you’d keep the same energy. If KD going to GS and being the best player ain’t anchoring a team then how can you call Bron teaming up withy other great players as being an anchor?

 

[In The Zone '98]

Bron learn from Wade and the entire Heat organization how to better win...

Meh. Heat were not doing much before Bron got there.

'10 '09 '08 '07 they didn't win a playoff round.

Bron saved Wade/Bosh's careers.

 

[the elastic]

Everyone can't be a leader. Pippen isn't a leader but he's still did what he did for the Bulls. Kawhi isn't a leader but he still did what he did for the Spurs and Raptors.

Carrying a team with good play is NOT leadership.

Leadership is Chris Paul and Michael Jordan.

 

[Joe Sixpack]

@Everythingg in here shyt posting as usual

Dude is horrible

 

[Mindfield333]

I don’t want Devin Booker to win shyt lol. I don’t like that guy

 

[Everythingg]

@Everythingg in here shyt posting as usual

Let me translate for you guys that ain’t hip to this poster:

 

[Joe Sixpack]

Let me translate for you guys that ain’t hip to this poster:

You trash

It’s like all the shyt you say is some surface level 1st grade shyt

If you can’t see the difference between LeBron goin to the Heat and KD signing with the Warriors I don’t know what to tell you

 

[murksiderock]

More cap. Kyrie didn’t have the resume to be called a top 5 player, but anyone who watched his game KNEW what he brought to the table. Bron knew that too. I’m not counting a guy going to a top 5 player (or 2) as anchoring if you’re not going to count KD going to GS and being their best player as anchoring. Can’t have it both ways



Irrelevant. Anchoring is what Curry and Giannis did. What Kobe did after Shaq left. What MJ and Hakeem did. It ain’t running team to team with other top players to win then as soon as the going gets tough jumping to another team with a newer crop of top 5 player(s). And I’m just going by the logic of this thread.

And this is all I need. So for two of his ships he wasn’t the anchor right? So that leaves maybe one in Cleveland that he was the anchor because there’s an argument to be made that AD was more valuable that year they won than Bron considering he was great on BOTH sides of the ball.

I already knew your intent with this thread which is why I brought up Bron to see if you’d keep the same energy. If KD going to GS and being the best player ain’t anchoring a team then how can you call Bron teaming up withy other great players as being an anchor?

Bruh you all over the map, assigning stances about KD to me that I don't even have ...

Meh. Heat were not doing much before Bron got there.

'10 '09 '08 '07 they didn't win a playoff round.

Bron saved Wade/Bosh's careers.

Oh trust me bro, I'm the one poster here who's consistently pointed this out. The Heat were a franchise who won 4 years befire Bron got there----->they weren't a winning franchise. There's a distinction between those two statements that this biased ass board conveniently overlooks...

The partnership was mutually beneficial because top down Miami was a more competent organization from a leadership aspect, so it allowed for Bron to learn how to better win in a basketball setting...

But Miami was going nowhere fast without him, they got to hitch their wagon to the best player of all time who was winning at a higher clip than they were for 4 previous years. It benefitted them every bit as much. And Wade had two strong bounce back years but battled injuries those 4 years, and given his play style and how his deterioration began to take root late in Y2 Heatles, Wade's career is probably done by 2015 or 2016 if Bron never goes to Miami. He didn't have the body to withstand the grind much further...

And it's abundantly clear Miami was never winning another ring I'm the Wade era without LeBron. Wade is vastly overrated in my book, trust me I'm not this guy who thinks Bron needed Wade more than the reverse. The partnership benefitted everyone equally...

 

[Joe Sixpack]

Bruh you all over the map, assigning stances about KD to me that I don't even have ...



Oh trust me bro, I'm the one poster here who's consistently pointed this out. The Heat were a franchise who won 4 years befire Bron got there----->they weren't a winning franchise. There's a distinction between those two statements that this biased ass board conveniently overlooks...

The partnership was mutually beneficial because top down Miami was a more competent organization from a leadership aspect, so it allowed for Bron to learn how to better win in a basketball setting...

But Miami was going nowhere fast without him, they got to hitch their wagon to the best player of all time who was winning at a higher clip than they were for 4 previous years. It benefitted them every bit as much. And Wade had two strong bounce back years but battled injuries those 4 years, and given his play style and how his deterioration began to take root late in Y2 Heatles, Wade's career is probably done by 2015 or 2016 if Bron never goes to Miami. He didn't have the body to withstand the grind much further...

And it's abundantly clear Miami was never winning another ring I'm the Wade era without LeBron. Wade is vastly overrated in my book, trust me I'm not this guy who thinks Bron needed Wade more than the reverse. The partnership benefitted everyone equally...

Dawg he’s an idiot

 

[Everythingg]

Instead of slyly begging for a man’s attention to go back and forth about nothing, you could take a post of mine and give a response.

I ain’t with men acting out to get my attention though so this will be my last reply if you choose otherwise

 

[Joe Sixpack]

Instead of slyly begging for a man’s attention to go back and forth about nothing, you could take a post of mine and give a response.

I ain’t with men acting out to get my attention though so this will be my last reply if you choose otherwise

You trash I already addressed you

 

[Everythingg]

Bruh you all over the map, assigning stances about KD to me that I don't even have ...

I’m asking you to give me the difference of Bron jumping ship to go play with other top players and what KD did. You’ve been ducking ever since and when it comes to the excuses you gave, the math ain’t mathing.

Oh trust me bro, I'm the one poster here who's consistently pointed this out. The Heat were a franchise who won 4 years befire Bron got there----->they weren't a winning franchise. There's a distinction between those two statements that this biased ass board conveniently overlooks...

The partnership was mutually beneficial because top down Miami was a more competent organization from a leadership aspect, so it allowed for Bron to learn how to better win in a basketball setting...

But Miami was going nowhere fast without him, they got to hitch their wagon to the best player of all time who was winning at a higher clip than they were for 4 previous years. It benefitted them every bit as much. And Wade had two strong bounce back years but battled injuries those 4 years, and given his play style and how his deterioration began to take root late in Y2 Heatles, Wade's career is probably done by 2015 or 2016 if Bron never goes to Miami. He didn't have the body to withstand the grind much further...

And it's abundantly clear Miami was never winning another ring I'm the Wade era without LeBron. Wade is vastly overrated in my book, trust me I'm not this guy who thinks Bron needed Wade more than the reverse. The partnership benefitted everyone equally...

Miami needed someone to pair with Wade and they didn’t have that. So when you say “they weren’t going anywherel” it’s because they had no one to pair with him. The first time they had someone to put with him (Shaq) they won. After that who was his best sidekick? Michael Beasley? Jermaine O’Neal? I honestly don’t remember…

When it came to Miami, Bron went to a structured organization to play with a top 2 SG that was battle tested as the BEST player on a championship team. Yet you won’t answer how those two rings count for Bron when it comes to anchoring. Skip Cleveland even though playing with 2 top 5 players at the time isn’t necessarily anchoring. He then goes to LA, stinks it up, and gets a top 5 talent that is elite offensively AMD defensively. And who was just as important if not more during their run. So what rings are you counting Bron as anchoring?

The reason you’re ducking is because this thread is a slight at KD for Bron. That’s why you brought up the boardroom and KDs comments concerning chasing Bron.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

I meant every time Bron left a team he purposely went to another team that had another top 5 player at their position(if not 2)on the team.

It's hard to find a team without a top-5 player at a position. MOST teams fit this description, and the ones that don't generally suck ass. Is that really your entire argument?

The former champions did not have this ability to dictate who they played with to this extent.

And yet most of them player on better teams than Bron did. So you're not actually upset with the difficulty of his titles or the superiority of his teams, you're just upset that a Black man put it together rather than a White man.

And btw, lots of greats manipulated events to get superior squads, often more superior than Bron has done. And yet that never gets brought up.

More cap. He totally moved them out the paint and pretty much turned them into catch and shoot PFs.

I bet you couldn't even describe to me what Love or Bosh's games were before they joined Bron. Neither one lived in the paint.

The year before joining Bron, Kevin Love shot 25% of his shots at the rim. The year after he joined Bron, that dropped to 21%. That's the big deal to you? Love was a terrible scorer at the rim (just 60% for Minnesota) and a below-average post player. Then he got hurt his first year in Cleveland, lost weight, and came back even worse inside. NO ONE was winning a title by putting Love in the paint, Minnesota couldn't even win regular season games with that. What the hell do you think Love should have been doing in the paint for Cleveland?

Bosh shot 34% of his attempts at the rim for Toronto, the year he moved to Miami that dropped to 23% and then went back up to 30% the next three years. But again, he was just a 62% shooter at the rim for the Raptors. That's not great at all. He didn't play in the paint, he played more of a perimeter game and most of his inside scoring was drives or beating his man.

Bosh and Love both were about 49-50% eFG guys before they joined up with Bron. How the fukk are you going to win with efficiency that low? Bosh was able to raise that to 56% and 57% in his last two years with Bron, Love got to 55% by his last year with Bron, for both of them those are career highs by a mile. You need efficiency at that level to compete for a title.

No no no. How did Curry have to change his game? Of course when you bring in a top 5 scorer of all time your OFFENSIVE SCHEME will have to adjust. But how did Klay or Curry have to change their games to fit with KD?

The Warriors WERE their scheme, changing that IS changing their game. You're being flat ridiculous now.

Bosh and Love were practically turned into 3 and D PFs when playing with Bron while Curry and Klay still played to the same strengths they played to before KD when he came…

Complete ignorance.

Bosh averaged just 12 made threes his first three seasons with Bron. That's 12 threes the ENTIRE SEASON. Whereas after Bron left, he averaged 70 made threes/season.

Kevin Love's career highs in 3pt attempts were 2014 (6.6/game), 2019 (6.7/game), and 2020 (7.0/game). In-between during his 4 seasons with Bron, he averaged 5.2, 5.6, 5.7, and 6.5. So how the fukk ae you claiming that Bron is the one who turned him into a three-point shooter, when he was already doing more of it before Bron was ever in the picture?

And referring to Love as a defender?