Durant is overrated.

[coastalmarker99]

Every time I see people talk about how KD is the best scorer ever or how he’s better than X player because of his playoff production and how his game is playoff-proof I lose a few brain cells.



KD benefited massively from the Warriors spacing and the fact that he did not draw the most defensive attention on the team, Steph Curry did. The numbers:

KD on OKC: 28.8/8/3.7 on 57.5%TS. ~46/33/85 splits. 0.177 WS/48, 4.8 BPM.

KD on GS: 29.6/7.1/4.5 on 64.2% TS. ~51/40/90 splits. 0.242 WS/48, 6.6 BPM.



Huge increases in every category, his 3 point % by 7%, and by even more if you only include playoff games he played with Steph, cause outside of those it was back below league average.


Yet all I hear is how KD is a one on one player who can shoot over anyone, cannot be guarded or stopped, and who was a proven elite playoff performer like LeBron before the Dubs.



Don’t get me wrong his OKC numbers are very impressive, but not on the level of the ridiculous stats on GS.




Not even close.



He was coming off the worst playoff campaign of his prime before joining GS, but after he joins them people see him play “better” (just like he predicted he would when talking to his agent about getting easy layups, open buckets.






And then group him with LeBron as a playoff performer and an undisputed top 2 guy in the league, when he has a situation more conducive to his success than any other superstar in the league.

What is KD’s ideal scenario? Play on a team where he can’t be doubled because he’s an iso savant, a team that moves the ball and will find him open on cuts.


A team where he isn’t the primary ball-handler but is allowed to bring it up if he wants, and a team where he doesn’t guard the other teams best player or anchor the defence.



He got that exact situation and excelled and somehow people instead of recognizing that just decided he just played better.



If you think he’s a very clearly improved player relative to his OKC days and that explains his bump in play since 2016 then ok you’re entitled to that.


But I think he’s a player for whom people are in love with the idea of him (a 7-foot guard with a wet shot and great length/athleticism) more than what he actually does.

[coastalmarker99]

Durant's move to the Warriors will be worth it in 20 years down the road when people rank him all-time.




The playoffs before he left he was getting called a choker.



Now he is known as one of the greatest Finals performers of alltime with 2 championships and 2 FMVP.

[coastalmarker99]

Warriors Record Without Kevin Durant vs. Without Stephen Curry




Courtesy of FS1’s Nick Wright



The Warriors are 35-8 when Curry plays and Durant doesn’t.



But on the other hand, the team has posted a 28-18 mark with Curry out of the lineup and Durant in – two records which equate to very different adjusted win totals.



The fact that the Warriors from 2017 to 2019 could lose a guy that's one of the best players in the NBA and still easily be the best team in the league is ridiculous

[SouBeachTalents]

Nothing you said was incorrect and I agree with virtually every point you made. But he validated himself to me with his performance in this years playoffs. No Kyrie and a extremely hobbled Harden and he drops a GOAT level 49/17/10 then 48 points in Game 7, literally an inch away from beating the future champs.

[coastalmarker99]

Here is a savage way to put it.



Steph's best 2-year run w/o KD: 67 wins, chip, 73 wins, finals appearance.



Meanwhile, w/o Steph



KD's only been to the finals once and he's had Westbrook, Ibaka Harden Kyrie two Coach of the Years and solid role players like Reggie Jackson, Collison, Steven Adams etc.


People have to got to understand that


Steph had a higher peak than Durant he has more MVPs and he was the first unanimous MVP ever.






He also beat KD's team from being down 3-1 while KD had another MVP on his team... not to mention the dubs were 35-8 when Steph played and KD didn't

[HBK_Kliq_2]

Warriors also played better without him in 2019 playoffs. They lost two games to a terrible clippers team, tied 2-2 with rockets. They were not exactly dominating in 2019 playoffs with Durant.

Once Durant left, they beat rockets 2-0 and then they swept the blazers.

Warriors already had the chemistry and they were young. So those titles have less value then kawhi's 2014 title. At least kawhi did it with a bunch of washed up guys. Durant did it with PEAK curry, so that's like kawhi winning a title with 2002 or 2003 Tim Duncan.

Once Durant wins a title with nets, he can say he won a real ring like giannis 2021 or kawhi 2019. Until then he's an overrated idiot with no self awareness that joining warriors didn't help his legacy.

[j3lademaster]

Nothing you said was incorrect and I agree with virtually every point you made. But he validated himself to me with his performance in this years playoffs. No Kyrie and a extremely hobbled Harden and he drops a GOAT level 49/17/10 then 48 points in Game 7, literally an inch away from beating the future champs.This.

Durant literally scored AT WILL. The only reason he didn't do that for an entire game is the fact that stamina exists. But contrary to popular belief, the Nets did move the ball with KD scoring within the flow of the game. His teammates just weren't hitting shots and whenever the Bucks tried to start a run, KD would go on a scoring spree and stop it before it happened... as the focal point against an elite defense in the Bucks. I strongly dislike KD for his move to the warriors, and i'll be the first to tell you Steph doesn't get enough credit for those rings; but this guy Kevin Durant easily has an alltime level scoring skillset. Simply as a scorer, he can be compared to anyone and it would be a discussion.

As far as overrated? If you say he's already top 10 then yeah overrated. But top 15 and knocking on the door? You'd be crazy to not have him at least 15th right?

[StrongLurk]

Durant is not overrated.

He is the second best player of the recent decade ONLY behind Lebron James who is a top 3-4 player of all time at worst. Durant is also the only player to play Lebron James to a complete standstill in the finals and he basically did it two finals in a row (not talking about winning/losing, but pure production and eye test).

If you think Durant is overrated, that is ONLY because he is compared to Lebron James.

Let's take Bird vs Durant for their playoff/finals primes. If you do a deep dive (i.e almost 150 playoff games to compare prime vs prime), you'd see Durant and Bird are virtually the same caliber of player for raw stats, advanced stats, winning, eye test, etc. Durant also fairs pretty well for a Kobe comparison but currently I have Kobe slightly ahead of Bird and Durant.

I can't stand people who put Curry over Durant in all time rankings based on a few year stretch (that also involves mostly regular season superiority).

At the end of the day, Durant could hold his own against Lebron at the highest level while Curry could not.

[Axe]

I can't stand people who put Curry over Durant in all time rankings based on a few year stretch (that also involves mostly regular season superiority).

At the end of the day, Durant could hold his own against Lebron at the highest level while Curry could not.
:applause::cheers:

Louder please.

[SATAN]

People started sheepishly saying Durant is the best scorer of all time all of a sudden. Yeah, guys. Totally more skilled scorer than Michael Jordan...Totally...No really.. :oldlol:

:facepalm

This coming a season after Kawit was being compared to Jordan. :biggums:

It's like we are living in The Twilight Zone.

The NBA and sport media must be desperate for new faces as they obviously won't be able to gossip and cling onto LeBron for relevance forever.

[Stephonit]

I can't stand people who put Curry over Durant in all time rankings based on a few year stretch (that also involves mostly regular season superiority).

At the end of the day, Durant could hold his own against Lebron at the highest level while Curry could not.

Both LeBron and KD could not hold their own against Curry. That's why you had pundits resorting to tortured language to try to explain things away and developing Curry allergy when it came to awards with explanations that contradicted themselves year after year.

Just one example among many: your claim of "mostly regular season superiority". Five straight finals coming from the Western Conference say no it wasn't just the regular season.

Curry was superior and it drives others crazy that the facts agree with that assessment.

[NBAGOAT]

i still prefer curry a little currently but get that's an unpopular opinion and kd pretty much could do no wrong these playoffs and had all the defensive attention on him. With the okc stats, you do have to account a little for him developing his game on his own too. He was pretty young in okc and guys dont peak skillwise til later.

[kawhileonard2]

Why did Lebron run away?

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?489748-When-KD-and-Lebron-go-head-to-head

[SATAN]

kd pretty much could do no wrong these playoffs

https://media.giphy.com/media/gXTndOLdVWMdW/giphy.gif?cid=790b761123f5d7e3984c4bc7f237c388371b f6fb05e77a10&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g

Ball hogging and awkwardly dribbling straight into good defense before throwing up an air ball at the buzzer and exiting the playoffs was a great strategy.

[GOBB]

He’s rated just fine to me


i still prefer curry a little currently but get that's an unpopular opinion and kd pretty much could do no wrong these playoffs and had all the defensive attention on him. With the okc stats, you do have to account a little for him developing his game on his own too. He was pretty young in okc and guys dont peak skillwise til later.

Pretty young? He was in his prime when he choked a 3-1 lead. Ijs

He really didn’t develop any new skill thereafter he was just in a better situation to win.

[ShawkFactory]

He’s rated just fine to me



Pretty young? He was in his prime when he choked a 3-1 lead. Ijs

He really didn’t develop any new skill thereafter he was just in a better situation to win.

Meh. He pretty clearly became better defensively.

[GOBB]

Meh. He pretty clearly became better defensively.

Guess he did. But was this more of a situational thing given the team he was on? Meaning in OKC he focused a lot more on offense whereas in GSW he acknowledged that you have Curry/Klay who can bring it offensively. So the offensive burden was lessened significantly so putting more EFFORT on defense was a focus as opposed to in Okc. I kind of feel that’s the case with him. Because he really didn’t work out with any defenders, watch tons of defensive tape and set out to be the best defender he could be. Just seems he applied more effort.

Buy that or nah? Not arguing he didn’t become better defensively. More so saying the reasoning behind it.

[ShawkFactory]

Guess he did. But was this more of a situational thing given the team he was on? Meaning in OKC he focused a lot more on offense whereas in GSW he acknowledged that you have Curry/Klay who can bring it offensively. So the offensive burden was lessened significantly so putting more EFFORT on defense was a focus as opposed to in Okc. I kind of feel that’s the case with him. Because he really didn’t work out with any defenders, watch tons of defensive tape and set out to be the best defender he could be. Just seems he applied more effort.

Buy that or nah? Not arguing he didn’t become better defensively. More so saying the reasoning behind it.

Wouldn't disagree.

It seems to me like he added some strength too though, which would also help. On offense too.

[outofstomach]

People started sheepishly saying Durant is the best scorer of all time all of a sudden. Yeah, guys. Totally more skilled scorer than Michael Jordan...Totally...No really.. :oldlol:

:facepalm

This coming a season after Kawit was being compared to Jordan. :biggums:

It's like we are living in The Twilight Zone.

The NBA and sport media must be desperate for new faces as they obviously won't be able to gossip and cling onto LeBron for relevance forever.i thought jordan played in a weak era and couldnt hang with any players today?

[StrongLurk]

Both LeBron and KD could not hold their own against Curry. That's why you had pundits resorting to tortured language to try to explain things away and developing Curry allergy when it came to awards with explanations that contradicted themselves year after year.

Just one example among many: your claim of "mostly regular season superiority". Five straight finals coming from the Western Conference say no it wasn't just the regular season.

Curry was superior and it drives others crazy that the facts agree with that assessment.

Lebron outplayed Curry in 15 and 16. KD was able to equal Lebron in 17/18 and KD was also the best player on the Warriors in the playoffs/finals in my opinion.

Obviously Steph is really close to KD and Lebron, as is any top 15 or so all time player...but Lebron's/KD's physical advantages carry them slightly further than what Curry can go at the highest levels.

I'm fully aware of Steph's capabilities on offense and how he might be the most unique offensive engine in three-point NBA history...but I slot him a tier below KD and of course Lebron. Just an FYI, you won't change my mind on this.

[k0kakw0rld]

Durant's move to the Warriors will be worth it in 20 years down the road when people rank him all-time.




The playoffs before he left he was getting called a choker.



Now he is known as one of the greatest Finals performers of alltime with 2 championships and 2 FMVP.
The weakest move ever made by a superstar ever.
No one respects his rings. That is why he created burner accounts to respond to the deserving hate he got from the FANS.

[warriorfan]

Warriors Record Without Kevin Durant vs. Without Stephen Curry




Courtesy of FS1’s Nick Wright



The Warriors are 35-8 when Curry plays and Durant doesn’t.



But on the other hand, the team has posted a 28-18 mark with Curry out of the lineup and Durant in – two records which equate to very different adjusted win totals.



The fact that the Warriors from 2017 to 2019 could lose a guy that's one of the best players in the NBA and still easily be the best team in the league is ridiculous

This

[warriorfan]

The weakest move ever made by a superstar ever.
No one respects his rings. That is why he created burner accounts to respond to the deserving hate he got from the FANS.

Bron joined up with the 2nd and 4th highest PER in the league.
https://i.postimg.cc/nLqCXQ0j/CA18-DA75-6-E92-4011-8519-61748777565-B.jpg

That is like if KD teamed up with Curry and Lebron
https://i.postimg.cc/K8HnPLP0/624-C2-F83-D06-A-493-B-93-D7-42-D83-E866476.jpg

[hold this L]

Durant is not overrated.

He is the second best player of the recent decade ONLY behind Lebron James who is a top 3-4 player of all time at worst. Durant is also the only player to play Lebron James to a complete standstill in the finals and he basically did it two finals in a row (not talking about winning/losing, but pure production and eye test).

If you think Durant is overrated, that is ONLY because he is compared to Lebron James.

Let's take Bird vs Durant for their playoff/finals primes. If you do a deep dive (i.e almost 150 playoff games to compare prime vs prime), you'd see Durant and Bird are virtually the same caliber of player for raw stats, advanced stats, winning, eye test, etc. Durant also fairs pretty well for a Kobe comparison but currently I have Kobe slightly ahead of Bird and Durant.

I can't stand people who put Curry over Durant in all time rankings based on a few year stretch (that also involves mostly regular season superiority).

At the end of the day, Durant could hold his own against Lebron at the highest level while Curry could not.

At the end of the day, Curry has more MVPs and championships and beat his ass when they played in the playoffs. But congrats to KD dominating vs Lebron when the entire Cavs defensive scheme was to stop Curry.

[hold this L]

Lebron outplayed Curry in 15 and 16. KD was able to equal Lebron in 17/18 and KD was also the best player on the Warriors in the playoffs/finals in my opinion.

Obviously Steph is really close to KD and Lebron, as is any top 15 or so all time player...but Lebron's/KD's physical advantages carry them slightly further than what Curry can go at the highest levels.

I'm fully aware of Steph's capabilities on offense and how he might be the most unique offensive engine in three-point NBA history...but I slot him a tier below KD and of course Lebron. Just an FYI, you won't change my mind on this.
Lebron did not outplay Curry in the 15 finals. He shot 47% TS, which is far and away one of the worst shooting % you can have as a #1 option, Steph shot 58%. Difference was Lebron was getting defended 1v1 while the other guy was getting doubled every time he stepped at the half court.

[SouBeachTalents]

hold this L, if you could do it over would you still want Durant to sign with the Warriors? Or would you rather they run it back with the 2016 team and replace him with 2-3 solid pieces instead?

[hold this L]

hold this L, if you could do it over would you still want Durant to sign with the Warriors? Or would you rather they run it back with the 2016 team and replace him with 2-3 solid pieces instead?

I'll always take what is guaranteed success. So I'll take KD over knowing that the team wins 2 rings over thinking they are likely to win 2. You never know what happens. Maybe they don't buy KD and Steph gets an MCL injury at the start of 17 PS, you just never know.

[ELITEpower23]

Here is a savage way to put it.



Steph's best 2-year run w/o KD: 67 wins, chip, 73 wins, finals appearance.



Meanwhile, w/o Steph



KD's only been to the finals once and he's had Westbrook, Ibaka Harden Kyrie two Coach of the Years and solid role players like Reggie Jackson, Collison, Steven Adams etc.


People have to got to understand that


Steph had a higher peak than Durant he has more MVPs and he was the first unanimous MVP ever.






He also beat KD's team from being down 3-1 while KD had another MVP on his team... not to mention the dubs were 35-8 when Steph played and KD didn't

2016

Nuff said

KD lost and then joined Curry

[Manny98]

If anything he's underrated

Greatest scorer ever

2-1 vs LeBron in the finals

Best player on the greatest team of all time (2017 Warriors)

GOAT Olympic player

Heavily underrated defender

Took down Kobe, the defending champs Mavs and Duncan's Spurs en route to the final at age 22 and outscored LeBron on the biggest stage

Destroyed a 67 win Spurs team with the highest SRS in NBA history and was one game away from beating the 73 win Warriors (no suspension needed) If not for Chokebrook

[ELITEpower23]

If anything he's underrated

Greatest scorer ever

2-1 vs LeBron in the finals

Best player on the greatest team of all time (2017 Warriors)

GOAT Olympic player

Heavily underrated defender

Took down Kobe, the defending champs Mavs and Duncan's Spurs en route to the final at age 22 and outscored LeBron on the biggest stage

Destroyed a 67 win Spurs team with the highest SRS in NBA history and was one game away from beating the 73 win Warriors (no suspension needed) If not for Chokebrook


2016 Nuff said

KD lost to and then joined Curry

[RRR3]

Imagine thinking KD didn’t choke in 2016 lmao. Manpee98 :facepalm

[hold this L]

If anything he's underrated

Greatest scorer ever

2-1 vs LeBron in the finals

Best player on the greatest team of all time (2017 Warriors)

GOAT Olympic player

Heavily underrated defender

Took down Kobe, the defending champs Mavs and Duncan's Spurs en route to the final at age 22 and outscored LeBron on the biggest stage

Destroyed a 67 win Spurs team with the highest SRS in NBA history and was one game away from beating the 73 win Warriors (no suspension needed) If not for Chokebrook

Shot 11/31 in game 6 at home while losing by 7 points = Chokebrook's fault

[Manny98]

Shot 11/31 in game 6 at home while losing by 7 points = Chokebrook's fault

Westbrook shot terribly in game 6 and 7 and his decision making down the stretch cost then the series

[hold this L]

Westbrook shot terribly in game 6 and 7 and his decision making down the stretch cost then the series
KD's pecker is far up your ass that there's really no discussing anything with you whenever his name is brought up

[CeltsGarlic]

I love that KD is still waking up braindead curry fans in the middle of the night

[SaintzFury13]

Westbrook shot terribly in game 6 and 7 and his decision making down the stretch cost then the series

Westbrook's physical play against Curry was the main reason the Thunder had a chance in that series. Also, Durant choked hard in game 6. Don't be an idiot.

[Manny98]

Westbrook's physical play against Curry was the main reason the Thunder had a chance in that series. Also, Durant choked hard in game 6. Don't be an idiot.
Who went 2-7 from the field and had 5 turnovers in the fourth quarter of game 6 and allowed Klay to go off?

It certainly wasn't KD

[RRR3]

KD's pecker is far up your ass that there's really no discussing anything with you whenever his name is brought up
:roll: :roll: :roll:

[SouBeachTalents]

Who went 2-7 from the field and had 5 turnovers in the fourth quarter of game 6 and allowed Klay to go off?

It certainly wasn't KD
Durant went 1-7 in the fourth quarter of Game 6

[RRR3]

Durant went 1-7 in the fourth quarter of Game 6
He didn’t watch he was a LeBron stan back then.

[Manny98]

Durant went 1-7 in the fourth quarter of Game 6

Westbrooks fault for taking him out of his rythym by trying to play hero ball

[j3lademaster]

Westbrook's physical play against Curry was the main reason the Thunder had a chance in that series. Also, Durant choked hard in game 6. Don't be an idiot.100% this.

I think both Durant and Westbrook "choked" in their own way. Westbrook was his usual 100 mph self tries to just lower his head and run his way through every obstacle and tried to do too much while Durant seemed like he was truly scared of the moment.

[SaintzFury13]

100% this.

I think both Durant and Westbrook "choked" in their own way. Westbrook was his usual 100 mph self tries to just lower his head and run his way through every obstacle and tried to do too much while Durant seemed like he was truly scared of the moment.

They both absolutely choked. But to blame it all on Westbrook? Absolute height of stupidity.

[Manny98]

Who went 2-7 from the field and had 5 turnovers in the fourth quarter of game 6 and allowed Klay to go off?

It certainly wasn't KD

SaintzFury why are you ducking this