Whats with the lack of durant ring jokes?

[lebron06]

no one really cares about betaDurant..

[LongLiveTheKing]

And his teams are stacked af.
Most stacked team of the last 3 years for sure.

[Mr. Incredible]

Because LeBron is much better. Period.

[Roundball_Rock]

No, he actually isn't. Durant was underwhelming in the playoffs, but all things considered Durant is a lot closer to Lebron than you're willing to admit. 2011 to 2013, I'd agree with you. But Durant this past season was definitely on Lebron's level. I still think Lebron is the better overall player right now, but there was a solid 2-3 month stretch in the winter where Durant was playing at a higher level than Lebron.

I agree. I just want to see Durant back it up before putting him level with LeBron. Remember when Howard was the second best player in the league in 2011 and there were legitimate discussions about whether one would trade LeBron for Howard straight up? Howard is still good, and actually has become underrated, but has been just another top 10 player since. I don't see this happening with Durant. As you and I noted in another thread, Durant is 25 so his peak almost certainly is yet to come. If he performs in 2015 like he did in 2014 I will put him level with LeBron. Right now I have LeBron in a tier by himself, Durant in a tier by himself and then guys like Paul, Westbrook, Griffin, Curry, a healthy Rose, and Carmelo in the next tier.

[LBJ 23]

hopefully people realized just how retarded they looked with lebron...criticizing a 25 year old whose best offensive teammate for his 7 years in the league was Mo Williams for not winning a ring

Yes it's absurd really. At one point Durant was playing with Harden, Westbrook and best shotblocker in the league Ibaka. Compared to that Lebron had Mo Wiliams and yet he was held to much higher standards at the same age. Empty stats, Lebron will never win a ring playing ''Lebron ball'',....those are all the things we were constantly hearing till 11' when he was playing for the Cavs. When he was bounced out of the playoffs year after year the hate was on enormous level.

This year and last year people were saying that Durant was better than Lebron at the same age, but how come Lebon was held to like 10x times higher standards than Durant is held now, along with the fact that durant has a top 5 player by his side and one of the best defensive bigs in the league and Lebron had Mo Wiliams?

[Lebronxrings]

Yes it's absurd really. At one point Durant was playing with Harden, Westbrook and best shotblocker in the league Ibaka. Compared to that Lebron had Mo Wiliams and yet he was held to much higher standards at the same age. Empty stats, Lebron will never win a ring playing ''Lebron ball'',....those are all the things we were constantly hearing till 11' when he was playing for the Cavs. When he was bounced out of the playoffs year after year the hate was on enormous level.

This year and last year people were saying that Durant was better than Lebron at the same age, but how come Lebon was held to like 10x times higher standards than Durant is held now, along with the fact that durant has a top 5 player by his side now and one of the best defensive bigs in the league?

agreed with EVERYTHING you said. Durant can never let himself into the top 10 greatest players EVER no matter what. Failing to win a ring with a stacked team like that is worse then lebrons mediocre 2011 finals performance.

[NuggetsFan]

No, he actually isn't. Durant was underwhelming in the playoffs, but all things considered Durant is a lot closer to Lebron than you're willing to admit. 2011 to 2013, I'd agree with you. But Durant this past season was definitely on Lebron's level. I still think Lebron is the better overall player right now, but there was a solid 2-3 month stretch in the winter where Durant was playing at a higher level than Lebron.

This is true. Before Durant just felt like a player people would use and didn't actually expect to win rings and dethrone LeBron. Probably why nobody made a huge fuss about no rings.

Durant was close this year like you said. In the playoffs he slowed down abit atleast compared to his regular season form. I think if that happens next year you'll hear about it alot more, if he continues to be right there with LeBron.

[ILLsmak]

On the 60 win point, yeah OKC has reached 60 wins only once but they have consistently been an elite team and close to 60 wins or a 60 win pace:

2014: 59 wins
2013: 60 wins
2012: 58 win pace over a full season
2011: 55 wins

OKC's ranking in wins (for the league, not just the West)

2014: 2nd
2013: 2nd
2012: 3rd
2011: 7th

So they have had the second best record in consecutive seasons and a top 3 record in three consecutive seasons.

Durant is the consensus second best player in the league and Paul is the most common choice for 3rd. Both play on loaded teams with arguably another top 5 player. Yet neither is criticized for being ringless--or not even making the 3rd round in Paul's case.

The fundamental fact is, despite all the hate LeBron gets, even his biggest haters recognize that LeBron is on another level than every other player in the league and thus is held to a much higher standard. Durant and Paul have done much less with much more and no one bats an eye. Meanwhile, LeBron takes teams deeper than they should go and is crucified for it.

Like I said before, that was all after heat big three. Had they not done that, there is no reason to think kd wouldn't have won a ring.

-Smak

[Roundball_Rock]

Like I said before, that was all after heat big three. Had they not done that, there is no reason to think kd wouldn't have won a ring.

-Smak

Are you sure? They lost in the West three times during those four years, although one was after Westbrook went down in the playoffs. Are you sure they would win in 2012, though? The Heat backdoor swept OKC; the Celtics took them to 7 games. That could have been due to match ups but BOS was far more competitive with MIA than OKC was.

[chazzy]

Are you sure? They lost in the West three times during those four years, although one was after Westbrook went down in the playoffs. Are you sure they would win in 2012, though? The Heat backdoor swept OKC; the Celtics took them to 7 games. That could have been due to match ups but BOS was far more competitive with MIA than OKC was.

Bosh was a non-factor in that ECF until G7 due to his injury

[Lebronxrings]

Are you sure? They lost in the West three times during those four years, although one was after Westbrook went down in the playoffs. Are you sure they would win in 2012, though? The Heat backdoor swept OKC; the Celtics took them to 7 games. That could have been due to match ups but BOS was far more competitive with MIA than OKC was.

brooks would outcoach rivers.

[rule1223]

simply put, lebron ruined the value of a ring, if durant wanted to, he'd just jump teams and get a ring. Back then if u couldnt win a ring, you werent good enough, now if u cant win a ring, its because u chose the the wrong team to play on.

[raprap]

Forget about durant, its all about westbrook.

[Lebronxrings]

simply put, lebron ruined the value of a ring, if durant wanted to, he'd just jump teams and get a ring. Back then if u couldnt win a ring, you werent good enough, now if u cant win a ring, its because u chose the the wrong team to play on.

no one in league history would have won with the supporting cast lebron had in cleveland. Hell, they may not even win with the one he had in miami.

[christian1923]

He doesn't have the "chosen one" tatted across his back