Can't stand it when people say Durant is at Dirk's level and will surpass him

[masonanddixon]

He's done nothing to indicate he's at Dirk's level and his resume isn't 5% of Dirk's.

Anyone who thinks he's in the same ballpark as Dirk doesn't know basketball and is a child.

[Naero]

Both have a regular-season MVP, a season in the all-exclusive 50-40-90 club, and several years of staggering production under their belts. What has Dirk accomplished at the same juncture of Kevin Durant's career (8th season) that the latter hasn't accomplished to create such a colossal gap again?

Obviously, Dirk's 2011 playoffs run—punctuated with his Finals MVP—has him locked into another tier legacy-wise for now, but Durant has the same ability to lead his team to a championship; it's just that the Oklahoma City MVP hasn't had the coaching and supporting cast needed to complement him and get over the hump, but that doesn't discount his individual impact.

Durant at least doesn't have any blemishes on his Finals legacy; in fact, he averaged 32 PPG on 54% field-goal percentage in his only Finals appearance to date and performed much better than most superstars have in their first respective appearances, whereas Dirk won despite shooting 41% in his only championship, which also 5 years after he shot roughly 40% in the 2006 NBA Finals as his team squandered a 2-0 lead—never going to cut it when your ancillary function is scoring.

There's no guarantee that Durant will ever collect the championship hardware needed to solidify the argument, but let's not overstate that deficit as if to controvert the notion that he doesn't have a breathing chance of eclipsing Dirk when he could only be one championship run—or even just another regular-season MVP or two—away from tying—if not surpassing—Dirk in the eyes of most scholars.

[Fallen Angel]

Through 9 seasons: http://bkref.com/tiny/MQ5ll

KD has 1 MVP.
Dirk has 1 MVP.

KD has 1 NBA Finals appearance.
Dirk has 1 NBA Finals appearance.

KD has 6 All-Star Game appearances (not counting 2016).
Dirk has 6 All-Star Game appearances (counting 2007).

KD led the league in scoring 4 times.
Dirk led the league in scoring 0 times.

KD made the All-NBA First Team 5 times.
Dirk made the All-NBA First Team 3 times (counting 2007).

Durant pretty much missed last season so he would have probably added one more All-NBA First Team award to his collection.

[masonanddixon]

[QUOTE=Naero]Both have a regular-season MVP, a season in the all-exclusive 50-40-90 club, and several years of staggering production under their belts. What has Dirk accomplished at the same juncture of Kevin Durant's career (8th season) that the latter hasn't accomplished to create such a colossal gap again?

Obviously, Dirk's 2011 playoffs run

[masonanddixon]

Through 9 seasons: http://bkref.com/tiny/MQ5ll

KD has 1 MVP.
Dirk has 1 MVP.

KD has 1 NBA Finals appearance.
Dirk has 1 NBA Finals appearance.

KD has 6 All-Star Game appearances (not counting 2016).
Dirk has 6 All-Star Game appearances (counting 2007).

KD led the league in scoring 4 times.
Dirk led the league in scoring 0 times.

KD made the All-NBA First Team 5 times.
Dirk made the All-NBA First Team 3 times (counting 2007).

Durant pretty much missed last season so he would have probably added one more All-NBA First Team award to his collection.

One guy went up against Duncan, Shaq, Kobe, and Garnett all in their primes.

The other guy goes up against all perimeter guys.

[Fallen Angel]

I hope OP isn't a sheep and thinks that just because the Mavs' record is better than the Thunder that it submits Dirk's legacy and he'll never be passed by Durant.

I don't know where this came from, but Durant has the higher potential for greatness. There's no question about it.

[masonanddixon]

I hope OP isn't a sheep and thinks that just because the Mavs' record is better than the Thunder that it submits Dirk's legacy and he'll never be passed by Durant.

I don't know where this came from, but Durant has the higher potential for greatness. There's no question about it.

The day Durant takes a starting 5 of past their primes Calderon, Monta, Dalembert, and Marion to the playoffs out West is the day he enters the conversation as being in Dirk's level.

[Fallen Angel]

Durant has been going head to head with Prime Lebron since 2012. Dirk never went head to head and got the better end of a Top 10 player that played the same position of him, that includes Duncan.

[FPJ]

Feel the same way when people claim Dirk is at Wade's level.

[theaussieguy]

Through 9 seasons: http://bkref.com/tiny/MQ5ll

KD has 1 MVP.
Dirk has 1 MVP.

KD has 1 NBA Finals appearance.
Dirk has 1 NBA Finals appearance.

KD has 6 All-Star Game appearances (not counting 2016).
Dirk has 6 All-Star Game appearances (counting 2007).

KD led the league in scoring 4 times.
Dirk led the league in scoring 0 times.

KD made the All-NBA First Team 5 times.
Dirk made the All-NBA First Team 3 times (counting 2007).

Durant pretty much missed last season so he would have probably added one more All-NBA First Team award to his collection.

Dirk has 2 NBA Final appearances actually

[Fallen Angel]

Do you not remember when led the Oklahoma City Thunder without Westbrook to 59 wins while winning the MVP award?

Derek Fisher | Reggie Jackson
Thabo Sefolosha | Jeremy Lamb
Kevin Durant
Serge Ibaka | Nick Collison
Kendrick Perkins | Steven Adams

Fifty-nine wins.
59 wins.
71.9% winning percentage

[masonanddixon]

Durant has been going head to head with Prime Lebron since 2012. Dirk never went head to head and got the better end of a Top 10 player that played the same position of him, that includes Duncan.

Hahaha what. He's outplayed Duncan and Garnett several times, as well as Webber, Bosh, Aldridge, Gasol, and a bunch of other elite power fowards all in their prime.

And the one time Dirk faced Lebron---what happened?

[AnaheimLakers24]

Durcant couldnt beat lebabydick and dirk did.

[Naero]

One guy went up against Duncan, Shaq, Kobe, and Garnett all in their primes.

The other guy goes up against all perimeter guys.

You only mentioned the outliers that he played against to distort the notion that Dirk had a disadvantage which "stymied his production from being even greater" than Duran'ts; that's impossible, as few meetings against them will skew his production that much over the course of an 82-game season. Plus, how did Kobe hinder Dirk's production when he wasn't even routinely guarded by him?

In Dirk's most title-favorited year of his career in 2007, do you want to remind me who was guarding him in the first-round series he shot 38.3% in? When a ripe Durant underperformed in a losing effort, he was at least guarded by defensive specialists in Tony Allen and Kawhi Leonard.

If you want to downplay Dirk's supporting cast to downplay his accomplishments, please explicate to me how Dirk's team managed to win the 2011 NBA Finals despite him shooting 41%; I'm confused, because Durant shot 54% in the 2012 finals compared to a collective 42% by his supposedly stacked supporting cast, and he was still somehow unable to lead them to a win.

[Fallen Angel]

Dirk has 2 NBA Final appearances actually

not through his first 9 seasons

why would someone compare a 17 year career to one that hasn't even hit a decade.