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held my tongue till the end of the series, so i wouldn't have to bite it. Giannis cannot be the answer to this question until he develops a outside shot and learns how to shoot some free throws. I posted his free throw results from the raptors series. God ****. Lebron was never close to this bad at free throw, this is like shaq level bad. He was also, literally, the worst 3pt shooter in the league this year of anyone with as many attempts as him. Giannis shot 25% from three this year.
Maybe Durant has been shown to not be that valuable to the warriors this postseason. but as much as i hate him, He is still the answer to this question. he's 90% of what Giannis is athletically and the same height. Not as strong physically as Giannis, but he's an all time shooter.
The one this i know is until he develops something resembling a shot, Giannis isn't the answer to this question. Maybe he will, but till then, it's a shooters league.
Durant can shoot and hit free throws yet GS might be better without him. Giannis does so many things at an elite level I still think he's the best young player in the game.
That said. He hasn't passed the one test I mentioned before, does he have the makeup of a Bird, Magic, MJ, Russell or Lebron ? It looked like Leonard out willed him in The Conference Finals.
Also Giannis hit 73% of his free throws and had a 59.99% effective shooting percentage this season. It's easy to just look at the stat sheets of one series and draw conclusions, but the guy isn't a low percentage shooter. As far as athletes, Giannis is far superior to Durant.
I’ll add on to this by saying that age is a huge factor in all of this. Giannis is 24. KD is 30. MJ and LeBron both didn’t win there first title until they were 27. He will continue to develop, he will continue to adjust to playoff basketball, and his shot percentages will improve.
Barring injury, Giannis should hit his peak 3 or so years from now and maintain it for 6 or 7 years. In that same time, KD will be nearing the end of his.
Good post mantis. I'll say again though, Giannis has a 59% effective shooting rate, for the 2018/2019 season. Durant has a 57% effective shooting rate. Giannis does drive to the basket more, but is that a negative ? The kid needs shooters on the court with him to keep defenses from collapsing inside, but he's very good at the drive and dish option.
I think this Toronto team is better overall than any of LeBrons Cavalier teams. Those Cavs teams really didn't offer up very much resistance to Golden State defensively as their roster was littered with guys with defensive limitations so Toronto represents far more of a 2 way threat to the Warriors than James Cavs ever did IMO and that includes the Cavs title team in 2015/16 that somewhat miraculously toppled the Warriors.
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Of course Cleveland did beat GS Once. I agree this Toronto roster works very well together and has more and better role players though. That goes back to just how big of an impact LeBron has on a team. No other player has come close to transforming teams the way he has, and he's done it repeatiedly.
No question to date LeBron is the best to ever lace 'em up. Well, he and K.A.J. that is.
Bill Russell is my pick as all time best, but LeBron is on a very short list of candidates.
This 1 probably won't go over well with some but I would take peak Kawi Leonard over peak Kobe. The difference. Efficiency. Kawi is a guy with 50/40/90 potential every year through out the remainder of his career on volume and clutch scoring and is a peerless perimeter defender, whereas Kobe was a low efficiency LOUD Gunner who holds the record for most missed shots in a career that spanned 20 years with 1....1 League MVP..... in 20 years. Should NEVER, EVER B in the Goat conversation headed by KAJ and LBJ respectively. He's more realistically in the conversation with the Paul Pierce's, Dirk Nowitzkis, Dwayne Wade's, Dominique Wilkinses, George Gervings, James Harden and all the rest that are outside of that Holy Basketball Trinity of KAJ, LBJ and of course SOME would say Jordan.
On Kobe- I would encourage you to look at years 2005-7 when Nash won MVP twice and Dirk another. Compare those years to Kobe; rhetorical question but do you think the legal trouble Kobe was in had something to do with the league not honoring him as the MVP? It was around this time where the best player on the best team started to be the narrative. However, MJ won mvp on a team with a losing record.
In short, Kobe should have at least 4 MVPs. He’s the second best SG in history and Kawhi hasn’t done nearly enough yet to surpass him. Kobe was also an elite defender, 12 times he made the all NBA team for his defense.
Even if you don’t respect the man, you gotta respect his game.
His inefficient gunning combined with his aloof personality r ruinous to team chemistry which is why Shaq had to go as Kobe " I wanna b, I wanna b like Mike" Bryant was WAY preoccupied with his Michael Jordan FANTASIES to focus on what was best for the "TEAM" which would've obviously included retaining Shaq who at the time had AT LEAST 2-3 peak years left but Kobe opted for a lesser team so that he could get all the shine and people actually praise this guy as a guy that loves winning so much and would cut your heart out to win. Huh? 🤔🤔🤔
He was also very condescending and rude to his lesser known teammates which is an example of his negative effect on team chemistry.
Shaq ate his way out of town, and the only reason he lost weight is because he felt disrespected that the Lakers bailed on him. He was on cruise control the entire season then wanted to be the man come playoffs. Don’t put that all on Kobe.
OK. Kobe didn’t appear to be a good dude, or a guy you’d grab a brew with. Shaq is/was an egotistical child as well. Shaq’s relationships didn’t end well with Penny, Kobe, Wade, and Nash. When a player got more shine than Shaq, it was a problem. Shaq got bored with winning, showed up fat and out of shape 03-04 and Lakers consequently lost to a Pistons team they should’ve beat in 5.
Shaq is arguably the most dominant player of all time but he owns a few slices of the blame pie too.
He also failed to elevate his lesser known teammates the way that LeBron has done throughout the ENTIRETY of his career as Steve Nash sent him packing in THE 1ST ROUND!!! TWICE!!! 😂😂😂😂
Yeah Lebron > Kobe. Kobe > Kawhi.
Kobe's legal troubles had nothing to do with him winning only 1 MVP in 20 years of trying to copy cat Jordan. He just wasn't the dominant player that people try to say he was. Sure he averaged 35 pts per game 1 season. Anyone care to guess how that season ended as far as TEAM accomplishments. Did the man ever shoot over 46 pct from the field for a season in 20 years of imitating MJ? I doubt it. I doubt it because he wasn't interested in efficiency, he was most interested in being Michael Jordan. The problem with that? It had already been done so Kobe came off as a wannabe which is a real turnoff to people that respected and respects MJs legacy.
MeR3htd. I think Kobe just happened to be similar to MJ. Kobe actually worked very hard
To master Olajuwan's low post moves. They worked together a lot over several off seasons and Hakem has said many times he is the best student he worked with.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I took the OP to referring to players still playing in the NBA today…??? But, I’ll get my “of all time” guys out of the way first.
First – Magic Johnson. Yes, he had a multitude of talent around him, KAJ, Worthy, Scott, Kurt, McGhee, but Magic performed at a level that made each and every one of them even better.
Second – Mr. Jordan. And yes, that’s Master Jordan, not Mister. Pippen was great in his on regard, but would he really have been “that great” had the not played with Jordan so long? We can’t answer that definitively, but I really don’t think so.
Today’s Game – Westbrook. And I’m not even a Westbrook fan! I really DID NOT like him when he and Durant played together at OKC. I think Westbrook’s refusal to share the ball (selfish play) hurt the Thunder. BUT – This guy has turned his game around. Only the second player ever to average a triple double for a full season – and he did it THREE times, just barely missing a fourth 4 years ago. Not one of my all time favorite players, but he would be a HUGE difference maker for several teams. Likely would never happen, but can you imagine him being part of what the Pelicans will have in the next few years?
I don't know. People r starting to question Russ man. He hasn't gotten out of the first round of the playoffs since KD left even with him having Paul George for 2 of those 3 first round exits. He's averaged a triple double for 3 years in a row but is he even a top 10 player anymore? Oh man and that BRICKING. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂