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Kevin Durant Longhorn Legend


Patrick Bateman

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I've said repeatedly the last five years that a healthy KD is the best player in the game.  And I'm not the only one, quite a few talking heads have.   I'm not sure that's the case anymore.  Incredible scorer, but he doesn't control the flow of a game like Lebron.  Not really an all around guy.  Peak KD is arguably the most unstoppable guy ever.  I think healthy KD is still easily top 8, just not top 3 anymore.  

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Another data point for KD being on the Mount Rushmore:

Two basketball players have signed a lifetime deal with sneaker giant Nike: Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Now we can add a third—Phoenix Suns superstar and two-time NBA champ Kevin Durant has joined the club, according to NBA.com.

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4 hours ago, closetohumping said:

Not really an all around guy. 

I don't think he's the best player in the league but he's been very good to elite on D this playoffs. He's been better on D than O in this Nuggets series so far. 

Unlike peak LeBron he can't be the best player on both ends of the floor for 40+ minutes a night every game in the playoffs (anymore at least) - but outside of Curry and Jokic he's still consistently as good as anyone right now. 

Series ain't over - he may have some stuff in the bag still. 

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37 minutes ago, ztejas said:

I don't think he's the best player in the league but he's been very good to elite on D this playoffs. He's been better on D than O in this Nuggets series so far. 

Unlike peak LeBron he can't be the best player on both ends of the floor for 40+ minutes a night every game in the playoffs (anymore at least) - but outside of Curry and Jokic he's still consistently as good as anyone right now. 

Series ain't over - he may have some stuff in the bag still. 

I love Steph.  He impacts the game immeasurably.  Kind of a one way player though, so I'm not sure I can ever call him the greatest.  I'll take KD at his best over Steph. 

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On 9/14/2023 at 8:47 AM, LTtxfan said:

Love the old clips of KD at UT  🤘

 

Those shorts are just.....holy shit.

 

Always thought the baggy look was just bad strategy. Seems like you would want to minimize the chances of the ball brushing the fabric of your shorts as you dribble between your legs. But then again i was always shit at ball handling......

Edited by Pam Cummings
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This is the new KD thread. 

 

Durant passed Hakeem Olajuwon for 12th all time in NBA scoring tonight. 

Durant is of course already 7th all-time in NBA playoff scoring.

Durant hung 39 and 11 on the Lakers in LA on 13/26 shooting tonight despite missing his two best teammates in Booker and Beal.

 

He's 35 years old. 

 

By acclimation Durant is one of the 20 greatest players to ever touch a basketball. 

Durant has done more for Texas basketball than any other player in the history of the program.

Durant has arguably done more for Texas athletics than any other player in the history of the university. 

 

Give him his due. Players like Kevin Durant come along once in a lifetime. 

 

Hook 'em. 

 

texas-kevin-durant-2006-2k-sports-college-hoops-classic-february-19-2007-sports-illustrated-cover.thumb.jpg.19d0bf53f718073246e0b410555595c6.jpg

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7 hours ago, Vic Mackey said:

Durant absolutely has not done more for UT athletics than any other player in history. Not even close. Unless you mean something different than results while he played there.
 

My first thought was the $3mm basketball practice court or whatever it was he had built on campus. I'm sure he's done a lot as he's made a lot of money on investments (was an early investor in Coinbase when they had a pretty good IPO back in the day, I'd hope he sold at a high, etc.)

https://texassports.com/sports/2018/1/24/kevin-durant-basketball-center.aspx

Edited by BeardIP
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i’ve felt for along time now that if you switched KD and LeBron’s teams for their careers that it would be KD who is considered the GOAT of his generation, and that LD would have more titles and MVPs than LeBron. while LBJ might be the “greater” of the two, i’m not convinced that he’s actually better than KD. LeBron was a much better defender than KD for most of his career, but KD is by far the better shooter, from everywhere on the court, and especially in crunch time. you give LBJ nine years in the west with harden and westbrook and you give KD 10+ years in the east with d wade, bosh, allen, riley, spo, etc, and yeah- KD wins just as many titles as Bron did, and probably one more (2011).

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On 10/29/2023 at 12:18 PM, shadow_operative said:

i’ve felt for along time now that if you switched KD and LeBron’s teams for their careers that it would be KD who is considered the GOAT of his generation, and that LD would have more titles and MVPs than LeBron. while LBJ might be the “greater” of the two, i’m not convinced that he’s actually better than KD. LeBron was a much better defender than KD for most of his career, but KD is by far the better shooter, from everywhere on the court, and especially in crunch time. you give LBJ nine years in the west with harden and westbrook and you give KD 10+ years in the east with d wade, bosh, allen, riley, spo, etc, and yeah- KD wins just as many titles as Bron did, and probably one more (2011).

KD had a run from about 2014-2019 where anyone paying attention could see that he was the best player in the league.

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57 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

KD had a run from about 2014-2019 where anyone paying attention could see that he was the best player in the league.

Strong disagree. There's almost not a single metric during those years that would support that claim either.

Was KD arguably the best scorer in the league for that stretch? Highly debatable... these years were prime Steph years

Was KD the best rebounder? Passer? Defender? All-around player? No, no, no and no

Did KD have the smoothest shooting stroke of potentially anyone that's ever picked up a basketball? Likely so

As much as it hurts to say, take any team KD has been on, insert Lebron on the team instead, and that team's ceiling is higher. It may not be fashionable on this board to admit that, but we all know it's true. That's what happens when you're compared to either the 1A or 1B GOAT of your sport, and let's not pretend like anyone else in the modern NBA has come even close to Jordan or Lebron level of dominance.

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15 minutes ago, Chult86 said:

let's not pretend like anyone else in the modern NBA has come even close to Jordan or Lebron level of dominance.

for his entire career and to this day lebron sucks at shooting in the clutch. if i needed a jump shot to save my life and i could choose anyone from the last 20 years to shoot it he’d be outside my top 25 picks. if i needed two FTs he’d be outside my top 100.

and then there’s the fact that he owes two of his titles to ray allen and then draymond + kyrie respectively. also the fact that the east has never been worse than it was during lebron’s time there. lebron’s dominance is overblown. he’s had a lot of things go in his favor vs what LD was working with/against in their respective primes.

Edited by shadow_operative
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1 minute ago, shadow_operative said:

for his entire career and to this day lebron sucks at shooting in the clutch. if i needed a jump shot to save my life and i could choose anyone from the last 20 years to shoot it he’d be outside my top 20. and then there’s the fact that he owes two of his titles to ray allen and then draymond + kyrie respectively. lebron’s dominance is overblown. 

Sure, overblown. A guy who went to like 90% of the Finals over a decade, was a much better defender than KD during those years, and scored at a similar efficiency. I know we all have recency bias watching Lebron slow down the last few years, but to act like he wasn't far and away the best player in the league for a decade is disingenuous to the level of basketball that was being played.

 

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6 minutes ago, SilasCoade said:

Lebron's greatness is real, but his "dominance" is not. I've never seen Lebron single-handedly take over and win a game the way MJ did on the regular. I don't think KD takes that Cavs team to the finals, but he might have won more in Miami than Lebron did.

Boston game 6 and beyond destroyed any attempt at that narrative. Stop it.

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10 minutes ago, SilasCoade said:

Lebron's greatness is real, but his "dominance" is not. I've never seen Lebron single-handedly take over and win a game the way MJ did on the regular. I don't think KD takes that Cavs team to the finals, but he might have won more in Miami than Lebron did.

Jesus this level of revisionist history is uphauling for this forum. My typo is intended to match the level of thought that went into your post.

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On 10/29/2023 at 12:18 PM, shadow_operative said:

i’ve felt for along time now that if you switched KD and LeBron’s teams for their careers that it would be KD who is considered the GOAT of his generation, and that LD would have more titles and MVPs than LeBron. while LBJ might be the “greater” of the two, i’m not convinced that he’s actually better than KD. LeBron was a much better defender than KD for most of his career, but KD is by far the better shooter, from everywhere on the court, and especially in crunch time. you give LBJ nine years in the west with harden and westbrook and you give KD 10+ years in the east with d wade, bosh, allen, riley, spo, etc, and yeah- KD wins just as many titles as Bron did, and probably one more (2011).

I love KD, but this is cope.

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