This is some Bulllll Shiiiiit. Their age doesn’t matter. You only bring it up to try and support your agenda or maybe you just have a terrible memory. Let’s go over some facts. In 2011 OKC went to the WCF. That 2012 OKC that went to the Finals finished 2nd in the West. Durant and WB were considered superstars already by then regardless of their age. It wasn’t day 1 either. That was year 5 for Durant and 4 for WB. The only one that was ‘emerging’ was Harden. Kevin Durant finished 2nd place in MVP voting. WB was 12th. That OKC team swept the defending champions in the First round. They easily got past a Kobe/Gasol duo that won the championship in 2010 and they showed experience, poise and everything you want to see from a Championship level team when they came back to win 4 in a row after going down 0-2 against the Spurs. That OKC team was definitely good enough to win a Championship.
Durant was all NBA first team and All Star MVP. Westbrook was All Star for the second straight year. Harden was 6th Man of the year. Ibaka was all defensive first team. All in that same year they went to the finals. Not many teams could boast that kind of talent. They ran into LeBron's super team and did not win. But yeah, I'd say they were the third most stacked team in the past decade behind Golden State and Miami.
How do those awards make them the 3rd most stacked team of all time? Lulz have you seen Clippers last year: Clippers 2019-2020: 1. Kawhi Leonard -2 time Finals MVP, All NBA 1st team, perennial all star (KD ALL STAR MVP lulz) 2. Paul George - All NBA 1st Team, All NBA Defensive 1st team, NBA Steals leader, 6 time All star (vs WB just 2x All star, really?) 3. Montrez Harrell - 2020 6th man of the year 4. Sweet lou - 3x 6th man of the year (2016-2019) (Harden 1x 6th man double lulz) 5. Patrick Beverly - All NBA defensive 2nd team (2020), All NBA defensive 1st team (2017) (Ibaka is better, but thats why OKC chose him over Harden) Clippers alone have more accolades than the OKC team that went to the Finals, and forget Finals Clippers didnt even make WCF they lost in the 2nd round. Not many teams have oKC accolades but they arent exactly among the strongest teams ever assembled either. I can easily think of Detroit Pistons champ, Celtics Champ and Spurs champ teams as having more and better awardees. They only look stacked cuz you look back and see 3 future MVPs on one team. At the time though they were impressive for their age but nowhere near as stacked as you make it out to be. Think of 23 yr old Steph, Klay and Draymond without Iggy and Bogut...those are the OKC Thunder that went to the Finals, and thats the difference when your best player is KD vs when your best player is Steph Curry. Bucks 2019-2020: 1. Giannis Perennial All star, perennial All NBA first team, NBA defensive player of the year 2020, 2019-2020 MVP (vs KD ALL STAR MVP) 2. Khris Middleton 2x All star 3. Bledsoe - All NBA defensive 1st team (2019), All NBA defensive 2nd team (2020) 4. Brook Lopez - 2013 NBA All Star, All NBA defensive 2nd team (2020) I found 2 teams more stacked than OKC just last year and they didnt even make the Finals. Btw All Star MVP means ****, its like an award for 1 game where players dont play seriously.
You're going to lose this argument. 2020 LAC had an all-star who was 2nd team all-nba (Leonard), the 6MOTY (Harrell), and an all-defensive 2nd team (Beverley). 2012 OKC had an all-star who was 1st team all-nba (Durant), an all-star who was 2nd team all-nba (Westbrook), an all-defensive 1st team (Ibaka), and the 6MOTY (Harden). 2012 OKC was clearly more stacked than 2020 LAC.
Paul George is a nobody now? Just shut up man just continue arguing why Draymond and Klay arent all star caliber players. All you know how to do argue technicalities like it means something. Imagine reducing Kawhi Leonard to just (All star who was 2nd team All NBA) like the dude wasnt the most sought after FA and wasnt the just Finals MVP. You cant expect to have honest conversations with other when you lie to even yourself. Just pathetic.
all I know is I would take Curry over Harden any day! Hell at this point I'll take his brother Seth. Trade harden to the cavs and let him suffer.
Paul George wasn't an all-star last year. If we're talking about 2020 specifically, why do we care what he brought to the table in years prior to 2020? And who cares if Kawhi was the most sought after FA? How does that impact his 2020 production? It doesn't. At all. It's very easy to have honest conversations with me. The trick is to know what you're talking about. That's why technicalities are important. Because when you say moronic things like "Rookie 2013 Draymond Green was all-star caliber because he averaged 3 ppg, 3 rpg, 1 apg, and 13 mpg", you sound ignorant. And instead of owning your mistake and learning from it, you double down on your ignorance. You talk about "honest" conversations and "lies". Answer me this. Between the two of us, who has consistently provided accurate stats/years? And who seems to be guessing on a lot of his arguments?
Lots of teams are good enough to win a championship doesnt mean they are the 3rd best team in NBA history or extremely stacked. Lets assume you are right, KD and WB are superstars regardless of age and Harden is an emerging talent. How's that OKC team diff from Nuggets? Nuggets have an MVP candidate in Jokic and an emerged superstar pg in Murray. They also have a blossoming talent in MPJ. That team showed poise and went back from 1-3 two times all the way to WCF. I doubt anybody calls the Nuggets a super stacked team last year. Again you are just projecting their future MVP selves into the young team back in 2013. If Jokic, Murray and MPJ all win MVP in the future Iland Bolbol becomes an all star I bet people say there were stacked as well.
Why are you talking about years specifically like it means something? Arent you the one who keeps insisting Steph Curry is the GOAT shooter? By that logic that a player is only as good as 1 year then Curry who is shooting 30% for 2020 season is one of the worst shooters ever right? He wasnt even an all star last year so he is just an overpaid role player. Imagine paying a non all star 30% shooter 40M lmao what a piece of trash and waste of space. I dont wanna hear you even talk about Harden and Curry in the same sentence one is an all star the other isnt. As for my conversation with Easy if you have the littlest bit of reading comp you'll realize I never said it was only for 2020 and not 2019 and previously. We were talking about power levels of the teams and just because a person didnt win get voted in an all star game for the current year doesnt mean he isnt an all star caliber talent already. Thats why you are dishonest you know Kawhi is better than a random 2nd All NBA member but you act like he isnt. He was even the defending Finals MVP but no according to you he is just a 2nd All NBA team lulz. Lou Will and Harrel have 4 of the last 6th man teams but since only 1 dude can win 6th man according to you Lou Will is a nobody now therefore 1x 6man Harden is better than 3x 6th man Lou Will and 1x 6th man Harrell. Is that what you really think? Thats why you are lying to yourself and talking to you is a waste of time. None of the titles impact his 2020 production so why does that matter? All star for example is a popularity vote, none of these impact his actual production so whats the point of saying that? OTH Kawhi being the most sought after FA and being Finals MVP is an indication of his playing ability. He is seen as a better player in 2020 season than KD back in 2013. How is that honest when you say KD is better and how I'm wrong? Can you say that with a straight face? Kawhi who just defeated GSW, previous DPOY, previous Finals MVP and was the most sought after FA is worse than 23 yr old KD who was just all Star MVP? Like I said all you know is technicalities. I'm done with you go suck off Curry's dingdong man thats why you jumping all these hoops Skip Bayless style. Im not trying to be a lawyer here, fix my glasses and go "Actually blah blah blah". People dont reset just because the year changes. Paul George wasnt an all star in 2020 so what? West has so many talent thats why he didnt get in, it doesnt mean he isnt an all star caliber player or get treated like he isnt one. If he was back in the East he'd be an all star again is the conference you play in and not your actual talent the mark of an all star? Only someone with no common sense or an agenda tries on argue on technicalities like that. If you wanna waste your time lawyering it up then find somebody else to argue with I aint got no time to waste on you.
You literally specified the 2019-2020 season. You also said "last year" which means the 2019-2020 season. Forgive me for reading what you actually wrote instead of what you meant to write. Further, Easy pointed out the achievements for the OKC players only for the year 2012. Therefore, unless you wanted to create a strawman argument, your counterpoint would provide the same kind of argument (strength of team through individual players for a specific year). Ok, but you still lose the argument because an all-star caliber player is inferior to an all-star who was 2nd team all-nba. 2012 KD was all-nba 1st team and 2nd in MVP voting.
The Nuggets weren’t stacked like the OKC team team but they were very talented and deep as well. Their series against the Lakers was a lot closer than the final 4-1 outcome suggested. That AD buzzer beater 3 to win game 2 was a series changer. Anyways let’s be real here Jokic and Murray are not on KD’s level and they never will be and you know it. At least I hope you do. Jokic finished 9th in MVP voting btw. KD was runner up to LeBron. A better comparison for that OKC team and what they accomplished would be the 1995 Orlando Magic. They had a similar regular season and playoff run. Similar to KD finishing MVP runner up Shaq was runner up in 1995. So the Magic were led by a couple of 23 year old Superstars and favored to win a Championship. They didn’t win not because of youth or ‘inexperience’ like you suggested. They lost cause we were better. Just like how Miami beat OKC because they were better.
Sure KD is better than Jokic but Murray is better than WB back then esp in the playoffs so it evens out. Youth and inexperience is part of the reason why OKC lost to Miami. Its similar to how Miami lost to Dallas the year before. Bron, Dwade and Bosh were inexperienced playing together so they lost to a less talented but more cohesive Dallas team. The next year they got experience now so they beat down everyone including OKC. OKC is better than Miami cuz they had 3 future MVPs and Miami had 1. Its just that were a bunch of 23 yr olds and first time reached the Finals so they got manhandled by more experienced Miami team. They werent MVPs yet when they fought they were just future MVPs. You just said Penny and Shaq were favored to win a championship but then the Rox won cuz they were better? Dont be like Wekko and talk both sides outta your mouth, if Penny and Shaq were the favored ones then they are stronger team. Why is the better team not favored to win the series? The reality is Magic are the better team but too young and inexperienced so they lost to veteran and b2b champion Rockets. Whens the last a time a bunch of 23 yr olds won the championship? Not the definitive proof but Odds Makers favored OKC over Miami. Bleacher report also said the same thing. OKC was seen as the "better" team. So your blanket statement just isnt true. https://www.google.com/amp/s/syndic...city-thunder-are-clear-cut-favorites.amp.html 4-1 is close ok w/e. If that buzzer beater missednguess what series would be 3-2 so no, still not close as Denver would need 3 straight wins to win the series. A close series reaches game 7 not game 5. In fact game 5 series is called Gentleman's sweep so no that aint close.
A top 5 player should not need a superior cast. The better the player the LESS help they should need. This is not complex. Why do you think a top 5 player needs a stacked team to be competitive? Do you not realize this is a sport where one player can make a world of difference?
I don't think a top 5 player needs a stacked team to be competitive, but he needs more than a weak supporting cast. That's why I asked you to name the western conference teams with better supporting casts. Once you list them out, you'll realize exactly how weak the GSW supporting cast is.
2012 Westbrook was an all-star who made the all-nba 2nd team. Has Murray even made an all-star team yet?
