wait. i voted no on the thread, because its just foolish to say yes. however, could kobe in his prime have taken lebron's crappy cavs team to the finals? i don't think so.
So your theory was that if Durant had been better and maybe gotten a call and had a better team helping him out he could possibly been better....maybe, maybe no- but it remains that that's not what occurred and it doesn't rebut the fact that LeBron was far and away the MVP of the series given Durants dropoff after game 1 given all the available evidence.
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http://blitzsportsnetwork.com/2012/06/top-50-nba-players-of-all-time/ The top 50 greatest NBA Players of all time( updated 6/28/2012) 1: Michael Jordan 2: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 3: Wilt Chamberlain 4: Magic Johnson 5: Larry Bird 6: Bill Russell 7: Hakeem Olajuwon 8: Oscar Robertson 9: Shaq O’Neal 10: Tim Duncan 11: Karl Malone 12: Moses Malone 13: LeBron James 14: Jerry West 15: Kobe Bryant 16: Charles Barkley 17: Bob Pettit 18: David Robinson 19: Kevin Garnett 20: Dr J Julius Erving 21: Dirk Nowitzki 22: George Mikan 23: Dwyane Wade 24: Bob Cousy 25: Elgin Baylor 26: John Havlicek 27: John Stockton 28: Clyde Drexler 29: Rick Barry 30: Isiah Thomas 31: Gary Payton 32: Patrick Ewing 33: Bob McAdoo 34: Walt Frazier 35: Neil Johnston 36: George Gervin 37: Elvin Hayes 38: Scottie Pippen 39: Dominique Wilkins 40: Dolph Schayes 41: Jerry Lucas 42: Steve Nash 43: Allen Iverson 44: Jason Kidd 45: Willis Reed 46: Tiny Archibald 47: Dave Cowens 48: Paul Arizin 49: Pistol Pete Maravich 50: Walt Bellamy
Kevin Martin is pretty efficient too. He has been way more efficient that kobe while scoring a lot of points. Therefore fore KM > Kobe.
Kevin Martin is not 54% from the field and 40% from behind the arc efficient. It is aslo much harder to be that efficient while putting up over 30ppg. Saying Lebron only scored one point less isn't giving Durant enough credit for scoring in such a ridiculously efficient way. Show me a season where Kevin Martin scored more points than Kobe and was more efficient doing it.
No that's not my theory. The Heat just ask Lebron to do more than Kevin Durant. Comparing all around stats is going to be a win for Lebron vs almost every player in NBA history. Kevin Durant's job is to be a great scorer and do it efficiently and he did that amazingly well. He did have two really bad rebounding games but I can say Lebron wasn't the normal distributing machine he is asked to be in the first 3 games of the series. My point is that the Heat didn't win because Lebron did his job much better than KD did. The Heat won because their supporting cast stepped up and made things a lot easier for their stars while the Thunder's didn't.
KM TS% is 60% which is better stat to judge scoring efficiency. For comparison Durants career average is 58% with a high of 61% while KM high is 62% with a career average of 60%. Durant is a great scorer, but he needs to be able to do other things as well.
They ask LeBron to do more because he is capable of doing more. They can't ask Durabt to play PF and bang with them or smaller centers. They can't ask him to check PGs like Rondo or Rose. They can't ask him to lead the team in boards. They can't ask him to be the primary playmaker. If he were capable of filling these roles they would let him. Instead they had to take him off of LeBron.
I think you are confusing other things with everything. KD is a good defender and keeps getting better. He is already a good rebounder and averaged 8 a game this year. He is not the best passer in the world but he isn't terrible. Kevin Martin on the other hand only scores and has never been one of the elite scorers in the game. Kevin Martin's highest scoring year is only better than Durant's rookie season.
There is probably no reason to ask Durant to lead his team in boards when he is already doing it. Lebron does deserve a lot of credit for shutting down Rose last year but he didn't shut down KD or Rondo in the playoffs this year so hopefully that's not what they were asking him to do. I will never argue that Lebron isn't one of the greatest all around players to ever play this game but luckily basketball is a team sport and you don't need one player to do everything to win and having one player do everything usually isn't enough. If the support casts in these series switch performances KD would have his first ring and Lebron wouldn't.
No they wouldn't. If they switched teams, then: - Westbrook played better than Wade - Harden would have played better because he didn't have to expend energy trying to hold a PF sized dude in the post - He wouldn't have been forced to play PF because OKC has a solid frontcourt, and he would have gotten three easy baskets Need I go on?
Then I guess I should have disregarded yours once you said the Heat just ask LeBron to do more, as if Durant is capable of doing as much as LeBron.
I don't see how you can keep arguing that LeBron has more impact in the games than KD. And the highlighted argument is one of the dumbest things anyone can ever say in regards to professional sports. It's simply a "what if" excuse, one that Kobe fans accuse LeBron fans of using. If we used that argument in LeBron's favor for 3 or4 of his CLE years, he'd have many rings. It doesn't make sense to say "LeBron only averages 30-10-5 (while playing All-NBA defense) because his coach and team asks him to". KD will likely never average 7 assists in a season because he is not the playmaker that LeBron is. He may reach 30-10 one day (also unlikely) and play high-level defense, but it's not the reality now. KD is a great player and may be the face of the NBA in 5 years, but he is not an all-around player and that's a big issue. Scoring alone is not dominant. Kevin Martin, as mentioned, could average 35 PPG on 50% and still lose games by 20 points because he is one-dimensional and lacks defense. It can be argued that if LeBron and KD switched teams, the Thunder would be the team with a ring. LeBron does not simply just score 30 points for his team.
I am a Kobe fan and I will gladly admit that Lebron's supporting casts in Cleveland is the biggest reason he didn't win a ring. He made the right decision to get out of there. Nobody wins on their own and if your supporting cast doesn't show up you lose. It's not a dumb argument because it's the truth. However, last year for the first time a Lebron James team lost in the playoffs because he didn't step up when lots of the players around him did. Comparing KD to Martin is ridiculous. KD led his team in rebounds this year averaging 8 a game. KD isn't a lock down defender yet but he is so much better than Martin ever was. Even KD's assists numbers are better than Martin's. Also, Kevin Martin could never average 35ppg or even 30 for that matter. I'd agree with that argument. I think Lebron fits much better on the Thunder than KD fits on the heat.
You should have. That was me trying to downplay Lebron's all around talent. I agree that KD can't do as many things as Lebron does but I also don't think I need my best player to do everything.
KD doesn't fit on the Heat because he can't do the things LBJ does: help them play defense and create plays. That's the whole point. LBJ can basically fit in every team in the league. I admit I've grown to be pro-LeBron since 2008 when Celtics and Lakers stacked on his earned-time to shine, but I also believe it's a shame people criticize LeBron (career averages of 27.6, 7, 6.9 on 48%) for a lack of championships (team accomplishments). FACT: 99.5% of NBA players would have had a career game with those numbers. At the risk of sounding like a LBJ fanboy, we are all witnesses. Dude is incredible. I think he'd put up even better numbers if he wasn't so concerned about getting assists and what others thought of him.
^ I messed up above. Some parts of my post is lost in my quoting of gmoney. Anyway, I don't believe LBJ has surpassed Kobe if he were to retire today, but I don't think many people voted on that basis. They voted assuming LBJ would play another 5 years of LBJ basketball, ring or no ring. Safe to say at least another MVP and maybe a DPOY, in which case I'd say he's above Kobe. Kobe has accomplished a lot. It's just hard to like him, moreso than LBJ. Kobe's arrogance is considered "competitive" while LBJ's is insecurity/idiotic. 1 more FMVP and no doubt LBJ has passed Kobe.
