OKC once had 3 of the arguably top 5 players in the league! I know the what if situation has been talked about to death, but with Westbrook and Harden rising to new levels - the latter at least - and Durant still a great player it's just crazy they were once on the same team and another obvious question arises: who is the best player right now? After seeing how great Harden & WB are without Durant - who was unmistakably deemed the best of the trio for years - has either one surpassed Durant? It's great for the league that Harden and Westbrook are leaders of their own teams now so they could show their talent and with Durant riding coattails and bailing on OKC I'm really not sure I'd put him as #1 or even #2. For me, it's hard to argue against Harden right now. He's solely leading a team as the 3rd seed with ridiculous numbers, beaten great teams in the process and only in the 1st year of the D'Antoni era. The only problem I see is two part: His lack of fire / leadership combined with defense. I'm just not seeing leadership and fire enough and when the chips are down, I'm not confident he can lead us because he points fingers and does not really seem to be as quick as he used to be (seems!). With regards to defense, especially transition defense and getting back after TOs is a problem. It is tied with what fire to win and showing by example. At times he seems content with losing a few here and there and does not really rally the troops to get the win home. It's not necessarily who he is and I might be wrong, but this is how I view it. Westbrook is basically doing the same things, just without Durant which as lead to him having the ball more, more freedom to shoot or brick shots. Thus, putting up better numbers. He's still the fierce competitor, finding ways to win by sheer force of will, hustling for rebounds and just all-out energy for most of the game. The biggest knock on him is still his selfishness, recklessness like he just doesn't think straight and relies on his god given talent more than anything and how they are not winning as much as the Rockets. People keep saying the Rockets' roster is better but is it? Oladipo is no slouch, arguably same level as Gordon. A defensive minded SF who is quicker yet worse shooter than Ariza. Kanter can get rebounds and has a nice game and just a good role player like Anderson who are both not great defenders and excel in a few areas. Adams is better than any of our centers, though we make it up by having a great output by Nene and Harrell lately as well. Sabonis is a great young guy, Dekker as well so it's pretty much the same. Even with the triple-double stats, the Rockets have an elite offense and the Thunder are just mediocre and I don't think Westbrook is any better at passing, scoring, rebounding than Harden. Harden is the better offensive player, more versatile and has more moves whereas WB is better on defense probably but not too much so Id' say Harden beats out Westbrook. Than we have Harden vs. Durant. It's tough, because of the the team Durant joined, but it's hard to argue against the numbers and the record they are having. Durant is having his best year and I'm sure next to WB it was sometimes tough for Durant. However, while Durant has been MVP and has lead at times, it was Durant who had a couple of bad series and WB was - at least looked - the better of the two and cared way more about winning. Durant going to the team who beat them after being up 3-1 and basically give up, makes me me doubt his ability to lead his own team. The counterargument is of course that Durant has been the #1 option most games for the Warrios. Still, not being the clear alpha dog to me is crucial in deciding who's the better of the three and better player in general. Therefore, right now I'd say Harden is the best player of the three. It's crazy to say because Durant is just someone in my mind who's been amazing the last few years and neck-and-neck with Lebron, but this was probably due to high scoring numbers, having a great alpha dog like Westbrook next to him and figuring he was actually the alpha dog while he wasn't. I'd probably still choose Durant to start my franchise with, or even Westbrook because both can play better defense, more god given talent and rely less on the referees (arguably). In the end though, given my criteria and how the Rockets rely so much on this guy to do everything, I give Harden the nod. I tried to be as objective as a Rockets fan could, but I understand of course that I'm biased. I hope this thread leads to a good discussion though and you guys can point out things that makes me re-think my vote or see things from a different perspective.
Durant is the best of the three but he still has his flaws. LeBron is the most complete player if you want to compare each of the three's flaws.
I'd still go with the big, as long as Durant is finally over his foot issues. All three have a good case though.
Harden - cerebral Westbrook - fierce Durant - talent I'd say Durant has the best ability, but doesn't seem like he was interested in taking on the burden of competition.
It's very hard, near impossible, to not rank KD #1 right now. Yes, he's on a VERY VERY VERY stacked team. But his performance, on both ends of the court, is insane. As the #1 guy on a non-stacked team, KD would be putting up 35+ ppg. The one thing both Westbrook and Harden have on him are the PG like skills. It's hard to envision him ever being the guy that also puts 8,9, 10+ apg... which is why his career high there is 5.5 per game and why Harden already has more assists this year than KD has ever racked up in a season. But he makes up for that by not turning the ball over as much, and being a better defender. The big elephant in the room here of course is how they all do under pressure. I do not trust KD under pressure. Westbrook has no shot of catapulting to #1, even if he maintains that triple double average, because his team overall isn't going to get there... and sure, he doesn't have the GSW's talent... but even with Westbrook's gaudy numbers, OKC isn't overachieving. They're on track for what people thought they'd be. Harden can catapult to #1 because he is the engine of a team that is meaningfully overachieving thus far. Unfortunately, without one major addition, I don't think the Rockets will get past the Warriors in the playoffs. But, if they do meet and Harden puts up insane playoff numbers, while the GSW wins with "run of the mill" KD performances (run of the mill as in still good, but not insane), that gap will be pretty close.
Harden: most skilled player of the 3 imo. Durant : basketball talent at its purest form. 7 footer who can dribble and pull up over anyone. But no competitive fire, joins 73 win team, will eventually meltdown again when it counts. Westbrook: 1 man freak show, least overall skill of the 3(though still more than 99% of the league). Possibly the most athletically gifted player ever. Soo id put them in this order: 1a harden 1b durant 1d westbrook (yeah i know i left c out, it is intentional)
Durant is the best. Defensively he's on a completely different level to Westbrook and Harden which makes it pretty easy to pick.
Durant.... BUT that's comparing him to Harden and Westbrook. KD has been 2nd best player for a while... but probably the worst "2nd Best Player" of all-time. If Harden/Russell were 2nd... bury that record.
