Good stuff. I'm going to wait until the playoffs are over to decide. If KD hits another couple of game-winners this post-season, I might have to go the other way.
tmac was more talented in his prime even more so than kobe at that time BUT he lacked that extra drive to be better than he was (kobe and durant have it) it is apparent in their playoff records. i would take durant over tmac despite tmac being more talented.
the question was who is better not whose team is better unfortunately mcgrady never had a chance to play with as many talented teammates as durant has right now during his prime if durant can improve his playmaking and his post game i think he will be easily better than what mcgrady was in his prime but until then i would give the nod to tmac. though i would select durant first over mcgrady if i had to pick between the two because he seems to be the more humble of the two players and a gym rat.
Would Durant be doing that if you switched out Westbrook Harden Ibaka Perkins with Darrell Armstrong Troy Hudson/Gordan Giricek Pat Garrity End of the Line Horace Grant No one was winning with that cast. Not Kobe, not Duncan, not Olajuwon. No one.
Kevin Durant is on the path to greatness. But skill-set wise, Durant is a better scorer/defender/rebounder. McGrady is a better penetrator/playmaker. But sometimes when 2 guys have similar skills, it's about the mental makeup, but also the help of your teammates. Durant appears to be a mentally tougher player, but he also has a great team around him to allow him to grow into the player he is today. But we're watching a potentially top 15-20 player of all time in Durant, barring injuries right now.
Awful lot of people here suffer from short term or selective memory because this sounds alot like 16-17 year olds saying Kobe is the GOAT, better than MJ because they're too young to seen Michael play. In reality though, Tmac was better than Durant right now in his prime for a good 2-3 years at Orlando. At one point in time, Tmac was better than Kobe (for only 1 or 2 seasons), just a BEAST. Also, Durant right now has better teammates than Tmac ever had in his career with Westbrook and Harden. Their productions are comparable stat-wise, yet Sefolosha takes on the task of defending the opponents best perimeter player. I'll take the Orlando McGrady over 2012 Durant.
McGrady had the talent, but had no drive and quit on his team. Durant seems to be very driven. I would take Durant on My team, but Tmac had more talent. He just didn't have any desire.
This. Tmac had more talent, but Durant is a leader with a good personality and a drive to get better. I'd rather have Durant because he could take my team somewhere and wants to get better. Tmac was a helluva talented but lazy.
Easy with the words lazy.... Nobody can make it to the NBA being lazy even if he were Jesus of the bball world- talented. He had no motivation to become the best of the best after being at the top.
A prime McGrady is basically a more perimeter oriented version of a prime Lebron James. Score/rebound/playmaking/defense/blocks/steals. People are wowing at Lebron's game 4, but people don't remember that McGrady put up a 29 points, 16 assists, 5 boards performance in a LOSS to the Jazz b/c no one else stepped up. Even a 40/18/9 wouldn't result in a win for the Heat if Wade/UD didn't step up.
I'm picking Durant, not because of talent. Tracy was super talented. I'm picking the guy I know who can lead a team, a guy a team follows, a guy that a fanbase can be proud of. That's Kevin Durant. As for this thread? Another year, another inferiority complex thread about Tracy vs successful players. It is the second round guys, what do you expect TOFs to do? daydream.
McGrady couldn't function effectively without the ball in his hands. That means he can't possibly be better than Durant.
