Harden is a superstar in the sense he can lead a mediocre team to the playoffs, much like Kobe did, and Durant can. Yes Durant is better than Harden, but in terms of team effect it's not that large. Lebron or a healthy Dwight on the other hand are transformative to the point where they can lead mediocre teams deep into the playoffs.
Wade had Shaq, Walker, Williams, Haslem, Posey, Mourning, Payton, Crawford, Mauer, and Dick. Not sure about Russell.
did you not see how he single handedly destoryed us in the first round?!?! He was bound to come down for a bit I just wish it was against us.
Anybody else think Durant leaves after this contract? I do. He found out the ownership chose money over family and a championship by trading Harden.
big part yea, but a large portion of his shots wouldn't have mattered if a guy was in his face, the way he turns and fades with his elevation is pretty much impossible to guard when he's on. Double/triple teams with tony allen and the length of prince? Yea that'll give Bron problems too.
Durant just got worn down. He's basically been playing by himself the past 9 games. Played heavy minutes ever since Westbrook went out. Also, I think Memphis wins the Chip this year. If they make it to the finals there bigs are going to destroy Miami.
And to those saying that Durant is a lesser version of T-Mac are you kidding me? The comparisons are valid since Durant has always stated that he has modeled his game after T-Mac since he was a kid but what he is is a version of Mcgrady T-Mac was never able to achieve without the aesthetics. He is also far more efficient and is a winner. If T-Mac panned out like he should have barring injuries his ceiling would have been what Durant is doing now.
ehh well come on now. last year sure lebron stepped up but he still had wade, bosh, battier, chalmers on the team KD without westbrook he has what? kevin martin? derek fisher? ibaka? perkins (no offense for the last 2) Can't really blame him for not stepping up there's only so much you can do without any help...and please don't forget to credit memphis...gasol and zbo? come on man
There wasn't a lot of depth, but the top 4 in the east were better than the west in that 2008-10 period (The lakers were loaded in a way similar to what miami is now after half our starting lineup went down)
I agree that Durant now is better than T-Mac ever was but T-Mac's court vision/passing at his size is only matched by Lebron.
I thought Durant was much better than he is. LeBron has done most of his work when his superstars have been out or when he didn't have any superstars in Cleveland. When Lebron torched Boston last year in game 6 with that 45 pt 19 reb performance Wade and Bosh didn't do anything, they just stood around and watched him. And last year when Bosh was injured during the Pacers series and Wade had a bum knee, LeBron did work. I did not see Durant step up like that this year and he had a perfect opportunity to do so when Westbrook went out. I said Durant would average 40+ once Westbrook went out and I was wrong about Durant, he is not who I thought he was.
what?!?!? lebron put in work but wade was a monster after he got his knee drained. game 4: 30/9/6 game 5: 29 points on 59% shooting game 6: 41/10 you're approacting this thing the wrong way. compare lebron in cleveland not lebron on the heat because he had talent around him on the heat.
lmao. you know he was getting double/triple teamed right? hard to get 40 from game to game when you're playing against an elite defensive team in Memphis.
Lets see... Reggie Jackson Selfalosha Lebron Ibaka Perkins ... lets see how many games they beat Memphis
LeBron went for 40-18-9 on the road in game 4 and ripped the hearts out of the Pacers. Durant just went 5-21 shooting in an elimination game and got punked by Memphis 4-1. I'm not even sure how they won 1 game in this series.
