Who would you rather build around: Durant or Lebron

What? He dominated a Detroit Pistons team that played solid defense and were past champions just to get to the finals and then went head to head with Dwight Howard and still made it past them.

This is the same argument Rockets fans bring up when we barely miss the playoffs, "Well if we were in the East..." NO!!! The East has had some lower level talent teams make the playoffs but their top tier tes have been hard to get past when playoffs come around.

How?? Because it was the Heats first full season together and still made the finals while learning to mesh together and figure out all the role players actual roles on the team. Ppl try to make basketball teams comparable to NBA2K fantasy teams, it doesn't work that way. Plus no one ever thought the Mavs would make that improbable run past yep the Durant, Westbrook, and Harden led team you all are referring to and also the Lakers that were poised to make another trip to the finals. Anyone that tells you they had that Mavericks team hand picked to win it all last year is kidding themselves point blank.

Supporting cast has everything to do with it and if he had a better cast in Cleveland than he did I believe LeBron would still be there.

 

He never beat any West team in playoffs in his 9th years so I think this is pretty fair statement. East is washed up this year, Lakers would have legimate shot to make NBA finals, if they played on East. Mavs, Grizzlies would be very dangerous. It's different than sixers or hawks.

 

So many people biased against Lebron... he is miles ahead even with the 'age difference' (of a whopping 3 years) and being 'more of a diva'(that really affects basketball now?) and all of these other labels we can all try.

 

Durant. Younger.
Of Lebron was more like kobe and not stuck in the no mans land of trying to be likeable but acting like a uterus, thwn id rather have him.

 

I think lebron is better, but I believe it is also the reason why he is not in Cleveland. The Sonics actually lost 10 more games the year durant came on board allowing them to get RW. They were still not that good and got harden the next year. So they ended up with three top five picks.

Lebron took his team to 35 wins his first year and they couldn't get that 2nd top 5 pick which they really needed. Lebron was just covering up a lot of holes which were exposed when they were playing better teams.

He pretty much does everything well. He can rebound, handle the ball, score, rebound and defend. If he is jump shot wasn't so streaky he wouldn't really have weakness in his game.

 

lebron

 

You go with the best current and future (next five years) player on the planet in Lebron James.

 

so then what about this year, the heat had almost 100 games under their belt coming into this year, they still had a lower winning percentage than anytime james was in cleveland. What is the excuse this year?

 

based on personality and locker room culture, which I think is important esp. for playoff runs, I'd take Durant.

This takes nothing away from James' abilities. But if you're building a team around them, you can still build a damn good team around either one.

 

Is that so? How about the Cavs? I'd choose Durant, He plays the whole game, including the 4th quarter.

 

Most efficent scoring champs in NBA history:

1. Adrian Dantley 1983-1984 TS%: .652
2. Adrian Dantley 1980-1981 TS%: .622
3. Michael Jordan 1988-1989 TS%: .614
4. Kevin Durant 2011-2012 TS%: .610
5. Kevin Durant 2009-2010 TS%: .607
6. Michael Jordan 1989-90 TS%: .606
7. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 1970-1971 TS%: .606

Durant's True Shooting Percentage in this playoffs is even higher with .618%. Jordan best TS% in playoffs was .603%.

Durant's Effective Field Goal Percentage(without free throws) is .547 in this playoffs. Jordan best eFG% is .537.

Also:
Jordan Era – Avg FG%: 47.44
Durant Era – Avg FG%: 45.68

Jordan Era – Average Team in League PPG: 105.01
Durant Era – Average Team in League PPG: 99.24

This is not surprising since the NBA has gotten a lot more talented from top to bottom in the last 15 years. The NBA has gotten an increase in athleticism, wingspan averages entering the draft, and defensive specialists.

So when you say Durant is better scorer LeBron, well he might just go down as greatest scorer ever to play this game. Especially if you know the fact, that Jordan got his first scoring title when he was 24 years old and Durant already got three and he is just 23yo. Durant's game doesn't rely on atleticism like Lebron's or Jordan's did. That's why he have legimate shot to win every scoring title in next 15 years.

Now let's forget scoring....

Defence:

LeBron James
Overall: 0.85 PPP, 39.4% FG, 37.6% 3PT
Isolation: 0.60 PPP, 22.6% FG, 37.5% 3PT
Post-Up: 0.91 PPP, 71.4% FG
Pick-and-Roll Ballhandler: 0.70 PPP, 38.5% FG, 25.0% 3PT

Kevin Durant
Overall: 0.74 PPP, 31.1% FG, 31.5% 3PT
Isolation: 0.55 PPP, 26.3% FG, 16.7% 3PT
Post-Up: 0.62 PPP, 31.6% FG
Pick-and-Roll Ballhandler: 0.59 PPP, 25.7% FG, 16.7% 3PT

Now this have a lot to do with team defence also(PnR) and help defence where Ibaka was great this year, but Heat had better overall defence in regular season than Thunder.

Durant "who can only score" averaged more rebounds per game(8.0) in regular season than ever did Lebron in his 9th years in the league.

 

That's the dumbest statement ever! In order to beat Western teams in the playoffs while in the East you have to make the finals, NO??? So how do you expect him to be any better in the playoffs against the West if he's only been twice???.... Dumb.

We were talking playoff sucess no? I mean the regular season is just that the regular season. Look at the Bulls, they had the best record in the East and where are they now?

 

A team really doesn't need their best player to be able to do everything great. KD's ability to fit with more players and into almost any offensive scheme is a big plus for him.

 

With some of the comments in this thread you would think LeBron James had the resume of Carmelo Anthony or Tracy McGrady in the playoffs.

 

Damn, you have a good point. Bulls are a great example since they lost the cornerstone and most important piece of their team and they are out because of that...you really proved something with that one. You should work for Espn

 

Thanks but no thanks, I would never work for such a crummy roll with the hype type company as BSPN, maybe you should since you jump around your points and try to talk playoff success but then bring regular season percentages to help make your point. The Bulls was an example of how regular season success doesnt always translate to the post season.

If you'd like a more recent example take a look at the Spurs getting beat by the Grizzlies as a number 8 seed then before that the Mavs being upset by the Warriors.

Regardless, I'm done, you're all over the place with your so called "argument".

 

Lebron...the guy is most complete player in NBA...he could be the leading scorer over durant but he likes getting team involved..his assists are unreal for a sf, excellent rebounder and defender...great combination of size and strength...yeah durant is an excellent player but he needs to shoot the ball to make a difference in a game (besides his good rebounding)...not a lebron fan but there is no denying the guy is the best player in the NBA..

 

Durant makes teammates better. LBJ makes teammates worse. It can't be more obvious. LBJ may get a ring in his career but it's only because he has superfriends. If you are building a franchise, don't count on that.

 

It's only obvious to you, and your continuous example of Larry Hughes is even more hilarious.

 

He also had the luxury to play in east. Cavs won 50 games in 07, they would have been No.6 seed in west and No.3 was Spurs. A first round sweep became a finals run. LOL.