Better Player: Kevin Durant V Stephen Curry

[showtime]

Guys, he really just said Jeff Teague.

[RavensTillIDie]

1 hour ago, seminoles1 said:

Wrong and wrong.

Yeah, I can say with like 90% certainty that if the Warriors franchise had to choose between Curry and Durant, they would definitely go with Curry. Maybe 30% for basketball/on-court performance reasons?

[Kip Smithers]

58 minutes ago, tonyto36 said:

No he's not.  Harden is not quite the shooter Curry is, but is better at attacking the rim.  That's already one approximate equal.  There are plenty of PGs who, while worse than Curry are relatively close.  There is not a single SF or wing in the NBA that is close to Durant.  A 7 footer who is arguably the best scorer ever and plays all nba defense.  Who are the closest comparables?  Lebron?  His shooting has caught up a bit, but he doesn't have the full scoring game that Durant has and can't play defense for a full game anymore.  Kawhi?  Light years behind on offense.

Lol my man actually said Jeff Teague you know. 

Curry is an unprecedented player yet his value and skill set to the game can be approximated and replicated? Lol ok. 

[Mossburg]

You understand the difference between "can make that shot" and "can make that shot with unprecedented consistency"?

Because I can certainly make that shot too.

[Darkness]

Curry has the special combination of being both an elite #1 scorer and playmaker. The Warriors offense revolves around him and the impact his spacing creates. Durant has never gotten that chance playing with Westbrook in OKC, and now with Curry/Green in GS. But I think Durant has that playmaking talent if he needed to play with that mentality. And combined with his improvement defensively, Durant could easily be considered the most complete player in the league. So I'd say Durant's more talented, but Curry's impact makes him more valuable. I think both players will go down as the best scorers of all time at their positions. 

[Darkness]

Per 36

Curry: 29.1 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 7.2 APG, 1.9 STL, 47.3 FG, 38.1 3PT, 93.3 FT, 64.3 TS

Durant: 26.4 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 5.5 APG, 2.1 BPG, 51.9 FG, 39.4 3PT, 86.7 FT, 62.6 TS

[persiandud]

On 12/7/2017 at 2:33 PM, seminoles1 said:

I know Golden State's offensive rating is 116. with Curry and without Durant while it's 107 with Durant and without Curry this season.  Last year it was 115.4 and 108.7.

What's the difference in defensive rating?  I don't know how to look up those numbers.  Got those offensive numbers from Zach Lowe's article yesterday.

there we go, i was waiting to see someone bring up GSW's ORTG with Curry on and off the court. he is clearly their most impactful player. valuable. best. yes, Curry is better than Durant. he is the greatest shooter in NBA history. 66% of the people who voted are dead wrong. the looks he's able to create for his teammates by just being on the court make him a more impactful player than Durant on offense. Curry guarantees elite team offense; Durant guarantees elite 1v1 offense. which is more valuable? if you're a smart bball fan you can understand this distinction. 

the most valuable players on Golden State are Steph Curry and Draymond Green. Curry moves the needle for them offensively from an above average "good" offense to a historically elite one. Green changes their defense from average to elite. Durant doesn't move the needle on either end as significantly as Curry/Green

and yea, Durant is playing excellent defense this season, but it's nice to have Draymond Green clean up your mistakes. Green, one of the greatest defenders in this era in his own right, mind you. 

[IrishGreen]

Durant is the more talented player, but I’d take Curry if the Warriors offered one up. 

Better is a tad subjective in a case so close 

[J-ALL-DAY]

12 minutes ago, IrishGreen said:

Durant is the more talented player, but I’d take Curry if the Warriors offered one up. 

Better is a tad subjective in a case so close 

I can't remember a team that had two guys where you can't really say for sure who the best player on the team is lol. It is pretty much split from the fan base and outsiders. 

[Mossburg]

I mean, this definitely proves that Durant is a beast who can carry an NBA team in the regular season when needed. Everyone already knew that because he did it in OKC when Westbrook got hurt and won MVP. This does little to nothing to prove any questions asked in this thread.

[seminoles1]

1 hour ago, tonyto36 said:

5-0

34 PPG 49/41/94 shooting splits, 10 RPG, 7 APG, 3BPG, 

No Curry for all five games.  No Draymond for four games.

Curry killed it last year without Durant as well.

He had a 5 game streak where he went:

31.2 PPG (52/55/73), 8.8 APG, 3.8 RPG, 1.8 SPG

[J-ALL-DAY]

I said it before and I'll say it again, we got cheated of not seeing Durant being the primary ball handler and decision maker on his team. This stretch along with the stretch he had in OKC when Westbrook missed half the season, he put up unreal numbers.

It's not out of the realm of possibility that he could average 33/8/7/2 for the entire season. I think he was averaging even more points than that during the stretch Westbrook missed a few years back.

[Mossburg]

Just now, J-ALL-DAY said:

I said it before and I'll say it again, we got cheated of not seeing Durant being the primary ball handler and decision maker on his team. This stretch along with the stretch he had in OKC when Westbrook missed half the season, he put up unreal numbers.

It's not out of the realm of possibility that he could average 33/8/7/2 for the entire season. I think he was averaging even more points than that during the stretch Westbrook missed a few years back.

The other thing being, I felt like once OKC adjusted to Durant being the primary handler, the team was no worse off, maybe even better without Westbrook, at least for regular season purposes. I doubt anyone would say the Warriors would play better ball without Curry even if given more time to adjust (they certainly have not in this 5 game stretch), which if anyone agrees speaks to different team dynamics that rely more on the missing player.

[J-ALL-DAY]

I don't think they were better without Westbrook, but they also didn't fall off much. Kind of like the Spurs without Leonard for this stretch. But no way in hell was Durant going to win in the playoffs with that squad. 

And yeah, they aren't better without Steph as they are barely winning a lot of these games, but Durant is great enough to hold down the fort for the regular season. Still, would love to see him play an entire year as the primary ball handler. Maybe after he wins another ring or two, he could go to his own team and be that guy. Not sure he will want to do that though. He's going to still be putting up big numbers while winning titles and that will make his resume look better in the long run regardless of how stacked the team was. Only thing he loses with being on a stacked team is his individual regular season accolades. He will never win another MVP and will in all likelihood continue being 2nd team All NBA, when in reality he is pretty much on even playing field with LeBron. Giannis nor Kawhi are better players, but they get to do more for their teams so they get the edge for the All NBA voting.

[El Ramster]

13 minutes ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

I said it before and I'll say it again, we got cheated of not seeing Durant being the primary ball handler and decision maker on his team. This stretch along with the stretch he had in OKC when Westbrook missed half the season, he put up unreal numbers.

It's not out of the realm of possibility that he could average 33/8/7/2 for the entire season. I think he was averaging even more points than that during the stretch Westbrook missed a few years back.

Those are bootleg Jordan numbers.. Special to me is 40+ a game..