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Game Thread Mar 21, 2022 05:30PM MT: Jazz at Nets

Added to Calendar: 03-21-22

I don't hate Durant or anything, but those warrior teams weren't really fair. They were so far ahead of any other teams they didn't even have to try. They had a low risk of injury because they could just coast through the regular season. It's really crazy that the Rockets were so close to knocking them off in that series.
 
Handlogten's Heros said:
I think all these guys feel they have something to prove until they retire. I think he feels great about his two titles and now he is trying to do it in a little bit more of a solo role. Just like Lebron, he has a shot to get one or two in a different way and then he will be 4 time champion, not 2 time champ with 2 asterisk titles.

I do think Giannis' title will continue to be more impressive, but he was like a millimeter away from getting bounced in the second round by a KD team that had almost nothing else. Will people remember that the Brooklyn team would have likely beat the Bucks if Harden or Kyrie were healthy? Should we put an asterisk on that title?

Did those titles and finals mvps solidify his standing as a top 15 NBA player... probably not. If he won no titles staying in OKC (as he would have since everyone says GS was an unbeatable juggernaut even without KD) - then his resume is waaaaaaaay less impressive. Stacked team or not he went out against the second or first best player in NBA history and won... he hit the key shots... he was the best player on his team. Is CP3's legacy more impressive? Will KD be remembered as a better player than Chuck, Mailman, Ewing?

Winning a title is hard/impossible... almost all title teams are stacked... some more than others but Magic, Bird, etc. aren't ding'd because they did it with the teams that drafted them. I mean is KD, Steph, Green, Klay way more stacked than MJ, Pippen, Rodman, Toni Kukoc with great role players like Harper, Longly, Kerr... It wasn't guaranteed to be a championship either... remember when prime Lebron, Wade and Bosh lost to Dirk?

It wasn't a waste of time and it will help his legacy to have the titles... even if the degree of difficulty isn't good enough for some.
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I just don’t think his legacy is much different if he stayed on OKC, or went anywhere else besides GSW, and didn’t win. He would be clowned on for never winning…but he did win and he’s getting clowned on for taking the easiest and most obvious path. It’s not close to LeBron joining up with his friends in Miami or even the Boston big 3. It has very little to do with him leaving the team that drafted him and everything to do with the team he joined. This was the Warriors who may have already been the greatest team of all time with Harrison Barnes in place of him.

What he did was put himself in a lose lose situation. If he didn’t win the titles, how embarrassing that would be for him to bog down an all time great team. He did win the titles, everyone is going to say they would have done it without him and they would have been heavy favorites to do so. You can say….no the Warriors wouldn’t have won, but the very large majority of people would pick the Warriors to win again and again without him. He spent the prime of his career in a situation where he couldn’t prove himself. He reached the peak of all peaks, finals MVP 2x, and got very little respect for it.

No one is going to say KD is better than player X, Y, Z because he won championships with GSW. They might say he’s a better player for other reasons, but those two championships are hardly tipping the scale and in some cases are just going to reinforce the cupcake narrative. Even if you’re going to say the two GSW are significantly better than no titles, there’s no doubt he punted on the opportunity to be even greater. He forfeited a great deal of his potential to play for GSW.

Now if he wins with BKN, completely different story for him. Even though he built his own super team and BKN did not draft him, people would respect it so much more. I think his prime years would have been better spent doing what he’s doing now, whether it was with OKC or anyone else besides GSW.
 
SoberasHotRod said:
I don't hate Durant or anything, but those warrior teams weren't really fair. They were so far ahead of any other teams they didn't even have to try. They had a low risk of injury because they could just coast through the regular season. It's really crazy that the Rockets were so close to knocking them off in that series.
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Unpopular Opinion: It was really good for the league
 
SoberasHotRod said:
I don't hate Durant or anything, but those warrior teams weren't really fair. They were so far ahead of any other teams they didn't even have to try. They had a low risk of injury because they could just coast through the regular season. It's really crazy that the Rockets were so close to knocking them off in that series.
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Agreed and fair or not, this is how most people see the situation. Of course no championship is “east”, but if a Dirk/Giannis type championship is a perfect 10 in terms of respect, the GSW titles were like a 1.1. KD spent his prime years in a lose-lose situation. If they lost, it would be a tremendous failure. If they win…well of course they did.

Maybe KD is in a better spot now than if he didn’t go and still hadn’t won….but not by much. But if he didn’t go to GSW and was able to beat them and win…he would have inserted himself into the Bird/Magic tier. Even the coasting during the RS really put a damper on just how good he was back then (and still is potentially). Like you said, he wasn’t challenged.
 
SoberasHotRod said:
I can see that in some ways, but curious why you think so?
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The general sports fan just loves dominance in general. It creates strong opinions and strong storylines. The Celtics and Lakers are as popular as they are thanks to their own extremely overpowered super teams throughout history.
 
*and the Jazz were never good enough during the Warriors dominant stretch run to have a chance at getting to the finals, much less winning it. Not like their dominant stretch ruined Utah's chance to win a ring. Not sure why a bunch of posters who only care about the NBA as it pertains to the Jazz have to act like KD committed the worst basketball atrocity imaginable.
 
Saint Cy of JFC said:
The general sports fan just loves dominance in general. It creates strong opinions and strong storylines. The Celtics and Lakers are as popular as they are thanks to their own extremely overpowered super teams throughout history.
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It seems to be as important to have someone to root against as it is to have a team to root for. In my case my favorite teams are the Jazz and whoever is playing the lakers
 
Saint Cy of JFC said:
The general sports fan just loves dominance in general. It creates strong opinions and strong storylines. The Celtics and Lakers are as popular as they are thanks to their own extremely overpowered super teams throughout history.
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Agreed, I'm pretty sure ratings during those years were really good. Whether it has been good or bad for the league, I think the Warriors dominating forced teams to be play more smart basketball. There was no way to out talent them, but you might be able to win a math equation against them. The extreme example being the Rockets, who almost did it.

The league was already moving in that direction, but it really took a huge leap during the Warriors run.
 
Agent#00 said:
KD move to GS made me respect malone and Barkley more even though they didn't win a title.
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Malone went to the Lakers his last year to try to get a title. Didn't work. I haven't completely forgiven him yet.

But honestly, players should do whatever they believe is best for them within the rules. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Sent from my SM-A426U using JazzFanz mobile app
 
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