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The question in that mater orangish, was Lebrun that much better at 22? Durant at 22= much better scorer then Lebron at 22, and Durants defense at 22 isn't far behind lebrons at 22. Only think IMO Lebron at 22 was better at was passing.
The question is to "Anchor" the franchise. And I am very comfortable saying that Durant will never be to the ceiling that LBJ has reached (and is still trending upwards) as an all around player. Besides, I don't think he is that much more of an offensive force than LeBron.
LBJ season when he turned 22: 27.3/7.2/6.7 with a FG % of 476
Durant at 22: 27.7/2.7/6.8 with a FG % of .462
(PPG/APG/RPG if it needs to be said)
Now Durant regulary flirts with 30 ppg in his splits per season, but so does LBJ. LeBron wasn't exactly a 'raw but not refined' offensive player at 22. He was an efficent and effective scorer.
The defense isn't even close. That puts LeBron so far ahead of Durant in this discussion it's not even CLOSE. I can at least understand Duncan because he is a different kind of player completely. Durant is a poor mans LBJ in this discussion.
My issue with Durant, is the only thing he does better than LBJ is score. And it's not by that much. Lets call it ppg - I think LBJ makes up for those 5 ppg with his defense and passing ability.
So LBJ > Durant in every aspect except for overall offensive ability, and Durant only has a slim lead in that category.
That's why I left Durant out, we just don't know how much further he might develop....or if he will develop chronic injuries etc. We've seen guys lots of guys that had bright starts both plateau, get even better and in some cases regress.
Crap, if we had this thread a year or two ago we'd be having to hear about Bynum.
P.S. I think Orangish and Rigas are kinda arguing different points and that's again....exactly why I didn't even drag Durant or other promising yet far far far from established younger talents.
So LBJ > Durant in every aspect except for overall offensive ability, and Durant only has a slim lead in that category.
I think we need to distinguish the difference between scorer and offensive player. In terms of pure scoring ability, I'd give the edge to Durant even though the scoring numbers career-wise are similar. In terms of overall offensive ability, which to me combines scoring ability with playmaking/passing, Lebron is unquestionably better.
I think we need to distinguish the difference between scorer and offensive player. In terms of pure scoring ability, I'd give the edge to Durant even though the scoring numbers career-wise are similar. In terms of overall offensive ability, which to me combines scoring ability with playmaking/passing, Lebron is unquestionably better.
Absolutely, I did a poor job in my wording there. I'd be ok giving Durant a slight edge in scoring ability, but I'd draw the line there. I think there is a complelling arguement though that LeBron is just as good at scoring.
But for the sake of the discussion I'd concede that point.
Absolutely, I did a poor job in my wording there. I'd be ok giving Durant a slight edge in scoring ability, but I'd draw the line there. I think there is a complelling arguement though that LeBron is just as good at scoring.
But for the sake of the discussion I'd concede that point.
An argument can easily be made that they're on par. Lebron scores at a similar clip, he's not as good a shooter but he's obviously a superior slasher and finisher,; at the end of the day 2 points is 2 points so an argument can be made that Lebron is as good a scorer. And really, his physicality is something that Durant will never be able to match.
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