Finals Prediction Pole

allpurpleallgold said:

PurpleThrobber said:

haie said:

PurpleThrobber said:

What if I told you the 2017 Finals weren't about LBJ stepping up as GOAT but about Durant beginning a run of four straight titles and staking the claim?

Durant is a soft cunt. He's never staking a claim.

Game 1 disagrees.

There was only one soft cunt on the floor and he wore #23.

Agreed. Draymond.

Draymond +12 in 36 minutes.

LBJ - 22 in 40.

PurpleThrobber said:

haie said:

PurpleThrobber said:

What if I told you the 2017 Finals weren't about LBJ stepping up as GOAT but about Durant beginning a run of four straight titles and staking the claim?

Durant is a soft cunt. He's never staking a claim.

Game 1 disagrees.

There was only one soft cunt on the floor and he wore #23.

LeBron is only soft when compared to MJ and Kobe. Compared to the rest of basketball humanity, he's plenty TUFF.

He's still a bitch sometimes but far less frequently than earlier in his career. I didn't see any of that in him Thursday night. He just got beat.

dnc said:

haie said:

PurpleThrobber said:

What if I told you the 2017 Finals weren't about LBJ stepping up as GOAT but about Durant beginning a run of four straight titles and staking the claim?

Durant is a soft cunt. He's never staking a claim.

People said the same things about LeBron at one point.

I think KDs absolute ceiling is number 3 all time. Most likely he settles into the 7-12 range. But there's a chance he stays outside the top 25 if he never wins a ring besides this year.

If he wins at least three (especially if he can a couple finals MVPs) the super teams asterisk will fade hard.

But yeah I don't ever see him in the GOAT convo.

Kobe won 3 with Shaq and had to win again to shake the can't win without Shaq tag. The asterisk will fade when he wins without a super team and that's not happening because he's a front running loser. Durant's career will always be defined by game 6 and 7 last year vs the Warriors. He wasn't good enough to be the man so he ran to ride someone else's coat tails.

allpurpleallgold said:

dnc said:

haie said:

PurpleThrobber said:

What if I told you the 2017 Finals weren't about LBJ stepping up as GOAT but about Durant beginning a run of four straight titles and staking the claim?

Durant is a soft cunt. He's never staking a claim.

People said the same things about LeBron at one point.

I think KDs absolute ceiling is number 3 all time. Most likely he settles into the 7-12 range. But there's a chance he stays outside the top 25 if he never wins a ring besides this year.

If he wins at least three (especially if he can a couple finals MVPs) the super teams asterisk will fade hard.

But yeah I don't ever see him in the GOAT convo.

Kobe won 3 with Shaq and had to win again to shake the can't win without Shaq tag. The asterisk will fade when he wins without a super team and that's not happening because he's a front running loser. Durant's career will always be defined by game 6 and 7 last year vs the Warriors. He wasn't good enough to be the man so he ran to ride someone else's coat tails.

I don't think it's the same - Shaq was clearly the best player on at least two of those 3 titles with Kobe and probably all three though IIRC Kobe had one better finals. If the Warriors rip off the next three I think history remembers KD as the best player on the teams (depending perhaps on how KD and Steph do in the Finals). But if he goes down as the best player on three title teams, his legacy will be fine.

If he's Steph's number two then I agree but I think that's unlikely.

RoadDawg55 said:

dnc said:

allpurpleallgold said:

dnc said:

haie said:

PurpleThrobber said:

What if I told you the 2017 Finals weren't about LBJ stepping up as GOAT but about Durant beginning a run of four straight titles and staking the claim?

Durant is a soft cunt. He's never staking a claim.

People said the same things about LeBron at one point.

I think KDs absolute ceiling is number 3 all time. Most likely he settles into the 7-12 range. But there's a chance he stays outside the top 25 if he never wins a ring besides this year.

If he wins at least three (especially if he can a couple finals MVPs) the super teams asterisk will fade hard.

But yeah I don't ever see him in the GOAT convo.

Kobe won 3 with Shaq and had to win again to shake the can't win without Shaq tag. The asterisk will fade when he wins without a super team and that's not happening because he's a front running loser. Durant's career will always be defined by game 6 and 7 last year vs the Warriors. He wasn't good enough to be the man so he ran to ride someone else's coat tails.

I don't think it's the same - Shaq was clearly the best player on at least two of those 3 titles with Kobe and probably all three though IIRC Kobe had one better finals. If the Warriors rip off the next three I think history remembers KD as the best player on the teams (depending perhaps on how KD and Steph do in the Finals). But if he goes down as the best player on three title teams, his legacy will be fine.

If he's Steph's number two then I agree but I think that's unlikely.

I think it was year 2 of the Shaq/Kobe 3 peat where Kobe dominated. So did Shaq. They only lost one game the entire playoffs.

Fair or not, Durant and Steph need to win a few titles in a row (it seems very possible) to really have an elite legacy. I think Durant joining GS hurts Steph's more than it hurts his own.

Steph might have been able to win 3+ without KD.

Agree with that 100%. KD takes over as Batman. Steph got demoted to Robin.

The only saving grace for Steph's legacy is that he won one without KD (so he won't get the "Kobe only won with Shaq" criticism or the "LBJ had to join forces with Wade and Bosh to win" criticisms, even if those were eventually disproven) but 2 or 3 rings as Batman >>> 1 ring as Batman and 3 as Robin, there's just no way around that.

If this becomes a dynasty, Curry basically becomes the new DWade to KD's LBJ, though at least he didn't need Shaq to get his first one.