Prime George Gervin vs. Current Kevin Durant

[Lebron23]

Who's the better player? Two of the best scoring forwards in NBA history.

http://sports.cbsimg.net/images/nba/photogallery/DurantGervin.png

[Joyner82reload]

This is a total joke. Durant absolutely shits on Gervin in every single facet. Scoring, Rebounding, Passing, Defense, Portability, you name it. Durant's in the midst of a top 10 regular season in NBA history

[FrobeShaw]

This is a total joke. Durant absolutely shits on Gervin in every single facet. Scoring, Rebounding, Passing, Defense, Portability, you name it. Durant's in the midst of a top 10 regular season in NBA history

/thread

[K Xerxes]

This is a total joke. Durant absolutely shits on Gervin in every single facet. Scoring, Rebounding, Passing, Defense, Portability, you name it. Durant's in the midst of a top 10 regular season in NBA history

What is 'portability' in the context of basketball?

[Marlo_Stanfield]

This is a total joke. Durant absolutely shits on Gervin in every single facet. Scoring, Rebounding, Passing, Defense, Portability, you name it. Durant's in the midst of a top 10 regular season in NBA history
lets not get ahead of ourselves ok??:coleman:

[FrobeShaw]

What is 'portability' in the context of basketball?

Durant has a backpack which he uses to carry his laptop. It's very efficient and he used to have them in press conferences. Learn some history. :no:

[Milbuck]

KD pretty comfortably, but in 2 years there won't be any room for discussion

[Legends66NBA7]

What is 'portability' in the context of basketball?

What I was thinking... all I can come up with is:

http://www.discountfence.com/images/basketball/portable-basketball-systemthuHERO.JPG

http://courtfloors.com/PORTABLE-BASKETBALL-SYSTEMS.png

http://courtfloors.com/PORTABLE-BASKETBALL-COURT-FLOOR-REPAIRS.jpg

[Joyner82reload]

What is 'portability' in the context of basketball?

You can put him in several different roles on several different teams and he will fit in just as well. For instance, putting LeBron on Durant's role in OKC would make him a fraction of the player he can be on Miami where he has the ball in his hands every play. Durant on the other hand can fill just about any role, for his position, and do it at an all time level

[Rose'sACL]

You can put him in several different roles on several different teams and he will fit in just as well. For instance, putting LeBron on Durant's role in OKC would make him a fraction of the player he can be on Miami where he has the ball in his hands every play. Durant on the other hand can fill just about any role, for his position, and do it at an all time level
watch the game idiot. i don't normally call people idiot but you clearly are. durant has higher usage rate than lebron.

[K Xerxes]

You can put him in several different roles on several different teams and he will fit in just as well. For instance, putting LeBron on Durant's role in OKC would make him a fraction of the player he can be on Miami where he has the ball in his hands every play. Durant on the other hand can fill just about any role, for his position, and do it at an all time level

That's versatility, not portability.

[Joyner82reload]

watch the game idiot. i don't normally call people idiot but you clearly are. durant has higher usage rate than lebron.

USG rate is % of your teams FGA+FTA you take throughout the game. It has NOTHING to do with how long you have the ball. idiot.

[FrobeShaw]

That's versatility, not portability.

It's portable, though. :biggums:

[fpliii]

watch the game idiot. i don't normally call people idiot but you clearly are. durant has higher usage rate than lebron.

Usage rate isn't the same as touches/ball dominance, though. It only concerns itself with how many possessions a player ends, not how often he has the ball in his hands.

Anyhow, no disrespect to Gervin, but Durant is several tiers ahead of him at this point in time. He's obviously not near LeBron's level yet, but he's playing like very few guys at his position have, in league history. KD is the clear choice, here.

[Joyner82reload]

That's versatility, not portability.

Wrong. LeBron is a very versatile player, but he is not all that portable

Portability
1. Capable of being transferred from one employer to another.
2. Carried or moved with ease

[#number6ix#]

I really cant speak on whose better because i never seen Gervin play outside of highlights

[Rose'sACL]

USG rate is % of your teams FGA+FTA you take throughout the game. It has NOTHING to do with how long you have the ball. idiot.
then i guess it is your word against mine. Eye test as people like to call it. ask any good poster on this site about who has ball in his hands more this season and answer would be durant.
lebron only has ball in his hand consistently for most of 24 secs durant end of quarters and in 4th quarter.

[fpliii]

That's versatility, not portability.

Portability is a concept that's become pretty popular on the PC board at RealGM. Versatility there is generally understood as the breadth of one's skillset, while portability has more to do with ability to succeed in a variety of systems/situations. A guy can be extremely versatile, but if he requires too many touches to have an impact, he won't fit in as many situations as a guy who isn't as ball-dominant.

The more versatile or portable player isn't always the superior of the two in a comparison, but it's certainly something to take into consideration.

[K Xerxes]

Wrong. LeBron is a very versatile player, but he is not all that portable

Portability
1. Capable of being transferred from one employer to another.
2. Carried or moved with ease

In my 20 or so years of playing and watching basketball, I have never heard the term portability used in this context. Only time is when we discussed buying hoops for our yard. Odd.

[Rose'sACL]

anyways, answer is durant. the guy will easily end up being top 10 all time by the time he retires. he might even end up as top 5 and has the ceiling to be the best ever but that would be really hard.

[FrobeShaw]

In my 20 or so years of playing and watching basketball, I have never heard the term portability used in this context. Only time is when we discussed buying hoops for our yard. Odd.

His logic makes no sense. How is Durant even more "portable" given his definition? :roll:

[fpliii]

anyways, answer is durant. the guy will easily end up being top 10 all time by the time he retires. he might even end up as top 5 and has the ceiling to be the best ever but that would be really hard.

I'm a big Durant fan, but top 10 would be tough. It's too packed at the moment, and you have to do something extraordinary to make it in (or rather, plenty of extraordinary things). In terms of the best players/most impactful ever, it'd be a tough sell. He obviously has a shot, but I don't see it.

[Joyner82reload]

I'm a big Durant fan, but top 10 would be tough. It's too packed at the moment, and you have to do something extraordinary to make it in (or rather, plenty of extraordinary things). In terms of the best players/most impactful ever, it'd be a tough sell. He obviously has a shot, but I don't see it.
At some point you can't ignore the stats. If he continues playing like he has recently, he has a legitimate chance to end up being the GOAT per advanced metrics. Combine that with 3-5 MVP's and a few titles, you're looking at a top 3-4 player all time.

The guy is fvcking averaging 34/9/6 63 TS% 35 PER .375 WSp48 without Westbrook

[Trollsmasher]

At some point you can't ignore the stats. If he continues playing like he has recently, he has a legitimate chance to end up being the GOAT per advanced metrics. Combine that with 3-5 MVP's and a few titles, you're looking at a top 3-4 player all time.

The guy is fvcking averaging 34/9/6 63 TS% 35 PER .375 WSp48 without Westbrook
in 8 games, losing half of them and about to finally play some good teams:lol

[SHAQisGOAT]

Durant. A better rebounder and passer already and a better defensive player too. As far as scoring, it's virtually a tie, Durant's a better ft shooter (gets considerable more star treatment though) and clearly better from 3pt land (Gervin didn't come up with the line though), I would say Kevin is more versatile but George was even a better finisher although it can go either way, also a beast from midrange and really good at posting-up using it more and better as a weapon than Durant.

The Iceman gets underrated, he was an amazing scorer and constantly raised his game in the post-season, getting many times deep into it and almost making the Finals once.

Oh and Gervin was a SG.

[fpliii]

At some point you can't ignore the stats. If he continues playing like he has recently, he has a legitimate chance to end up being the GOAT per advanced metrics. Combine that with 3-5 MVP's and a few titles, you're looking at a top 3-4 player all time.

The guy is fvcking averaging 34/9/6 63 TS% 35 PER .375 WSp48 without Westbrook

Let's forget about that throwaway 3-4 line, for now. I don't do GOAT lists, but who are your top 10? In order for him to sneak in, he'd need to knock at least one of those guys out.

PER and WS (and individual ORtg/DRtg) aren't "advanced" metrics, they're arbitrary linear weights formulas, whose coefficients were arrived at arbitrarily. So those go out the window. His TS% on that volume is tremendous, obviously; I haven't looked at his other numbers (team ORtg/DRtg, TRB%, AST%, etc.), but I'm sure he rates well. When J.E. or one of the guys at APBRmetrics churns out RAPM (which is play-by-play based) and its constituent oRAPM and dRAPM we can make further judgments.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to knock him, but he has a ways to go, even if he sustains those numbers.

[Micku]

Gervin had better footwork in the post from what I saw. But that's about it.

But I haven't seen a lot of Gervin to really say. I don't know how he is defensively or anything. Durant seemed like the better rebounder, passer, and scorer. But Gervin was obviously a great scorer himself. Both are good finishers.

[K Xerxes]

At some point you can't ignore the stats. If he continues playing like he has recently, he has a legitimate chance to end up being the GOAT per advanced metrics. Combine that with 3-5 MVP's and a few titles, you're looking at a top 3-4 player all time.

The guy is fvcking averaging 34/9/6 63 TS% 35 PER .375 WSp48 without Westbrook

His career PER is at 24.1 right now. I haven't checked but I'd bet a lot of money that James at the age of 25 had a higher PER, maybe by a large distance. It's a tough ask, and to use his performance without Westbrook as evidence for this with that sample size is ludicrous.

Didn't James put up like the third highest PER ever at 25?

[Swedish Chef]

Preeme-a Redmunufeec, uny dey. Bork Bork Bork!

[Cold soul]

Durant by large margin.

[russwest0]

LeBron23 showing why he's one of the least respected posters here :roll: :roll: :roll:

[sportjames23]

http://www.paxanga.es/blogwow/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/tumblr_mbijkyYrvF1r0afnlo1_500.png

[bizil]

Durant. A better rebounder and passer already and a better defensive player too. As far as scoring, it's virtually a tie, Durant's a better ft shooter (gets considerable more star treatment though) and clearly better from 3pt land (Gervin didn't come up with the line though), I would say Kevin is more versatile but George was even a better finisher although it can go either way, also a beast from midrange and really good at posting-up using it more and better as a weapon than Durant.

The Iceman gets underrated, he was an amazing scorer and constantly raised his game in the post-season, getting many times deep into it and almost making the Finals once.

Oh and Gervin was a SG.

U hit all the key points great! Durant is better due to having a more complete all around game. But in terms of alpha scoring scoring both are a tie. And many people need to keep in mind that Gervin was damn near as revolutionary at the SG as Durant currently is at the SF. Both had a combo of size and scoring ability, and scoring skillset the 2 and 3 spots never really saw before.

[allball]

Durant's a good 4 inches taller than Gervin so he should be a better rebounder. as for scoring Gervin not only put the ball in the hole he did at a very high percentage for his position in that era. He was an excellent shooter and finisher. He was also a great FT shooter

I had the opportunity to see Gervin play and he was just flat out unstoppable. In today's league where guys spend more time on training and development it's reasonable to say Gervin would have been even better.

If you never even saw him play disqualify yourself from being an expert on the comparison.

[Dr.J4ever]

I saw Gervin a lot, and KD is the much better player. Clear evidence of this is the success that he is having team wise and being in the conversation yearly for the Title.

A better question : who was the better scorer?

[KG215]

Odd to see how two message boards contrast. I frequently read RealGM's PC board and the first time I saw someone mention how "portable" a player is/was a year or so ago, I immediately knew what they meant -- partially because I've heard it used to some degree growing up around coaches and basketball in general. Come here and "portability" seems to be a completely foreign word to most in the context of basketball.

With that said, I can't speak of Durant's portability compared to a lot of past greats, but I can see the argument for him being more portable than LeBron. Think of it like this: if you want to build a one-star team with good to great role players, where LeBron or Durant is your one ball-dominant star, then I'd take LeBron. However, I do think you can move Durant around the league with more ease in terms of seamlessly fitting in simply because he's one of the best high volume off-ball scorers in NBA history. Granted I can't say that with 100% confidence, but he has proven time and time again in his career he can comfortably and quietly score an efficient 30-35 points on any given night by primarily playing off the ball and I'm not sure many other high volume scorers in NBA history are as capable as Durant in doing that. And while I don't think he's as good/effective in a ball-dominant, primary playmaker role as LeBron, Wade, or even T-Mac, I do think he can fill that role well enough to where you could still build a really damn good team around KD if that's the route you choose to go.

[allball]

I saw Gervin a lot, and KD is the much better player. Clear evidence of this is the success that he is having team wise and being in the conversation yearly for the Title.

A better question : who was the better scorer?

Gervin's teams were always around 50 plus wins and he led his teams to 3 conference finals despite playing with a bunch of guys most folks have never heard of.

[KevinDurant35]

I'm gonna have to go wit Kevin Durant on dis one. :pimp:

[Marlo_Stanfield]

LeBron23 showing why he's one of the least respected posters here :roll: :roll: :roll:
says someone who is viewed by the majority of the posters here as a shame to mankind

[CavaliersFTW]

Gervin was a guard and occasionally swung to SF. Durant is a SF who occasionally swings to PF... not the same positions, nor do they have the same playing styles, apples to oranges, just because they're both skinny and long don't mean they play the same.

[KendrickPerkins]

Haven't seen Gervin play. With that said, I take Kevin Durant.