90sgoat
04-18-2019, 06:09 AM
The old king, Lebron, is on his last legs.
In reality, Lebron has not been the best player since at best 2015, but it hasn't been apparant because of playing in the East.
With Lebron out of the playoffs, the throne is abdicated and we have a situation similar to when MJ retired and you had several teams vying for the throne, but no clear frontrunner. It was eventually Shaq, but it could have been Duncan or someone else.
The current cast of challengers this playoffs:
Harden
Curry
Durant
Giannis
Kawhi
Embiid
To be crowned the king, they each need to do differnt things:
Harden or Kawhi need to win the championship.
Curry or Durant need to win with a dominating FMVP award.
Giannis and Embiid only need to have a strong finals performance, no getting swept like Lebron.
Those are the cases here.
My guess is that Kawhi makes the finals, but loses to Durant, who picks up his 3rd consecutive FMVP, thus finally taking the throne. Durant likely won't be able to keep going for much longer though as the best.
As such, Kawhi will be the Duncan of this era. Always in the running, but after injuries, unlikely to win multiple rings in consecutive dominant fashion.
Giannis and Doncic are the Lebron and Kobe of this era. They will lead the storyline going forward, but Durant and Kawhi aka "the old guard", will likely still be the top for the next 3 season or so.
In reality, Lebron has not been the best player since at best 2015, but it hasn't been apparant because of playing in the East.
With Lebron out of the playoffs, the throne is abdicated and we have a situation similar to when MJ retired and you had several teams vying for the throne, but no clear frontrunner. It was eventually Shaq, but it could have been Duncan or someone else.
The current cast of challengers this playoffs:
Harden
Curry
Durant
Giannis
Kawhi
Embiid
To be crowned the king, they each need to do differnt things:
Harden or Kawhi need to win the championship.
Curry or Durant need to win with a dominating FMVP award.
Giannis and Embiid only need to have a strong finals performance, no getting swept like Lebron.
Those are the cases here.
My guess is that Kawhi makes the finals, but loses to Durant, who picks up his 3rd consecutive FMVP, thus finally taking the throne. Durant likely won't be able to keep going for much longer though as the best.
As such, Kawhi will be the Duncan of this era. Always in the running, but after injuries, unlikely to win multiple rings in consecutive dominant fashion.
Giannis and Doncic are the Lebron and Kobe of this era. They will lead the storyline going forward, but Durant and Kawhi aka "the old guard", will likely still be the top for the next 3 season or so.