Kevin Durant lays out his means of determining the leagues best player.

[Kawhi_Why_Not]

giannis should be more of a #2... like an amare stoudemire #2 who gets the most points while the real leader is a playmaking point guard that can run an offense and get giannis easy looks. he has tunnel vision. its the worst thing to have for a guy that handles the ball... he makes up his mind on what hes gonna do and will literally kill himself or the other person trying to finish. which is why he had the most offensive fouls in playoff history or tied dwight howards 2009 run to the finals and giannis did it in only 2 rounds

It's a guard\wing mans game these days. As you can see:

Among the conference finalists, Maxi Kleber is the only player listed at or taller than 6-foot-10 who has averaged over 25 minutes per game in the playoffs.

[Kblaze8855]

. giannis still has a ton to prove.

Nothing. At all. Absolutely nothing. Just haters proving what we all know. That hate doesn’t care about results.

The 3 most hated on players here combine for 15 rings. Is what it is.

[SouBeachTalents]

no not even close because bigs can't initiate anything. they're entirely dependent on other guys getting them the ball in their spots. they can't bring it up the court and when one of them tries he fails miserably against any real defense

luka could very well win the title with him as his 2nd guy. that would be 94 hakeem shit

Said without the least bit of awareness or irony

Also ironic that of the biggest carry jobs in league history, they were all done by bigs (Hakeem, Duncan in '03, Dirk)

[SouBeachTalents]

Nothing. At all. Absolutely nothing. Just haters proving what we all know. That hate doesn’t care about results.

The 3 most hated on players here combine for 15 rings. Is what it is.

I'm sure you'll disagree, but if Giannis were to theoretically win just one title, it'd be hard to ignore the plethora of injuries that took place during that postseason. Yes, injuries happen virtually every postseason, esp over the last few years, but the shit that took place last year was truly unprecedented.

I don't disagree at all that Giannis' status as an ATG is already set, but if he doesn't win another title, it doesn't change the result or take away his title, which is all that matters in the end, but imo it'd be hard to ignore that aspect of his championship completely.

[NBAGOAT]

I'm sure you'll disagree, but if Giannis were to theoretically win just one title, it'd be hard to ignore the plethora of injuries that took place during that postseason. Yes, injuries happen virtually every postseason, esp over the last few years, but the shit that took place last year was truly unprecedented.

I don't disagree at all that Giannis' status as an ATG is already set, but if he doesn't win another title, it doesn't change the result or take away his title, which is all that matters in the end, but imo it'd be hard to ignore that aspect of his championship completely.

yes but he doesnt have an an all tiem great team around him either and his play was still incredible put up something like 30/13/5. Also the nets on paper were on the high end of superteams when healthy, you need a superteam of your own to beat them imo.

[Kblaze8855]

No harder than it is to ignore literally every injury in history which we seem to do just fine. They hang on in talks for maybe 3-5 years max. And then nobody even remembers the Pistons won a ring in a season Bird and Magic both went down to injury. Nobody is gonna remember Giannis leg looking like a hard shell taco either.

Shit only matters in that way we always make recent things out to be significant. You don’t know or care who was out for the 1983 playoffs. It’s trivia in the end. Like Holiday, Conley, and Kyrie all missing games on the warriors 15 run. I know it happened. It means little or nothing on the subject of Steph.

[SouBeachTalents]

yes but he doesnt have an an all tiem great team around him either and his play was still incredible put up something like 30/13/5. Also the nets on paper were on the high end of superteams when healthy, you need a superteam of your own to beat them imo.

I wouldn't call them a superteam but he has a talented supporting cast. Middleton & Jrue are really good 2nd & 3rd options and he has some solid role players as well. But I agree, the injuries don't take away from his actual performance which was ATG.

[Shogon]

The ultimate enlightenment for this discussion is to recognize, understand and accept that there might not even be a genuine way to define 'best' and even if there is, there is certainly no way to quantifiably and definitively prove such a thing.

The rest of it is just entertainment. Anyone who says otherwise hasn't thought this topic through long enough.

[FultzNationRISE]

The ultimate enlightenment for this discussion is to recognize, understand and accept that there might not even be a genuine way to define 'best' and even if there is, there is certainly no way to quantifiably and definitively prove such a thing.

The rest of it is just entertainment. Anyone who says otherwise hasn't thought this topic through long enough.

This is simply not true because if a guy's game, leadership, activism, parenting, philanthropy, business smarts, and lovemaking just hit different to such an extent that it's recognized by consensus among all fans across the world, then it's clear that he is objectively the LeGOAT.

[NBAGOAT]

I wouldn't call them a superteam but he has a talented supporting cast. Middleton & Jrue are really good 2nd & 3rd options and he has some solid role players as well. But I agree, the injuries don't take away from his actual performance which was ATG.

I would say talented but not to be expected to be a dynasty or the clear favorite every year. also you dont necessarily need a superteam to be expected to be a dynasty if depth is good enough and it's the right era(no superteams). Like the spurs big 3 in duncan, parker, ginobili imo was better and they really won 2 titles where it was them leading the team.

[Kblaze8855]

I’d say the way to go is to find the line under which nobody can be the best player. So not a pick for who it is but a list of who it isn’t. Like I’d be ok with someone saying it’s Giannis, KD, Steph, Jokic, Embiid, or Luka. Or toss Lebron in there or AD. I mean for you personally not my list. I want peoples “It’s one of these guys” list more than a single one who almost always requires a different reason depending on who he’s being compared to.

Most “I just know who it isn’t” lists I can probably get behind.

[NBAGOAT]

I’d say the way to go is to find the line under which nobody can be the best player. So not a pick for who it is but a list of who it isn’t. Like I’d be ok with someone saying it’s Giannis, KD, Steph, Jokic, Embiid, or Luka. Or toss Lebron in there or AD. I mean for you personally not my list. I want peoples “It’s one of these guys” list more than a single one who almost always requires a different reason depending on who he’s being compared to.

Most “I just know who it isn’t” lists I can probably get behind.

honestly tatum most likely. He can maybe change that with 2 really good series

[tontoz]

I wish Giannis would stop shooting 3s ffs but yeah his resume is pretty strong for a guy who is only 27. Assuming he stays healthy his stat totals will be huge as will his All NBA team totals. 2 MVPs, DPOY, FMVP he checks all the boxes.

If Middleton doesn't get hurt he had a legit shot at a ring this year. Just a relentless player always trying to improve.

His foul shooting in the playoffs was up almost 10% compared to last year. He changed his routine so people were no longer counting when he is standing at the line.

[Kblaze8855]

honestly tatum most likely. He can maybe change that with 2 really good series

If you wanted to take all the all nba players and make a “I know who it ain’t….” list I’d accept him not being on it. The “Definitely not the best” list of like 400 guys I mean.

[tpols]

Nothing. At all. Absolutely nothing. Just haters proving what we all know. That hate doesn’t care about results.

The 3 most hated on players here combine for 15 rings. Is what it is.

The Bucks literally won the ECFs without Giannis. He faced a bunch of injured teams in every round and then capped it off against a suns team that just lost by 45 points at home in a Game 7.

Certain titles are worth more than others. Dirks 2011 title is held in incredible esteem. People clown Durants titles. Context matters. Just because you don't want to discuss it doesn't mean much.