The anti-dirk arguments are comically disingenuous and embarrassingly specious. Some of the rationale in this thread is just
Cats are legit arguing that because people used to think Dirk was soft and not better than KG, that it somehow detracts from the reality of him evolving into a better player? That's like reasoning because people questioned Bron's heart, leadership, and nerves at various points, he can't be recognized as better than a laundry list of players at this point. Past perception isn't particularly relevant. KG has a remarkable all-around game. History has shown he simply isn't an alpha dog on the offensive end. He's like an even better Pippen - which is no insult. He's awesome. It's just that it's more difficult to build around a player like him than it is to build Dirk, as evidenced by Dirk's teams spending a decade winning 50-67 games. People like to play the nonsensical game of hyping up Nash and Finley, but when Nash left and became MVSteve, I notice Nash never sniffed a finals, while Dirk IMMEDIATELY went to one.
It's absurd to hold Dirk's loss as a 1 seed against him while somehow glossing over KG's inabilty for years to even lead a team to a fukking 8 seed. Such nonsense.
Patrick Ewing's inside out game and his anchoring of the Knicks' defense took his team on multiple playoff runs and almost won them a title. That despite never having a viable all star level player on the wing. Give him Pierce and Allen, and we might view him quite differently. I view him kind of similarly to KG, actually. KG to me is kind of P. Ewing as a PF, or Pippen as a PF. Which isn't an insult by any measure. I have no idea how it became some kind of world class insult to say KG is an all time great player who isn't quite the building block that other all time greats are. there is absolutely nothing outlandish about that point, regardless of how egregious KG fans pretend it is.
The other thing KG stans love to toss out there is his all around brilliance based on him averaging 20, 10, and 5 bullshyt back to pretendville. Show me the season he had like that post-2006. I'll wait. It's just one of those dumb ass stats people throw out to better their defense of KG. He hasn't averaged 10 rebounds since 2006, nor has he averaged as many as 3 assists since 2007. He hasn't averaged even 16 points a game since 2007. Since his second year in the NBA - aside from last year when he was working his way back from surgery and initially playing limited minutes -Dirk has never averaged fewer than 21 points in a season. Dirk has been assisting and rebounding at pretty much the same exact rate as KG for years now. Dirk gets to the line more often, and makes FTs at a higher %. Dirk can shoot 3s, mid range shots, post, and drive. If someone tells me that KG is somehow close to equal to Dirk on offense because he averages 20-10-5 (which, by the way, he doesn't), then I know right away that person doesn't know much about basketball beyond the casual level. I'm pretty sure I read a post in this thread that tried to spin Dirk's ability to make 3s and his higher rate of drawing contact as some kind of negative. Some of these arguments are mindblowing.
KG's absolute best years on those wack ass Minny teams are slightly better than Dirk's absolute best years. But Dirk is not only more consistently outproducing KG in terms of advanced stats, his career has been one of sustained excellence or improvement as the years go on, while KG tails off. Dirk's career arc is simply more impressive than KGs, and him leading teams to two title runs (one of which he unquestionably was cheated out of), one of which was an all time bum team winning a chip, can't be brushed off as "Dirk had better teammates." also, no star player has had his supporting cast overrated more than Dirk, almost always by KG stans. You'd think all those years of the Mavs having fringe all star tweeners and Michael Finley was the equivalent of the Heat's "Big 3" or something. Arguing that Dirk isn't a better building block for a title contender on a year in, year out basis is just fukking weird and stubborn.
Also, terms like "career" and "legacy" are fundamentally tied to longevity. KG had a slightly better peak, but Dirk has had a longer, sustained prime. If a legacy was just based on a player's 5 best years, I could die in peace knowing Don Mattingly was going into Cooperstown. But that's not how legacy works.
I say all that as someone who has never been a fan of Dirk. I'm just a fan of basketball. Regardless, the debate is close. And I have no problem agreeing that KG is a more complete player than Dirk. I just don't think that means he's the easier player to build around.
about all them squads....in the playoffs that is.....
Are you okay?
