Gil Scott-Heroin
Veteran
Now, before I rip your post/argument into pieces, I just want you to marinate on this statement you gave and realize that you'll NEVER know what the fukk you're talking about when it comes to basketball.
Never.
How exactly is this relevant to his ability as a scorer? Cap (you know the dude who's scored more points than anyone in history?) played on a "championship caliber squad in his early 20s" as well. What's your point?
Name the players besides Westbrook who've been a constant in his career whom have given him better looks because of them being able to keep the "defense honest"? Not only is this a silly ass argument for the fact that the best wing defender was typically guarding Durant on a nightly basis, but Durant's ppg was actually hindered by playing next to a ball-dominant guard. Durant's ALWAYS been heavily guarded ever since his rookie season, teams have never given him a shooting cushion like they've done with LeBron. Never mind the fact that if you've watched Durant play throughout his career you would've seen how heavily teams defend him everywhere in the halfcourt - both on-the-ball and off-the-ball (which he's elite at).
Do you use this logic for other all-time great players? What about Magic, does he have no argument for being the greatest passer/game manager in NBA history because of the talent he was surrounded with for his entire career? What about Bird being surrounded by all the ATG talent throughout his career?
When did his numbers "blow the fukk up"? His numbers have always been high no matter who his teammates were. I dare hope you're not talking about his 2015/16 MVP season - you know when he had virtually the same teammates as the season before, hitting shots from everywhere on the floor while being guarded closely than any player in the league -
To recap, gravity score measures how closely a player's defender sticks to him off the ball. Higher gravity scores generally belong to bigs because their primary defender must stay close and also protect the basket. On the other hand, guards typically have lower gravity scores simply because defenders have more liberty to shade off their guy on the perimeter. But elite shooters typically generate more attention off the ball.
Then there's distraction score, which quantifies how much a player's defender is willing to help off the ball to stop the ball handler. The worse he is as a shooter, the more likely his defender will be distracted by the ball handler. To identify the most effective floor-spacers in the NBA, I created a composite score that combines the two metrics. The result is what I've called "respect rating," which has now been translated to a 1-to-100 scale with 100 being the most magnetic (think sharpshooters) and 1 being least magnetic (think non-scoring bigs).
1. Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors | Respect rating: 97.9
Gravity score: 97.3 | Distraction score: 98.4
2. Kyle Korver, Atlanta Hawks | Respect rating: 96.0
Gravity score: 92.3 | Distraction score: 99.7
3. Klay Thompson, Golden State Warriors | Respect rating: 94.4
Gravity score: 89.6 | Distraction score: 99.1
4. Mike Conley, Memphis Grizzlies | Respect rating: 87.5
Gravity score: 79.3 | Distraction score: 95.7
5. Gordon Hayward, Utah Jazz | Respect rating: 84.0
Gravity score: 72.1 | Distraction score: 95.9
How the fukk are you gonna claim Steph's scoring numbers blew up when he had the same teammates from the season before, and was guarded more closely than anyone in the game?
See, this is how stupid you are. First of all, it's not just about the minutes, it's about how many shots and efficiency. He scored 32 ppg on 64 TS%/20.8 shots per game - a more efficient season than Jordan ever had (on his similar ppg seasons). Second of all, the stretch where Westbrook was out injured and the Thunder were running lineups with Jackson, Thabo, Ibaka and Perkins (you know players who aren't great offensive threats), Durant averaged -
35 ppg on 22 shots per game - 52% shooting, 65 TS% with a starting lineup of R.Jackson, Thabo, Ibaka and Perkins. And you wanna sit there and spin this bullshyt about Durant was surrounded with all this talent and that's why he is a great scorer bullshyt rhetoric. When Durant was actually giving the monopoly of scoring possessions for his team he was putting up points on greater efficiency than anyone in history. Just take this month during his MVP season where he was playing without Westbrook, surrounded by a bunch of role players -
Durant would've finished around 35 ppg that season if it weren't for the games where he had to balance his scoring output when Westbrook was playing.
As I said above, he averaged more points on better efficiency when Westbrook wasn't playing during that season. Go figure.The way you’re talking you make it sound as if Russ handcuffed Durant from averaging 40ppg or something. fukk outra here cornball.
you white knight bytch
