Duncan
Malone
Dirk
Barkley
And tied with Giannis/KG
Malone
Dirk
Barkley
And tied with Giannis/KG
Where do you rank Kevin Garnett?
- Thread starter Yagirlcheatinonus
- Start date
You certainly can have him above Giannis.
Road20
All Star
He's not above Giannis, Dirk or Tim. 4th is his ceiling
Bullshyt. Dirk cooked his ass in the playoffs and swept him.
Dirk was an all time playoff great. I can hardly think of any of kg playoff moments
Yagirlcheatinonus
Icon Poster
Those early 2000s Dallas teams were loaded with talent. I can only imagine if they stayed together. To be fair KG lost Marbury early in his career. He didn’t really have help like Dirk.
KG ended up getting a washed up Sprewell and Sam Cassel before leaving for Boston.
By the time he got to Boston they had a good 2-3 years. Once Bron went to Miami it was a wrap. KG had a Chance to play with Kobe before going to Boston. KG was too loyal to the T-Wolves and nobody wanted to really play there.
bigillwill06
All Star
from what ive seen with my own eyes ive got
Duncan
dirk
kg
giannis
AD
Malone
Barkley
Cwebb
Bosh
Sheed
Zbo
klove
Lamarcus
edit i forgot c webb so him over bosh
Duncan
dirk
kg
giannis
AD
Malone
Barkley
Cwebb
Bosh
Sheed
Zbo
klove
Lamarcus
edit i forgot c webb so him over bosh
Last edited:
1.DUNCAN
2.KG
3.DIRK
4.AD
5.GIANNIS
6.MALONE
7.BARKLEY
8.HAYES
9.PETTIT
10.MCHALE
2.KG
3.DIRK
4.AD
5.GIANNIS
6.MALONE
7.BARKLEY
8.HAYES
9.PETTIT
10.MCHALE
Eastside Get The Money
Veteran
The league got this new kid from France that might want to dispute this
a all time playoff great that barely shoot 40 percent from the field in finals as a 7 footer
Giannis has done everything KG has and then some in less time so for me I can't. But I''m sure most lists will differ slightly with all the great power forwards to play over the years. Not mad at anyone who has KG as high as number 2.
murksiderock
Superstar
We got to see Dirk and Garnett compete in the same NBA at the same time, their primes overlapped dor about 8 years.
Earlier on, Garnett was viewed as the better player, but that sentiment started to shift as Dirk went on his mid-00s run. Garnett was always hands down the better defensive player, and while Dirk was a better shooter, you could easily make the argument Garnett was a better overall offensive player.
In a vacuum, Garnett was the better basketball player, had greater physical tools and more in his skill set.
The problem is you aren't just looking at things in a vacuum, you have to look at the impact of what these guys actually did.
When they went head to head in the playoffs, Dirk destroyed him. Not just Dallas the team---->Dirk was significantly flat out better in that series, against a guy many of you would say was arguably the greatest defender of his era.
So we saw that. It didn't change the real time opinion yet that Garnett was a better player (this was in '02), but neither guy's career ended in '02, so it holds weight when you view how the rest of their careers went. Also that showing and '02 playoffs was kinda Dirk's coming out party, he was super new and young then.
Garnett routinely had poor rosters around him in Minnesota, and Dirk had better rosters around him in Dallas. I can acknowledge this fact while also having an issue with a guy, allegedly as great as Garnett is, losing 5 consecutive Rd1 series and having a 2-6 overall playoff record in The West. I won't put all the L's on KG.
Getting thoroughly outplayed in '02 by Dirk is an issue, though. He also had home court vs the Lakers in two straight years, '03 and '04, and failing to win either one of those series stands out as one of those seminal moments; those were not great Laker teams. Obviously those also weren't great Minnesota teams but if you were That Guy, and those were the two best teams of his Wolves tenure, I need a "carry you on my back" moment.
Garnett has no playoff "carry you on my back" moments. Dirk has a few, and Dirk being a consistent playoff riser in comparison to KG adds value to Dirk that supersedes KG being the better on paper player.
To be clear, I don't think there's a hell of a gap between the two, I'm not saying that Dirk was so great he's way ahead of KG or anything. But Dirk winning and outplaying him H2H, Dirk having more consistently great playoff runs, and Dirk's knack for being a greater floor and ceiling raiser, give Dirk the edge to me. Steve Nash was a nobody until Dirk elevated him.
With that said, Giannis is a better basketball player than both. The problem Giannis is gonna face, is we may turn around and look at his career and this is it. 1 championship. And if he finishes with just one title, or just one Finals run, it will be an underachievement in comparison to Dirk and KG winning "only" 1 chip, because Giannis' ceiling is supposed to be higher.
Giannis has played in a much weaker East, than The West that Dirk and Garnett fought thru. And so far we have just two ECF runs, only one Finals run. Dirk had two Finals runs and three WCF runs in that Western Conference.
The jury is still out on where Giannis lands, right now all I'll say definitively is that yes he's a better basketball player than both....that doesn't mean he'll historically rank higher. Also doesn't mean he won't, but ultimately they all around the same place. If I had to rank right now, I'd say Giannis is ahead of KG, he has all of KG's achievements ND then some.
That means to me if you consider Duncan a four and Durant a three, Garnett at best is the #5 power forward (he's behind Duncan, Mailman, Dirk, and Giannis for sure).
Earlier on, Garnett was viewed as the better player, but that sentiment started to shift as Dirk went on his mid-00s run. Garnett was always hands down the better defensive player, and while Dirk was a better shooter, you could easily make the argument Garnett was a better overall offensive player.
In a vacuum, Garnett was the better basketball player, had greater physical tools and more in his skill set.
The problem is you aren't just looking at things in a vacuum, you have to look at the impact of what these guys actually did.
When they went head to head in the playoffs, Dirk destroyed him. Not just Dallas the team---->Dirk was significantly flat out better in that series, against a guy many of you would say was arguably the greatest defender of his era.
So we saw that. It didn't change the real time opinion yet that Garnett was a better player (this was in '02), but neither guy's career ended in '02, so it holds weight when you view how the rest of their careers went. Also that showing and '02 playoffs was kinda Dirk's coming out party, he was super new and young then.
Garnett routinely had poor rosters around him in Minnesota, and Dirk had better rosters around him in Dallas. I can acknowledge this fact while also having an issue with a guy, allegedly as great as Garnett is, losing 5 consecutive Rd1 series and having a 2-6 overall playoff record in The West. I won't put all the L's on KG.
Getting thoroughly outplayed in '02 by Dirk is an issue, though. He also had home court vs the Lakers in two straight years, '03 and '04, and failing to win either one of those series stands out as one of those seminal moments; those were not great Laker teams. Obviously those also weren't great Minnesota teams but if you were That Guy, and those were the two best teams of his Wolves tenure, I need a "carry you on my back" moment.
Garnett has no playoff "carry you on my back" moments. Dirk has a few, and Dirk being a consistent playoff riser in comparison to KG adds value to Dirk that supersedes KG being the better on paper player.
To be clear, I don't think there's a hell of a gap between the two, I'm not saying that Dirk was so great he's way ahead of KG or anything. But Dirk winning and outplaying him H2H, Dirk having more consistently great playoff runs, and Dirk's knack for being a greater floor and ceiling raiser, give Dirk the edge to me. Steve Nash was a nobody until Dirk elevated him.
With that said, Giannis is a better basketball player than both. The problem Giannis is gonna face, is we may turn around and look at his career and this is it. 1 championship. And if he finishes with just one title, or just one Finals run, it will be an underachievement in comparison to Dirk and KG winning "only" 1 chip, because Giannis' ceiling is supposed to be higher.
Giannis has played in a much weaker East, than The West that Dirk and Garnett fought thru. And so far we have just two ECF runs, only one Finals run. Dirk had two Finals runs and three WCF runs in that Western Conference.
The jury is still out on where Giannis lands, right now all I'll say definitively is that yes he's a better basketball player than both....that doesn't mean he'll historically rank higher. Also doesn't mean he won't, but ultimately they all around the same place. If I had to rank right now, I'd say Giannis is ahead of KG, he has all of KG's achievements ND then some.
That means to me if you consider Duncan a four and Durant a three, Garnett at best is the #5 power forward (he's behind Duncan, Mailman, Dirk, and Giannis for sure).