Oh, so now KD is a killer but only when there is no pressure. That makes no sense. It was all on him to win the last 2 finals and he did.
Lol, no it wasn't all on him. In 2017 Steph avg'd 26/8/9. Klay avg 16ppg. Draymond avg'd a double double and did all the little things he's known for. And Iggy guarded Lebron. KD coasted along with everyone else. No pressure. And Steph should have arguably won the FMVP this year.
Steph is the heart of the team and he's the one that makes their offense run. Draymond is the alpha dog. KD is the most talented player but Steph and Dray create a nice little comfort zone for him to play in.
1. They don't have the length of Clay and Draymond on perimeter to interior transition defense. That's not even debatable. They don't have someone with KD's size, skill, and athleticism, not even debatable.
Their shortest player is 6'6. They have plenty of length.
2. No, Jordan didn't. Jordan just tried to brute force his way through the playoffs and kept getting booted out of round 1. LeBron was making it to the finals. Don't play that bullshit with me.
Jordan had seasons with higher output and higher production than Lebron James, fact. Jordan faced Bird's Celtics and the Bad Boy Pistons with less talent than Lebron had this year. Then once he got just a little bit of talent around him he never lost again in his prime. Lebron needed full blown superteams and weak conferences to win. Another fact.
3. You clearly don't know how defense in the NBA works. You can't stop someone like KD. Because he initiates what happens. He gets the fist step. With his speed and length you're ALWAYS behind him. So let's assume they double KD, which is their only shot at slowing him down. Good, now lets have KD kick it to whoever is open at 3. You know who loses this game 10/10 times? The Bulls. They don't have the shooters to keep up with it. So tell me how the fuck they stop KD. Klay and can play Jordan on the outside and Draymond can pick him up on the drive. They can do the same thing with Iguoadola while one of them rests on defense. If you're telling me Scottie Pippen is going to outscore Steph, Klay, Draymond, you're high. Tony Kukoc isn't picking up that slack at any point in his entire career. They are out manned offensively and defensively. Rodman can't control the pace of the game offensively. The only shot they really have at winning is he can out rebound them which isn't hard to believe, but they are still losing in volume. It's incredibly difficult for any team to make up the volume that GS is going to throw out.
It's not about stopping KD. It's about making him less efficient, hesitant and unsure, and reverting back to OKC iso ball that takes the Warriors out of their offense and rhythm. Duh. Ways the Bulls can do this is by being physical and challenging him for position before he even gets the ball. Play him aggressively, push him out of his go to areas, and challenge everything. You don't shut him down that way but you can slow him down. And then theres the mental game which is where Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman are uniquely equipped to take him completely out his game.
There was a point during the Rockets series where KD was playing relatively well and scoring the ball but doing it inefficiently and the team wasn't playing well. Steve Kerr literally told him to play more like Michael Jordan lol.
4. KD Post game shits on Jordan because of his length, look at the absolute mismatches on the court in this video
KD's post game is very good...one of the best. But it's not as good as Jordan's. Jordan had more technical moves and counters and superior timing and IQ. He was better at reading the defense, passing out of the post, fading away, spinning, driving, handling the double team, quicker, and whatever else you want to bring up. With Jordan's post game height didn't matter. He was going to torch you either way.
KD's game just can't compare. And his resume, career, and stats reflect that.
5. Jordan is not a comparable scorer, he is OBJECTIVELY behind Durant when it comes to both skills in game and physical gifts. He isn't a better passer, 5.1 to 5.4 APG on their teams. It's pretty comparable. He's also objectively not a better rebounder. KD averages more rebounds. The whole point that the Bulls got Rodman was because of rebounding ability. That's pretty much all that needs to be said on the matter. Better leader? another intangible quality. I don't necessarily disagree either but that's conjecture. He was more outspoken. Better IQ? Again, not measurable other than the fact that Durant plays with more line ups and switches position way more than Jordan. So I'd be inclined to believe he's got more experience and smarter as a result.
Durant is physically gifted but not as much as Jordan. Quickness, leaping ability, agility, explosion, body control, and strength all go to Jordan. All KD has on him is height and wing span. Objectively speaking Jordan is a much greater scorer than KD. Much higher scoring totals & avgs and then 10 scoring titles.
He was a better leader because how much he got out of his teammates. It was the daily intensity in practice, the attention to detail, the tearing down and building up of his teammates over the course of a season. It was always leading by example which means not resting on defense and quiting in the huddle ala Lebron James. It's not letting your out of control point guard dominate the offense in crucial moments for 8 years while you stand to the side acting all timid and shy ala Kevin Durant.