Durant or Wade

[Goran Dragic]

Lebron, Wade, Kobe and Howard are better than him without a doubt IMO..you could argue for him at 5(which is why I said 5-7), but you could also argue for Chris Paul, Dirk and Deron Williams IMO..

The majority of the people in this thread say he's better than Wade, so I don't understand where "without a doubt" comes from.

None of those guys have ever approached the elite level, none of them have ever been on elite teams during their primes..a lot of people were comparing Durant to Lebron and Kobe this season, he shouldn't be compared to guys like Nique/Gervin/Anthony..

Neither Nique Gervin or Anthony were/are the efficient scorer KD is. I'd say he's ahead of them and in behind Kobe/Lebron.

He has a usage % of 32, which is ridiculously high, so he has the ball plenty, and he has one of the worst assist to turnover ratios for a high usage wing player in NBA history..among small forwards that averaged 20 MPG or more, Durant only finished ahead of Travis Outlaw, Al Thornton, Mikael Pietrus and Donte Greene in this category, all guys that are both ballhogs and terrible passers(not calling Durant a ballhog)..

His job is to score, because of his high usage rate he's bound to rack up turnovers, but it's not like all of those turnovers were errant passes, a lot of them were probably due to the congestion and traffic in the lane he has to deal with every night. Someone line Lebron surrounded by good shooters is bound to have more assists and less turnovers.

I concede that Durant has less playmaking opportunities than Kobe and Wade, but he's still a horrible passer, as shown by his putrid assist totals and high passing turnover totals..

What do you mean by passing turnover? He has a lot of turnovers, just like anyone who has ever averaged 30+ PPG. That doesn't mean he's a bad passer.

I'm not going to look into this, because it's irrelevant to my point..I'm not a fan of Westbrook either..it doesn't really have much to do with Durant's ability as a passer though..both guys have the ball a pretty high amount, it doesn't excuse Durant's passing..

Durant is not supposed to be creating off the dribble, his job is to score more than anything else.

They drew virtually the same amount of FTA/g per 36, I consider Wade better because he draws a much higher amount in comparison to his FGAs..

Durant had 20.3 FGAs and 10.2 FTAs per game. Wade had 19.6 FGAs and 9.1 FTAs per game. 10.2/20.3 = 0.502, 9.1/19.6 = 0.464. Durant averages more free throws per FG attempts. Try again.

It doesn't explain his high number or turnovers..also, having mediocre teammates(which Durant doesn't) hasn't stopped other elite wing players from getting their assist totals..

ROFL a lack of teammates who provide spacing/defensive attention don't explain some of his turnovers? Thabo Sefolosha being so bad on offense that he enables a defender to help on Durant on every single possession doesn't contribute to Duran'ts turnovers? Having no interior scorer for other teams' bigs to worry about won't lead to more turnovers when he's blind sided by a big who can help away from Nick Collison with impunity?

[mystargtr34]

Lmao at people completely ignoring passing and playmaking as a basketball skill..

KD > Wade because he is taller and a better scorer.

[HarlemHeat37]

The majority of the people in this thread say he's better than Wade, so I don't understand where "without a doubt" comes from.

Nobody has made an argument for Durant yet..I literally haven't seen one that explains why he's better than Wade..I already posted my argument, as did mystar34..even in your argument, you're just trying to defend Durant, you aren't really making an argument as to why he's better than Wade..

I don't believe there's a legit argument for Durant..he's clearly an inferior playoff performer, there's no argument there, as you conceded to..you're defending his passing ability, and even if I concede that argument, which I won't do, he's still an inferior passer to Wade by a significant margin, which isn't debatable..

Neither Nique Gervin or Anthony were/are the efficient scorer KD is. I'd say he's ahead of them and in behind Kobe/Lebron.

I agree he's better than all those guys if we're comparing them at the same time of their careers..I'm just saying they're comparable passers, which isn't a good thing for Durant IMO..

His job is to score, because of his high usage rate he's bound to rack up turnovers, but it's not like all of those turnovers were errant passes, a lot of them were probably due to the congestion and traffic in the lane he has to deal with every night. Someone line Lebron surrounded by good shooters is bound to have more assists and less turnovers.

Again, Durant has a terrible assist to turnover ration..82games.com has a stat that measures passing assists to bad passes, among other things, and it comes up with a passing rating..Durant's passing rating is horrible for a wing player, trailing all the other all-star caliber wings..he even trails Carmelo Anthony by a massive margin..

Saying his spacing isn't that good is a fair point, but it doesn't excuse it at all..it's definitely not enough to make up for these horrible passing numbers, and it surely isn't enough to get him close to Wade as a passer..

What do you mean by passing turnover? He has a lot of turnovers, just like anyone who has ever averaged 30+ PPG. That doesn't mean he's a bad passer.

His assist to turnover ratio and passing numbers would indicate that he's a bad passer..

Durant is not supposed to be creating off the dribble, his job is to score more than anything else.

He obviously excels at scoring, but you're trying to compare him to guys like Wade..a guy like Wade scores at a high level AND makes plays for his teammates at a high level..it's clearly a big reason why Lebron, Wade and Kobe separate themselves from him..

Durant had 20.3 FGAs and 10.2 FTAs per game. Wade had 19.6 FGAs and 9.1 FTAs per game. 10.2/20.3 = 0.502, 9.1/19.6 = 0.464. Durant averages more free throws per FG attempts. Try again.

82games has a stat that measure FTAs, and Wade is ahead of him..either way, I said I would take Wade by a slight margin..I don't mind if you want to take Durant here, it's not by a significant margin either way, and it doesn't change much on either side of the argument..

ROFL a lack of teammates who provide spacing/defensive attention don't explain some of his turnovers? Thabo Sefolosha being so bad on offense that he enables a defender to help on Durant on every single possession doesn't contribute to Duran'ts turnovers? Having no interior scorer for other teams' bigs to worry about won't lead to more turnovers when he's blind sided by a big who can help away from Nick Collison with impunity?

Having poor teammates hasn't stopped many all-star caliber wings from racking up assist totals in the past..Wade has continued to manage it despite poor supporting casts..Kobe did it with his poor supporting casts, so did Lebron..

Again, his passing rating is HORRIBLE, as is his assist to turnover ratio..I'll give him some credit for the bad spacing and all, but it doesn't make up for these terrible numbers..

My main arguments are passing and playoff performance, two pretty huge factors..

[spursfan1000]

For the future?..probably Durant, due to age and injury concerns..

Right now?..obviously Wade, not debatable..

[HarlemHeat37]

..

[Ghazi]