I'm also surprised no one has mentioned Durant either. Looks like LeBron just takes 100% of the spotlight right now...
part of the "being stuck on a mediocre team" for a long time symptom. I'd definitely take him over Steph, and pretty much anyone else in this generation outside of LeBron, though.
Goes back to the difficulty of doing cross-generational comparisons. Duncan was one of those guys that basically crossed-over from the 90s era bball into this new ~iso streetball garbage that the NBA now tries to pass off as basketball, and succeeding well in both eras. But other than the way the game is played, and doing those comparisons, there is the way that teams are composed, how freely superstars now move from team to team just to try and create "a product"--that is a single-season juggernaut to win a title, by tossing the ball around between 2-3 megastars and determining greatness by how those 2-3 dudes navigate the ball into the hoop. There really isn't much to an actual team these days. Those don't seem to exist, really?
When you look at the names people are mentioning, pretty much the same top 4 or 5 are in everyone's list, even in different generations, these were arguably classic, great teams. So I think people still put high value in that (probably a factor of sampling--chances are that such great teams will mean multiple championships, and they do, of course, so therefore this kind of success sticks to those individuals, as well, in our minds)
---
Oh, and in response to your dumb question in the other thread about why so many people defend Jordan, and (in your mind, and
your mind only--it is always only in your mind where the thoughts of others exist; because you have to create these arguments so that you can argue against them. I think you do this because you don't know how to function without being angry and dismissive towards nearly everyone you encounter?) the thought that "no one considers his great Bulls teams!"....
LMAO! How about this--if there were maybe, some sort of test we could run, where we can compare those great Bulls teams with Jordan, their unquestionable dominance to the league around them, to the very same team,
without Jordan, controlling for annoying variables like era, age of the same stars, their ability to compete in the league at the very same time, and to further control with, say, a returned Jordan, to see if he could still perform on that very same team....if only WE COULD KNOWN these things in order to get an idea of how truly great Jordan was, and how truly special he made those very good Bulls teams.
IF ONLY THERE WAS A WAY!