Kobe won a championship without Shaq. So that is absolute pure nonsense. And Kobe was head and shoulders and all around better basketball player than KD could ever dream of being. He was the "Black Mamba". What the f is Durant? Durant is far further up the list than you suggest. He will go down in history as one of the top 10 players of all time. However, that has not translated to championships nor does it diminish his toxicity. Russ and Draymond seem to get along with their teams - Russ at OKC long after KD fled the scene, and Draymond has been in GS forever. KD is not just measured on the basis of whom you do and don't get along with, it is also measured by the impact your presence has on a franchise. Draymond has been all but indispensable on a star-studded team as evidenced by what happened to GS when he was conveniently suspended in the Finals. NO ONE will put up the triple-double numbers that Russ has ever again. And while KD is a more valuable basketball player, Russ is a better athlete and is arguably more productive to a franchise. They beat them without KD with Green suspended. You just prove my point. Absent the suspension, GS would have rolled over Cleveland and Lebron. They were up 3-1 without KD in that series and lost one of their key players on a flagrant foul call. That turned the entire series around. No going to UT does not make him toxic. But toxicity is synonymous with controversy. His commitment to UT when he had offers to play closer to home was controversial. He was a guaranteed one and done, and I believe that he knew that he would be under a lot less stress playing for a program that had and has won absolutely nothing, than going to a storied program where other 5 stars would have rallied to play with him. It was almost as if he was afraid of the challenge.
Mediocre? The man got hired by THE Chicago Bulls-one of the most iconic franchises in the league. He had 2-3 starters out A LOT of the year, and multiple back-ups starting in the playoffs. That first round team that beat them? The Defending Champs. The Champs in their next game beat the best team in the league by 20 points. Wow.
I mean, maybe he could slip in at #10 if he has a few more stellar years, but he is more of a 15-30 kind of guy. Outside of his first few years in the league, when has he even been the best player on his own team?
Everywhere Durant has played he has been the best player. But that fact does not make him championship caliber. He simply does not have the drive and motivation to win like the top 5/7 players of all time did. And arguably, he has played with as good if not better talent than some of them in my opinion, but has faltered so many times when it really mattered!
A "dumpster fire nose-dive" is a 2 seed? They lost to 15 seed St. Peter's but is that a "dumpster fire nose-dive"?
I can't see him in the Hall of Fame but to his credit has done better than many others, which is noteworthy amongst a profession where few excel. He's still gainfully employed. The question why he left should be why should he have stayed.
Billy D will definitely be in the college HOF as a coach with 2 Nattys, another Title game and lot of Elite 8s
If you truely are a Gator fan, we at GC-(HallGator's)-Nutting-but-Net would like to set up the next appointment for you with a qualified psychatrist at Shands Hospital. We think that you need to have your head examined for having such peculiar beliefs about our beloved basketball Coach. Or in the very least, a basketball-intervention is needed.
Billy Donovan Coaching Record | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com This gets you in the college HOF. Coaches with lesser success are in. 21 years. Back to back titles, which very few have done. Even won as an Assistant Coach at UK.
