Gave this a listen yesterday, and it was a very good discussion. Interestingly, when they broke it down, both came to the same conclusion that KG was better. I probably had Duncan slightly ahead of KG before listening, but now would find it hard to argue with their reasoning.
One interesting thing I thought that they didn't really touch on in a way I would have liked, but at the beginning of the podcast the host talked about a question he put out on Twitter, who had the higher basketball IQ: Duncan or KG? And Duncan got something like 78% of the votes.
Never thought about it before then, and I would have said Duncan, and I would have guessed most would say Duncan (which they did), but never really thought about why. What was it that made Duncan's bball IQ higher? And to me it really just come down to stereotypes: personality, demeanor, system, play style, etc, that we often see with things like race, class, etc.
KG - playing with such visible emotion and energy, is all over the place, the trash talk, comes off a little more "raw" in interviews, skipped college. Leads one to think he's more athletic and energetic than intelligent.
Duncan - as pretty much the opposite in every way (except overall effectiveness), plays slower, calmer, etc., stayed 4 years in college even when he could have came out early and possibly have been the #1 pick. Things usually associated with high intelligence in scouting lingo. So of course he's seen as more intelligent.
It's like Duncan has a lot of qualities typically used to describe high IQ guys, while KG has all the qualities to describe freak athletes. Something that often goes along race lines.
From a Vice article looking at the 2015 NFL draft: Only black players were described as: gifted, aggressive, explosive, raw, and freak. Only white players were described as: intelligent, cerebral, fundamentally, overachiever, technician, workmanlike, desire, and brilliant.
Same thing a lot of people probably do if asked who had the higher bball IQ: Fab Five players like Chris Webber, Jalen Rose or Duke players like Christian Laettner, Grant Hill?
But could I really point to anything in Duncan's or KG's game that made one seem like they had the higher or lower bball IQ besides their demeanor, personality, and associated scouting buzz words? Not really.