If you could only have one: Al Horford or Kevin Durant?

[otherdave]

Durant is probably one of the top three players in the world, so he is the one we would select. 

Having said that though, how would KD's presence affect the playing time of JC, MS, AB, or the development of J Brown (I am assuming no trades would have occurred).  Of course that is a nice problem to have...

I not the smartest guy about basketball, but part of me is just so impressed with how well Al plays and fits with the C.  The screens, passes, smarts and unselfishness.  With Sully gone, KO coming off of surgery, Amir in decline, etc. we really needed Al Horford.

Does the addition of KD alone, given our underwhelming bigs (KO, AJ, TZ, JJ) win us a championship (or even get us past Cavs)?

Kevin is a great, great player, but we already have players who provide reasonable scoring and reasonable defense. So while Durant is the better player, perhaps our greater need was a very skilled big. So happy Al chose us.

Thoughts?

[LarBrd33]

c'mon... you know the answer.  Putting aside resume and accolades (where LeBron so very obviously has him beat) Durant might be the best basketball player alive.   Well... probably not.  LeBron is god-like.  But Durant is easily a top 3 player and probably the most offensively gifted guy in the league.   

Horford's a really good player.  Our best player, in fact.  Top 20-30 player in the league.  But this is a no-contest.  Reminds me of the logic that leads to threads like, "Kendrick Perkins is a better fit for this team than Hakeem in his prime"

[BitterJim]

No, Durant alone would not win us a championship. Neither will Horford, though, so it isn't really relevant. Durant would give us a better foundation, so the answer is pretty obvious

[Big333223]

No, Durant alone would not win us a championship. Neither will Horford, though, so it isn't really relevant. Durant would give us a better foundation, so the answer is pretty obvious

This.

The team would be woefully thin in bigs but they've got assets to trade and have a guy like Durant makes moving those young assets a lot more palatable. Obviously Durant.

[jpotter33]

It depends on what you mean by the question.

Who would I rather have to start a team around? Durant easily.

Who is the better overall player? Durant easily.

Who is better with this team right now? Horford easily.

Horford is much more valuable to us right now with his defense, rim protection, and rebounding than what Durant brings offensively. We've seen how terrible our big rotation really is, and if you replace Horford with Durant, we're getting worse not better.

[LarBrd33]

It depends on what you mean by the question.

Who would I rather have to start a team around? Durant easily.

Who is the better overall player? Durant easily.

Who is better with this team right now? Horford easily.

Horford is much more valuable to us right now with his defense, rim protection, and rebounding than what Durant brings offensively. We've seen how terrible our big rotation really is, and if you replace Horford with Durant, we're getting worse not better.

Nah. 

A lineup of Thomas, Bradley, Durant, Crowder, Amir murders a lineup of Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Amir, Horford.

If you're unfamiliar with the Durant impact, just look at the Golden State Warriors - who are currently in the process of ripping through this league like a hot chainsaw through drawn butter... meanwhile the Thunder are hovering around .500 without him.

[jpotter33]

It depends on what you mean by the question.

Who would I rather have to start a team around? Durant easily.

Who is the better overall player? Durant easily.

Who is better with this team right now? Horford easily.

Horford is much more valuable to us right now with his defense, rim protection, and rebounding than what Durant brings offensively. We've seen how terrible our big rotation really is, and if you replace Horford with Durant, we're getting worse not better.

Nah. 

A lineup of Thomas, Bradley, Durant, Crowder, Amir murders a lineup of Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Amir, Horford.

If you're unfamiliar with the Durant impact, just look at the Golden State Warriors - who are currently in the process of ripping through this league like a hot chainsaw through drawn butter... meanwhile the Thunder are hovering around .500 without him.

Sure bud.

[Ogaju]

It depends on what you mean by the question.

Who would I rather have to start a team around? Durant easily.

Who is the better overall player? Durant easily.

Who is better with this team right now? Horford easily.

Horford is much more valuable to us right now with his defense, rim protection, and rebounding than what Durant brings offensively. We've seen how terrible our big rotation really is, and if you replace Horford with Durant, we're getting worse not better.

Nah. 

A lineup of Thomas, Bradley, Durant, Crowder, Amir murders a lineup of Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Amir, Horford.

If you're unfamiliar with the Durant impact, just look at the Golden State Warriors - who are currently in the process of ripping through this league like a hot chainsaw through drawn butter... meanwhile the Thunder are hovering around .500 without him.

wouldn't the more appropriate comparison be GSW last year without Durant vs GSW this year with Durant? In that case you will notice that GSW this year with Durant is off to a slower start than GSW last year without Durant.

[LarBrd33]

It depends on what you mean by the question.

Who would I rather have to start a team around? Durant easily.

Who is the better overall player? Durant easily.

Who is better with this team right now? Horford easily.

Horford is much more valuable to us right now with his defense, rim protection, and rebounding than what Durant brings offensively. We've seen how terrible our big rotation really is, and if you replace Horford with Durant, we're getting worse not better.

Nah. 

A lineup of Thomas, Bradley, Durant, Crowder, Amir murders a lineup of Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, Amir, Horford.

If you're unfamiliar with the Durant impact, just look at the Golden State Warriors - who are currently in the process of ripping through this league like a hot chainsaw through drawn butter... meanwhile the Thunder are hovering around .500 without him.

wouldn't the more appropriate comparison be GSW last year without Durant vs GSW this year with Durant? In that case you will notice that GSW with Durant is off to a slower start than GSW with Durant.

lol... fair point.   

Data seemed to suggest OKC was a borderline .500 (or worse) team without Durant and a 57+ win team with him.  So far, that seems to be the case despite Westbrook's huge stats. 

Obviously GOlden State is unbelievable regardless of their slow start.  Basically tied for first place in the league and they won their last two games by 37 and 43 points.  Ridiculously stacked.   They are averaging 120 points per night and just getting started.

Stick Durant on this team instead of Horford and it's undoubtedly better.  Durant is a legitimate superstar.  Top 3 player in the league easily.

[mqtcelticsfan]

The answer is quite obviously Durant. There are only a small handful of players I'd rather have than Durant, and Horford definitely isn't one of them.

[Clench123]

C'mon man, this is an unfair comparison to Horford.

[max215]

C'mon man, this is an unfair comparison to Horford.

This. It's not really fair to compare Al to a player of KD's caliber.

[Eja117]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV1LzXf1TKQ

[Roy H.]

Horford fits really well on this team.  He's not Durant.

KD missed out on something special, though. Thomas / Bradley / Durant / Crowder / Horford would have been a contender.

[mr. dee]

It's not really a question. I will definitely choose Durant. He's a former MVP and scoring champ. Horford is not even close but he is what we need right now. But Durant didn't picked us so let's move on and deal with it.