FIRST TAKE | “Durant needs another title with Suns to be considered all time greatest” – Stephen A.

FIRST TAKE | “Durant needs another title with Suns to be considered all time greatest” – Stephen A.

Is now a half game behind the Kings for the sixth spot in the Western Conference standings despite the loss the Suns had four players scored 20 points including Kevin Durant now take a listen to what JJ reck said about KD on his podcast recently he’s literally one of the

Greatest players ever and we spend too much time on the instead of just appreciating his night toight greatness LeBron James has 20 straight Seasons scoring 25 points or more a game that’s the record you know second Kevin Durant Kevin Durant 15 in a row this

Year wow it’s a big glass of wine JJ uh Hey perk good morning thank you for being with us how we doing hey what’s up Molly always good to see you Cy har what’s going on fellas I know her got them Jos on under the T I

Know you got the ja on the old school ja That’s my boy right there There He Go There He Go all right let’s dive in here perk I’m starting with you is KD underappreciated as a superstar you heard what JJ just said God Bless America look listen Molly

We we know JJ right we know once a month he’s going to give us that cute and adorable JJ rent right he’s going to give it to his once a month and sometimes majority of the time he’s right but in this instance since he has lost his damn mind when it comes to

Putting KD in that certain type of box and and and saying that a guy that is an alltime great is underappreciated like Kevin Durant is a top 20 greatest player of all time in my opinion is going to continue to move up in the ranks Kevin Durant is the

Greatest score that I’ve ever seen and I’ve said that on numerous occasions when it comes to being underappreciated he doesn’t fall in that category Kevin Durant because of some of the decisions that he made throughout the course of his career right the journey that he had to go he could get

Criticized we CR all all time great that got criticized we criticized LeBron James when he went to Miami right and LeBron James the reason he the reason he went back to Cleveland is to shut the haters up and to change the narrative and went won a championship there we

Criticized James all the time he’s going to be alltime great because look he don’t get it done in the postseason when you a guy when you fall in that criteria being underappreciated I look at guys like Dwight Howard he’s underappreciated for what he did in Orlando you know I

Believe three Defensive Player of the Year Awards leading the league in rebounding leading the league in blocks when I look at a guy like Rudy gobert who’s on the verge of winning his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award and still doesn’t have the respect of his PE

We don’t talk about him enough he’s a future Hall of Famer when you look at a guy like Demar D rozan down there Chicago one of the most elite scores this game has ever seen he’s underappreciated Kevin Durant is not under is not appreciate Kevin Durant we

Just criticize him when need be we can’t help it that he chose to leave Steph Curry and go team up with Kyrie Irving and the in the mission fail like he has to get it done on his own that’s not that’s not saying knocking KD and saying we don’t appreciate him appreciate him

That’s just calling it a spade the Spade so perk I I’ll say this when it comes to people like you me and KY I I can’t sit up here and say that we underappreciate a Kevin Durant but I think when you when you look at the decisions that you just brought up him

Joining to go to State Warriors after being up 31 uh when he was with OKC Thunders uh Thunder him deciding to leave Golden State and team up with Kyrie Irving and then leave the Brooklyn Nets and go to the Phoenix Suns I think in the people’s eye right I’m not

Talking about us but I think in the normal people’s eye they view it as you know Kevin Durant making some bad decisions and they don’t appreciate his game to the magnitude that I feel like they should you mean the decisions overshadow his talent play on the court because people are more focused Focus

Off the court story lines versus what he’s actually doing within the game of basketball this is a two-time Finals MVP a two-time NBA champion scor in champ we know he’s going to be in the Hall of Fame we had Mama Durant on Freddy and Harry the other day I sung to Mama

Durant you know I mean I was I was throwing some little tunes of Mama Durant you know what I’m saying and everything but I think when you look at the global part about it and how everyone views Kevin Durant I don’t know if they appreciate Kevin Durant the way

They should as a superstar I know we do here’s what I’ll say about the Kevin Durant of it all and perk I think you did a great job of framing the conversation I completely agree with your position KP I I would say when it

Comes to on the court or in the field of play no one has done less than with more than Kevin Durant he is the NBA version of Aaron roders and what I mean by that is his own individual talent and the talent that’s been around him this guy

Has had three MVPs in the prime of their careers around them you had Russell Westbrook with Oklahoma City Thunder you had James Harden that was a part of that situation you also had Steph Curry with the Golden State Warriors you had James Harden again with Kyrie Irving in

Brooklyn and you guys in four years won a grand total of one playoff series and then you have the situation now in Phoenix with the uh with Devin Booker and with Bradley Beal what I’m saying is this nobody is debating whether or not Kevin Durant is a top 20 player from JJ

Reic standpoint I think it’s a straw man argument maybe he was pandering because he had Devin Booker in front of him but nobody is is debating the greatness of Kevin Durant when it comes to his individual talent but when we start talking about the guys that are the

All-time greats the guys that are in the pantheon of the NBA what separates them is being able to have success at the highest levels of sport having those intangibles that lead to you being able to compete in the NBA Finals consistently being able to win championships you compare them to LeBron

James and saying that oh well he’s had the second most 25 Point seasons in terms of his overall average well guess what LeBron James when he left the Cleveland Cavaliers the first time went down down to Miami won a couple of championships but then he was able to

Take that secret sauce that DNA from winning a championship in Miami and replicated in Cleveland and then he replicated in with the LA Lakers so far Kevin Durant hasn’t been able to do that so if we want to compare Kevin Durant to the other guy that’s been the best

Player in the NBA over the last decade or so that’s where Kevin Durant falls short and I think that it’s fair to criticize him in that before you jump in that’s a strong take you said nobody’s done less with more at first I thought you misspoke you meant more with less

Less with more than Kevin Durant do you feel like that’s a fair statement perk I mean to look but to to back up ky’s Point okay think about this Molly we talked about LeBron James and how he went back to Cleveland right because he

Knew that he need needed to go and do it on his own and he did that and LeBron James has been on record talking about that’s the best Championship that he’s won out of his four okay you look at the late great Kobe Bryant right the two without Shaq is what actually elevated

Kobe Bryant in the goat conversation just two months ago about two months ago Kevin Durant was I believe on his podcast Okay Kevin Durant said that he should be in the go why is not in the goat conversation the reason that you’re not in the goat conversation is because

You have to get it done by being the leader of your team by being the guy that you know saying you know what I’m going to take you from the the the foundation and and win it on my own and he hasn’t done that all the all time

Great every single person that we consider or go back and forth with that’s in the goat conversation has went and led their team to the championship Kevin Durant hasn’t done that yet and the fact of the matter is we will will always remember what Kevin Durant did in

His journey right and he has the right to do whatever the hell he want to do but think about this for a second he blew a 3-1 League against the Golden State Warriors okay and then went joined them the next year all right one two NBA championship two finals MVPs could never

Really get out of his mind that he always was going to be in the shadows of Step Curry because stephh Curry is Golden State okay then you go you leave Steph Curry which was in my opinion which was crazy because you could have had two more championships and possibly

Two more finals MVPs under your resume and you go team up with Kyrie Irving and then all of a sudden you team up with Kyrie Irving and James Harden and it was one of the greatest failures of all times when it comes to a situation like

That now you’re back in Phoenix you have a future Hall of Famer around you and Devin Booker you have another future Hall of Fame perk dealing with some technical difficulties one thing I want to jump in though where I feel like I have to defend Kevin Durant here damned if you

Do damned if you don’t as far as what perk was saying the sentiment in terms of if he had stayed with Steph Curry more championships more MVPs Etc but he was being crucified for going to the Warriors so then he’s saying okay now I’m going to get one on my own and that

Was a failed experiment but you can’t put that all on Kevin situation why so yes shaky wait one second so yes so yes some like shaky decisions I understand but to say no one’s done less with more I mean that’s there there’s still teammates involved in other people so that’s that’s my

Point at when you when you look at the Brooklyn Nets that wasn’t Kevin Durant Kevin Durant loved basketball Kevin Durant could be counted on right when he couldn’t control what Kyrie had going on and then James Harden didn’t like it and then we crucified but hold on hold on

Hold on he can control what he says about Kyrie Irving going missing for not one time but two times for weeks on in holding your teammates accountable is a part of the deal do you know he he never he never do you know he did it behind closed doors though because he

Don’t lead the way we want him to lead doesn’t mean he didn’t do it we got to stop trying to make it seem like we want this person to lead this way because that’s the way we’re accustomed to doing it well you have to hold teammates accountable Harry know but here’s the

Thing no matter what he tried it was ineffective and as the best player that is what we’re going to hold you accountable for and here’s the other thing that you got to take into account he chose to pair with Kyrie Irving he’s the one that put together that b big

Three in Brooklyn he’s the one that put together the big three in Phoenix so we can hold them accountable when you have a teammate that goes missing H for for weeks on in and why your team underachieves based on the talent [Applause] for You Spee for spee speech for helloe spee speech so for Fore speech speech Foree spee fore speech foreign Foree C cam cam spee Mee speech speech speech foreign fore foree speech spee [Laughter] foree spe foreign foree spe foreign speech foree foree spee fore spee spee spee foreign For speech speech spe fore fore Fore fore for speee Spee For Fore fore speee speech forign speee for

FIRST TAKE | “Kevin Durant needs another title with Suns to be considered all time greatest” – Stephen A.