Warriors' Kevin Durant says 'skill for skill,' Kyrie Irving is better than Allen Iverson
One of the most entertaining ways to try to gauge a player's impact on the NBA is to compare him to players of previous eras and see how he stacks up.
Kevin Durant was recently interviewed on "The Bill Simmons Podcast," and Kyrie Irving's name was brought up. Simmons mentioned Allen Iverson as a possible comparison to Irving, but Durant said that, in his opinion, Irving is better than Iverson was.
"Kyrie's better than A.I. to me," Durant said. "Skill for skill, his handle is better ... I feel like Kyrie got more skill. I'm sorry."
Durant carefully added that he meant the comment as no disrespect to Iverson. He also described Kyrie's uncanny finishing ability.
"I was telling some of my friends after Game 2, Kyrie just makes you happy when you watch him play," Durant said. "You just smile when you watch him play. For someobdy to be that skilled, you know he had to work tirelessly at it ... the stuff he has in his [layup] package is next level stuff that you can try to teach your kids ... but [they'll] never be able to do it."
It's an apt comparison -- both Iverson and Irving are small, score-first point guards who have come to be known for their dazzling ball-handling skills and finishing ability. Iverson's crossover basically led to an entire generation of basketball players who thought carrying the ball was perfectly legal.
But in terms of playing style, the two are are actually quite different. Irving is less of a raw athlete and uses more hesitation and misdirection to throw his defenders off balance. Iverson relied more on quickness, and had freakish athleticism for his size. While Irving finishes his drives with jaw-dropping, twisting layups, Iverson would sometimes rise up and dunk on taller defenders. Irving is also a more prolific 3-point shooter, but 3s weren't nearly as big of a part of the game during Iverson's era, and A.I. probably could have developed his long-range shot if he felt it were necessary.
Durant is definitely suffering from recency bias, having just played Irving in the NBA Finals for five straight games. But that's the great thing about opinions -- you can never prove them wrong.