[Bryant24Participant]

[apb540Participant]

I hope they can be this decade’s version of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. 

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

I was hoping for the one on one drill. The one where you only have two or three dribbles. That was always my favorite drill during training, etc.

[fastdanParticipant]

Durant and Lebron don’t have that intense personal rivally Bird and Magic had. And they would have never trained together in the offseason

[omphalosParticipant]

I think if they start meeting in the Finals all these little buddy sessions will stop. That said, Durant and Lebron won’t be a rivalry like Magic and Bird because of the age difference. It will be more like Kobe and Lebron, with one trying to hold onto the throne from the young upstart.

That said, I think Durant will take over as the league’s premier player a lot sooner than Lebron did to Kobe.

[Anton123Participant]

 At 0:24 LeBron actually does look like a crab!

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

The NBA is definitely too buddy buddy nowadays. Not enough fierce competition. That’s one thing I do like about Kobe. He’s not with all of this buddy buddy sh*t.

[M-DYMESParticipant]

Lol @ Anton123.

And I agree with Indy.  And it doesn’t help that Durant seems like he’s probably one of the top 10 nicest and calmest people on the face of the Earth. 

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

He definitely seems to be more "old school" as far as keeping to himself and his teammates. But, he is still a lot more cool with other players than Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were during their career. Plus, while it is well documented that the old school Lakers and Celtics kept away from each other, I think that Magic, for one, had friends from other teams he would associate with.

I will say, the reason I feel things have changed so drastically, beyond the internet and social networking, is that these guys build relationships from such an incredibly young age. AAU ball and camps have these players sometimes knowing each other through their early teens. I think the majority of us would probably be cool with other players as well, I am guessing I would.

It would be cool to have that true "us versus them" rivalry, it is really hard to do that when you actually know these people. Even Larry and Magic, upon actually getting to know each other during the 1986 Converse commercial shoot, became friends. I feel in 1987, the last Lakers versus Celtics NBA Finals with Magic and Bird, it was as competitive as ever. However, their mutual respect for each other was different. I do not know when Larry Bird said what he did from 3:53-3:58 in this video, but I am guessing it was during the 1987 Finals:

I think once you get on the court, you are not taking it easy on anyone, than or now. Other people may think that they take it easier on their friends, but if you are playing competitive basketball, you want to win. I am sure Durant and LeBron are happy when one or the other does well, but if they play each other in the Finals, you will have a battle.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

But do you remember that whole "Chris Bosh is a fake tough guy thing"? Well, it seems that James Harden got fouled, Durant very audibly said, "Come on, man! Dunk in his face!". Bosh heard this and spoke up for himself to KD. Is there anything wrong with what KD said or did? Not really. But, I think it shows that he is just as competitive as a number of us on the court.

I remember this one game I was playing where someone told the guy I was guarding to "bust his @ss", and after we won, I let him know I had heard it and refused to oblige. From than on, whenever I played with the guy who had said that about me (who was a really good player, one I had incredible difficulty guarding and was better than I was), we were definitely on good terms and were cool with each other. We had built a mutual respect. But, we still wanted to win whenever we were on opposite teams. The way people deal with each other now off of the court may be different, but I think these guys are ultra competitive on the court. I have found that they genuinely seem to want to kill each other in a play-off series.

[M-DYMESParticipant]

Im not saying KD isn’t competitive.  I just think the Bird/Magic rivalry was beyond competitiveness and more that combined with some serious bad blood and undertones dating back to college. 

Part of that may be the age difference as you stated b/c they don’t have that long-term history. 

I’ve personally experienced both types of rivalries.

Off the top of my head…

Dating back to middle school ball, there was this guy (plays for a D-1 school now, but I’ll hold out his name out of respect, although you may be able to figure it out from my past posts) who I had always been matched up against from then on.  On the floor we were violent towards each other.  Taking it in strong, throwing elbows every now and then, trying to match moves (u hit a 3, I hit a 3), we even got into little scuffles on the floor that occassionally needed to be broken up.  But after the games, we were perfectly cool with eachother.  We’d go grab something to eat, talk some ball, go to a party in his or my neighborhood.  We just had mutual respect for eachother and developed a bond, but on the floor, that was time for us to settle our issues. 

The other type would be after I came to college and started playing in the intramural tournaments, I met this douche named Mike.  He is the most cockiest, arrogant, prick I’ve ever met on the court.  Dude will call foul 24/7 on me as well for playing tight D, but when we get a ref in the games, officials call nothing cuz its just straight up good D.  But ever since we first met, instant bad blood.  I’d say I’m a pretty calm guy but with him I turn into an animal.  We are at eachothers throats, literally.  We get in a physical fight damn near every time we meet it seems, even if I’m heading up to the gym just for a pickup game and he’s there, everyone up at the gym that knows us understands that its gonna get ugly at some point.  He’s a very good player, don’t get me wrong I have respect for his game, but as a person we are at odds.  I’d say he def. brings out the best in me though on the floor and i do the same for him.  But I certainly am not going to be toasting at his wedding or anything. 

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

With Magic and Larry though, it was amazing that they got to play the 1979 NCAA championship game against each other and had that history to go along with wanting to just flat out kill the other. But, I think it was honestly due to the fact that they did not know each other. Honestly, as cool as the whole Lakers/Celtics rivalry was, I think that the fact that Magic and Larry developed that mutual respect and friendship is one of the coolest parts. It is always kind of interesting to hear about a beef, but basketball seems to be more about community and camaraderie.

I do not think we will see another rivalry like Magic v. Bird, just because they were two incredible players who happened to have different yet similar paths while having different yet similar styles of play. They were story book good, and it would be hard to believe that their type of rivalry could be duplicated. But, had Larry and Magic been in 1999 or 2009 rather than 1979, the odds are that they would have probably gotten to know each other one way or another. I know that Larry and Magic played on a team together in 1978, but it sounds nothing like the one they played on in 1992. Just feel like the times have changed and that one way or another, you are probably associating with guys on other teams, but I still think the competition is fiery and real.

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