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Kevin Durant is an all time great NBA player. He's a multi time NBA MVP, has won NBA championships and came a shoe size from another. He's worth $170mm, and he's in Paris surrounded by hot athletic people. He just starred in an all time great Olympic basketball game, coming back from 15 points down in the fourth against Serbia (a game which proved American racism!) and he's going to star in the gold medal game against France tomorrow.
And he was up at 5am Paris time shit posting against his haters on Twitter. He's got things to do, and if he didn't he could eat at any restaurant or go to any theater or get tickets to any Olympic event or find a groupie or hire the highest end prostitute. But there he is, fighting on Twitter.
Durant, and musk, and bill ackman, prove that shit posting is one of life's great joys. It is something Foucault would have written about (the way he wrote about fisting) as a truly new modern form of joy. And even when you're rich and important and famous you can't resist it. It's too fun. Isn't it magical that we can all access this kind of joy that Elon, who can do whatever he wants, still finds irresistible?
Elon on Twitter is just another guy on Twitter. And for the most part his tweets should be treated as though he's a JAG. That means both not giving him too much extra credibility, and also giving him grace. We're all wrong on here all the time, but nobody cares. And we all love to do 101 econ or history or bio. Give the man the same mercy, that's the level he's playing at.
One of the amusing quirks of history is the breakup of Yugoslavia allowing greater pro-black propaganda by way of US basketball.
For example, a hypothetical Yugoslavia team this Olympics would have featured Doncic alongside Jokic, and Yugoslavia would have had the two best players between it and the US (especially with Embiid ill? injured? not that Embiid should be playing for the US instead of France, or more like Cameroon).
But yes, Durant is an all-time great NBA player, whose reputation was unfortunately tarnished by getting caught Tweeting on burner accounts, e.g., “KD can’t win a championship with those cats.” And the whole GSW Hardest Road situation. Then Brooklyn, then Phoenix.
Much of the intersection between US basketball simps and Durant-haters begrudgingly admits that Durant is likely the greatest basketball Olympian of all time.
Embiid is not one of the best players in the world in this context, no regular season. Doncic unquestionably would be worth the deficit.
Durant will always be better than he is beloved? The opposite of a Derek Jeter or a Nick foles.
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Count me as doubtful to whether Yugoslavia would beat the US. It's very unclear if a Doncic/Jokic combo is better than Jokic alone.
Anyone would acknowledge that the US has far better talent than Serbia. Yet the game was close. So basketball isn't about simply adding talent on top of talent. You need to have team chemistry as well. Doncic is a bit of a team killer who would likely make Jokic worse. On the US side, Embiid is similarly a black hole with negative intangibles.
On the other hand, players like Lebron, Curry, and Jokic make their teammates better and that's what makes them all-time greats.
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I actually think it is less one of life's great joys more than a modern drug; and like most drugs you build up a tolerance the more you use it and it will turn you into a real bastard and husk of a man if you let it.
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