Funny, people consider Melo a loser, yet he's made more all star teams and has taken a team just as far as horford has, while also having a great deal of success at the college level.
How are they different?
And unlike horford Melo has been the undisputed best player in every team he's ever been on. But Melo cops flak for not carrying his teams deep while horford gets labeled a winner for it.
I think those people are idiots too.
I think your definition of winner is dumb.
I think Marcus Smart is a winner, but by your definition he isnt even remotely close. I think your definition of "winner" is a lot closer to what most people would call "superstar".
As for the KG example, Al Horford had made more conference finals by his 31st birthday than KG did despite playing fewer seasons due to coming into the league older and suffering more injuries.
Al Horford has played in 11 NBA seasons.
Over those NBA seasons he had played alongside 4 different all Stars (Joe Johnson, Paul Millsap, Kyle Korver, Isaiah Thomas) and another 3 borderline All-stars (Josh Smith, Jeff Teague, Mike Bibby).
Yet despite playing with a not-insubstantial amount of talent around him, here is his career playoff record:
07-08: lost in 1st round
08-09: lost in 2nd round
09-10: lost in 2nd round
10-11: lost in 2nd round
11-12: lost in 2nd round
12-13: lost in 1st round
13-14: lost in 1st round
14-15: lost In ECF
15-16: lost in 2nd round
16-17: lost in ECF
Do you know how many seasons horford had played without an all star teammate? Zero. That's right, every single season has been in the league he has had at least one all star teammate. Yet his record is as follows :
Zero NBA finals appearances
2 ECF appearances
3 first round exits
5 second round exits
If you want to consider that the history of a 'winner" then sorry, but I have to disagree.