Wow after Kobe retired I had named my 2 fav NBA plays Durant and Westbrook. It was because they were Kobe proteges and had that killer attitude. This really changes how I feel about Durant. He really just gave up and said "I can't do it" imo. I'm sorry but signing on to a team that will probably win it all anyways whether you come or not is bandwagoning. Stephen A is right. If I were a GSW fan I would be happy but my opinion of Durant still would have dropped. tbh my opinion of Malone and Payton did too back in '04. It's bandwagoning. But Durant is only 28 next season, he threw in his towel awful fast. That city would have made him mayor.
ESPN radio has been killing Durant all day. My question for those who are mad or look at him differently is this: What would you do? I grew up in the Bay Area and currently live in OKC. There is absolutely no comparison between the 2 locations. Remove KD from either team and their is no comparison between the teams either. Team and location clearly go to the Dubs. Owners and GMs trade and cut players every day. No one says anything. But when a player exercises their right as a free agent, suddenly they're the bad guy? I don't get it. I had a big problem with Bron going to Miami. Not his decision, but the way he handled it. He embarrassed an entire city and fan base. But can anyone seriously blame him? Miami or Cleveland? Wow, that's a hard one. I dunno. I might need to visit Miami one more time to be sure. C'mon..... These are grown men making decisions and no matter what those reasons are, who are we to judge them?
^As much as I don't like the idea of a superteam nobody can beat, I can understand why Durant left. OKC hit their peak in 2012 and have been on the downhill since then despite a trip to the conference finals last season. It's easy to point the finger at KD and tell him to stay loyal, but it's self-serving at best. Was OKC loyal when they let Harden go to Houston when they could have easily amnestied Perkins to make room for him? Was OKC loyal to Brooks when they let him go and hired Donovan? Was OKC loyal to Ibaka when they traded him to Orlando? The loyalty argument from the pundits at BSPN in this particular case is silly. Loyalty is a two-way street.
I think we can blame the Dream Team for this. Prior to the players playing together in international play, they hated each other. Magic, Bird, Isiah, and Jordan hated each other. Join forces? NEVER! The international teams led to Bron, Wade, Chris Paul and Bosh forming a tight friendship. On the other side was Curry, Iggy and KD forming a bond. If I can work with my friends, I'm going to. Throw in a great location, more money, and a great opportunity to win rings and it's a no-brainer. As much as I'd like some parity, the greatest era was the 80s and we had 4 teams: Boston, Philly and Detroit fighting it out to meet the Lakers for the title. Now we have the Dubs and Cavs. Not my choice for the teams, but I won't lie: I'll be watching the Warriors.
...in the 1980's when the Lakers were built through the draft and savvy trades, Riley mentioned about how other opposing players would be inbounding the ball near the Laker bench and let him know their contract will be up. Jerry Buss spoke of two well known players who approached him that would have been considered tampering back then too. They probably weren't considered high profile stars but solid players that wouldn't have minded coming on board. The Warriors are currently in that somewhat similar position. They have the talent and the slots to fill it in. The West will be theirs at least for the next three years.
Great points all around. I didn't like what LeBron did, and while what Durant did is similar, it's not the same. He didn't plan secretly to join his buddies for years in an awesome beach city and then drop the bomb on national tv on the fanbase after giving them false hope that he was returning. What I don't like is there now being 2 teams in the NBA that can win the title now, the finals are set in July, but I don't blame Durant for that. Someone was saying on ESPN today, forget who, maybe Marc Stein, that people refer to the 80's as the golden age of the NBA, and that like 5 different teams made the Finals that entire decade. The Lakers went like 8 times? Nobody looks back on the 80's Lakers, C Bags, Pistons, and some others and hates on them for being stacked, and they were absolutely stacked. The Warriors lost, I'm not gonna hate on them for improving. Another thing about this that few are talk in about is the Durant and Westbrook situation. I think they had come to a point where 1.a and 1.b wasn't working, because nobody could figure out which was which. Who took over at the end of games was costing them games. Them not being able to put together great games on the same day/night to finish that series was huge in their collapse and choke. I think they had really come to the end of that professional relationship, and with Westbrook not being able to also assure Durant that he was staying beyond 2017, Durant made the tough choice for stability. Is he ever gonna be Jordan or Kobe now? No, but if he's good with that then that's his choice. If he wins 2 or 3 rings in GS now, nobody is gonna look back and criticize his career harshly in 20-30 years, they're gonna look at at the Warriors like a Lakers or C Bags situation, all time great teams. Only time will tell, they still have to actually win, and LeBron is still Durant's daddy.
I don't know if this was already posted, but this is a terrific piece on Durant leaving. Fair, but critical. OKC is in for a truly tough ride going forward. Their FO was capable of building a winner once, can they do it again? Trading Westbrook would be crucial to getting that rebuild off to a strong start. Westbrook's lack of commitment means I trade him asap and start the rebuild now. Call around and see how much I can get for him. No point in waiting if I can get a good deal now.
For West to leave 12 mio. on the table (Indy) to sign for vet minimum and chase a ring... I promise you 99% of the league wouldn't do that. I have tremendous respect for him even though I think its a dumb move. He could also make more money now...so he is leaving 20+ million to chase a ring...thats crazy.
I agree. Most want the money and say they're all about winning. Rick Fox said he wanted out of Boston, but they offered a ton of money and he was gonna sign, and then Boston changed their minds at the last minute. He said he'd never make a decision based on money again. Selected #17 as a vow to get the Lakers to 17 rings before Boston. He signed a few contracts with us for less than he could've got elsewhere (Utah being one that offered a lot more than us). I also remember Karl Malone taking the mid-level ($2 million ??) to play with us. Add West to the list. Those are the 3 I can think of.
First off I don't blame Durant either. The rules allow it and he took advantage of the situation. Even though I don't like it, I have to look at it this way: say Durant was drafted a few years earlier than he was and he was in his prime in say '09. If he decided to join the the Lakers as they were then how many of us would object? I sure as hell wouldn't. So yeah is it a punk move? Sure. He's frustrated with coming up short in his quest for a championship, especially when he sees Lebron making trip after trip to the finals so he chose an easier path to get there. So I have to admit that even though I don't like it, it's only because it's not us in that situation. That and now the regular season only seems like a formality to the rest of the league.
I thought this was pretty fun. My team is.... Danny Green (1) Jimmy Butler (4) Kawhi Leonard (5) Paul George (4) Tristan Thompson (1)
I'm going with: Russell Westbrook (5) Jimmy Butler (4) Paul George (4) Tristan Thompson (1) Steven Adams (1)
