Kevin Durant May Have Chosen Celtics Had Warriors Won 2016 Title

Post #1 » by **RealGM Wiretap** » Wed Jan 4, 2017 4:41 pm

The Boston Celtics were one of the teams that met with Kevin Durant during his 2016 free agency in the Hamptons.

Durant met with the Boston contingent, which included Tom Brady, for four hours.

Many sources around the NBA have come to believe Durant would have signed with the Celtics had the Golden State Warriors won the Finals. For Durant, the optics of joining a team that had just won back-to-back championships may have been too difficult to overcome.

The Celtics were offering a strong core of role players plus a number of future draft pick assets to put a title contender around Durant.

Via Ramona Shelburne/ESPN

Post #2 » by **TMU** » Wed Jan 4, 2017 5:27 pm

Full of **** as always.

King4Day · Post #3 » by **King4Day** » Wed Jan 4, 2017 5:42 pm

I don't buy it.
I'm not saying it's why they lost, but GSW missing Green for the one game and, probably more impactful, Bogut for the final 2, likely cost them.
Durant has to be smart enough to know the W's, as constructed last season, were more than capable of winning without him.

Maybe he's trying to reason going to an already stacked team but it is what it is. He didn't want to earn his championship. Just play with a bunch of stars and weaken his current conference in the process by leaving OKC.

RaptorRed · Post #4 » by **RaptorRed** » Wed Jan 4, 2017 6:03 pm

DarkHawk wrote:I don't buy it.
I'm not saying it's why they lost, but GSW missing Green for the one game and, probably more impactful, Bogut for the final 2, likely cost them.
Durant has to be smart enough to know the W's, as constructed last season, were more than capable of winning without him.

Maybe he's trying to reason going to an already stacked team but it is what it is. He didn't want to earn his championship. Just play with a bunch of stars and weaken his current conference in the process by leaving OKC.

what ? Obviously they were capable of winning the championship they won 73 games and were the defending champions ,the wiretap is saying if they had actually won Durant would not have joined the Warriors... he is already getting hate for joining a 73 win team, if they were also back-to-back champions he would have been crucified for joining them.

Furinkazan · Post #5 » by **Furinkazan** » Wed Jan 4, 2017 6:19 pm

snif snif...smells like BS

DoItALL9 · Post #6 » by **DoItALL9** » Wed Jan 4, 2017 6:48 pm

DarkHawk wrote:I don't buy it.
I'm not saying it's why they lost, but GSW missing Green for the one game and, probably more impactful, Bogut for the final 2, likely cost them.
Durant has to be smart enough to know the W's, as constructed last season, were more than capable of winning without him.

Maybe he's trying to reason going to an already stacked team but it is what it is. He didn't want to earn his championship. Just play with a bunch of stars and weaken his current conference in the process by leaving OKC.

What don't you buy?

King4Day · Post #7 » by **King4Day** » Wed Jan 4, 2017 6:57 pm

RaptorRed wrote:
DarkHawk wrote:I don't buy it.
I'm not saying it's why they lost, but GSW missing Green for the one game and, probably more impactful, Bogut for the final 2, likely cost them.
Durant has to be smart enough to know the W's, as constructed last season, were more than capable of winning without him.

Maybe he's trying to reason going to an already stacked team but it is what it is. He didn't want to earn his championship. Just play with a bunch of stars and weaken his current conference in the process by leaving OKC.

what ? Obviously they were capable of winning the championship they won 73 games and were the defending champions ,the wiretap is saying if they had actually won Durant would not have joined the Warriors... he is already getting hate for joining a 73 win team, if they were also back-to-back champions he would have been crucified for joining them.

Right. I'm saying I don't buy it. If they won, what difference would it make? He would have been crucified but probably not a whole lot more than he already has been.

Celtics would have made more sense since they are in the East and he could have fit right in. Thanks to horrendous GM work, the C's also had plenty of assets to add to their team and either keep them young or trade for pieces that would keep them as title contenders for the next decade (with reasonable cap space).
He was free to do what he wanted but I just don't believe that the Warriors winning played as big a part as some are reporting.

King4Day · Post #8 » by **King4Day** » Wed Jan 4, 2017 7:00 pm

DoItALL9 wrote:
DarkHawk wrote:I don't buy it.
I'm not saying it's why they lost, but GSW missing Green for the one game and, probably more impactful, Bogut for the final 2, likely cost them.
Durant has to be smart enough to know the W's, as constructed last season, were more than capable of winning without him.

Maybe he's trying to reason going to an already stacked team but it is what it is. He didn't want to earn his championship. Just play with a bunch of stars and weaken his current conference in the process by leaving OKC.

What don't you buy?

I think he still goes to the Warriors if they won. While it would have looked worse for him to go there if they were back to back champs, true NBA fans can see he took the easy way out because he was given an 'out'. They lost so he supposedly takes advantage. We'll never know if he would have picked them anyway but my opinion is that he would have gone there.

Regardless, it's all he said / she said. Nobody knows what truly went through his mind.

Post #9 » by **IggieCC** » Wed Jan 4, 2017 7:09 pm

Even as Durant was finalizing his decision to join the Warriors, he asked Joe Lacob and Bob Myers how they would shield him from criticism should he decide to join their franchise.

And this guy was upset that people called him a coward? :rofl:

RaptorRed · Post #10 » by **RaptorRed** » Wed Jan 4, 2017 7:16 pm

DarkHawk wrote:
DoItALL9 wrote:
DarkHawk wrote:I don't buy it.
I'm not saying it's why they lost, but GSW missing Green for the one game and, probably more impactful, Bogut for the final 2, likely cost them.
Durant has to be smart enough to know the W's, as constructed last season, were more than capable of winning Yeah I don't see how you can reasonably suggest that he would have went to the warriors anyways.. based on what ? We don't know wht his thought process was but it's pretty obivous the loss to the Cavs opned up the window for him to join the warriors. Atleast now if they beat the cavs he can say they lost without him and he helped them beat te Cavswithout him.

Maybe he's trying to reason going to an already stacked team but it is what it is. He didn't want to earn his championship. Just play with a bunch of stars and weaken his current conference in the process by leaving OKC.

What don't you buy?

I think he still goes to the Warriors if they won. While it would have looked worse for him to go there if they were back to back champs, true NBA fans can see he took the easy way out because he was given an 'out'. They lost so he supposedly takes advantage. We'll never know if he would have picked them anyway but my opinion is that he would have gone there.

Regardless, it's all he said / she said. Nobody knows what truly went through his mind.

Yeah I don't see how you can reasonably suggest that he would have went to the warriors anyways.. based on what ? We don't know what his thought process was but it's pretty obvious the loss to the Cavs opened up the window for him to join the warriors. Atleast now if they beat the cavs he can say they lost without him and he helped them beat a healthy Cavs team ( which they have never done because the previous year kyrie and love were injured). If they won last year there is nothing he can say to justify him joining the warriors because they clearly wouldn't have needed his help to become a dynasty. He still gets hate now but it would be 100 times worse if they won.

Post #11 » by **Jeff Van Gully** » Wed Jan 4, 2017 8:51 pm

shield him from criticism? vomit.

dautjazz · Post #12 » by **dautjazz** » Wed Jan 4, 2017 9:20 pm

LOL because joining a 73 win team that HARDLY lost in a game 7 series is much better than joining one that did win. Whatever, he can do what he wants, but his championships aren't going to mean anything in my eyes and many other hard core fans.

gimmesome · Post #13 » by **gimmesome** » Wed Jan 4, 2017 10:17 pm

dautjazz wrote:LOL because joining a 73 win team that HARDLY lost in a game 7 series is much better than joining one that did win. Whatever, he can do what he wants, but his championships aren't going to mean anything in my eyes and many other hard core fans.

yes, because what YOU think really matters to him

:nonono:

mischievous · Post #14 » by **mischievous** » Wed Jan 4, 2017 10:34 pm

He's full of ****.

eureca20 · Post #15 » by **eureca20** » Thu Jan 5, 2017 12:39 am

Damn did he really hate Westbrook that much? Why would you leave OKC to join a team of role players like the Celtics? You would also think he would want to join the Spurs or Rockets before the Celtics.

Post #16 » by **Cactus Jack** » Thu Jan 5, 2017 12:45 am

Golden State, Boston, A Chinese team, Mars, etc......Doesn't make a difference to me. I'm still one happy camper. Again, Great choice KD! :thumbsup:

Patches Perry · Post #17 » by **Patches Perry** » Thu Jan 5, 2017 1:37 am

He can do what he wants and he doesn't have to justify anything to anyone, but seeing him try is kind of pathetic.

I'm too much of a competitor to go to a team that won the championship back to back, so I wouldn't have gone there if GS won.

Oh, but it's cool to go the team that won the title the year prior, who won 73 games, who went to game 7 of the NBA finals, who beat you in a 7 game series 5 weeks prior to you signing with them, in a series where you were up 3-1 and lost 3 straight games? Buuuuut if they had played better in those final 2-3 minutes of game 7, you wouldn't have gone there? That's the line? Give me a break.

Nobody should believe this nonsense. He just needs to own this decision already and stop trying to convince people that it was okay for him to go there since they didn't win the title. If GS had won, he'd still be in a GS uniform with a different excuse for why it's okay that he signed there.

Just own it. It actually really is okay that you went there. You just have to deal with people thinking less of you as a player and competitor, which may pale in comparison to the benefit of playing in a more desirable city and possibly winning championships.

haste10176 · Post #18 » by **haste10176** » Thu Jan 5, 2017 2:16 am

gimmesome wrote:
dautjazz wrote:LOL because joining a 73 win team that HARDLY lost in a game 7 series is much better than joining one that did win. Whatever, he can do what he wants, but his championships aren't going to mean anything in my eyes and many other hard core fans.

yes, because what YOU think really matters to him

Did you read the article? Seems to matter to him a lot hence all the reasoning and how they would shield him from critism... Yep seems to matter not to mention they always comment on how they do not like the criticism so yep he cares.. And yes I think far less of Durant and GSW as a whole now.. The championships that this team win mean little as no other team has 4 current all stars and two MVP's on the same team.. All players in their prime.. It is ridiculous...

dautjazz · Post #19 » by **dautjazz** » Thu Jan 5, 2017 3:31 am

gimmesome wrote:
dautjazz wrote:LOL because joining a 73 win team that HARDLY lost in a game 7 series is much better than joining one that did win. Whatever, he can do what he wants, but his championships aren't going to mean anything in my eyes and many other hard core fans.

yes, because what YOU think really matters to him

Ok? I never said he cares about my opinion, but I bet there are many people that are going to think he didn't earn titles if he wins one with GS, and if doesn't care about that, well I guess he never really cared about a legacy. Money is nice, but reputation is too, and he really looks like a pussy running away from challenges to ride a 73 win team.

twozeroMM · Post #20 » by **twozeroMM** » Thu Jan 5, 2017 3:59 am

eureca20 wrote:Damn did he really hate Westbrook that much? Why would you leave OKC to join a team of role players like the Celtics? You would also think he would want to join the Spurs or Rockets before the Celtics.

I'm sure he didn't wanna stay in the west if it wasn't the Warriors.