Sure sounds like KD is leaving

[Little Digger]

I’ve only been a bandwagon fan for a little while but I’m counting on KD leaving so I can enjoy the regular seasons.

[cladden]

Draymond-Durant to Toronto for Kawhi and change..

I want to love my Warriors basketball again..so sad

Kawhi basically plays like KD, except he's far inferior to everything KD does offensively.. in some cases by a massive degree. Spurs turned into team ball whenever Kawhi went to the bench the last 2 years before he quit on his team.

I'll take Kawhi on both sides of the floor. Defense is a no brainier, but offense just comes down to style. I prefer ball movement and team basketball.

Does not compute. Kawhi is not in the least about ball movement.

[Frozzy]

People act like this team can just zip the ball around against good Playoff defenses at will.

If KD leaves and you see Curry getting double & triple teamed while Dray still can't shoot for **** & Klay's having an off game, i'm sure you'll realize how good KD really is when the offense goes South.

[Phase 3]

People act like this team can just zip the ball around against good Playoff defenses at will.

If KD leaves and you see Curry getting double & triple teamed while Dray still can't shoot for **** & Klay's having an off game, i'm sure you'll realize how good KD really is when the offense goes South.

This is a fair point. KD can create his own offense when the game slows down in the playoffs better than almost anyone in the game. That is definitely something they would miss in a big way if he left. My biggest complaint with KD, is that he’s never fully ingratiated himself to the Warriors style of play. He does hold the ball a lot, stop the offensive flow, ect. He doesn’t really make his teammates better the way Steph does...Anyways, I’m interested to see how the Demarcus Cousins thing works out. Because when KD bolts this summer, he may be the best fallback option they have to fill the role of someone with size that get get them easy buckets. Retaining him would require salary dumping Iguodala and Livingston(on top of KD leaving...and he’d be required to take like $15-20M per year at the most), but if he fits really well it might be worth looking at...only time will tell on that one.

[Samurai]

People act like this team can just zip the ball around against good Playoff defenses at will.

If KD leaves and you see Curry getting double & triple teamed while Dray still can't shoot for **** & Klay's having an off game, i'm sure you'll realize how good KD really is when the offense goes South.

I agree with this. Fans love the great ball movement and groan when the movement stops and KD goes into his iso-mode. But in the playoffs, defenses tend to throw a lot of sand into your well-oiled machine and if you don't have a KD who can single-handedly bail you out, you realize that when the movement stops (or is taken away from you), the Warriors without KD don't have an effective answer. I submit the final 4:40 of game 7 in the 2016 Finals as my Exhibit A; sure wish we had a KD-iso play as an option then.

I see a similarity between this and the Showtime Lakers from the 80's. Watching Magic run the fastbreak was a lot of fun to watch and was as sexy as the Dubs' beautiful motion offense leading to the open shot is today. Just as Magic was essential to running that fast break, our motion offense works so well because Curry's shooting draws so much attention from the defense that someone is invariably left open. And just as fans today complain about "KD iso's", Showtime fans complained about throwing the ball into Kareem since that was so much more boring than watching Magic lead the break. But good defenses can slow down the fast break and I don't think the Lakers would have won as many titles if they didn't have that "throw it in to Kareem" option when the fast break wasn't there. Even though Kareem wasn't in his prime then, Magic's titles went away once Kareem retired. I fear something similar when KD decides to move on and we will miss him when KD is gone. You can argue that both KD's and Curry's individual stats are diminished by having both of them, but the end result of having both will be sorely missed once one of them is gone, even if the remaining star's individual stats may go up.

[xdrta+]

People act like this team can just zip the ball around against good Playoff defenses at will.

If KD leaves and you see Curry getting double & triple teamed while Dray still can't shoot for **** & Klay's having an off game, i'm sure you'll realize how good KD really is when the offense goes South.

This is a fair point. KD can create his own offense when the game slows down in the playoffs better than almost anyone in the game. That is definitely something they would miss in a big way if he left. My biggest complaint with KD, is that he’s never fully ingratiated himself to the Warriors style of play. He does hold the ball a lot, stop the offensive flow, ect. He doesn’t really make his teammates better the way Steph does...Anyways, I’m interested to see how the Demarcus Cousins thing works out. Because when KD bolts this summer, he may be the best fallback option they have to fill the role of someone with size that get get them easy buckets. Retaining him would require salary dumping Iguodala and Livingston(on top of KD leaving...and he’d be required to take like $15-20M per year at the most), but if he fits really well it might be worth looking at...only time will tell on that one.

Pretty sure if Cousins is recovered enough for the Warriors to offer $15-20M, another team will offer $30-33M.

[wco81]

I will say one thing. People speculate that KD might want to try to win a title while being the clear cut best player on a championship team, which would be the reason he'd leave.

But the scenarios speculated are to join Lebron with the Lakers, maybe go to the Clippers who'd sign both him and Kawhi, or go to NY. Except for NY, he might not be the clear cut best player.

One thing is for sure. He'll never get the kind of spacing he's had here on any other team. He's had two of his most efficient years with the Warriors, followed by great playoffs performances.

In the last week, without Curry and with Klay struggling, that spacing is gone and his efficiency has plummeted as a result.

He'll still be great and he might win a title with another team. But he's unlikely to be as efficient as he's been with the Warriors.

[wco81]

KD talked about the team's "Princeton offense" working well against Atlanta.

On other occasions, he said team tries to get shot opportunities off motion and passing not always working and he feels he has to "go get a basket for us" such as during his streak of 40-point games.

There was one crucial possession in one of the TX games where he curled off the right wing, through staggered screeds and caught the ball on the way to the hoop and got a real good look with a tear drop that just rolled off the rim.

I don't really the Warriors running that kind of play too often for him.

Last night, he kind of hung back other than a few possessions here and there. He was a willing passer as Klay and Steph moved off the ball around him.

It will be interesting to see how differences in playing styles determines what decision he makes. He seems to think his ISO and shotmaking abilities are important to the team, to deploy on some crucial possessions, while Draymond is the one who's going to insist loudly on getting shots off the flow of the offense.

It's strange that they're still having these clashes on playing styles after all the basketball they've played together.

[Impuniti]

I seriously find it insulting that people put Kawhi anywhere near the level of KD, LeBron or Curry. The guy is nowhere near that good. Everything Kawhi does offensively, KD does better and at times much better. If Kawhi and KD both happen to join the Clippers, KD will automatically be the best player on that team. But JW would need to focus on many playmakers to make two heavy iso-focused players work effectively.

[Muscles]

“So much hype comes from being around LeBron from other people. He has so many fanboys in the media. Even the beat writers just fawn over him. I’m like, we’re playing basketball here, and it’s not even about basketball at certain points. So I get why anyone wouldn’t want to be in that environment because it’s toxic. Especially when the attention is bulls–t attention, fluff. It’s not LeBron’s fault at all; it’s just the fact you have so many groupies in the media that love to hang on every word. Just get out of the way and let us play basketball.”-Kevin Durant

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2808589-why-doesnt-anyone-want-to-play-with-lebron-anymore

I keep telling you guys, KD is staying cause he wants to blow by Lebron, not help that bs narrative the media has.

[Impuniti]

KD saying what is known. Still don't know if he stays or goes.

[Money_]

I wish KD would stop talking.

Like he likes to tell fans "shut up and watch/play the game"

It's TOUGH to win 3 in a row. This is YOUR window. This is your chance to make NBA history.

[Coxy]

“So much hype comes from being around LeBron from other people. He has so many fanboys in the media. Even the beat writers just fawn over him. I’m like, we’re playing basketball here, and it’s not even about basketball at certain points. So I get why anyone wouldn’t want to be in that environment because it’s toxic. Especially when the attention is bulls–t attention, fluff. It’s not LeBron’s fault at all; it’s just the fact you have so many groupies in the media that love to hang on every word. Just get out of the way and let us play basketball.”-Kevin Durant

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2808589-why-doesnt-anyone-want-to-play-with-lebron-anymore

I keep telling you guys, KD is staying cause he wants to blow by Lebron, not help that bs narrative the media has.

IF, and it's a big IF, Kevin's words are truthful this time around, you'd have to surmise that a big part of his decision this off season will be around not joining a team where there is a large media hype around it. The Warriors have there own media hype, but the Bay area he is used to now and it is not LA or New York, which would be brutal for a sensitive personality like his.

To me, this says more like he is staying with the Warriors, or signing with Memphis.

[xdrta+]

I wish KD would stop talking.

Like he likes to tell fans "shut up and watch/play the game"

It's TOUGH to win 3 in a row. This is YOUR window. This is your chance to make NBA history.

He can't play and talk both? Playing is only a couple of hours every few days.

[Money_]

I wish KD would stop talking.

Like he likes to tell fans "shut up and watch/play the game"

It's TOUGH to win 3 in a row. This is YOUR window. This is your chance to make NBA history.

He can't play and talk both? Playing is only a couple of hours every few days.

stop talking so much to the media about his pending free agency... specific enough for you?

[xdrta+]

I wish KD would stop talking.

Like he likes to tell fans "shut up and watch/play the game"

It's TOUGH to win 3 in a row. This is YOUR window. This is your chance to make NBA history.

He can't play and talk both? Playing is only a couple of hours every few days.

stop talking so much to the media about his pending free agency... specific enough for you?

What did he say about his pending free agency? I see a lot of people reading their stuff into it, I don't see him saying anything about it.

[Money_]

He can't play and talk both? Playing is only a couple of hours every few days.

stop talking so much to the media about his pending free agency... specific enough for you?

What did he say about his pending free agency? I see a lot of people reading their stuff into it, I don't see him saying anything about it.

Any FA speculation during mid season. Just focus on the job in front of you and do you.
He doesn't need to share his opinions on everything.
I'm not judging him, he's mostly just being real, which I can appreciate, but he could benefit from taking a page out of Steph's book of just not entertaining certain angles and keeping things on the game.

[wco81]

He celebrated with the team after hitting 2 straight 3s to end the 3rd period. Including with Draymond.

He seemed content to defer to Curry who had it going.

Even before Curry came back, he's looking to set up teammates for good looks. Seems like his assist numbers are up, at least the last 10 games or so.

[SFrush]

I wish KD would stop talking.

Like he likes to tell fans "shut up and watch/play the game"

It's TOUGH to win 3 in a row. This is YOUR window. This is your chance to make NBA history.

He can't play and talk both? Playing is only a couple of hours every few days.

stop talking so much to the media about his pending free agency... specific enough for you?

Except he's not talking to the media about his pending free agency.

[Impuniti]

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