I believe Draymond...Durant was leaving.

ILOVEIT · Post #1 » by **ILOVEIT** » Mon May 18, 2020 5:11 am

I give him crap for causing Durant to leave...but after listening to his very raw open interview I believe that, while he went way overboard with calling Durant a bitch, Durant had already decided to leave the Warriors.

Why...well Draymond seems to think it was because fans were still saying Durant was not better than Lebron EVEN after he bested him in the finals the year before.

Essentially Durant got his chips....but still wasn't getting the focus he wanted as a potential goat.

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I like when he starts to describe how much BS Durant was creating at the beginning of second year after winning the first chip...and how THAT was what David West was alluding to when he said "no body knows how much drama Warriors were going through behind the scenes".

Finally, if he actually (and no reason to not believe him) took less initial money to give them a shot at landing Durant....that's pretty sick for a player to consider that a year in advance of signing Durant.

Coxy · Post #2 » by **Coxy** » Mon May 18, 2020 8:32 am

Draymond's such a character, what a guy.

GQ Hot Dog · Post #3 » by **GQ Hot Dog** » Mon May 18, 2020 1:58 pm

I think it's pretty obvious that KD wants to be on his team what Lebron has been and is on his teams. Basically, KD wants his teammates, the organization and the fans to kiss his ass.

The thing is is that Curry never was about that and neither are the Warriors. Why are all these guys, Klay, Dray, Dre in particular, so loyal to Steph and the organization? Because the superstar, one of the top-2 most popular and marketable players in the NBA is all chill and just one of the guys.

KD didn't want to be part of that, he wanted to be the Man, the King, he should just change his name to LeKevin and be done with it. I'm glad Dray told him off, that egotistical crap doesn't fly on the Warriors, get the hell outta here with that.

It's like KD wanted to take Curry's crown but everyone's like, that's not how this org is run my dude, chill on that and KD just couldn't chill.

HiRez · Post #4 » by **HiRez** » Mon May 18, 2020 9:19 pm

It's always been pretty clear to be that KD was the problem (well ok, "problem") and not Draymond. I do blame Draymond for making it so public though, that's something you do in the locker room or in private, that didn't need to be done on television for the whole world to see.

That said, I don't think KD is a bad dude and I'm still in awe of his basketball prowess, but yeah, the desire to be "the king" (in perhaps a more passive way than LeBron) just does not fit with Warriors culture. They put up with it because in the end KD's skills were more valuable than the chemistry, but clearly the chemistry was harmed.

KevinMcreynolds · Post #5 » by **KevinMcreynolds** » Tue May 19, 2020 8:21 pm

I feel like Rich Kleiman turned him into a douche that's way too concerned with his "brand" and legacy

Flash Falcon X · Post #6 » by **Flash Falcon X** » Tue May 19, 2020 8:33 pm

Listened to this podcast the other day and found it interesting as well.

The part where Draymond noticed KD being more selfish after people were still labeling LeBron the best player in the world after 2017 was really insightful. KD thought he could dethrone LeBron by beating him in the Finals, but at that point people still couldn't get over him signing with GSW so they refused to give him credit.

I think the best move KD could have done for his legacy would have been if he signed with Boston in 2016. He'd be able to finally leave Westbrook but people wouldn't have judged him as much if he joined Boston. He could have beaten LeBron in the East Playoffs in 2018 because that Cavs team was so garbage--needed 7 games to beat Indiana in the first round and needed 7 games to beat a rookie Jayson Tatum in the ECF. I think if he beat LeBron in the Eastern Conference playoffs it would have probably had people putting KD over LeBron in rankings. But since LeBron lost in the Finals, so many people gave him a pass for losing because it's against a stacked Warriors team. But honestly, LeBron still would have lost to any other West team like the Spurs or Rockets.

And now KD wants to move on and hopefully make a name for himself in Brooklyn. Even though he's part of a duo with Kyrie, it's not like Brooklyn is "Kyrie's team" the same way GSW was Steph's team since he got drafted and became a star there.

marthafokker · Post #7 » by **marthafokker** » Tue May 19, 2020 8:35 pm

David West basically confirmed KD being the beotch, when he said there were locker room problem the public is not aware of. And complaining why Curry and Klay getting open shots? Hope he enjoys his Chuckfest with his buddy.

svart · Post #8 » by **svart** » Wed May 20, 2020 10:53 am

I saw that podcast when it came out. Totaly agree with what Draymond said, he was leaving regardless.... i also saw kd's episode, and he mentioned talking with kyrie for two years prior. of course he said it was just talk, what if's, not planning anything. but seeing both of them it seems Green is the genuine one. And hell, i like KD. Anyway, very good podcast, did not think they had it in them. Intend to watch all of them

Coxy · Post #9 » by **Coxy** » Wed May 20, 2020 9:49 pm

I feel sorry for KD. He made a fantastic decision in coming to the Warriors, and if he did a full 5-7 years with us, it's very possible that the core of Steph, Klay, Dray and KD could have become a 5 or so championship type side. This would eventually won the public over and although a villian side, he would have gotten massive praise.

Instead, his fragility got to him in terms of public perception and it brought out the worst narcacism trait that took over. It manifested and boom, it's blown up in his face big time.

wco81 · Post #10 » by **wco81** » Wed May 20, 2020 10:27 pm

KevinMcreynolds wrote:I feel like Rich Kleiman turned him into a douche that's way too concerned with his "brand" and legacy

I think Kleiman though probably was part of the reason he came to the Warriors in the first place.

That said, I haven't watched any of these KD productions TV shows. Latest one appears to be about the DMV basketball scene that he came out of.

marthafokker wrote:David West basically confirmed KD being the beotch, when he said there were locker room problem the public is not aware of. And complaining why Curry and Klay getting open shots? Hope he enjoys his Chuckfest with his buddy.

I've been watching Warriors games, both regular season and playoffs, which NBA TV has been airing the last couple of months from 2014 to 2019. I really see no evidence of him not giving open looks to either of them. No indication by body language that someone else is shooting than him in a given possession.

If he has any BBIQ, he has to appreciate that he had the best spacing in his career and probably helped his shooting efficiency when he played with the Splash Brothers, because he didn't get double-teamed.

He didn't mind for instance passing to Steph or Draymond for them to bring the ball up and start the offense or on fast breaks. It was only during the last season, during that game, where he was clapping hard to get the ball in the back court so that he could bring it up and create a shot mostly for himself.

Obviously that worked well in the Finals against the Cavs in key games, like games 3 in both 2017 and 2018 when he was shooting the lights out on pull-ups from beyond the arc or midrange when he got switched onto Love or Tristan Thompson. Steph and Dray were willing to do that when he had the hot hand but they didn't want it to be the KD show all season long.

It should be interesting to see how he shares with Kyrie and others. He may be the alpha on that team but will that lead to more wins or MVPs? Let's see if his shot attempts and usage goes up. He said in his first year with GSW that he couldn't play at the usage rate of Harden, who was putting up gaudy numbers.

But maybe he just wants to try to take over games more frequently than he felt he could with GSW.

KevinMcreynolds · Post #11 » by **KevinMcreynolds** » Wed May 20, 2020 10:41 pm

When he left I thought it was just because he wanted to be in NYC. And that would be totally fine with me because New York is dope as hell. If I was a young rich bachelor and entrepreneur that's where I'd want to be too. But when it came out it was because of all the "not fitting in with the organization" and "it's Steph's team" bulls*** I was like "this dude is soooooo lame." Steph has been here for 10 years, did he think he would be on equal standing after a couple years? The sad thing is he would have been if he would have signed the deal and stayed for another 4-5 years. And the not fitting in thing is his own doing. You know what would have helped him fit it? Not signing 1 year deals every year and actually committing to the team.

ILOVEIT · Post #12 » by **ILOVEIT** » Wed May 20, 2020 11:13 pm

KevinMcreynolds wrote:When he left I thought it was just because he wanted to be in NYC. And that would be totally fine with me because New York is dope as hell. If I was a young rich bachelor and entrepreneur that's where I'd want to be too. But when it came out it was because of all the "not fitting in with the organization" and "it's Steph's team" bulls*** I was like "this dude is soooooo lame." Steph has been here for 10 years, did he think he would be on equal standing after a couple years? The sad thing is he would have been if he would have signed the deal and stayed for another 4-5 years. And the not fitting in thing is his own doing. You know what would have helped him fit it? Not signing 1 year deals every year and actually committing to the team.

Yeah...I think one of the years may have been to make the salaries work but....continuously signing short term deals was a dick move. I have no doubt that he found his excuse when Draymond called him out....and both Irving and he have that same mentality that it was Lebron....it was Draymond....that made them sick of playing for the team.

God I can't wait to see them turn against each other!!!!! lol