KD to GS - Pt III

[Shot Clock]

Um, yes it is what they did. Trading Harden for a vastly inferior player is sabotaging a future dynasty for the purpose of cutting costs. That's not an opinion at all... it's what they did.

And no disrespect to Reggie, who was a great player in his time and absolutely a HOFer, but he isn't in the same class as Durant as a player, and honestly isn't that much better than a Klay Thompson, a secondary player on a true title team. Nobody really cares that Reggie never won a ring. The pressure to win is significantly greater for first-tier dominant greats like LeBron, Durant, Curry, Jordan, Kobe etc.

Adams is fine and a better fit. And it wasn't about money when Harden didn't want to be there, I've gone through that many times and don't care to again, but the idea you're selling is false by all local accounts. After seeing the kind of teammate Durant is maybe that's why.

And honestly, I'd consider Reggie in a similar tier as Durant considering neither will ever win as best player on their own team. Reggie is better than Klay.

Not at all. Adams is a very replaceable player (can be found anywhere) and Harden is an irreplaceable superstar, at his best a top 5-7 player in the league and MVP candidate. No doubt OKC messed up there and that's not the type of move a winning team makes. You believe Harden didn't want to be there, I and most others believe that OKC simply was unwilling/unable to pay the extraorbitant amount of money required to build a long-term superteam. Whatever, difference of opinion, but undoubtedly it was nothing close to a move that makes a team better.

Harden is fools gold. OKC would have been a mess if they kept him. Morale killer, low impact, defensive liability

[couchie]

Sounds to me that the man just wasn't happy there. He hated the way they played the game - some old school "the man"type BS while role players stood around and watched. It seemed to me like OKC management double downed on style of play and so he left. I don't see any great friendship with Curry that they are trying to invent. Remember he just insulted Curry when up 3/2 in western conference finals.

[couchie]

as a warriors fan I am still very torn though. I'm not unhappy but just that I love my team and I hate seeing them all leave one by one - barnes, bogut, ezelie, even brandon rush. I am hoping beyond hope they can keep barbosa and mo buckets but I doubt it. I didn't think this would happen, that Durant would choose to come to warriors so am still processing.

[Shot Clock]

Sounds to me that the man just wasn't happy there. He hated the way they played the game - some old school "the man"type BS while role players stood around and watched. It seemed to me like OKC management double downed on style of play and so he left. I don't see any great friendship with Curry that they are trying to invent. Remember he just insulted Curry when up 3/2 in western conference finals.

Durant earlier this season

"When you have iso players and guys who can score as many points as Russ and me, you've got to live playing some iso ball," he said. "What do you want? Just pass the ball around and around and not be aggressive? If they're looking at me and Russ is open, he gets the ball. But if I've got it, I'm going to work. Iso. It's pick your poison."

Doesn't sound like hate. Where are you hearing this from?

[te887848]

Adams is fine and a better fit. And it wasn't about money when Harden didn't want to be there, I've gone through that many times and don't care to again, but the idea you're selling is false by all local accounts. After seeing the kind of teammate Durant is maybe that's why.

And honestly, I'd consider Reggie in a similar tier as Durant considering neither will ever win as best player on their own team. Reggie is better than Klay.

Not at all. Adams is a very replaceable player (can be found anywhere) and Harden is an irreplaceable superstar, at his best a top 5-7 player in the league and MVP candidate. No doubt OKC messed up there and that's not the type of move a winning team makes. You believe Harden didn't want to be there, I and most others believe that OKC simply was unwilling/unable to pay the extraorbitant amount of money required to build a long-term superteam. Whatever, difference of opinion, but undoubtedly it was nothing close to a move that makes a team better.

Harden is fools gold. OKC would have been a mess if they kept him. Morale killer, low impact, defensive liability

Is that why they never went to the Finals ever again after foolishly trading him? Their lone Finals appearance was with him on the team, coming back from down 2-0 in memorable fashion to backdoor sweep the heavily favored powerhouse Spurs.

[mdonnelly1989]

Has anyone realized that the Warriors now have the Top 3 perimeter shooters in the league. They may not win as many games as last season but they will be a BETTER team.

[bondom34]

Not at all. Adams is a very replaceable player (can be found anywhere) and Harden is an irreplaceable superstar, at his best a top 5-7 player in the league and MVP candidate. No doubt OKC messed up there and that's not the type of move a winning team makes. You believe Harden didn't want to be there, I and most others believe that OKC simply was unwilling/unable to pay the extraorbitant amount of money required to build a long-term superteam. Whatever, difference of opinion, but undoubtedly it was nothing close to a move that makes a team better.

Harden is fools gold. OKC would have been a mess if they kept him. Morale killer, low impact, defensive liability

Is that why they never went to the Finals ever again after foolishly trading him? Their lone Finals appearance was with him on the team, coming back from down 2-0 in memorable fashion to backdoor sweep the heavily favored powerhouse Spurs.

I mean, injuries. Just

[te887848]

What you guys need to understand is that the true greats, the top 1-5 players in the league any given year, are ultimately judged by rings. No matter how great they were individually, it's about the titles in basketball, fair or not.

There's a reason that guys like Barkley and Malone are considered career losers and their overall greatness is diminished (i.e. they can never crack top 10-15 all-time on a list) - because they have zero titles. That's why guys like Duncan, Garnett and Dirk are regarded as far superior - cus they actually won. Barkley and Malone joined superteams when they were washed up and out of their prime... it's no wonder they couldn't win a title.

Durant didn't want to tarnish his legacy by remaining ringless in OKC and joining a list of "non-winners" like Barkley, Malone, Nash and Stockton. All were great players but ultimately never won anything relevant.

Durant followed in LeBron's footsteps, a current top 3 player of all-time, realizing that the way to win today and always was to form a superteam with other great players. He will be rewarded for this, and I for one am glad that a player as great as he is will end up with multiple titles. He's too great a player to retire without a trophy.

[ken6199]

Durant didn't want to tarnish his legacy by remaining ringless in OKC and joining a list of "non-winners" like Barkley, Malone, Nash and Stockton. All were great players but ultimately never won anything relevant.

Why would you call it tarnished legacy? Barkley Malone Nash Stockton all current or future HOFers, MVPs, ranking near the top of multiple stats columns in the history of NBA. What's your definition of winning? If David West gets his ring with the Warriors this year, do you rank him higher than Jermaine O'Neal? Do you rank him higher than Malone/Barkley/Nash? Do you remember Tmac as a loser or one of the most talented and entertaining player to ever play the game? A two time MVP is not anything relevant??

To add: Yes, a 4 time scoring champ (5 time if Melo missed a couple of shots) is nothing relevant...

Harden is fools gold. OKC would have been a mess if they kept him. Morale killer, low impact, defensive liability

Don't play the hindsight game. Nobody said this about Harden when they backdoor swept the Spurs in WCF 5 years ago, because of Harden's heroic performance. Nobody even mentioned fools gold after they lost to Miami afterwards. After Harden, OKC remained competitive up to this point, went to WCF every other year with one of their 'big three' out injured every single season. You just cannot simple prove they would've been a mess if they kept Harden, same as I cannot prove they would've won a ring with Harden.

[bondom34]

I'd much rather be the Chris Bosh in history than the Lebron James. That's who he now can be. In the great likeness of Bosh.

[Litany]

I'd much rather be the Chris Bosh in history than the Lebron James. That's who he now can be. In the great likeness of Bosh.

Bosh was never an MVP candidate and never regarded as a top 3 talent. Durant was and has been both for the past five years.

[bondom34]

I'd much rather be the Chris Bosh in history than the Lebron James. That's who he now can be. In the great likeness of Bosh.

Bosh was never an MVP candidate and never regarded as a top 3 talent. Durant was and has been both for the past five years.

Was in the past, he's now turned himself into Bosh on his potential titles though.

[JulesWinnfield]

Durant followed in LeBron's footsteps, a current top 3 player of all-time, realizing that the way to win today and always was to form a superteam with other great players. He will be rewarded for this, and I for one am glad that a player as great as he is will end up with multiple titles. He's too great a player to retire without a trophy.

Lebron *created* a "super team", which could only be labeled as such because he joined them (and it really wasn't a super team, not when one guy leads you in scoring, rebounding and assists and is your best defender to boot). Durant hopped on to a super team. There is a clear distinction here that is unfathomably lost on many. It has to be willful ignorance, because I don't see how people can plainly miss the distinction otherwise

What Lebron did was far more ambitious than what Durant has done. Miami only had 2 players under contract entering that offseason and one was Joel Anthony. Miami was a notion, an empty plot of land. A team whipped up overnight out of thin air that would never be associated with the word "super" were it not for his presence. Golden State is a ready made juggernaut, a runaway train that Durant hitched a ride onto. You can't keep drawing these comparisons with a straight face

[NBAfan3024]

I'd much rather be the Chris Bosh in history than the Lebron James. That's who he now can be. In the great likeness of Bosh.

Bosh was never an MVP candidate and never regarded as a top 3 talent. Durant was and has been both for the past five years.

Was in the past, he's now turned himself into Bosh on his potential titles though.

Cmon don't compare him to bosh

Durant will be option 1 A/B with Steph

He's a top 3 talent

[bondom34]

Bosh was never an MVP candidate and never regarded as a top 3 talent. Durant was and has been both for the past five years.

Was in the past, he's now turned himself into Bosh on his potential titles though.

Cmon don't compare him to bosh

Durant will be option 1 A/B with Steph

He's a top 3 talent

Ha. Nah, he's riding back seat. Can't take real pressure and never could, he's behind Steph and Green, he's a glorified Klay.

Can't wait til he finally takes some blame for a loss, I guess he's the Barnes replacement there too.

[jamalkandur]

All indicators show he has pre-decided GSW affair, but even so performed badly in that comedy series. Even in one episode goddam Tom Freakin Brady showed up.

[EastBayBoy]

Man, Royce Young's tweets sound like something a broken hearted ex GF might tweet after a nasty break up.

[Shot Clock]

Different generations, different mindsets. Excuse me I feel the need to yell at that cloud approaching my front porch.

Exactly. There was a CNNsi article a few years ago I'll always remember (can't find it right now) talking about that. Players are buddies now from early ages of AAU teams. There are cell phones and social media. Back then, people didn't even have e-mail accounts.

But the article put it plainly: back in the days, guys like Jordan viewed themselves as employees of the team. They were good soliders and company men. Nowadays, players like Lebron and the like view themselves as entrepreneurs.

That's the difference in generations, and the article said that even Jordan (now as an owner) has pretty much accepted the new reality.

I don't agree with this 'employee' view. I didn't get the impression that any of those guys viewed ownership as a guiding light. They were loyal to the team and the fans. I think this was instilled in University. A pride for your team and loyalty. They had that view that if you beat me I want to work harder and come back and beat you next year. Bird would never have teamed with Magic and vice versa. They were from opposing universities and that meant something, there is a reason Jordan wore his university shorts under his pro's. The players today don't experience that because they are one and done with no desire to commit themselves to a university they aren't returning to.

There is something to be said about the pride that university instills in players of being part of something bigger. You just aren't going to get that today in players. I mean we literally would have been robbed of seeing the true potential of Michael Jordan today as UNC and his coach got him to buy into the concept of sacrificing for the greater good of his team. His pride in UNC and UNC players carried on throughout his career.

It did also breed a competitive attitude. You'd here "Georgetown guys" talking as if they were still part of that university. There was a lot of competition driven through the NCAA tourney back then.

[LLcoleJ]

Was in the past, he's now turned himself into Bosh on his potential titles though.

Cmon don't compare him to bosh

Durant will be option 1 A/B with Steph

He's a top 3 talent

Ha. Nah, he's riding back seat. Can't take real pressure and never could, he's behind Steph and Green, he's a glorified Klay.

Can't wait til he finally takes some blame for a loss, I guess he's the Barnes replacement there too.

Durant will be the 1a/1b option on that team. Especially if teams key in on Steph like they did in the playoffs.

[bondom34]

Cmon don't compare him to bosh

Durant will be option 1 A/B with Steph

He's a top 3 talent

Ha. Nah, he's riding back seat. Can't take real pressure and never could, he's behind Steph and Green, he's a glorified Klay.

Can't wait til he finally takes some blame for a loss, I guess he's the Barnes replacement there too.

Durant will be the 1a/1b option on that team. Especially if teams key in on Steph like they did in the playoffs.

Offensively maybe, but Green is a better playmaker and defender