Durant looks worse everytime he talks about his decision

[KokoKaizer]

Fun thing about sports. As you improve, so do the standards and expectations

Beware of the fall

Us Warriors fans have experienced decades of falling. Going to enjoy the rise for as long as it lasts

I understand you! The rise of the Magic (95' and 09') were just so fast to decline

[Patches Perry]

He a idiot

[Patches Perry]

Yes we are witnessing the fall of greatness but Durant didn't choose to be great or put people on his back. He likes basketball and happens to be very good at it. The way he talks makes me feel he is driven by something external to himself, probably his mom but just general people. He's always been sensitive to outside criticism and it's obvious he really cares what other people think of him. He doesn't take criticism to drive himself to be better, it seems to affect him negatively. Truly I think he just wants to kick back without pressure and play the game he likes to play. Winning a championship will take the pressure off him and he can just go about making money and playing basketball.

This is the impression I get also. And honestly, that's all well and good. It just handicaps him severely in all-time discussions. He was a guy with potential to be a top 3 small forward ever (behind Bird and LeBron), and taking the easy route to chill, play ball and make money pushes him out of the top 5 SF discussions. As I've said in the past, maybe he doesn't care about that. I don't think he is a bad person by any stretch. Just a supremely talented basketball player with a personality that maybe doesn't fit the profession he is in. These were things that people once said about LeBron, so maybe Durant will change his course, but LeBron was always the best player on his team and it was never really that close. Who knows when the next time Durant will be the best player on his team will be.

[Heat_team02]

Herb is cheaper & easier to get up that side.

[phanman]

Yea no worries, I seemed to have been getting attacked left and right for a statement. Didn't mean to go at you. To clarify, I know Durant pulled a wuss move and bailed a good team. But LeBron joined a super team in Miami, then left that said team that made the finals for a team with limitless pockets (current Cavs) when he noticed Riley was getting cheap, didn't cater to him etc. Like I said Durant took the easy way out, and LeBron did it twice. I see it as very comparable situations as Durant left a good team for another.

LeBron took a slightly riskier move going back to the Cavs, but did he really?? He made the finals both years and will most likely win the east for the foreseeable future. Super stacked teams do that not just a single player. Yet LeBron continues to get credit as you can see by peoples reaction here. Durant is trying to fix his loser image and LeBron definitely did. All I'm saying.

I always thought LeBron left the Heat more due to repairing his legacy in Cleveland as opposed to forming just forming another super team. He had accomplished his goal during his Miami sabbatical of winning rings and the only way he was going to win back the legion of fans he lost when he made the decision was to go back home.. Despite him taking on the bad guy persona in Miami everyone knows deep down LeBron is a type of person that loves to be liked. The way the chips fell and the state of the Eastern conference at the time, his reign just continued albeit in a different uniform.

Let's look at it the other way.

LeBron left the Heat. The Heat still had Bosh, Wade, Chalmers. They added Dragic, Deng, and Whiteside.
The team went from a 54 win Finals team to a team that won 37 games.

LeBron left the Cavs. The Cavs went from a 61 win team to a 19 win team.

LeBron was the best player on those teams. He made them great teams.

The current betting line in Las Vegas is for the Thunder without KD to win 45.5 games. That Thunder team is expected to make the playoffs without KD.

KD is a grown man and can make his own decisions, but we fans get to call him marshmallow soft.

That Heat team had a multitude of injuries so that's an unfair assessment. Dragic was acquired after the AS break which was the same time Bosh was diagnosed with blood clots, McBob is still injured, Danny Granger broke down, Whiteside didn't fully come on until late Dec/early Jan, and Wade only managed to play 66 games.

[phanman]

You call it success. A lot of folks view it as coming up short. No one plays for conference finals participant banners

Hey as a Raptors fan I'm actually pumped as **** we got that banner

[Cappy_Smurf]

So he admits he wants everything to be easy. To put into perspective its like he's taking steroids which mean there doesn't have to be so much hard work for him.

How the hell could you be so satisfied with yourself? **** POS, I can't stand this ****.

Yeah, what a dreadful human being wanting to enjoy basketball, and get open looks in a great system rather than watching Westbrook uncontrollably barrelling to the basket through five guys...

Scumbag.

There were other choices besides choosing a team that can win a title without him. He just wants somebody else to win a ring for him, because it was too much pressure for his fragile little mind. I don't think it makes him a bad person, just a gutless wonder with no balls.

If he ever meets Donald Trump, he better watch out because Trump would definitely grab him.

[bondom34]

I don't really care to keep going on about this, so I'll just say this will be my last comment. But Andrew Bogut seems to paint this poorly.

http://www.espn.com/blog/dallas/mavericks/post/_/id/4706506/andrew-bogut-qa-leaving-golden-state-part-of-the-business

Last year in Golden State was an amazing season for a lot of reasons. Here you guys are setting an NBA record, trying to chase a championship, and you're dealing with Kevin Durant rumors the entire season. You're smart enough to know exactly what that means. What was that experience like for you?

A.B.: That's part of the business. I think the deal was done long before the summer. I think it was done -- obviously, K.D. didn't make his concrete decision, but I think our organization knew for a while what was going to happen. That's just a part of it. Andre [Iguodala] and I knew it was one of us that was going to go, and it was me. That's part of the business. I have no gripes about it. You get a Hall of Famer -- he's going to be a Hall of Famer -- in K.D. If I'm the GM, I do the same deal. That's just the reality of the business.

[NW]

So he admits he wants everything to be easy. To put into perspective its like he's taking steroids which mean there doesn't have to be so much hard work for him.

How the hell could you be so satisfied with yourself? **** POS, I can't stand this ****.

Yeah, what a dreadful human being wanting to enjoy basketball, and get open looks in a great system rather than watching Westbrook uncontrollably barrelling to the basket through five guys...

Scumbag.

There were other choices besides choosing a team that can win a title without him. He just wants somebody else to win a ring for him, because it was too much pressure for his fragile little mind. I don't think it makes him a bad person, just a gutless wonder with no balls.

If he ever meets Donald Trump, he better watch out because Trump would definitely grab him.

What team runs that kind of offense as well, and features guys he's already tight with, as GS?

Preseason is a small sample size, but the Warriors have definitely made Durant the focus. Steph has taken a step back. This is what happens where winning is more important than who the "Alpha Male" is

[NW]

I don't really care to keep going on about this, so I'll just say this will be my last comment. But Andrew Bogut seems to paint this poorly.

http://www.espn.com/blog/dallas/mavericks/post/_/id/4706506/andrew-bogut-qa-leaving-golden-state-part-of-the-business

Last year in Golden State was an amazing season for a lot of reasons. Here you guys are setting an NBA record, trying to chase a championship, and you're dealing with Kevin Durant rumors the entire season. You're smart enough to know exactly what that means. What was that experience like for you?

A.B.: That's part of the business. I think the deal was done long before the summer. I think it was done -- obviously, K.D. didn't make his concrete decision, but I think our organization knew for a while what was going to happen. That's just a part of it. Andre [Iguodala] and I knew it was one of us that was going to go, and it was me. That's part of the business. I have no gripes about it. You get a Hall of Famer -- he's going to be a Hall of Famer -- in K.D. If I'm the GM, I do the same deal. That's just the reality of the business.

Nothing new here. The organization has been pursuing this for well over a year. That's not breaking news. Warriors insiders like Ethan Sherwood Strauss and Danny Leroux have been talking about it since the TV deal cap spikes were confirmed that made it possible financially. Warriors fans were talking before that - since Igudola got here and was talking how tight he, Steph and KD had gotten at the World Championships

[bondom34]

I don't really care to keep going on about this, so I'll just say this will be my last comment. But Andrew Bogut seems to paint this poorly.

http://www.espn.com/blog/dallas/mavericks/post/_/id/4706506/andrew-bogut-qa-leaving-golden-state-part-of-the-business

Last year in Golden State was an amazing season for a lot of reasons. Here you guys are setting an NBA record, trying to chase a championship, and you're dealing with Kevin Durant rumors the entire season. You're smart enough to know exactly what that means. What was that experience like for you?

A.B.: That's part of the business. I think the deal was done long before the summer. I think it was done -- obviously, K.D. didn't make his concrete decision, but I think our organization knew for a while what was going to happen. That's just a part of it. Andre [Iguodala] and I knew it was one of us that was going to go, and it was me. That's part of the business. I have no gripes about it. You get a Hall of Famer -- he's going to be a Hall of Famer -- in K.D. If I'm the GM, I do the same deal. That's just the reality of the business.

Nothing new here. The organization has been pursuing this for well over a year. That's not breaking news. Warriors insiders like Ethan Sherwood Strauss and Danny Leroux have been talking about it since the TV deal cap spikes were confirmed that made it possible financially. Warriors fans were talking before that - since Igudola got here and was talking how tight he, Steph and KD had gotten at the World Championships

So he knew while he was playing against them. That's swell.

[NW]

I don't really care to keep going on about this, so I'll just say this will be my last comment. But Andrew Bogut seems to paint this poorly.

http://www.espn.com/blog/dallas/mavericks/post/_/id/4706506/andrew-bogut-qa-leaving-golden-state-part-of-the-business

Nothing new here. The organization has been pursuing this for well over a year. That's not breaking news. Warriors insiders like Ethan Sherwood Strauss and Danny Leroux have been talking about it since the TV deal cap spikes were confirmed that made it possible financially. Warriors fans were talking before that - since Igudola got here and was talking how tight he, Steph and KD had gotten at the World Championships

So he knew while he was playing against them. That's swell.

Didn't say that, neither did Bogut. IE " obviously, K.D. didn't make his concrete decision, but I think our organization knew for a while what was going to happen." The done deal was that the organization was going to go after him and it was going to require he or Igudola to be moved to make it happen. Everyone knew.

Sorry, OKC tin foil folks. KD didn't tank the WCF to go to GS

[bondom34]

Nothing new here. The organization has been pursuing this for well over a year. That's not breaking news. Warriors insiders like Ethan Sherwood Strauss and Danny Leroux have been talking about it since the TV deal cap spikes were confirmed that made it possible financially. Warriors fans were talking before that - since Igudola got here and was talking how tight he, Steph and KD had gotten at the World Championships

So he knew while he was playing against them. That's swell.

Didn't say that, neither did Bogut. IE " obviously, K.D. didn't make his concrete decision, but I think our organization knew for a while what was going to happen." The done deal was that the organization was going to go after him and it was going to require he or Igudola to be moved to make it happen. Everyone knew.

Sorry, OKC tin foil folks. KD didn't tank the WCF to go to GS

Dunno, but that's the way Bogut makes it sound.

Sorry oversensitive GSW folks. He's got the heart of a champion.

[dc]

I don't really care to keep going on about this, so I'll just say this will be my last comment. But Andrew Bogut seems to paint this poorly.

http://www.espn.com/blog/dallas/mavericks/post/_/id/4706506/andrew-bogut-qa-leaving-golden-state-part-of-the-business

Last year in Golden State was an amazing season for a lot of reasons. Here you guys are setting an NBA record, trying to chase a championship, and you're dealing with Kevin Durant rumors the entire season. You're smart enough to know exactly what that means. What was that experience like for you?

A.B.: That's part of the business. I think the deal was done long before the summer. I think it was done -- obviously, K.D. didn't make his concrete decision, but I think our organization knew for a while what was going to happen. That's just a part of it. Andre [Iguodala] and I knew it was one of us that was going to go, and it was me. That's part of the business. I have no gripes about it. You get a Hall of Famer -- he's going to be a Hall of Famer -- in K.D. If I'm the GM, I do the same deal. That's just the reality of the business.

Not really news. The Warriors hatched their plan for Durant at least 2 years ago. People thought it was a pie in the sky idea, but they indeed had been planning it for quite some time. And then of course, Woj reported it in February and that's when it set in that it was a very real possibility:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--warriors-serious-threat-to-sign-kevin-durant-182559375.html

[bondom34]

I don't really care to keep going on about this, so I'll just say this will be my last comment. But Andrew Bogut seems to paint this poorly.

http://www.espn.com/blog/dallas/mavericks/post/_/id/4706506/andrew-bogut-qa-leaving-golden-state-part-of-the-business

Last year in Golden State was an amazing season for a lot of reasons. Here you guys are setting an NBA record, trying to chase a championship, and you're dealing with Kevin Durant rumors the entire season. You're smart enough to know exactly what that means. What was that experience like for you?

A.B.: That's part of the business. I think the deal was done long before the summer. I think it was done -- obviously, K.D. didn't make his concrete decision, but I think our organization knew for a while what was going to happen. That's just a part of it. Andre [Iguodala] and I knew it was one of us that was going to go, and it was me. That's part of the business. I have no gripes about it. You get a Hall of Famer -- he's going to be a Hall of Famer -- in K.D. If I'm the GM, I do the same deal. That's just the reality of the business.

Not really news. The Warriors hatched their plan for Durant at least 2 years ago. People thought it was a pie in the sky idea, but they indeed had been planning it for quite some time. And then of course, Woj reported it in February and that's when it set in that it was a very real possibility:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--warriors-serious-threat-to-sign-kevin-durant-182559375.html

The quote is news. Bogut saying they knew it was going to happen. That's a bit more telling.

Dunno, I'll just leave it there for others to discuss. Frankly he made his bed, he can enjoy his choice.

[dc]

The quote is news. Bogut saying they knew it was going to happen. That's a bit more telling.

Dunno, I'll just leave it there for others to discuss. Frankly he made his bed, he can enjoy his choice.

He knew it was going to happen in that he knew they were 100% going to pursue KD. that was a forgone conclusion. That's likely why Barnes' game fell of a cliff in the the 2nd half of the season. He couldn't handle the distraction.

Knew it was going to happen as in KD had made his choice 6 months ago? The Warriors front office themselves didn't even think it was going to happen. They were all surprised as hell as they figured they had an outside chance at at best and were sweating bullets after they had their meeting.

[NW]

So he knew while he was playing against them. That's swell.

Didn't say that, neither did Bogut. IE " obviously, K.D. didn't make his concrete decision, but I think our organization knew for a while what was going to happen." The done deal was that the organization was going to go after him and it was going to require he or Igudola to be moved to make it happen. Everyone knew.

Sorry, OKC tin foil folks. KD didn't tank the WCF to go to GS

Dunno, but that's the way Bogut makes it sound.

Sorry oversensitive GSW folks. He's got the heart of a champion.

LOL! Oversensitive? Which one of us posted the link again? Guess he only has the heart of a champion if he stays in OKC

[bondom34]

The quote is news. Bogut saying they knew it was going to happen. That's a bit more telling.

Dunno, I'll just leave it there for others to discuss. Frankly he made his bed, he can enjoy his choice.

He knew it was going to happen in that he knew they were 100% going to pursue him. that was a forgone conclusion. That's likely why Barnes' game fell of a cliff in the the 2nd half of the season. He couldn't handle the distraction.

Knew it was going to happen as in KD had made his choice 6 months ago? The Warriors front office themselves didn't even think it was going to happen. They were all surprised as hell as they figured they had an outside chance at at best and were sweating bullets after they had their meeting.

Dunno, but that's not the way it reads. You can feel that way, but not going to lie, there's a lot of non-GSW fans who frankly don't see it that way. I'm just leaving it here for others to read.

[bondom34]

Didn't say that, neither did Bogut. IE " obviously, K.D. didn't make his concrete decision, but I think our organization knew for a while what was going to happen." The done deal was that the organization was going to go after him and it was going to require he or Igudola to be moved to make it happen. Everyone knew.

Sorry, OKC tin foil folks. KD didn't tank the WCF to go to GS

Dunno, but that's the way Bogut makes it sound.

Sorry oversensitive GSW folks. He's got the heart of a champion.

LOL! Oversensitive? Which one of us posted the link again? Guess he only has the heart of a champion if he stays in OKC

I'm pretty good w/ him at this point. I do find it a bit oversensitive the need for a fanbase to jump to "save" a player by standing up for him when he's been a bit...off.

He'd have had heart going to Boston by me as well. I'd be fine there. Or Miami. Or LA. Heck he literally went to the only team every OKC fan said would show no heart. And he did it.

But again the need for GSW fans to stand up for their hero is fine.

[NW]

The quote is news. Bogut saying they knew it was going to happen. That's a bit more telling.

Dunno, I'll just leave it there for others to discuss. Frankly he made his bed, he can enjoy his choice.

He knew it was going to happen in that he knew they were 100% going to pursue him. that was a forgone conclusion. That's likely why Barnes' game fell of a cliff in the the 2nd half of the season. He couldn't handle the distraction.

Knew it was going to happen as in KD had made his choice 6 months ago? The Warriors front office themselves didn't even think it was going to happen. They were all surprised as hell as they figured they had an outside chance at at best and were sweating bullets after they had their meeting.

Dunno, but that's not the way it reads. You can feel that way, but not going to lie, there's a lot of non-GSW fans who frankly don't see it that way. I'm just leaving it here for others to read.

What part of

obviously, K.D. didn't make his concrete decision, but I think our organization knew for a while what was going to happen.

doesn't read like KD hadn't made a decision but the organization knew what they were going to do?