The Kevin Durant Thread (2016 - 17 Pt. 1)

[MisterHibachi]

Seems semi-relevant:

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[kabstah]

Objectively speaking, going to the Warriors was absolutely the best move for Durant. I actually gained respect for him just for making the most brutally pragmatic choice possible and proving that he placed winning above everything else. Personally, I would have preferred that he resigned with OKC after stringing along GSW for the entire FA period and causing the Warriors to dump all their players because I would find that kind of GoT / Red Wedding backstab hilarious, but signing with GSW outright is pretty good too. Now if he went to the Celtics, I would have lost respect for him because that's essentially waving a white flag and saying that he's okay with being on a non-contender.

And it's so obviously true that super-teams are good for the NBA that I don't know how anyone could rationally argue otherwise. As the NBA expands internationally it's going to get more and more fans who have no reason to feel tribal loyalty to any particular team or city, so for them it's all about the entertainment value and quality of play.

KG and Sheed make a good point too. The players now have the power to put themselves in a desirable position instead of just leaving it to the executives. The argument that building a team is exclusively the job of the front office is beyond stupid.

[parapooper]

And the main difference in my opinion is that KD joined the team who beat him. LeBron wouldn't have joined the Celtics even if they had the cap room.

For me the largest difference is in what they left:

LeBron left a team with atrocious management that was already a garbage fire apart from him when he left and was only going to get worse - they had 3 starters in their mid-to-late 30s when he left and no young talent or future whatsoever. With all the ridicule LeBron got for not winning with trash teams he basically had to leave if he wanted to have a decent career.

In contrast, the team Durant left (to join the most stacked team in NBA history) was already a better supporting cast than many stars have ever had in their entire careers (including LeBron) and was on a trajectory to get even better. So Durant had no reason basically forcing his hand to leave his teammates (or to give a bunch of interviews afterwards insinuating they are boring, selfish and don't know how to play basketball)

[MO12msu]

Kinda seems like the same people who want to shout "KD has a right to make his own choice and put himself in the position he thinks is best" are also arguing "you fans need to stop whining about it and have no choice but to accept it and not be angry."

Look, KD obviously has the right to make his own choices, no one is arguing that. It doesn't mean we have to like it. It doesn't mean we have to ignore all the nuances of going to a team he just lost to, a 73 win team with the MVP, which effectively got rid of another great team to watch, if we don't want to. To some fans those things are a big deal, and to others, they aren't. Both feelings are fine, but I don't think looking down on one group as if they're ignoring how similar it was to Decision makes even a little sense. It literally depends on how important you find those differences between the two situations and clearly there are those who find those differences to be significant.

Personally for me I wasn't a fan of KD's decision. I actually wanted him to go to Boston so that we could potentially have a CLE/BOS and GSW/LAC or SAS conference finals. But if not Boston I wanted him to stay in OKC because that was just another GREAT NBA team to watch. Fact is: due to KD's decision, we now have one less great team to watch and one less contender. The Warriors were already a historically great NBA team. So for me that's a net negative and I think that makes complete sense. And from a "competitor" standpoint, I'm just not a fan of going to the 73 win rival contender when you were SO close.

[mischievous]

Kinda seems like the same people who want to shout "KD has a right to make his own choice and put himself in the position he thinks is best" are also arguing "you fans need to stop whining about it and have no choice but to accept it and not be angry."

Look, KD obviously has the right to make his own choices, no one is arguing that. It doesn't mean we have to like it. It doesn't mean we have to ignore all the nuances of going to a team he just lost to, a 73 win team with the MVP, which effectively got rid of another great team to watch, if we don't want to. To some fans those things are a big deal, and to others, they aren't. Both feelings are fine, but I don't think looking down on one group as if they're ignoring how similar it was to Decision makes even a little sense. It literally depends on how important you find those differences between the two situations and clearly there are those who find those differences to be significant.

Personally for me I wasn't a fan of KD's decision. I actually wanted him to go to Boston so that we could potentially have a CLE/BOS and GSW/LAC or SAS conference finals. But if not Boston I wanted him to stay in OKC because that was just another GREAT NBA team to watch. Fact is: due to KD's decision, we now have one less great team to watch and one less contender. The Warriors were already a historically great NBA team. So for me that's a net negative and I think that makes complete sense. And from a "competitor" standpoint, I'm just not a fan of going to the 73 win rival contender when you were SO close.

The ironic part of it is the group that had no issue with Kd's move are accusing the other side of bias, when in reality i think its the other way around if anything. I've never seen that group give any sort of criticism to Kd so I don't expect to see it now.

[microfib4thewin]

I don't either like or hate KD's departure. For the departure part I think KD has good reasons to do it. A large part of OKC's relevancy rests on Durant. While WB can be a wrecking ball it can go both ways and I think people can undersell how much he's hurting the team when he isn't playing well. I have not liked any of the moves OKC has made before the new TV deal. With a young core it doesn't make sense for the team to get younger, and that's what OKC has been doing. Letting players go after their rookie contract is up so they avoid paying big money and start over with another pick. Unless they have superstar potential how much value can you get from a player's first 3-4 years? They are opening up the pocket now but it is already too late. GSW is a powerhouse in the foreseeable future, the Spurs look to dominate again with an improving Kawhi, the Cavs are looking better than ever since Lebron's return, and who knows which other team will step up to the plate in the future? Even in the unlikely chance that Durant becomes better, OKC is still not the favorites to win it all.

As for the part about going to GSW, it removes a lot of uncertainty of winning a ring. GSW do have question marks with their current defense and depth, but I think they will get at least one title with how talented and balanced they are. Some people say joining such a stacked team automatically tarnishes Durant's legacy. I say Durant should be judged on how he contributed on the team instead of looking at his situation. Plenty of people put Lebron down for forming the big 3, and Lebron still manage to play at a historic level. Don't jump the gun is what I think about where Durant will end up all time.

[rich316]

I was thinking as I walked the dog this morning about the Heatles v. KD + Warriors comparison: we have no idea right now how this is going to go in GSW, but right away it's sticking out how compromised the Warriors are defensively. We may come to a much greater appreciation how incredible the Heatles were defensively at their peak, and how that reflects on those players legacies, despite not having even a Draymond Green-level rim protector. Many just assumed that KD would come in and make up for the loss of Bogut/Ezeli with his length and athleticism, and so far it hasn't been that easy. The 2011 and 2012 Heat were 5th and 4th in DRTG respectively, despite their center rotation being dumpster fire. The Warriors would do well to look to those teams as a model for how to fix their own defensive issues - the PnR blitz was the foundation of that scheme. They probably have the perimeter athleticism to pull it off.

[MisterHibachi]

Pop already busted that scheme. It was a fluke defense held together by the athleticism and smarts of LeBron Wade Bosh and Battier. The Warriors don't have enough defensive smarts outside of Draymond to handle rotating like that for 100 games.

And even if they did, the defense could hold against 90% of the league but Pop already knows how to destroy it. And in the case of Cleveland, the defense only works when the roller isn't able to make the right read right away. Cleveland can put LeBron as the roller and as long as Kyrie is able to make that pass (he's also pretty hard to trap to begin with) it's curtains for the Warriors, especially given the shooting the Cavs have. Tbh I'm really struggling to see how the Warriors can defend the Cavs.

[mademan]

GSW is still the odds on fav for the title and clearly going to be the team with the highest ceiling. The difference between this year and last, imo, is that they have legitimate weaknesses that can be exploited this year. Defense will get better but I'm not sure what they can do about rebounding, and that, mixed with them already being relative poor at TO's means they're at a possessions deficit most games. That's the same problem Miami faced against markedly less talented teams like the Pacers

[StepBackCrack]

I don't either like or hate KD's departure. For the departure part I think KD has good reasons to do it. A large part of OKC's relevancy rests on Durant. While WB can be a wrecking ball it can go both ways and I think people can undersell how much he's hurting the team when he isn't playing well. I have not liked any of the moves OKC has made before the new TV deal. With a young core it doesn't make sense for the team to get younger, and that's what OKC has been doing. Letting players go after their rookie contract is up so they avoid paying big money and start over with another pick. Unless they have superstar potential how much value can you get from a player's first 3-4 years? They are opening up the pocket now but it is already too late. GSW is a powerhouse in the foreseeable future, the Spurs look to dominate again with an improving Kawhi, the Cavs are looking better than ever since Lebron's return, and who knows which other team will step up to the plate in the future? Even in the unlikely chance that Durant becomes better, OKC is still not the favorites to win it all.

As for the part about going to GSW, it removes a lot of uncertainty of winning a ring. GSW do have question marks with their current defense and depth, but I think they will get at least one title with how talented and balanced they are. Some people say joining such a stacked team automatically tarnishes Durant's legacy. I say Durant should be judged on how he contributed on the team instead of looking at his situation. Plenty of people put Lebron down for forming the big 3, and Lebron still manage to play at a historic level. Don't jump the gun is what I think about where Durant will end up all time.

Great post. Especially the 2nd part of it.

[StepBackCrack]

Warriors have some serious issues regarding interior defense without Bogut and that can be taken advantage of by great teams like Cavs and Spurs. Getting Durant didn't come without a sacrifice for GSW even tho the new CBA made this possible by going up. Therefore, GSW winning it all is far from a given thing. IMO no matter how talented you are, winning it all is never a given thing and we have seen many examples of that in the past. The last one being last years finals and especially 2011 finals where the talent difference between the Heat and Dallas was huge (even bigger than the talent difference between current Cavs and GSW). So yeah, you never know what's gonna happen. If Durant has a finals 2011 LeBron-like meltdown in the finals, GSW would probably lose and he would be mocked like there is no tomorrow. People underestimate how much pressure Durant put on himself by going to GSW. Anything less than a perfect result will get him mocked endlessly. It's not easy.

[Lost92Bricks]

Anything that takes away from the competitiveness of the game is bad for the league, period. That's what KD did, that's what superteams do.

It's good for ratings, but why should we as fans give a **** about that.

The modern era is built off of the Lakers/Celtics rivalry. Where would we be now if Bird had just gave up and joined the Lakers? How much would that have sucked?

[rich316]

Anything that takes away from the competitiveness of the game is bad for the league, period. That's what KD did, that's what superteams do.

It's good for ratings, but why should we as fans give a **** about that.

The modern era is built off of the Lakers/Celtics rivalry. Where would we be now if Bird had just gave up and joined the Lakers? How much would that have sucked?

I don't necessarily disagree with your overall point, but the bolded could been seen as contradictory statements.

[Colbinii]

Anything that takes away from the competitiveness of the game is bad for the league, period. That's what KD did, that's what superteams do.

It's good for ratings, but why should we as fans give a **** about that.

The modern era is built off of the Lakers/Celtics rivalry. Where would we be now if Bird had just gave up and joined the Lakers? How much would that have sucked?

Durant didn't give up though. His goal is to win a ring, and by joining the Warriors he didn't give up his goal. In fact, he did something that puts him in a better position to reach his goal. That is the opposite of giving up.

[StepBackCrack]

Anything that takes away from the competitiveness of the game is bad for the league, period. That's what KD did, that's what superteams do.

It's good for ratings, but why should we as fans give a **** about that.

The modern era is built off of the Lakers/Celtics rivalry. Where would we be now if Bird had just gave up and joined the Lakers? How much would that have sucked?

But there are still 2 powerhouses in the league (Cavs and GSW) and Spurs are no joke. Not as great as Cavs/GSW but still a powerhouse imo. Cavs/GSW is the new Boston/Lakers rivalry. Spurs gonna Spurs. They will never go away with Pop. If GSW doesn't figure out their interior D issues, Spurs will give them big trouble. I don't believe GSW gonna dominate the playoffs like Shaq/Kobe's Lakers did in the past. They have lots of questions to be answered and their interior D issues will be tough to hide. Heck, many people think that Durant actually made them worse now. If that turns out to be the case, then that's really good news for the Cavs and Spurs.

Durant going to GSW created more interest imo. The ratings will be high and everyone is watching them atm including the haters. That's usually what happens when superteams are formed. Don't think that's bad for the league. That's why I think LBJ going to Miami was great for the NBA. Same with Durant here. However, fans will have different opinions regarding superteams so I'm not really gonna force you to accept my opinion. If you think they are bad for the league then I respect your opinion even tho I disagree with it.

[Lost92Bricks]

Durant didn't give up though. His goal is to win a ring, and by joining the Warriors he didn't give up his goal. In fact, he did something that puts him in a better position to reach his goal. That is the opposite of giving up.

I meant giving up on his team.

And I already admitted, yeah the move does add interest.

But again, why should we as fans care about that?

I think I can speak for most other fans of the league that we want to see the best go against the best. We want to see rivalries.

What KD did was the weakest thing I've ever seen a superstar do from a competitive standpoint.

[microfib4thewin]

Anytime a player joins a better team it reduces the competitiveness of the league. Arguing that one player doing it is okay but not another because it 'kills too much competition' is a muddy ground to stand on.

[Lost92Bricks]

Would y'all have liked if Michael had joined the Pistons in 1990 a month after they lost to them in a hard fought 7 game series?

Imagine finding out that he had been talking with them throughout that whole season about joining them WHILE they were beating his team's ass (literally).

You really expect people not to have a problem with **** like that? Come on now.

[MisterHibachi]

Anything that takes away from the competitiveness of the game is bad for the league, period. That's what KD did, that's what superteams do.

It's good for ratings, but why should we as fans give a **** about that.

The modern era is built off of the Lakers/Celtics rivalry. Where would we be now if Bird had just gave up and joined the Lakers? How much would that have sucked?

That's a good point, but you can't blame Durant for it. It's not his job to worry about league competition. That's for other GMs and Adam Silver to worry about. Durant's job is to maximize his own position. That's why I'm fine with him joining a better team even though it decimated one contender. It's just he joined the team that beat him. That's super weak.

[JulesWinnfield]

I can't stand KDs move as much as the next guy and I think the Lebron/Miami comparisons are way off on several levels, but what's done is done. This is the new reality and it's over with, they are playing games now, only so much I can whine about his move. Season is underway, and as talented as the Dubs are there exist some flaws that were forecast and are rearing their head, this won't be a gimme. Love or hate them they are fascinating to watch. This is going to be a fun season