Around the NBA II

[Quake Griffin]

I dunno if Russ is better than 2011 Wade. He’s def better than the 2013 n 2014 versions of Wade Bron got.

I do agree that KD is the fakest superstar in the league and that he was just as responsible for choking those playoff runs away as Russ.


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[wco81]

Durant sucks, everything about him just sucks. First guy in NBA history whose legacy gets worse the more he wins.

I bet you his legacy is however many titles he wins and the statistical records he ends up with.

All this Real GM bitterness won't even be a blip.

Ratings are up. NBA is not ruined, revenues are higher than ever before.

[QRich3]

yeh you stick to the company line, two years ago it was 'when he wins people will love him like they did Lebron'. This is not a RealGM thing, casual fans who haven't watched a full game in their lives feel the same.

NBA revenues and their growth are not tied to Durant or the Warriors, they would've kept growing anyway for a million reasons.

[MartinToVaught]

Durant sucks, everything about him just sucks. First guy in NBA history whose legacy gets worse the more he wins.

I bet you his legacy is however many titles he wins and the statistical records he ends up with.

All this Real GM bitterness won't even be a blip.

Ratings are up. NBA is not ruined, revenues are higher than ever before.

The 2011 Finals is still brought up by LeBron haters on a daily basis like it just happened yesterday. Nobody will forget that Durant joined the 73-win team that beat him. It will always be one of the first things mentioned as part of his legacy.

As for the ratings: LeBron is the one who's keeping the ratings high, not the Warriors. Haters will always watch his games in the hopes that he'll lose and they'll have more trolling material. Fans will always watch his games to see him dominate and rewrite the record books. He's interesting - the Warriors' predictable cakewalks to easy rings are not.

[nickhx2]

lol it's like when the nba would say that the awful FT rules weren't hurting growth because growth was up anyway.

um no, they were still awful and they weren't related in any way.

[wco81]

He's one of the highest-paid athletes in the world:

https://www.forbes.com/profile/kevin-durant/?list=athletes

His jersey and his Nike shoes are selling well. If there was some mass-market hatred of him for signing with a particular team, where is the evidence?

If the people who buys jerseys and expensive sneakers were in any ways like the people at Real GM, he wouldn't be making tens of millions from outside income.

Nike has a $500 million deal with him. They didn't end that deal, which is probably the third highest after MJ and Lebron's deals.

Do you have concrete evidence that millions hate him? Because you'd think that would have affected his endorsements and sponsors.


His decision in the summer of 2016 was followed by avid NBA fans on forums like this one but millions more people, who go to NBA games and buy NBA related merchandise, do not follow offseason or off court news that closely, even with social media.

And if they blame him for destroying any semblance of parity or competitive balance or whatever you want to call it, why are more people watching these playoffs games?

One reason could be that they don't buy that narrative. Another reason could be they don't care if there's parity. Look at teams like the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers which consistently outspend other teams. Their fans aren't boycotting them and when they go on the road, they draw well.

NFL has parity but look, their ratings are dropping. There are other reasons for the ratings drop but seems like parity isn't valued by the mass audience as much as people want to think.

Put it this way, if he signed with the Clippers instead and Clippers were winning championships and 70 games, would any of you complain? Yeah didn't think so.

[nickhx2]

how do you not understand the difference between him signing with GS vs signing with the clippers lmao

[nickhx2]

fwiw i think you make a lot of good posts but your density on this subject is well beyond mind boggling

[Quake Griffin]

If I was a Warrior fan, I would take KD and run with it. I wouldn’t apologize for ****. Would I continue to be this “dense” on the subject? Hell no.

And no way I’d consider him signing with the Clippers comparable to signing with a 73-9 team.




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[wco81]

That 73-win team is gone.

They let starters and rotation players from that team go and won 59 games this year, after 67 the season before.

Yeah Celtics and Spurs fans complain too that he didn't sign with them, but only on Real GM.

Most people watch games, buy his jerseys and shoes and watch the games.

[MartinToVaught]

If there was some mass-market hatred of him for signing with a particular team, where is the evidence?

The evidence is in Durant's own behavior. Someone who is satisfied with their free agency decision and believes they are still popular with/respected by NBA fans would not sign up for burner accounts on social media to argue with fans. They would not spend two years making insecure comments to the media to defend their decision. One mild joke by Peyton Manning at the ESPYs would not make them pout for the rest of the night. They would not be going around wearing stuff like this:

[wco81]

That may be evidence of someone insecure about his social media rep.

Yet his jersey and revenues generate millions in revenues and tens of millions are watching the Finals involving a player and a team which made the NBA "unfair."

[esqtvd]

like Ali, love him or hate him, you still tune in to cheer for him or against him

[MartinToVaught]

like Ali, love him or hate him, you still tune in to cheer for him or against him

No, that's LeBron. Nobody's really tuning in for Durant. Curry is a bigger draw than Durant on his own team.

[esqtvd]

well I hate him so much I'm cheering for LeBron

[MartinToVaught]

That may be evidence of someone insecure about his social media rep.

Yet his jersey and revenues generate millions in revenues and tens of millions are watching the Finals involving a player and a team which made the NBA "unfair."

Durant is insecure and desperately wants to be liked. His behavior and comments since joining the Warriors are clearly a response to how fans don't like him anymore, which you are denying is the case.

Durant doesn't even sell the most jerseys on the Warriors. Curry has him beat there. Durant can't even outsell Kyrie Irving in shoes, and his sales declined this year. Ratings are high because it's the LeBron era, not because of Durant.

[esqtvd]

which you are denying is the case.

Stop putting words in his mouth. I don't like him, but somebody's buying his damn shoes. Somebody's buying his jersey.

Most Popular NBA Jerseys:

1. Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
2. LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
3. Kevin Durant, Golden State Warriors

Regardless, the topic is whether he's hurt the league by cementing the GSW dynasty. The numbers say he hasn't. Sports fans like dynasties more than they like faceless parity, even if it's only to cheer against the dynasty. People were a lot more interested in GSW-Cavs than they would have been in BOS-HOU, let alone something like TOR-SAS. WCO is correct.

[QRich3]

lol are we really arguing Durant is super popular because he sells shoes?? this is way past dense now, it's just trying to push the round narrative peg into the square reality hole

[nickhx2]

my favorite part is trying to convince us that the team changing players has had some kind of negative effect on their place atop the league

[wco81]

Are you arguing that people are spending hundreds of dollar for shoes and jerseys featuring a player who's supposedly hated by millions of fans?