Durant II - Durant to GSW

[cpower]

i didn't really want Durant to join GS, but there are two huge bright spots:
Not paying Barnes the max
Watching warrior-hating trolls have a spaz attack

yeah and to bring down our biggest threat in the West- OKC.

[fa2011]

It's not about the Warriors trying to add a piece or a great player to their team. This is on Durant.

This is a superstar player choosing to ride the coattails of a great team to chase a ring. A SUPERSTAR player. One of the greatest scorers of all time, a top three player in the league right now, two years removed of an MVP season in his prime choosing to join a team that's made two straight finals appearances, a year removed from a championship, with their nucleus all intact and in their prime. Doesn't want to compete and beat them, but would rather join them and have the easy road to a ring.

This is actually the definition of a bitch move.

Pretty much agree with all of your post. And Lebron got roasted, too. I fail to see the OP's point ...' Similarly, people criticized James till he won with his own team recently. Had he not won another, he'd always have that cloud hanging over his head. People act like Durant was in some go nowhere organization. He simply took the easiest road to win a title. A record setting regular season team at that.

Lebron didn't take the easy road to winning the title by teaming up with Wade/Bosh?

Pretty sure he had a 66 win team in Cleveland that was getting to the ECF and faltering in the closing moments of Game 6s and 7s.

They both took the easy road. And as stated Lebron got roasted/criticized. Can't speak for everyone, but IMO, most people think the following:

1.) No one is mad at the Warriors. You'd be a really dumb franchise for not to wanting his services. Everyone is blaming KD for taking the easy way; it was his decision,
2.) Lebron's decision was bad, KD's was worse. The short of it, other than speculation, who knew what the Heat would do? KD went to a record breaking 73-9 team which about as ring chaser as you get.
3.) Most of the tension is because GSW fans try and justify what KD did and try make excuses saying he's not ring chasing. Plain and simple, he's a ring chaser. It would be different if he were just an All Start. But OKC was HIS team. Again, Lebron helped his legacy by winning one for Cleveland. Had he not, there'd always be an asterisk next his name. And he took his bumps and bruises for exiting Cleveland the first time.

Just my 2 cents.

[Charizard]

i didn't really want Durant to join GS, but there are two huge bright spots:
Not paying Barnes the max
Watching warrior-hating trolls have a spaz attack

yeah and to bring down our biggest threat in the West- OKC.

We don't take kindly to yer types round here.

[OkcSinceSGA]

The Warriors didn't even win the championship this year.

Durant is going to be the 2nd best player on this team. He is not "riding their coattails." He is hoping to LEAD this team back to a championship.

Durant clearly wants to form an all time great team. Maybe finally breaking through and winning one for OKC wasn't enough. Maybe he wants to create an all time great team.

That's more ambitious in my eyes.. You guys can judge him for it, but at the end of the day hes choosing the situation that will be best for him as a basketball player.

That's debatable, Curry showed during the playoffs that he wasn't the same player as he was during the regular season. KD in his MVP year was a better player.

Ambitious is the absolute last thing I would call this. You can't sit there with a straight face and tell me joining a team that won 73 games and was a minute away from repeating as 2x NBA champions is ambitious. This is the easiest path he will have towards a championship without a doubt, but it's not ambitious at all.

Curry wasn't healthy in the playoffs. And even an injured Curry played better when it mattered than Durant.

Curry's MVP season was FAR BETTER than Durant's. I don't see how you could argue just stats wise, how Durant was better. And that not mentioning the fact that Curry has lead his team to more wins and a championship.

Its ambitious to want to be an all time great time. The Warriors have the chance to win 4 or 5 titles in the next 6 or 7 years. That's something almost no other team has done. So yes I do think its very ambitious.

Bulls won 6 out of 8 years and many including me believe they would of won 7 or 8 in a row probably. Had Jordan not come back halfway through 94-95 after missing prior season they would of likely win 7, maybe 8. I don't think even this team will do that. I see Klay leaving as a free agent to be the man somewhere.

[Nowascki]

At the end of day KD is going to earn a lot of money and probably win multiple championships. It's frustating to see one less contender in an already top heavy league, but I don't blame him for his decision.

[TheGOATRises007]

I wish the new season started tonight.

Really excited to see how they'll play.

[Hello Brooklyn]

That's debatable, Curry showed during the playoffs that he wasn't the same player as he was during the regular season. KD in his MVP year was a better player.

Ambitious is the absolute last thing I would call this. You can't sit there with a straight face and tell me joining a team that won 73 games and was a minute away from repeating as 2x NBA champions is ambitious. This is the easiest path he will have towards a championship without a doubt, but it's not ambitious at all.

Curry wasn't healthy in the playoffs. And even an injured Curry played better when it mattered than Durant.

Curry's MVP season was FAR BETTER than Durant's. I don't see how you could argue just stats wise, how Durant was better. And that not mentioning the fact that Curry has lead his team to more wins and a championship.

Its ambitious to want to be an all time great time. The Warriors have the chance to win 4 or 5 titles in the next 6 or 7 years. That's something almost no other team has done. So yes I do think its very ambitious.

Bulls won 6 out of 8 years and many including me believe they would of won 7 or 8 in a row probably. Had Jordan not come back halfway through 94-95 after missing prior season they would of likely win 7, maybe 8. I don't think even this team will do that. I see Klay leaving as a free agent to be the man somewhere.

Im not on that train. I don't think Jordan would have beaten Hakeem's Rockets. They had no answer for him and was playing at a GOAT level.

Jordan had his chance to to that in 97 but couldn't get past the Magic.

I don't think Jordan's success was sustainable over 8 years. And he had clearly lost the desire/will to play after the first three rings, before reinventing himself for the last 3.

Anyway, is it possible for Golden State to win 6 championships? Yeah, I actually think it is.

[MrBigShot]

Curry wasn't healthy in the playoffs. And even an injured Curry played better when it mattered than Durant.

Curry's MVP season was FAR BETTER than Durant's. I don't see how you could argue just stats wise, how Durant was better. And that not mentioning the fact that Curry has lead his team to more wins and a championship.

Its ambitious to want to be an all time great time. The Warriors have the chance to win 4 or 5 titles in the next 6 or 7 years. That's something almost no other team has done. So yes I do think its very ambitious.

Curry: 30/7/5 on 67 TS%, 31.5 PER
KD: 32/7/6 on 64 TS%, 30 PER

Durant the superior defender, did it with a worse supporting cast (WB missed all but 46 games). Really silly to say his season was by "FAR BETTER"

[MagicStarwipe]

Now that I've had some time to process this and clear my head, I've come to a conclusion. KD made the right move for hi... nah he's still the biggest pussy in NBA history.

[TheGOATRises007]

Curry wasn't healthy in the playoffs. And even an injured Curry played better when it mattered than Durant.

Curry's MVP season was FAR BETTER than Durant's. I don't see how you could argue just stats wise, how Durant was better. And that not mentioning the fact that Curry has lead his team to more wins and a championship.

Its ambitious to want to be an all time great time. The Warriors have the chance to win 4 or 5 titles in the next 6 or 7 years. That's something almost no other team has done. So yes I do think its very ambitious.

Bulls won 6 out of 8 years and many including me believe they would of won 7 or 8 in a row probably. Had Jordan not come back halfway through 94-95 after missing prior season they would of likely win 7, maybe 8. I don't think even this team will do that. I see Klay leaving as a free agent to be the man somewhere.

Im not on that train. I don't think Jordan would have beaten Hakeem's Rockets. They had no answer for him and was playing at a GOAT level.

Jordan had his chance to to that in 97 but couldn't get past the Magic.

I don't think Jordan's success was sustainable over 8 years. And he had clearly lost the desire/will to play after the first three rings, before reinventing himself for the last 3.

Anyway, is it possible for Golden State to win 6 championships? Yeah, I actually think it is.

You mean 95?

And are we sure he didn't get suspended?

[DreDay]

Sources: A number of free agents have contacted the Warriors asking for a minimum deal today. Bob Myers won't have trouble filling roster.

-Alex Kennedy

Cowards... ****

Happens every year. Why get mad now? Unless you're gonna call guys like David West and Ray Allen cowards.

[Sothron]

Lost all respect for KD for him doing this. He's the one that correctly pointed out in 2010 how wrong it was for superstars to buddy up on teams and now he's doing the exact same thing. Not looking forward for another boring GSW/CLE finals but you know the NBA will make sure that happens.

[Guest202]

Klay leaving to be the man somewhere else? No effing way. Unless someone bangs Mrs Curry this squad is going to retire together.

[FirstInkTDot]

GSW has been talking with him for months, for all we know he decided not to play to his potential in the WCF.

[AIfan3]

There is no guarantee that Warriors win the title next year. Keep in mind that that they're losing Bogut and Barnes who are both key players to their winning last year. Do they have any money left to retain the bench guys? Going all in on just Durant without any help is not the greatest road to the title.

KD is a top 5 player and a perfect fit. Bogut and Barnes are both very easily replaceable.

Barnes is easily replaceable since you have Durant filling his shoes. But Bogut isn't someone easily replaceable. A big that can potentially anchor a defense when healthy, and still on the other end facilitate an offense from the post on the other end without actually being able to score is not something you will find on trees. Bogut fit the Warriors system to a T because they didn't need him for his scoring ability, just his post passing, screen setting and defense. That will be a HUGE void to fill.. Only a healthy Noah can somewhat replicate what Bogut did and make it fit in the Warriors system..

Honestly speaking, the Warriors should've gotten rid of Iggy instead. Teams with size will kill the Warriors on the boards if they don't get a decent big. And no more hack a Shaq means guys like DJ and Drummond could run buck wild on the Dubs..

[cwas2882]

Sources: A number of free agents have contacted the Warriors asking for a minimum deal today. Bob Myers won't have trouble filling roster.

-Alex Kennedy

Cowards... ****

Happens every year. Why get mad now? Unless you're gonna call guys like David West and Ray Allen cowards.

There's a big **** difference. If you don't see that, you're either ignorant, stupid or a blind homer. I'll let you pick

[DreDay]

Sources: A number of free agents have contacted the Warriors asking for a minimum deal today. Bob Myers won't have trouble filling roster.

-Alex Kennedy

Cowards... ****

Happens every year. Why get mad now? Unless you're gonna call guys like David West and Ray Allen cowards.

There's a big **** difference. If you don't see that, you're either ignorant, stupid or a blind homer. I'll let you pick

OK. Please explain the difference between ring chasers in prior years and ring chasers in 2016, and why these ones are cowards and others aren't. I'll wait.

[2Irving2]

Now that I've had some time to digest a bit and as I think about it again, I'm still upset that Durant chose to go the Warriors. It's just basketball, it's just a game, but as this season went along I became more and more obsessed with basketball to the point where I was watching old 80s/90s games on YT lol. This past season was fantastic because it was competitive! Remember that OKC/GSW game in January? The CF Finals were entertaining, competitive basketball. That's what's being lost with KD signing in Golden State. Yeah the Spurs are still great, the Cavs are still the champions at the end of the day, but come the **** on. The Dubs were pretty much viewed by everyone as the best team in the league the whole season and now they've just replaced their 5th best player with Kevin freaking Durant!

That's what I wanna see at the end of the day above all. I wanna see these guys compete against one another! My favorite team is the Raptors, so it's not like they had a great shot at a championship before today, it just saddens me to see one of the best players in the game join an already stacked team. I can't compute how people in this thread pretend like they don't understand why people would be upset at KD joining the Warriors. A superstar joining the top dogs? C'mon man. And in the process, eliminating their biggest threat in their conference (OKC)

I know people probably don't care, and the NBA sure as **** don't care, but I think the NBA lost a fan in me for the time being, until something is done about this and this superteam era comes to an end. And as a matter of fact, that's how this era of the NBA will be defined: As the superteam era. Sports are about competing against the best and may the best man win, not following and tagging along with the best players just so you can dominate the league and take the easy path to victory. So, I'm not gonna sit and watch these games when the whole essence of competition is being taken out of them.

[cwas2882]

Happens every year. Why get mad now? Unless you're gonna call guys like David West and Ray Allen cowards.

There's a big **** difference. If you don't see that, you're either ignorant, stupid or a blind homer. I'll let you pick

OK. Please explain the difference between ring chasers in prior years and ring chasers in 2016, and why these ones are cowards and others aren't. I'll wait.

I'm doubling down. If you can't see the difference, you prove my point. No amount of explaining is going to fix your mental deficit.

[DreDay]

There's a big **** difference. If you don't see that, you're either ignorant, stupid or a blind homer. I'll let you pick

OK. Please explain the difference between ring chasers in prior years and ring chasers in 2016, and why these ones are cowards and others aren't. I'll wait.

I'm doubling down. If you can't see the difference, you prove my point. No amount of explaining is going to fix your mental deficit.

Just like I thought. All insults with no rationale.