OT Durant to Warriors | Page 4 | The Boneyard

OT Durant to Warriors

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FfldCntyFan said:
Are you insane? And under contract for a few years Jordan along with an all star PG for a couple months of Westbrook? Posting as working on year two of a rookie contract for a couple months of Westbrook? Isaiah Thomas isn't making the decisions for the Knicks any longer and Donald Sterling no longer runs the Clippers.
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You must have thoguht I meant Michael Jordan. I can see your confusion. I meant DeAndre who is good, but not great. Westbrook is younger than CPIII and CPIII has lingering injury issues. But if you say it is a bad idea, i guess it is.
Psst, you wouldn't do the deal without Russ agreeing to a long term-deal first...and he is from LA. Personally, i would love to chance to build a team around Russ and Blake Griffin (who isn't exactly fond of CPIII anyway).
 
gtcam said:
Not to mention one of the greatest talents.
If Kobe is a B1tch then Lebron is a B1tch supreme
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Funny how KobeMe fans forget that after playing one...ONE season on a bad team he demanded a trade and badmouthed the Lakers entire organization. To the point the deal to trade him to Chicago was finalized and Dr. Buss talked Kobe off the ledge at the literal last moment.
 
MilliniumPrince said:
LeBron left a team with no help and no hope of drawing free agents. Durant is leaving a team with a player who may actually be better than him and a great supporting cast. I say a player should do what he feels. In the end, people remember titles. But i would love to have seen him and Russ give it one more shot.
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LeBron left Cleveland to win titles in Miami, knowing that Cleveland would stockpile #1 picks and he would come back. It does seem like several of today's superstar players don't have the stones of some of the past superstars. If you can't get it done just join up with an all-star team, it's all a bit disappointing if you ask me,
 
superjohn said:
LeBron left Cleveland to win titles in Miami, knowing that Cleveland would stockpile #1 picks and he would come back. It does seem like several of today's superstar players don't have the stones of some of the past superstars. If you can't get it done just join up with an all-star team, it's all a bit disappointing if you ask me,
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Most of those past stars were:
A) drafted by really good teams (see Bird, Larry, or Johnson, Magic)
B) played d in destination cities (see Jordan, Michael)
C) Had HOF coaches
D) all the above.

Now compare that to LeBron's situatuion in Cleveland the first time around. I think LeBron just carried his THIRD rookie coach to the finals. The other was future HOFer Mike Brown. He never had a Phil Jackson, Red Auerbach, hell..Doug Collins. And let's not begin to compare rosters. Magic showed up to his first practice with Kareem-f'cking'Abdul Jabar. Bird had Parrish and soon Kevin McHale and Dennis Johnson...who had already lead a team to a title.
 
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MilliniumPrince said:
Funny how KobeMe fans forget that after playing one...ONE season on a bad team he demanded a trade and badmouthed the Lakers entire organization. To the point the deal to trade him to Chicago was finalized and Dr. Buss talked Kobe off the ledge at the literal last moment.
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Kobe has the most inflated legacy of all the NBA legends, even a rape charge didn't make the guys fans lose a step at the time.
 
MilliniumPrince said:
Most of those past stars were:
A) drafted by really good teams (see Bird, Larry, or Johnson, Magic)
B) played d in destination cities (see Jordan, Michael)
C) Had HOF coaches
D) all the above.

Now compare that to LeBron's situatuion in Cleveland the first time around. I think LeBron just carried his THIRD rookie coach to the finals. The other was future HOFer Mike Brown. He never had a Phil Jackson, Red Auerbach, hell..Doug Collins. And let's not begin to compare rosters. Magic showed up to his first practice with Kareem-f'cking'Abdul Jabar. Bird had Parrish and soon Kevin McHale and Dennis Johnson...who had already lead a team to a title.
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The 80's and 90's would have been pretty lame if Jordan decided it was too difficult to beat the Celtics and Pistons and instead joined up with Bird or Isiah. All of Isiah's disappointing losses to the Celtics and Lakers would have made it easier for him to join up with them instead of trying to beat them. I'm glad Jordan and Isiah were so competitive and knew they had to put in more work to get better and eventually they could beat those teams.
 
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superjohn said:
The 80's and 90's would have been pretty lame if Jordan decided it was too difficult to beat the Celtics and Pistons and instead joined up with Bird or Isiah. All of Isiah's disappointing losses to the Celtics and Lakers would have made it easier for him to join up with them instead of trying to beat them. I'm glad Jordan and Isiah were so competitive and knew they had to put in more work to get better and eventually they could beat those teams.
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Isiah had Dumars, Lambeer, Rodman, etc. Jordan had a guy named Pippen, Grant, then Rodman...amd a coach named Phil. Under those circumstances LeBron probably never leaves Cleveland. The situations are not remotely comparable.
 
MilliniumPrince said:
Isiah had Dumars, Lambeer, Rodman, etc. Jordan had a guy named Pippen, Grant, then Rodman...amd a coach named Phil. Under those circumstances LeBron probably never leaves Cleveland. The situations are not remotely comparable.
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Every team that has ever won a title in any sport has good players. What the fark is your point? Durant didn't think playing with another top 5 player in the league was enough for him to win so he joined up with three other stars. It is was it is but it makes me a little less interested in the NBA.
 
I Hate the move, think it looks real bad on KD. But the Warriors are must watch tv now. Makes me more interested in the NBA. NBA can say they don't like these teams but the ratings will be off the charts for a Cavs Warriors finals.
 
Guy who broke the Love to Cavs trade is saying that Wade to Cavs is pretty much a done deal.
 
superjohn said:
Every team that has ever won a title in any sport has good players. What the fark is your point? Durant didn't think playing with another top 5 player in the league was enough for him to win so he joined up with three other stars. It is was it is but it makes me a little less interested in the NBA.
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............
 
JimOllie said:
Can't get over this. Look at the best player of all time - MJ. He couldn't beat the Pistons. So what did he do? He got better and beat them. KD clearly doesn't want to compete. He just wants a ring handed to him. I thought for sure he would return to OKC and I would root for him and Russ to win a ring but guess not.
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The Pistons got old and MJ & the Bulls got better, its not quite as simple as you put it.
 
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I think there is something to be said about preservation. Barring catastrophic injury durant could have just extended his prime by shacking up with some other studs.

I don't like what this does about the competitive landscape of the NBA, but for the purposes of winning chips now, why not join a 73 win team if you can?

People called lebron a championship mercenary back in 2010 and that is what KD is doing now. He is willing to concede the spotlight or being "the man" in order to do so. Curry, Klay and Green are also putting there respective egos on the backburner as part of this move as well.
 
jfuchs91 said:
People villified LeBron for joining Miami. It'll be interesting to see how this Durant move is perceived. Going to a championship team that's made two straight Finals, broke the record for wins in a season, and knocked his team out of the playoffs.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
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Not true at all. The criticism then was when Wade, Lebron, and Bosh all conspired to sign together. Golden State added one player. Not the same. Then again, Kevin Durant was never hyped out of high school to be the greatest player to ever lace up his sneakers. So faulting Lebron for having to team up with Wade and Bosh to get over the hump was legit at the time.

I don't fault Durant for making the move, but if / when GSW win a couple more titles, I wouldn't be standing in line to give Kevin Durant all the credit.
 
My take on this is that Durant saw a few options:

1) He stays in OKC and never wins a title.
2) He stays in OKC, makes a big run and wins a title.
3) He goes to a team like the Celtics and Wizards and repeats option 1 and 2.
4) He goes to GS and wins 2-3 titles.

Barring something catastrophic, they're going to win 68-70 games a year, go deep into the playoffs every year and be "must see TV" for the next couple years (at least). I think that's more fun than going to the Wizards and trying to gut out something as a 5 seed and no homecourt advantage for the rest of his prime.
 
Kitaman said:
How anyone can have allegiance to a team is beyond me. Stars come and go, change jerseys like their changing sheets on a bed. Hell, Rondo is a Bull now. NBA teams are so dynamic you need to buy multiple programs a year to keep up with rosters.

Makes me respect Kobe a little more.
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As Jerry Seinfeld said, "We are rooting for the laundry."
 
champs99and04 said:
But I bet a lot of people in this thread don't have a problem with five top ten recruits committing to play for Geno (I don't know whether that's actually the case, but the point stands) every couple years.
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Someone probably already beat me to it, but that isn't nearly as true as the media and WCBB detractors would lead you to believe. Yeah, they get more than their share, but for every #1 or #2 recruit, there are plenty of #3, #4, #5, etc. recruits that sign elsewhere. And more times than not, the top recruit in the country signs elsewhere. And yet, Geno keeps on rolling.
 
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I think it is funny that when DHam (or any other college player) makes a decision to increase their odds for success, they can't be criticised.
But a top pro is held to an entirely different standard. He should be loyal, he should look to increase competition. I don't think this is seen the same in football, baseball or even "ameteur" college basketball.
 
David 76 said:
I think it is funny that when DHam (or any other college player) makes a decision to increase their odds for success, they can't be criticised.
But a top pro is held to an entirely different standard. He should be loyal, he should look to increase competition. I don't think this is seen the same in football, baseball or even "ameteur" college basketball.
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I get what you're saying, but this is a really flimsy argument.

Players who declare for the draft have zero say regarding which team they get to play for, while the opposite is true for free agents.
 
Deadrody said:
Someone probably already beat me to it, but that isn't nearly as true as the media and WCBB detractors would lead you to believe. Yeah, they get more than their share, but for every #1 or #2 recruit, there are plenty of #3, #4, #5, etc. recruits that sign elsewhere. And more times than not, the top recruit in the country signs elsewhere. And yet, Geno keeps on rolling.
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The point still remains that we optimize the narrative to fit the result. The UConn WBB program is (rightly) lionized for performing a Utopian display of team basketball that seems to contradict the NBA's premise that it is all about one star, or alpha-male. "Great things can be accomplished when nobody cares who gets the credit," or something like that. Now Durant is willingly capping his portion of the credit to partake in something akin to the UConn WBB program and there seems to be some overtones of man shaming (maybe that's not the right term, as it is men, in this case, who seem to be propagating that visual). I find it all interesting.
 
UConn990411 said:
I get what you're saying, but this is a really flimsy argument.

Players who declare for the draft have zero say regarding which team they get to play for, while the opposite is true for free agents.
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True. But that is not what I mean.
Leaving your college team vs leaving your pro team.
Fans here feel free to criticize the latter. But you get jumped on for criticizing the latter. Even when it appears ill-advised.

It just strikes me funny that more loyalty is expected from grown men who play for pay like LeBron or Kevin than Daniel.
I don't think it is rationale to expect it from either.
 
I don't understand people complaining about Durant. He went to play in that hell that is freaking Oakland, because he wants to win. It's a selfless move, compared to all the guys we see taking the most money they can get in other sports.

Here is the problem however. The Warriors should not be able to afford him. There is no way that any team with that roster should have the cap space available for Durant. The new cap, plus the max contract structure, allows super teams to be built and eliminates any chance at parity. It makes the NBA a joke league. As much as I don't like these insane salaries, if the cap is up, the max contract number needs to increase, so that this isn't possible. A team like Boston should have been able to pay him more than GS could.
 
David 76 said:
True. But that is not what I mean.
Leaving your college team vs leaving your pro team.
Fans here feel free to criticize the latter. But you get jumped on for criticizing the latter. Even when it appears ill-advised.

It just strikes me funny that more loyalty is expected from grown men who play for pay like LeBron or Kevin than Daniel.
I don't think it is rationale to expect it from either.
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Nobody is talking about loyalty to OKC. It's about joining a 73-win team that doesn't need him, that came back from 3-1 to beat him, that has already been to two straight NBA Finals.

Forget taking the stairs, forget taking the escalator, KD is taking the elevator.
 
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Rocktheworld said:
Nobody is talking about loyalty to OKC. It's about joining a 73-win team that doesn't need him, that came back from 3-1 to beat him, that has already been to two straight NBA Finals.

Forget taking the stairs, forget taking the escalator, KD is taking the elevator.
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You can't blame him for that. Every player should do that. The league needs to structure its cap and max contracts so that it isn't possible.
 
Again, this is overblown. Durant had Westbrook, but they didn't have anyone else that great. Adams is a good player, but we're not talking about a hall of famer here. The league is bigger, so talent is generally spread thinner unless teams are really smart or get lucky, or players move. We can bash Durant for playing with one other star and still leaving (and let's not forget Harden was traded to save cap space...how much dumber does that look now...), but then we lionize Bird we seem to forget no one would leave his situation: he played with McHale, Johnson, and Parrish, all HoFers, and Tiny Archibald in the early years of the 80s (another HoFer, albeit past his prime). I mean, who would leave that? Bird was playing in the NBA Finals in his second year. Magic his first. These guys didn't "build" teams, they lucked into being drafted into excellent organizations already stacked with talent.

As much as I love Jordan, it's also hard to get a sense of what he would have done if Pippen didn't come along didn't develop. Or, really, Grant, a pick Jordan hated. If he had the flexibility and the Bulls traded away the third best player on his teams for peanuts rather than try to win a title, he might have jumped ship. We don't know.
 
Elevator or beam me up.....

Do you blame GSW for trying to improve their team?
I can't blame KD for wanting to win a championship, especially if he left money on the table to do it.

I know anytime I played anything competitive, I wanted to be on a team that sucked to prove my legacy. (sarcasm).

It is his life, his choice. True for DHam, true for KD.
 
I'm fine with what Durant did. I just love the hypocrites who killed LeBron for it six years ago (and continue to do it) trying to rationalize it now.
 
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