Steph has just been brought back down to reality. He had an insane last year, but that's not reality. People questioned last year if Durant was better than Curry, there was never a question. The three reasons Curry has "fallen off": 1) Durant has taken the leading role, as he's their best player 2) Their number one way of getting open last year was moving screen of Bogut's and he's no longer there. 3) They don't run the same play sets anymore. A lot of plays were based off of Bogut's passing and screening, without him there, it's become much more iso-based with Durant. He's still an excellent player, top 10 in my book, but he's not that top 5. Cavaliers fouled him all series last finals, but it was allowed cause they were playing as physical too. Difference is the Warriors playing physically versus the Cavs is a joke; the Cavaliers are men and most of the Warriors are boys. Curry literally got manhandled. He looked like a boy out there. It looked like he didn't belong.
Oh man, Curry in this offense would be at another level. He'd be back to MVP caliber, and he'd push us in that 4th/5th seed to 1st/2nd I believe. I think Curry's agents must really hate this Durant move. If the Warriors don't win a championship, Iguodala is gone(win or lose, he's gone), Livingston is likely gone, and Curry may actually look elsewhere. I know people think its ridiculous, but Curry literally sacrificed his legacy for this-- they have to win. I don't think they do though. I don't think they beat the Cavaliers, Lebron has historically owned KD, and right now the Cavs have literally owned the Warriors. They took the life out of them. I think the Warriors do beat the Spurs, though.
The Cavs are the champs and the team to beat. The Warriors still can't rebound when it matters the most.
http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/18376747/how-kevin-durant-landed-bay Make no mistake; this isn't to say he's not an elite and talented basketball player. Anyone that thinks otherwise is a moron. This article, from how I read/interpreted it, paints Durant as a coddled adult and strengthens my belief that he could have never or will never be a player that can lead a team to the championship. So Russell Westbrook, the guy averaging a triple double this season and 1a/1b for the MVP currently, asked Durant how HE could change to better fit Durant. It wasn't even a matter of Russell not wanting Durant but the total opposite; the guy wanted Durant back so much he's basically saying "let me change to fit your game". So Durant's more receptive to Curry's message of "Hey I don't care who takes the spotlight as long as we're winning" rather than Westbrook's "Hey, I'll mold my game to fit yours so we can succeed together". So if the Warriors had won the championship Durant would have scratched them off the list for fear of being a coat tail rider. Instead, the Warriors fellatio'd the Finals and Durant joins the team to be a coat tail rider of the Chokiest Team in NBA history. So his first worry is about how big a security blanket the Warriors brass will put on him when he joins the team?
You made a lot of random leaps of logic to make your argument. You took random sentences and decided what you thought it meant for Durant. It could just be that those things happened. And Durant loved San Francisco and wanted to be there.
What a joke that ESPN article was. Is it longer in the print mag? The fancy presentation and sweet illustrations had me thinking I was going to hunker down for a nice long read. Instead it was like a two minute summary of the story everyone already knows, along with a couple new anecdotes that don't really say anything important.
I don't see what's wrong with that. both pretty much pitch the same thing ("we want to do whatever to win) and he thought GS was more attractive. The only beef I would have about that is loyalty. Westbrook had been in the trenches with him for that many years. It should have some weight for his consideration. That actually speaks well for Durant. He didn't want to join a championship team but rather wanted to help the losing team get over the hump. Of course, the Warriors already had won without him. That's where most of the criticism came from. I think calling last year's Warriors "the Chokiest Team in NBA history" is a huge exaggeration. You forgot how we beat the Clippers. It's not that far into history, you know. I know lots of people hated the Warriors and now hate them even more because of Durant's joining them. I do too, and still believe Durant has tarnished his legacy by joining the Warriors whether he wins championship(s) with them or not. But let's not getting too carried away.
All that matters.....is if they win the ring. If he wins the ring, everyone shutups. If he doesn't, he shuts up. He being Kevin.
I can understand wanting to preserve energy/health for the playoffs, but holding on to the first seed would have to take precedence. And the top seed is not as much of a sure thing this year.
I dunno they are right now a +12.7 right now compared to a 10. something last year. All the while taking two starters away and integrating a top 5 player. It's not inconceivable for them to be even better than last year.
The concern would be their losses. Spurs, Rockets, Cavs, Grizzlies, Lakers. Lakers aside, losses to good teams. On the other side, the only real signature win you canpoint to is against the Clippers. They have certainly beaten some other good teams... Thunder, Jazz, Raptors twice, Celtics... but it hasn't exactly been a daunting schedule. Half their games home/road so far. Opponent win % under .500. Don't get me wrong, their still head and shoulders best in the West and odds on favorite to win the title. just pointing out the schedule gets more difficult.
I got you. I didn't know that. I was looking strictly at their point differential for this year, compared to last year. Another thing to consider is perhaps injuries of some kind. They have been extremely lucky regarding that the last 2 seasons.
