for the people saying durant's move wasn't weak and that he just did what was best for him, i think it just comes down to the fact that the whole point of sports is that we don't look at it like the corporate world or our lives in general, we look at it like a pickup game. the fans do. the players certainly did back when they were just fans. we experience sports like a pickup game at the park. everyone wants to win whatever pickup game they are in. and people want to prove how good they are. but we still try to create a semblance of competition. teams are usually picked to be somewhat even. and if the best guy on the court still keeps winning, then good for him. but there's a reason teams get switched up if a team wins 11-0. because no one wants to play that game. there's supposed to be competition. and if two teams are competitive and one team has game point, but then the other team comes back and wins, what happens? run it back. because we've got two equal teams. and the losing team is probably pissed off about blowing the game and wants to make up for it. if the best player on the losing team thought it would be good if he was traded to the winning team, no one would say "smart move, why make it hard on yourself, you're putting yourself in the best position to win." we'd think it was ridiculous. not because we hate people having the right to choose the best path for themselves in life, but because sports isn't about that and it would seemingly defeat the whole purpose of why you came out to compete in the first place.
Everyone's acting like the main reason Durant left OKC, wasn't that no young rich zillionaire wants to live in OKC. Seriously... you know Durant looking at cali and dreaming about living there. Dreaming about rubbing shoulders with tech zillionaires and moviestars all the time. So what if he does bring a bunch of titles to OKC. Does he even want the key to that city? Screw that. Durant left OKC cause the city sucks. He want to the warriors cause he likes them. Same crap as with wade, CP3, Lebron, Bosh, and Melo. Durant, Iggy, n Curry been knowing each other and been friends low key for years.
All I know is that if I were an NBA player, OKC would be about the last place I would want to play and live. I don't blame Durant even a little bit for leaving. Most of us would leave the second we could get out of there.
honestly, while i rooted for lebron, i really don't remember how i viewed it from a competitive perspective. i don't remember if i thought it would be easy and was ok with it or if i, being the nerd i am, looked at win shares and stuff like that and thought they wouldn't be anything overwhelming, just a contender or maybe a slight favorite. lebron certainly got lucky that it wasn't easy. wade declined enough and bosh was tough enough to fit in that lebron ended up having to be the unquestioned best guy on the court to win. if it had actually worked out as "not 5, not 6, not 7" it probably wouldn't have meant as much for his legacy as carrying them to 2 ended up meaning. durant should probably hope for the same thing. and even then lebron's decision wasn't as bad as this. durant is going to a big 4 instead of a big 3 and even then, at the time of the decision that big 4 had 2 role players (livingston and iggy) who are better than any role player for the big 3 that first year. and now 4 role players with zaza and west.
The NBA is gonna do fine business. The NBA did well with Jordan dominating in the 90s. It did well with LeBron in Miami, too. Fans will watch great teams, whether to root for the top dog or to root against them. U people b****ing now are still gonna tune in.
NBA was at it's best with dominate teams like Lakers, Celtics, Bulls. That's all we remember. We still talk about Lakers, Celtics, and Bulls 30 to 40 years later.
Durant went to an established 1 ring big 4 with 2 solid roleplayers whom he didn't get along with probably hated prior. So he wanted to win no matter if he had fun doing it or got along with the people around him lebron and another big played with another big and they all got along with each other and just wanted to play together have fun and win a championship
It's dominant. DOMINANT. Dominate is a verb. When the hell did people start using dominate like that? Holy annoying freaking English, Batman.
For some reason I cant seem to fond the original Lebron joins Miami Heat thread. But I did find a "Lebron is a Little b**** Thread" from that same time frame. The thread is 29 pages and most of it is about how dominant the heat will be and how Lebron is well a litlle b**** or not. here is one of your responses.
Although this is probably not why KD left, I completely agree with the above post. I've been to OKC many times over the years and cannot stand the place. It's awful IMO.
Only thing worse is the idiots confusing "lost" and "loss" Almost always accompanied with a horrendous opinion
thanks, although i actually also searched and went back and looked through a bunch of old threads (well, at least 100 replies) including that one. it's always funny reading your old posts. i actually sounded like my current self. i've read posts from the early 2000's and it's like it was a different person typing. i didn't find as many posts as i figured i would have had back then about the decision, although maybe there were a bunch of smaller threads. the common theme of my responses seemed to be about how cleveland wasn't going to win because their management sucked so he should leave for a better team with some help. can't say i don't still agree. if lebron's team had been on the cusp with room to get better, i would think i would have felt differently. as it was cleveland had no cap room or trade assets or young, improving players (i hilariously mention that jamario moon and jj hickson were the possibilities for young players to get better) and that the team was more likely to decline than actually get better and win. durant just has such a better situation in okc that i can't understand leaving. or at least for such a sure thing that doesn't need his help and that undoubtedly makes him a bandwagoner. but hey, lebron changed the narrative. i couldn't seem to find any predictions of what i actually thought miami would be like, though referring to wade and bosh as "more help" didn't seem to indicate i thought the team would be unbeatable, just championship-level.
