Durant traded to Houston for Green, Brooks, #10 pick, and multiple 2nd rounders

I'm fairly close with parts of Nets mgmt and many of its former players (Brooklyn is the location to relocate every player it seems).

When Durant was there, he didn't cause any issues, but he certainly wasn't a leader. It's not really his personality. The true combustion was because James grew tired of Kyrie's "decisions" which led to him not playing. James just wants to win and rightfully so.

In my most recent conversation with ThunderDan, PHX had a toxic, toxic locker room. Durant and Book were no longer close, and Beal had the entire bench/low minute guys in his side. Coach had to be replaced as he lost KD very early on. Ironically, KD was closest to Grayson, especially as Book knew more and more that KD checked out.

I'd expect KD to be a quiet leader by his work, but the consistent leader in the Rockets with Ime's complete rust has always been Fred. Despite his numbers, he's incredibly valuable on and off the court.

The current focus is money and one more guard for security. How do you value a great year from mgmt v. player?

Wish you well.

 

So Kevin Durant likes Greyson. He will now love Reed.

@Snow Villiers

 

Thanks codman, appreciate the thoughts/info!

 

Glad to hear they are looking for “one more guard for security”. Guard depth is the only flaw on this team. If Reed doesn’t make a leap, Holiday just isn’t the answer.

 

Lmao

 

Appreciate it! Love the mistype “due to Ime’s rust” I read it as Ime’s old and rusty and needs a young guy on the team to represent him.

 

How much of a leader was Dillon Brooks on the team?

 

I'm not going to pretend to know the answer to that, but I will say that he was a tone setter. You know he was going to bring it physically and wasn't going to take any shiit or back down from anyone. That team wasn't getting pushed around.

Every team needs one of those guys .... He may have been replaced and DFS may even be a better player(?) but I don't know if that tone / attitude has been replaced. Maybe Tari can be that guy?


I'll hate to see him suit up for PHX because I think he helps solve a lot of the problems that team had last season, they couldn't stop a pee wee team from scoring. They may actually win more games this year with less talent, much of that due to Brooks on the defensive end.

I kinda hope they trade him somewhere else ....

 

Watched some new footage of Jalen training. It's either dunks only when driving or leaning too hard on the fadeaways. Nothing is being added.

 

It's Amen. He's got that same mean streak, he's just not a showman with it like Dillon is. Go watch him vs Herro again. Amen's going to BULLY stars for most of his career. Not just bully regular players. Bully stars. Bank on it.

 

Good for us. Now he's not a Rocket we don't need him to put it together any more. Let him continue to train in a way that minimises his skills rather than capitalises on them.

 

This connects with everything I’ve seen as an outsider, especially Fred’s role/value and KD’s reticence. In that long podcast with LeBron and Nash, KD gave off every bit of the beta he often showed on the court, especially at (and in going to) Golden State. Not that he’s weak, exactly, but he's definitely not the leader.

I still worry about headless possessions when Fred is off the court. We have the right guy to get us buckets in the clutch, but we don’t have a lot of good judgment on the ball.

 

I liked Dillon’s attitude also, but the Rockets still do have the literal hardest player in the league to push around, and Adams didn’t resign here to play a minor bench role. Between him, Amen, FVV, and Tari … plus Ime … I see no worry at all about toughness or grit. Even Sengun - his game is fairly finesse, but he has fight in him.

Durant can just float around making jumpers and bringing championship credibility … the team around him will be plenty physical.

 

There's a difference between being tough and being dirty, and Dillon crossed that line with regularity.

 

D Anthony Melton or Malcolm Brogdon an easy fix. Pgs are the most common resource in the NBA.

 

KD literally talked down to short pgs lol.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18xDG5x9jR/

 

There is more than personality traits at work here. There is generational traits in the mix, too. Our culture is young because our players are young. The thought processes and values are different. A strong self serving personality probably would not workout anyway.