Come to think of it, I think Westbrook clearly told Durant that he is bolting next year no matter what. Then Durant thought, what the hell am I going to do here? I guess he could have done a 1 year and still opt out. Too many variables in his decision.
at least Lebron genuinely got along and wanted to have fun and play with wade and bosh. Not sure about durant and the warriors.
I don't know who you are, or what toxic waste dump you crawled out from to make a personal attack, especially when the argument wasn't directed at you, personally. But, you seem to be highly upset over what has happened in the NBA over the last 4-5 days. Like a reactionary 5 year old who is upset that his mommy can't get him the same type of toys the other kids in the park have. I never said all of the posters, if your "so-called" reading comprehension skills noticed what I said in my response. You seem to be taking it awfully personally for a "stupid basketball games and selfish,cowardly players." That random quote came from one General Patton who believed it was in the American self interest to win-at-all cost who was even more so a win-at-all cost general. Which is very relevant to the argument. Durant is not cheating to win, he is playing by the rules that are giving to him and he decided to go to the team that gives him the best chance to win. Regardless of how cowardly or selfish, it seems people don't measure heroic acts in losing, as much as they do in winning. Because, the NBA does not give out 2nd place trophies. We don't give all the glory to 2nd place winners unless they look like Maria Sharapova, but that's another story. You seem to be investing alot of emotion and energy into players and people who care little about what you say or think, while they are making their millions. I honestly think the league will be fine and continue to thrive regardless of these transaction, because I see that the league is growing exponentially beyond the one, two, or three championships that the Warriors might win with Durant. And, beyond the inflated salaries of the 2016/2017 free agent class. The salaries are just as high in MLB, the league is doing quite well in attendance and TV ratings. Basically, people are sour-grapes arguing over milk that hasn't been spilled, yet. Since, the Warriors could conceivably flop as a team, due to injuries, chemistry issues, or being beat in the playoff series. The best roster doesn't always win. Should I be upset with Kevin Durant chosen to "chase a ring" with greatest regular season team of all time (arguably) over a team whose owner basically left town and moved a team from beloved NBA city moved to a random big city, because the city wouldn't fork over tax payer dollars ($500 million) to build a new arena? Good for the Thunder, they had a chance to build a powerhouse team, themselves -- With Harden, Ibaka, KD, and Westbrook, but they blew it by being too cheap. Tough luck, tough world.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kevin Durant's decision through the eyes of some the newspapers covering him: <a href="https://t.co/buEm3DvLiY">pic.twitter.com/buEm3DvLiY</a></p>— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) <a href="https://twitter.com/Rachel__Nichols/status/750333474276384768">July 5, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Saying that someone doesn't have reading comprehension skills when he comes in thread claiming untruthfull things about what others here have posted, and then respond with that. Nice. Who is the toxic waste dump 5 year old who makes personal attacks? Didn't even read more than your first two paragraphs from your text. You seem to be too much invested though in something you look down upon to invest so much time writing all that.
Lmao, when did Andrew Bogut become this superstar center all of a sudden? He's a scrub & Pachulia will easily replace his production. The Warriors got better defensively, Durant is a far superior defender than Barnes when fully motivated & engaged. Did anyone not see the WCF? This makes their small ball lineup even better.
Interesting. By using your logic, do you think Harden also told Durant he was bolting in 2 years, so there was no point in trying to come to Houston?
No, I type really fast. Let's see other posters have called Durant - selfish, coward, taking the easy way out, giving up on his team. I've seen posters in the Durant thread and pretty much all of the free agent threads say that they are not watching the NBA, this season. They are canceling their subscriptions or they may as well give up on the season. When did I "say all" posters, sweetheart? I said some or "people" or "some posters," I never said everyone, Clutchfans, or all posters. I do not know what type of axe you have the grind, but while you are arguing with me...our hometown team is still an 8th place West conference team where some of the teams above us have gotten better. While, you are not a penny richer from this debacle.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kevin Durant's picture comes down outside Chesapeake Energy Arena: <a href="https://t.co/AsTXa5yz7J">pic.twitter.com/AsTXa5yz7J</a></p>— Royce Young (@royceyoung) <a href="https://twitter.com/royceyoung/status/750339616398389249">July 5, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Warriors have pushed for a Ray Allen comeback since 2014. Ray has stayed in shape. His vet minimum would be $1,551,659. GS likely calls.</p>— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/750342992028954624">July 5, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I have gotten almost as many angry texts/etc from team execs about GSW getting Zaza for nothing as I did re: GSW signing KD.</p>— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/750343654187921408">July 5, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Here's one interesting (and frankly kind of half empty) way to look at the Warriors transition from Barnes to Durant. We think they'll take an amazingly efficient offense to some new stratospheric level. Barnes took nearly 10 shots per game last year, with an eFG of 53%. So Durant takes those and shoots eFG 57% (last year), or even better since there will be more weapons on the floor. Modest upgrade on those 10 shots. Durant will also take more than Barnes, but where do his shots come from? I'd argue mainly Green (10 shots per game, eFG 55%), and (maybe surprisingly) Curry, who will do his best to be a little more a facilitator. So you improve the offense that Barnes had, marginally, but you're not really upgrading the other shots (from Green, Curry or Thompson, all very high eFG guys). I know it sounds ridiculous, but other than being an impressive set of names, I'm not sure the Warriors offense will be *that* much better than the offensive rating of 114.5 that they had this year. So then you have to think, well: Durant is a better defender than Barnes (yes), a better rebounder (much better, and underrated actually), and that he'll allow Kerr to rest Curry and Klay even *more* than he already did this last year (probably true, barring a significant injury to one of his main guns). If they don't gel, I still don't think they're *that* much better a team. Probably an enormous headache in the playoffs though.
Durant was just celebrating 4th of July INDEPENDENCE DAY. Celebrating Independence to do whatever the hell he wants. Freedom to do what you want >>>>> Communist Socialist crap "let's make things fair" Get out of here with that NFL parity nonsense lol
LOL... sports leagues are far more communist than anything else. A salary cap... a "max" contract... players can be traded/sold at any point... worse teams get higher picks... teams that spend more get penalized more.
That's why the systems of European Soccer Leagues are better. Promotion/Relegation system. Transfer markets over "Trades". And exactly your point. American Sports Leagues already have many aspects that reflect communist/socialism rather than free market.
A few flaws to this logic: 1. Each of the players, from Durant to Curry to the scrubs, get *easier* shots as a result of this move. So you can't compare Durant's %s last year to this year. Last year, he was taking far more difficult shots. Same with everyone else on GSW - their degree of difficulty on their shots should theoretically be lower than last year by having Durant on the floor. 2. Why do Durant's shots have to come from Green/Curry/Thompson? Assuming they are spreading out their time on the floor, and given that GSW lost of a lot of depth, most of his shots could come from all the bench players they had last year.
This is wrong on so many levels. We don't live in a "do whatever you want" society, anyways (unfortunately). Fans were just celebrating 4th of July independence day too - which means they can think whatever they want. Like, "it would be awesome to see a competitive league where stars have pride and want to take it to each other instead of joining forces like pansies." Seems reasonable to me. Freedom means doing what you want and dealing with the consequences. In this case, joining with a team that is already pretty disliked - and becoming disliked.
GSW is pretty weak at Center but if they stay healthy, that team is going to be ridiculous. Now that the game has changed and the inside post-up game has been supplanted by 3pts, I don't see any team matching up with them. Steph/Thompson are nightmares to guard, Green (hate the guy) might be the most versatile PF in the game and Durant is all world. How are you ever gonna be able to double team 3 of their 5 staters who legitimately need to be doubled on nearly every possession? Don't see how this is good for the NBA. Only way they get beat is if they get obliterated on the boards and give up layups, which might be a possibility... but even so, their 3 point shooting percentage is ridiculous and they'll just out shoot you. Sure they lost some defense but this might be the most potent offensive team I can think of in the last 20 years.
I did mention point #1. On #2, I honestly couldn't find many of their bench players who averaged many shots, but I guess it will add up, from people like Mo Buckets, etc. My main point is still worthwhile I think: how much do you improve that incredible offensive rating (114.5 per 100 possessions)? We'll see. There are definitely more than a few reasons I am not paid to advise NBA teams.
Sure... but a lot of those calls occurred when KD would basically go one-on-one, isolated, and would make something happen. GS doesn't really play that style... which is part of why they don't get many FTA (they get wide open 3's and wide open layups based on all their movement, screens, and passing). If KD plays within the system, his FTA will go down. If they decide to alter their system to give him more isolations/post-ups, his FTA will remain the same... but their overall offensive efficiency may decline. By all means he makes them better... but with diminished depth, and the fact that he wasn't really a system player prior to any of this, they're by no means a lock.
