Great news, it's the first step we needed.
Now it's up to Danny, Brad (and IT) to sell KD on the fact that this is the best situation for him, not only in basketball terms, but also in marketing ones. He can pretend all he wants that he will only make his decision based on "basketball reasons" but he can't deny that :
- he would have the chance to become the undisputed star of the team, and relish a chance to follow the footsteps of Celtics legends such as Larry Bird and Paul Pierce, which is a huge marketing asset (think of KG when he came to Boston)
- regardless of the moves we make this summer, he would have a much easier path to the Finals than in the West, and for years to come. Yes, the Cavs just won the title but they are far from unbeatable and LeBron is starting to show his age.
- he values good coaching, competent management and a team willing to spend both to improve the roster and to market its stars, and the Celtics excel at all three (see the campaign they had to get IT to the ASG).
- he likes this kind of city and atmosphere
- he knows Danny wanted to draft him in '07.
Taken individually, each of these points may seem worthless but put together I think it really becomes an obvious choice. I know the Spurs and Warriors theorically offer him the best chance of winning right now (which can be argued since the Spurs got beat by the Thunder and the Warriors almost did too before collapsing in the Finals), but to me (and hopefully to him
) they don't offer him the best chances of winning long-term since Aldridge and Kawhi are not that much of a great core and the Warriors are kind of in an uncertain place (regarding their free agents and Curry's health which comes into question again these playoffs).
Finally, I think the OKC ship has sailed, especially in the wake of the Ibaka trade and the fact that Westbrook is more likely than not to bolt next summer.