Author Topic: CSN Monte Poole: if Durants leaves the Thunder it'll be for the Warriors  (Read 5690 times)

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Offline j804

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If Durant decides to leave the Thunder, the only franchise he’s ever known, he most likely will settle upon the Warriors. That’s according to multiple reports and numerous league sources. It’s also what the Warriors believe, according to team sources.
http://www.csnbayarea.com/warriors/warriors-knocking-durants-door-ready-make-dream-reality
"7ft PG. Rondo leaves and GUESS WHAT? We got a BIGGER point guard!"-Tommy on Olynyk


Offline LarBrd33

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That would be awful for his legacy.  What value is there for him, or Nike, if he joins a team to help under armour's guy win his 2nd title?  It would damage his rep.

Offline Rondo9

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Speculation, probably fueled by Woj's interview with the Warriors owner.

Offline jambr380

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Can't blame him if all he wants is a championship, but hard to respect a guy who joins an already record breaking roster. Hopefully he comes to his senses and joins the Cs along with Horford; it will be his team and they will be super-dominant, as well - just with defensive stars instead of prolific offensive ones.

Offline jpotter33

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A Bay area source says that Durant's most likely destination outside of OKC is.... the Bay area?! Shocker!



More seriously, though, even if their Finals loss opened the door for this to happen a bit, I still just can't imagine that it actually does. Durant just does not strike me as the type to do something like this, and, frankly, he'll justifiably lose his status as a top-3 player in the game if he does.

You just cannot join a team in this context, i.e. the greatest regular season team of all time, three All-Stars, 2x NBA MVP, and not do damage to your legacy. And it will be justifiable, too, because he'll essentially be admitting that he cannot be the top-dog on a championship team.

And if it actually does happen, I'm going to go out on a limb and say the fit is less than ideal and there are chemistry issues in the locker room. All three of those guys in the prime of their careers will lose a SIGNIFICANT amount of touches, and their offensive statistics across the board will go down.

BOLD PREDICTION - if he actually does join the Warriors, they will not win a title next year. They need another Draymond Green-type player before they need a primarily offense-only player in Durant.

Offline hpantazo

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Yeah, what passes for journalism nowadays is downright criminal. Of course a bay area source says he's going to GS. Next week the NY media will insist he's going to the Knicks even though they are not even on his list.

Offline mr. dee

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I would be rooting for Lebron if that happens.

Offline Endless Paradise

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That would be awful for his legacy.  What value is there for him, or Nike, if he joins a team to help under armour's guy win his 2nd title?  It would damage his rep.

Actually a very interesting point you bring up, re: Nike and UA. Windhorst mentioned this recently on the last True Hoop podcast.

Offline jpotter33

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Yeah, what passes for journalism nowadays is downright criminal. Of course a bay area source says he's going to GS. Next week the NY media will insist he's going to the Knicks even though they are not even on his list.

And aren't they all supposed to meet in New York somewhere? This guy was saying they're going to meet in LA.

Offline jpotter33

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I would be rooting for Lebron if that happens.

You know what, I would almost be to that point. At least Lebron was the architect behind getting the guys to go to Miami. He didn't just join a historically good team. That's weak sauce.

Offline LilRip

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I'd really be disappointed in KD as well. If he joins the Warriors, he can kiss any chance of MVP or being in the discussion as one of the all-time greats goodbye.
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Offline Ogaju

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Honestly, GSW is the last place he is going.

Now how about that for breaking news? Has as much reliability as the linked article.

Offline LarBrd33

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That would be awful for his legacy.  What value is there for him, or Nike, if he joins a team to help under armour's guy win his 2nd title?  It would damage his rep.

Actually a very interesting point you bring up, re: Nike and UA. Windhorst mentioned this recently on the last True Hoop podcast.
It's a huge point, actually.  The exec in charge of Nike's global basketball business recently stepped down, because sales were failing:

Quote
Sales of basketball sneakers at Foot Locker fell by a mid-single digit percentage during the quarter. Despite strong interest in Under Armour's (UA) Stephen Curry basketball sneakers, Nike's LeBron and Kevin Durant lines "proved the most challenging" said Foot Locker. The company's chief, Richard Johnson, said Nike was starting to "reset the price relationship" on its signature basketball sneakers. In other words, Nike may be lowering some prices on LeBron and Durant styles in order to spur sales.

They are paying Durant a lot of money and need to rely on him to boost sales.   Him joining Golden State to be the sidekick to Under Armour's darling is just going to ensure that Steph and Under Armour stay competitive and relevant.   That doesn't help Nike at all.

Also, in terms of legacy, that will still be seen as Steph's team.  There's no pride in that.  If Durant wants to just bandwagon on and add to someone elses legacy, he should just join up with LeBron in Cleveland.

He could join the Spurs, I guess, but that team is aging out and their best player plays his position.   Also, San Antonio is notoriously hard to market.  They won 5 championships and the broad NBA audience basically ignored them.   Yeah, maybe that changes with Durant carrying on San Antonio's Duncan dynasty, but being the face of an East Coast sports epicenter would instantly boost his stature. 

Maybe he does join Golden State.  I just know that myself and countless other sports fans worldwide would see it as an anti-competitive weenus move.   I'd lose a little bit of respect for him.   They went to the Finals back-to-back.  They won the title a year ago.  They are coming off the greatest regular season in history.   They are more than likely having a weaker regular season next year with or without KD and even if they win the championship again, nobody is giving that credit to Kevin Durant.   Also... there's only one ball.   They have one of the greatest offenses ever.  He'll have to take an even lesser role there than he does playing with that overrated inefficient ballhog Russell Westbrook.

Offline Ilikesports17

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That would be awful for his legacy.  What value is there for him, or Nike, if he joins a team to help under armour's guy win his 2nd title?  It would damage his rep.

Actually a very interesting point you bring up, re: Nike and UA. Windhorst mentioned this recently on the last True Hoop podcast.
It's a huge point, actually.  The exec in charge of Nike's global basketball business recently stepped down, because sales were failing:

Quote
Sales of basketball sneakers at Foot Locker fell by a mid-single digit percentage during the quarter. Despite strong interest in Under Armour's (UA) Stephen Curry basketball sneakers, Nike's LeBron and Kevin Durant lines "proved the most challenging" said Foot Locker. The company's chief, Richard Johnson, said Nike was starting to "reset the price relationship" on its signature basketball sneakers. In other words, Nike may be lowering some prices on LeBron and Durant styles in order to spur sales.

They are paying Durant a lot of money and need to rely on him to boost sales.   Him joining Golden State to be the sidekick to Under Armour's darling is just going to ensure that Steph and Under Armour stay competitive and relevant.   That doesn't help Nike at all.

Also, in terms of legacy, that will still be seen as Steph's team.  There's no pride in that.  If Durant wants to just bandwagon on and add to someone elses legacy, he should just join up with LeBron in Cleveland.

He could join the Spurs, I guess, but that team is aging out and their best player plays his position.   Also, San Antonio is notoriously hard to market.  They won 5 championships and the broad NBA audience basically ignored them.   Yeah, maybe that changes with Durant carrying on San Antonio's Duncan dynasty, but being the face of an East Coast sports epicenter would instantly boost his stature. 

Maybe he does join Golden State.  I just know that myself and countless other sports fans worldwide would see it as an anti-competitive weenus move.   I'd lose a little bit of respect for him.   They went to the Finals back-to-back.  They won the title a year ago.  They are coming off the greatest regular season in history.   They are more than likely having a weaker regular season next year with or without KD and even if they win the championship again, nobody is giving that credit to Kevin Durant.   Also... there's only one ball.   They have one of the greatest offenses ever.  He'll have to take an even lesser role there than he does playing with that overrated inefficient ballhog Russell Westbrook.
I don't think KD much cares about this type of thing but i don't know the guy. Obviously going to LA or Miami would be marketing gold. I wonder if he gave them a meeting in order to appease Nike reps.

It's a long shot but I could see Nike pushing to get him into one of those markets.
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Offline jpotter33

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The only thing that worries me is Durant having a connection to Curry due to both having strong Christian faiths. I could see that being very attractive to Durant to share a team with another major Christian athlete.

On the other hand, Bradley is supposed to be a pretty faithful Christian athlete himself, so hopefully that's a draw for him, too.

And let's just take a moment and realize what a good guy Avery Bradley is. He's a consummate professional, and he's the perfect representation of what it is to be a Celtic. Here's a story that's been shared on here before regarding what type of person AB really is. I'd really like for him to retire a Celtic, that way I'd never have to root against him - http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2016/02/boston_celtics_avery_bradley_j.html