Minnesota Sports Forum

lipoli390 wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:Drew, I don't know that we know Durant likes it in OkC. Have you ever been there...arguably the least attractive city in the NBA! He probably feels some loyalty and drvie to win one there, but with Ibaka gone, he may not think a team that starts Adams and Ilyasova at C and PF is good enough to win the West. And as a 9-year veteran, you know he wants to win this year.

Replacing Barnes in GS's lineup would almost guarantee him a championship, and living in the Bay area is certainly more pleasant than lving in Oklahoma City. By declining Barnes, the Warriors have the cap space to give Durant the 1-year max he probably wants, and they will still have room under the luxury tax threshold to sign Livingston, Ezeli and filler. Golden State seems like the best option for Durant to achieve his three likely goals. The only downside for Golden State is that they likely have to let Bogut and Iggy go in 2017-8 to stay under the lux tax after giving Curry his max, but they can probably stay under the lux and continue to win championships with a Big 4 of Curry, Durant, Klay and Green plus 11 cheapies.

Good analysis, LST. If Durant is all about winning a championship, then signing with the Warriors is a no-brainer. But I suspect his loyalty will win out and he'll stay in OKC. A know someone whose son was Durant's college roommate. She said Durant is a super nice guy and doesn't like glitz, glamour or big cities. I think he's very comfortable in Ok City.

longstrangetrip wrote:Drew, I don't know that we know Durant likes it in OkC. Have you ever been there...arguably the least attractive city in the NBA! He probably feels some loyalty and drvie to win one there, but with Ibaka gone, he may not think a team that starts Adams and Ilyasova at C and PF is good enough to win the West. And as a 9-year veteran, you know he wants to win this year.

khans2k5 wrote:

TheSP wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:Drew, I don't know that we know Durant likes it in OkC. Have you ever been there...arguably the least attractive city in the NBA! He probably feels some loyalty and drvie to win one there, but with Ibaka gone, he may not think a team that starts Adams and Ilyasova at C and PF is good enough to win the West. And as a 9-year veteran, you know he wants to win this year.

Replacing Barnes in GS's lineup would almost guarantee him a championship, and living in the Bay area is certainly more pleasant than lving in Oklahoma City. By declining Barnes, the Warriors have the cap space to give Durant the 1-year max he probably wants, and they will still have room under the luxury tax threshold to sign Livingston, Ezeli and filler. Golden State seems like the best option for Durant to achieve his three likely goals. The only downside for Golden State is that they likely have to let Bogut and Iggy go in 2017-8 to stay under the lux tax after giving Curry his max, but they can probably stay under the lux and continue to win championships with a Big 4 of Curry, Durant, Klay and Green plus 11 cheapies.

It's one thing to join a loaded team and win a championship, it's another altogether to join a team that played in the last two finals and won one of them. In the first scenario you can be the piece that put them over the top, in the second you're just riding their coattails. To me it'd be like winning a championship while not playing because you're injured, it'd be empty as it was your teammates who won while you sat in a suit on the sidelines.

Now if he were to go to the Clippers or Lakers along with another piece and they won he could legitimately be the final piece of the championship puzzle. You have to earn the right to be called champion, not join one.

You just have to win the championship to be called a champion. It doesn't matter how you get there. They only count rings at the end of the day, not how you got them. The Magic Lakers and Bird Celtics were just as stacked as the Warriors would be with Durant and nobody brings that up when talking about Magic and Bird. They just talk about the greatness of great players on great teams and Durant would be a great player on a great team.

longstrangetrip wrote:Durant has meetings set up next week with OkC, San Antonio, and Golden State. Our board vote is hugely in favor of Durant staying, but he at least is going through the motions. And you gotta believe driving across the Golden Gate bridge after getting out of the Oklahoma heat and listening to Kerr enthusiastically sell him of joining a lineup of Curry, Thompson, Green and Bogut...with Iggy, Livingston, Barbosa and Ezeli still available off the bench...his head is going to be spinning!

I don't see Adams/Ilyasova/Durant/Oladipo/Westbrook beating Bogut/Green/Iggy/Thompson/Curry.

BizarroJerry wrote:So Bob Horry is a better player than Durant because he has 5 rings and Durant has none? How you get your ring matters to me. I'm old school and I loved how magic and bird fought each other every year for the title. They didn't ever wanna team up and form a superteam.

I hope Durant stays and doesn't go the way of Lebron and join the warriors.