Minnesota Sports Forum

Mstermisty wrote:I can totally understand why a guy like Kevin Love jumped ship, he was never going to get it done being the man anyway, not even close. But OKC was knocking on the door, they had GS beat and I think they had a great chance against the Cavs. For KD not to come back and give it one more year with Russ and some nice additions makes me think either A) KD and Russ had a rougher relationship than it appeared, or B) KD is just happy to take the easy road to the Ship, which surprises me. He always seemed like a loyal guy who would see things through at OKC (which was only one more year anyway).

I think the guy just wanted to work with a successful organization with a bunch of guys he liked. If it were any other business, we'd all say "good for him." But it's basketball, where competition is the name of the game, so we feel out of fairness that there should be a certain degree of parity. It's particularly disturbing because he's weakening the #2 team in the West last year and strengthening the #1. It just seems unfair. This is why this decision rubs me the wrong way, even though all that happened is a guy made a logical choice to switch employers.

Yeah it's just hard to believe you can have a team beat (up 3-1), then lose a heartbreaking series, but yet overall feel good about how you played, and then a couple months later leave your team to join the one that barely beat you? Call me old school but that is just punking out. Yeah, KD will probably win rings now, but he'll do it with a stacked deck, and it won't mean as much as if he had gotten it done his last year in OKC.

Mstermisty wrote:Yeah it's just hard to believe you can have a team beat (up 3-1), then lose a heartbreaking series, but yet overall feel good about how you played, and then a couple months later leave your team to join the one that barely beat you? Call me old school but that is just punking out. Yeah, KD will probably win rings now, but he'll do it with a stacked deck, and it won't mean as much as if he had gotten it done his last year in OKC.

I'm disappointed in KD for going to a better team, and at the same time, disappointed that he left the team that almost beat that better team! The first reason is about fairness, the second about loyalty (to a cause, not a place). When I think about it logically, that seems a little inconsistent. But it's not, at least not completely.

On the fairness issue, I think, how much better are the Warriors than the Thunder if the Thunder almost beat them? So this can't upset the balance of power THAT much. But then I remember the Thunder were good largely because of Durant. So leaving the Thunder really weakens the #2 team and really strengthens the #1, even though they were pretty evenly matched in the WCF.

On the loyalty issue, the guy willingly spent almost a decade in Okla-fucking-homa. It's tough to criticize him for leaving. BUT the Thunder were SO close to getting back to the finals one last time. Westbrook is down for one more year. It just feels like you gotta give it one more try. You've been building something for almost a decade and were SO close last year, just give it one more go. I don't think he owes it to the city, but I think he owes it to the effort he and his teammates have put in so far. That's what I mean by loyalty to a cause. It's about perseverance. And under the circumstances, I think he should have given one more year to see if they could finally win a championship with that team. And to go to the team that beat you just feels like a betrayal of that effort even though I know the guy is free to do whatever he wants, GS seems like a good group of guys, and they wouldn't have had the cap space next year to get him.

I still like the guy, but I REALLY wish he had stayed another year.

SIDE NOTE: It might actually be good for OKC that this happened. If he had re-upped for one more year and couldn't get it done, there was a good chance that OKC was going to lost BOTH Durant and Westbrook for nothing. Now they at least have a chance to trade Westbrook and get something in return.

well, this is really bad news .. Curry/Thompson/KD/Green .. that is essentially best per position 1-4, i do not see a reason buying league pass, as we know who winner will be .. i will probably buy one team pass for wolves only

TRKO wrote:

TheFuture wrote:

TheGrey08 wrote:

TRKO wrote:I'm not surprised. This is why I hate today's NBA. This would be like Shaq leaving Orlando in the mid 90's to join the Bulls. It's stupid. I've lost respect for Durant as a competitor.

For the Warriors, their depth was the key for their success. This move depletes that. There is only one ball and three guys that will need it. I don't think this is a good team move. I know everyone will disagree, but I don't think the big three dynamic is a good one, unless the third wheel in the big 3 is a unselfish player who creates, rebounds, and defends at a high level.

Yeah I don't like it either from any standpoint (GS, fans, league and of course OKC). 26 mill to not improve the team much if at all. bye bye depth and long term success.

I don't love the fit but there is no denying how good that starting 5 will be with curry, Klay, Durant, and green. You simply cannot guard 3 of the best 3pt shooters at the same time, especially when tgey all can get a shot off whenever and wherever they want.

Yeah, there is only one ball though. Injuries also happen and you'll need depth. They traded their depth for another superstar. Foolish move.

1) when you're up 20, benches matter less.
2) starters play more minutes in the playoffs
3) there are bench guys available... And we've learned that vets are willing to play for less.
4) buyouts... They happen every year. And those guys can go anywhere. They'll be looking at the Warriors.

{Edit: Whoa. Just realized Zaza Pachulia signed there for $2.9M. Point proven. Wow. That guy was a walking double-double machine the first half of last season. And he's getting paid about 20% of T. Mozgov. Yeah... GSW's bench will end up just fine.]

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Here is what bothers me the most. Publicly the NBA is going to be non-reactive to this news. They will point out the league tried to avoid this type of thing and the players association blocked their efforts. But behind the scenes and away from the press the league and ESPN are throwing a huge party. They know this is going to be a tremendous thing for business. ESPN will devote an entire team to cover the Warriors much like they did for the "Heatles". The league will garner more attention than ever. The dollars will flow in and the league will become even stronger. Competitive balance be damned, we care about our TV contracts and the casual fans. The true fans in each of the 30 markets aren't going anywhere, so why care about them?

Whoa. Cool and Abe sittin' in a tree...



[Note: It's like Cool just got up inside my brain. I've discussed the NBA's devotion toward casual fans over "true" fans for years. It's illustrated by the gossip-heavy "where's he going" 365-day news cycles. It's working. So expect the new CBA to encourage even more player movement. This will not be good for teams with super young, talented teams. Let's be honest, it's not news that KAT is staying in Minnesota. But KAT being courted by 29 teams will make front-page news for weeks. It's coming... just saying...]

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Here is what bothers me the most. Publicly the NBA is going to be non-reactive to this news. They will point out the league tried to avoid this type of thing and the players association blocked their efforts. But behind the scenes and away from the press the league and ESPN are throwing a huge party. They know this is going to be a tremendous thing for business. ESPN will devote an entire team to cover the Warriors much like they did for the "Heatles". The league will garner more attention than ever. The dollars will flow in and the league will become even stronger. Competitive balance be damned, we care about our TV contracts and the casual fans. The true fans in each of the 30 markets aren't going anywhere, so why care about them?

Whoa. Cool and Abe sittin' in a tree...



[Note: It's like Cool just got up inside my brain. I've discussed the NBA's devotion toward casual fans over "true" fans for years. It's illustrated by the gossip-heavy "where's he going" 365-day news cycles. It's working. So expect the new CBA to encourage even more player movement. This will not be good for teams with super young, talented teams. Let's be honest, it's not news that KAT is staying in Minnesota. But KAT being courted by 29 teams will make front-page news for weeks. It's coming... just saying...]

Thanks for the reminder to update my calendar to put in an entry "Start worrying about KAT leaving". Let's see. Oh, there it is...July 1, 2023. Hmm...nothing else on my calendar for that day...wide open, so I'll be able to devote a lot of time and energy to this then.

It's good to plan ahead.

longstrangetrip wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Here is what bothers me the most. Publicly the NBA is going to be non-reactive to this news. They will point out the league tried to avoid this type of thing and the players association blocked their efforts. But behind the scenes and away from the press the league and ESPN are throwing a huge party. They know this is going to be a tremendous thing for business. ESPN will devote an entire team to cover the Warriors much like they did for the "Heatles". The league will garner more attention than ever. The dollars will flow in and the league will become even stronger. Competitive balance be damned, we care about our TV contracts and the casual fans. The true fans in each of the 30 markets aren't going anywhere, so why care about them?

Whoa. Cool and Abe sittin' in a tree...



[Note: It's like Cool just got up inside my brain. I've discussed the NBA's devotion toward casual fans over "true" fans for years. It's illustrated by the gossip-heavy "where's he going" 365-day news cycles. It's working. So expect the new CBA to encourage even more player movement. This will not be good for teams with super young, talented teams. Let's be honest, it's not news that KAT is staying in Minnesota. But KAT being courted by 29 teams will make front-page news for weeks. It's coming... just saying...]

Thanks for the reminder to update my calendar to put in an entry "Start worrying about KAT leaving". Let's see. Oh, there it is...July 1, 2023. Hmm...nothing else on my calendar for that day...wide open, so I'll be able to devote a lot of time and energy to this then.

It's good to plan ahead.

I'm not sure if the league will encourage this type of movement exactly (some owners will not be happy about these types of possibilities) but I absolutely agree the media will.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Here is what bothers me the most. Publicly the NBA is going to be non-reactive to this news. They will point out the league tried to avoid this type of thing and the players association blocked their efforts. But behind the scenes and away from the press the league and ESPN are throwing a huge party. They know this is going to be a tremendous thing for business. ESPN will devote an entire team to cover the Warriors much like they did for the "Heatles". The league will garner more attention than ever. The dollars will flow in and the league will become even stronger. Competitive balance be damned, we care about our TV contracts and the casual fans. The true fans in each of the 30 markets aren't going anywhere, so why care about them?

Whoa. Cool and Abe sittin' in a tree...



[Note: It's like Cool just got up inside my brain. I've discussed the NBA's devotion toward casual fans over "true" fans for years. It's illustrated by the gossip-heavy "where's he going" 365-day news cycles. It's working. So expect the new CBA to encourage even more player movement. This will not be good for teams with super young, talented teams. Let's be honest, it's not news that KAT is staying in Minnesota. But KAT being courted by 29 teams will make front-page news for weeks. It's coming... just saying...]

Sports is the only business where franchises disregard loyal customers and chase the fringe ones. Every sport is like this unfortunately.

Did you guys ever think maybe he thinks that was his best shot at GS and they still lost? Why go back if you think your best shot isn't enough? He's been to 4 conference finals and 1 NBA finals. He's run into the brick wall multiple times and broken through once so I think he knows his chances at beating GS and they still weren't good even if he came back. You can say he should have given it one more shot, but the guy made it to the conference finals every year he had a healthy team and never came close to a title. This chance was literally once in a lifetime and he took it. He could have stayed and been the modern edition of Stockton/Malone and left to go somewhere else when they failed again and then he'd still be looking at that brick wall no matter where he went. You'd respect him more for trying to take down the brick wall, but history says he'd get just as criticized at the end of his career if he never took down that brick wall and came out empty handed.