My Take On Durant

[cowboysooner]

JMO, but it is real simple.

Durant wanted to move on and has for a couple years. When you are a year out from the end of your contract and you are a superstar, you are going to be traded unless the team is absolutely certain you are going to resign.

Durant talked to the Thunder as if he wanted and intended to stay, even though he wasn't and didn't intend to stay. The reason is simple. If there is even the slighted concern that you will leave, you will get traded for some value. Lots of teams will take a guy like Durant for a year, in order to chase a championship and/or revive ticket sales, even if they are only going to get him for a year.
'
Players like Durant don't want to get shipped and have to play for someone they don't want to play for, even for a year. So, they try and con the organization into thinking they are going to resign. Then, they have a change of heart, say it was a tough decision, and leave.

Presti will now have to move Westbrook. If he lets them both leave without any compensation, then he is a fool and should be fired.

Presti seems like a good and competent GM, but he got played. We all make mistakes. But, like the old saying goes, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Trade Westbrook, get some value, and then try and pick up Griffin next year.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

yeah that would be a ****ty thing to do. The thunder would have, and probably did, ask him that if he is really thinking about going, give us the teams you would want to go to and we will see if a trade will work

 

[Sooner04]

Nice take, and you make a lot of valid points.

But what was wrong with putting this in the other Durant thread with all the other conversation?

 

[McJacknife]

ask him that if he is really thinking about going, give us the teams you would want to go to and we will see if a trade will work

problem there is... by asking for a trade, KD knows that he'll be weakening the position of his new team. He doesn't want that! Best case scenario for KD is exactly what played out. He goes where he wants, new team gets maximum benefit, and Thunder are left holding a bag of despair

 

[Leroy]

Maybe he didn't want to play in OKC like Harden didn't. I would rather live in Cali than OKC

 

[hoopsaustin]

Imo i think KD asked RW if he thought RW was gonna leave.. i think that played a huge part if it happened like i imagine it did

 

[SoonerBounce13]

Imo i think KD asked RW if he thought RW was gonna leave.. i think that played a huge part if it happened like i imagine it did

well the more that comes out this may be true BUT bc russ said he was saying. I don't think they were getting along

 

[AdaSooner]

problem there is... by asking for a trade, KD knows that he'll be weakening the position of his new team. He doesn't want that! Best case scenario for KD is exactly what played out. He goes where he wants, new team gets maximum benefit, and Thunder are left holding a bag of despair

Yes, that's the best case scenario if the player doesn't give a rip that his old team will be left holding the bag. It also helps if management has their collective heads in the sand and fail to see it coming.

KD had every right to leave OKC and sign with the team of his choice. But, if you believe all of that crap he wrote on Twitter, I've got a nice parcel of beachfront property in Ada you can buy real cheap.

Stephen A got it right!

 

[KBaden145]

I'm no fan of either player but I'll be disappointed if Durant isn't ripped as much as Lebron was back in 2010 for going to Miami. Exact same situation minus the televised announcement.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[garyeb2]

Nike probably had as much influence on KD's decision as anyone.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

I'm no fan of either player but I'll be disappointed if Durant isn't ripped as much as Lebron was back in 2010 for going to Miami. Exact same situation minus the televised announcement.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

KD was worse. He left a title contender with an active management that was making moves to get better. Lebron left a crappy cleveland team

 

[scrybe]

Theories abound, but it really boils down to a rich, spoiled professional athlete who talks a good game but, in truth, could not wait to get out of OKC.

 

[campbest]

People are getting way too worked over this.

 

[Mr.B!!!]

I'm no fan of either player but I'll be disappointed if Durant isn't ripped as much as Lebron was back in 2010 for going to Miami. Exact same situation minus the televised announcement.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

He has a presser today where he'll continue to deflect [blaming Westbrook through "sources" now], but this is way worse than what LBJ did as Cleveland actually got picks out of the deal. I love and follow the NBA year-round and the general consensus is that KD had every right to do what he did [agreed] but that the criticism that he is getting from everywhere else except the Bay Area is valid [also agreed].

Personally I think there will be a lock out next summer as the owners try to get a handle on this the same way they thought they did in the last CBA. I think that will help when it comes to signing Westbrook long term and if you keep him and everyone else [except maybe Waiters, not sure I'd match] OKC is still pretty good and if they get away from pace and space and go to just bludgeoning people with defense and rebounding has a chance to end "small ball". Likely? No. Doable? Yes. There is a reason the NBA isn't filled with 6'6" centers.

 

[stormspencer]

People are getting way too worked over this.

Agreed.

 

[Soonerinkc]

People are getting way too worked over this.

yup...spoiled rich athletes...who cares. I watch very little pro sports anything.

now with the new tv deals...wow, just wow. The money is ridiculous.

 

[campbest]

yup...spoiled rich athletes...who cares. I watch very little pro sports anything.

now with the new tv deals...wow, just wow. The money is ridiculous.

I think you mean delusional fans.

It's a business.

 

[cowboysooner]

Look, I don't blame KD for leaving -- for any reason. I believe in free agency. He should be able to work for whomever he wants, that will take him. Just stating that it would have been nice and honorable to be up front with the business that paid him over $200 mil and promoted him endlessly, to let them know he was leaving and taking it on the chin for a year so they could end up with something and his leaving wouldn't be devastating to the team, City and State.

This being said, I fully understand that from his perspective, why should he not be able to do what is entirely in his interest, and not be concerned about anyone else's well being, when if he had told the team the truth, the club would have acted solely in its interest and not his. So, I guess there is a couple ways of looking at it.

There are people that respect the lives and interests of others and then there are those that solely look to there own interest. In the big business of the NBA, it is probably naïve to expect someone to be the former. Dog eat dog world. I would like to think I would be different, but maybe in KD's shoes, I wouldn't be.

 

[hoopsaustin]

People are getting way too worked over this.

Actually oklahoma has been amazing in their reactions. I'm really proud we didn't lose our mind. This is possibly the biggest loss of all time in Oklahoma sports and we've been really classy and mild

 

[WTSooner]

Look, I don't blame KD for leaving -- for any reason. I believe in free agency. He should be able to work for whomever he wants, that will take him. Just stating that it would have been nice and honorable to be up front with the business that paid him over $200 mil and promoted him endlessly, to let them know he was leaving and taking it on the chin for a year so they could end up with something and his leaving wouldn't be devastating to the team, City and State.

This being said, I fully understand that from his perspective, why should he not be able to do what is entirely in his interest, and not be concerned about anyone else's well being, when if he had told the team the truth, the club would have acted solely in its interest and not his. So, I guess there is a couple ways of looking at it.

There are people that respect the lives and interests of others and then there are those that solely look to there own interest. In the big business of the NBA, it is probably naïve to expect someone to be the former. Dog eat dog world. I would like to think I would be different, but maybe in KD's shoes, I wouldn't be.

Why would he "be up front" about it? Maybe he didn't decide until later in the season? It was in Durant and OKC's best interest, both of them, to play the season out.

Nobody is going to give OKC any trade package worthwhile for Durant or Westbrook in the last year of their contracts, when they know there is a decent chance both are going to leave.