Interesting Article Regarding Durant's Decision and the State of the NBA

[straightouttabahstun]

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/2650148-frustration-with-westbrook-sent-durant-fleeing-opens-door-to-trouble-for-nba

No surprises as far as tension between him and Westbrook. Good to see they are addressing the salary cap. While I can understand KD's decision to leave (as much as I hate it), this is AWFUL for the NBA. Definitely foreseeing another lockout soon.

[konkmv]

sometimes chemistry in a team plays a much larger role

[WeMadeIt17]

It is awful for the NBA. I hate people who blame Boston for this as well. Danny made trades and dealt with other teams in order to get Allen and KG here. As soon as that happened Bosh Wade and Lebron teamed up and everyone's response was we have to have a superteam to compete and they are right. you have 7 of the top 20 to 25 players in the NBA on TWO teams. How is that right? Not to mention the Warriors stars are all under 30! KG and Ray were 30 plus when they got here. I do hate the way this has turned out and def. could lead to another lock out. Its bad for the NBA as a whole and its a sad day.

This is why people turn to football instead. Much more of an even playing field.

[LarBrd33]

The depressing thing is that Durant has the ability to be the best player in the league.  I'm too lazy to find the post from a few days ago, but I did the math on how Durant performed in 2013-14 with Westbrook injured.  They went something like 26-11 (typical 57 win pace).  Durant was incredible averaging something like 32.7 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists with his typical 50/40/90 shooting.   You could have stuck that guy on basically any above .500 team and they likely would have been better off than the THunder this year.

Westbrook is flashy, but he controls the ball and takes horrible shots.  Playing with him must have been ungodly frustrating.   In a way, this reminds me of a higher profile version of what Steph Curry had to go through playing with Monta Ellis.  It was an abomination that Monta Ellis was controlling the ball and jacking up twice as many shots when all signs pointed to Steph (who was averaging 15 points at the time) being an elite shooter who would flourish if he was separated from Ellis.   The ball needed to be in Steph's hands.   

People might say "it's Durant's fault if he didn't control the ball more", but I never blamed Steph for Ellis either.  Some guys are just ball hogs.  Westbrook is one of them.  So while Westbrook was bricking 29% from three and leading the league in turnovers, you had an NBA phenom being forced to play second banana to some overrated guard who had to be reminded to give the ball to the guy carrying the team.   

Durant was totally right to leave that team.  I Just really wish he didn't go to Golden State.  Now he's sharing duties with other all-stars.  He doesn't need that kind of offense around him.   Honestly, despite my warnings that joining them would make Durant a "sidekick", I really believe Durant is a better basketball player than Steph and we might indeed see Steph relinquish his role as top dog to Durant.   Durant is that good.   But man... it's so anti-competitive and cowardly to go to that team.  Form another contender somewhere.  Don't join the one team that will win the championship regardless of whether or not you're there.

[passesofftodj]

There is literally no point to playing the regular season. To me yesterday was the day the NBA died.

You have a team with two of the three best players, four of the top 15 players, a former Olympian defensive specialist who can do anything you need, and the best bench player in the league.

Then you have another team with the best player in the world and three of the top 20 players.

It is a three team league.  Sure injuries can happen to change that somewhat but it is infinitesimally unlikely that all three teams are going to have catastrophic injuries.  We already know which team is coming out of the East and one of two teams that is coming out of the West.

Sure you can watch your personal favorite team to see the progress but seeing teams mired in mediocrity for decades on end is not exactly thrilling competitive sport.

The way the NBA is structured you basically have to tank to the top of the draft in a year where you were lucky enough to get a superstar or guess correctly a few slots down and draft a superstar.

It is ridiculous how many teams are just rooting to become their own version of the Hawks.

[celticsclay]

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/2650148-frustration-with-westbrook-sent-durant-fleeing-opens-door-to-trouble-for-nba

No surprises as far as tension between him and Westbrook. Good to see they are addressing the salary cap. While I can understand KD's decision to leave (as much as I hate it), this is AWFUL for the NBA. Definitely foreseeing another lockout soon.

ironically I just posted a new topic about this while you were posting this with a lot of the same points.

[Quetzalcoatl]

There is literally no point to playing the regular season. To me yesterday was the day the NBA died.

You have a team with two of the three best players, four of the top 15 players, a former Olympian defensive specialist who can do anything you need, and the best bench player in the league.

Then you have another team with the best player in the world and three of the top 20 players.

It is a three team league.  Sure injuries can happen to change that somewhat but it is infinitesimally unlikely that all three teams are going to have catastrophic injuries.  We already know which team is coming out of the East and one of two teams that is coming out of the West.

Look: there are two super teams with the best three players among them and yet it's a three[/] team league.  We're probably not winning this year but GS isn't wining 4 consecutive titles

[td450]

It will be interesting to watch San Antonio play this group. GS will have a hard time defending Gasol and Aldridge if they learn to play well together.

[TheBig3]

It will be interesting to watch San Antonio play this group. GS will have a hard time defending Gasol and Aldridge if they learn to play well together.

Don't kid yourself...

[greece66]

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/2650148-frustration-with-westbrook-sent-durant-fleeing-opens-door-to-trouble-for-nba

No surprises as far as tension between him and Westbrook. Good to see they are addressing the salary cap. While I can understand KD's decision to leave (as much as I hate it), this is AWFUL for the NBA. Definitely foreseeing another lockout soon.

I read and it looks like clickbait tbh

If Bleacher had reliable info that KD was frustrated with Westbrook why did they not tell us earlier?

I'm also not sure how seriously to take "a person with insight into Durant's thought process" - this could be just anyone.

Finally, let's wait until GSW wins the title this time before proclaiming them champions. We all remember what happened just a month ago.