Friday Bolts – 7.22.16

Jae Crowder: “We were the only team in the NBA to beat both (Cleveland and Golden

State) on their home court – the only team in the NBA, the Boston Celtics. We told him that. We played him clips from both games and told him basically the scouting report of how we guarded Steph (Curry) and Klay (Thompson) – our entire game plan, basically. That’s what made me mad. We (expletive) told him everything we do to beat these guys, and we beat them, and he went and joined them. I felt like afterward, I was talking to Isaiah, like maybe after you sit back, you shouldn’t have told him everything. Like, who the (expletive) thought he was going to Golden State, realistically? It was like a slap in the face for us, basically.”

Kevin Durant got a giant Tupac tattoo on his leg. I guess he’s done with the business tattoos.

Durant to The Vertical on legacy: “I just felt that this is where I should’ve been, where I should be, and I made the decision. And I’ll live with it. Because obviously, by making this decision, like Charles Barkley said, my legacy has dipped, I guess,” Durant told The Vertical after Wednesday’s U.S. Men’s Olympic team practice, with a hint of snark. “I don’t even know what ‘your legacy’ means. I look at legacy and I associate that with family. “As a basketball player, what I’ve done, when I’m done playing, look at what I did. And ask yourself how you feel about it. The numbers are going to be there. Everything I’ve done, you’re going to see it. No matter if I play well or fall off, it’s your decision to tell me what my legacy is to you. That’s how it is now. Individually, what do you think Michael Jordan’s legacy is about, LeBron James’ legacy is about? That’s an individual, personal thing. I can’t control that.”

Locked On Thunder podcast talking Waiters, Abrines and more.

Michael Lee of The Vertical: “Durant has repeatedly stated that he hasn’t changed as a person strictly because he chose to play basketball somewhere else and he shot down a question when it was implied that this process was more difficult given his desire to be liked.”

Berry Tramel: “Waiters through 15 playoff games had definitely improved his status. But those final three games, with the Thunder on the brink of the NBA Finals, were discouraging. It’s hard to believe that an entire league could lose interest in Waiters over three games, no matter how important they were or no matter how ineffective Waiters was. But those three games have to hurt Waiters’ case to draw a decent NBA contract.”