Tuesday Bolts – 7.5.16
Lee Jenkins of SI.com: “Durant held his free agent meetings in the Hamptons, at peak
season, and maybe that should have been a warning sign. The guy who used to brag about flying Southwest Airlines out of Will Rogers Airport and buying chicken wings in bulk—“You can get 100 here for less than 100 bucks!” he crowed—holed up in a summer playground far from Bricktown. Pat Riley rolled through with his jewels, Danny Ainge with his Nikes, Tom Brady with his unbuttoned shirt. About half the Warriors visited. The Logo called. Silicon Valley beckoned. Friends of Durant, who indicated more than a year ago Golden State caught his eye, suggested he was coming full circle.”
Sam Amick of USA Today: “First hour: Management and coaching staff took center stage, with Durant quietly listening for most of the time while general manager Bob Myers, coach Steve Kerr and Lacob painted a picture of what Durant could expect and how they’d try to take over the NBA in years to come. The Warriors were struck by one thing early: Durant, quite clearly, was concerned with the PR hit he would likely take by leaving the Thunder behind to join the team that had beaten him in the Western Conference Finals. He didn’t want to be seen as a villain, and wanted to know how they saw that sensitive part of this whole picture. Their sense, from there until the end, was that he wanted to join the Warriors but may not have the stomach to actually go through with it. But the second hour of the meeting was key, as Curry, Thompson, Green, and Iguodala had a players-only meeting of their own that also appears to have played a pivotal part.”
J.A. Adande of ESPN.com: “Still, Durant is a pioneer in that we’ve never seen an MVP-caliber player join a team that just knocked him out of the playoffs in a hard-fought series. LeBron never faced the Heat in the postseason, Shaq hadn’t played the Lakers before he joined them in 1996. LaMarcus Aldridge did join the Spurs a year after losing to them in the playoffs but (A) that series ended in five games, hardly enough time to build up any animosity and (B) there’s no such thing as a “contentious” series with the Spurs anyway. (Seriously, when was the last time there was bad blood between the teams after a Spurs series?) The risk for Durant is that there will be little credit for victory and a torrent of Crying Jordans the likes of which the world has never seen should the Warriors lose. But what characterizes every great player is they are unafraid of failure.”
My quick thoughts from yesterday on where the Thunder go from here.
Michael Rosenberg of SI.com: “Again: He can do this. It’s a free world and a free market. But where is Durant’s competitive spirit? Barely a month ago, Durant walked out of Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals after his Thunder lost the last three games of an epic series. Competitive zeal should have made him want another shot at those guys. Isn’t that why we watch, why we play, why we care? I can buy a ring, just as I can ask a tailor to make an ugly green sport coat, but that wouldn’t make me a Masters champion. If Durant wins a title with Golden State, as he probably will, it will be an impressive achievement. But there will be this lingering sense that he took the easiest possible way to do it.”
Zach Lowe of ESPN.com: “So now, we have another superteam. Durant will get ripped for this, and it will mostly be stupid. It was stupid how the media lionized him way back in 2010 for tweeting about his extension with Oklahoma City, while James rushed into a ridiculous television show. Durant was a restricted free agent then, and few things are as predictable as a superstar restricted free agent re-signing for the maximum salary at the first moment possible. LeBron was unrestricted in 2010, and Durant, in his first shot at the free market, changed teams after a whirlwind courtship.”
Kevin Pelton of ESPN Insider: “And so we come to the possibility of a Westbrook trade. With so many teams striking out on the top names on the market this summer, there’s plenty of money available and desire for a superstar, so I think a handful of teams would be willing to offer something approaching full value despite not having any guarantee of re-signing Westbrook themselves. After all, they’d then be able to offer a five-year max if that’s what Westbrook wants, plus they could take advantage of his relatively small cap hold to potentially attract other free agents.”
Anthony Slater: “A measureless void was left. It’ll take days for the city’s sting to wear off and years for the ramifications to truly be understood. But for Sam Presti, the immediate aftermath is the most vital. He must pick up the pieces quickly and figure out a direction for the franchise. The first question is for Russell Westbrook: Do you want to stay in Oklahoma City long term? Westbrook is an unrestricted free agent next summer. He’s eligible to sign an extension this summer. But for Westbrook, that makes no financial sense.”
Jenni Carlson: “Instead of smoothing in the boat load of TV money that’s about to hit, for example, the NBA decided to dump it on teams in one lump sum. Without that change, the Warriors simply couldn’t have gone after Durant. They couldn’t have even offered enough money to get a seat at the negotiating table. The rule changes and the philosophical shifts have been so significant that you can’t say the rug was pulled out from under the Thunder. It’s more like the place was gutted, the walls were knocked down and the sub-floor was pulled up. That might accurately describe the level of change that teams have had to manage.”
Michael Lee of The Vertical: “Durant is seeking championships to validate his career and assume a spot in the discussion of the all-time greats. Seeing how quickly fans and media moved on during his brief injury hiatus was upsetting and served as a reminder of the lasting legacy of Larry O’Brien trophies over any other individual honors. He earned the right to have this moment because of the time spent in the gym, mastering that buttery smooth jump shot through meticulous repetition, because of hours of film study, correcting flaws and finding the most efficient means to thrive on the court. But that dedication wasn’t just so Durant could own the first few days in July. Ultimately, that work ethic – and this weekend – was about finally taking annual ownership of a few weeks in June.”
Erik Horne: “Around 12:45 p.m., the entrance to KD’s was still getting pulled to no avail. The hours of business were printed clearly on the left door. Did the fans not see? Maybe this day in Thunder history was so disorienting, so shocking it kept fans reaching for anything they could. One man who tried to walk in said he wanted to see what the reaction would be like.”
Chris Ryan of The Ringer: “I knew when Tim Kawakami reported that Durant had spent time on the phone with Jerry West on Saturday. This was a day after he had met with the Warriors’ traveling band of Steve Kerr, majority owner Joe Lacob, GM Bob Myers, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala. And I was certain when I read that the Oklahoma City cohort making the final pitch to Durant on Long Island included Thunder chairman Clay Bennett. No shots at Bennett (I will leave that to you, Seattle), but his presence highlighted the differences between those pitching Durant on leaving and the team trying to get him to stay. Boston, Miami, the Clippers, San Antonio, the Warriors — they variously had NBA titles, history, team legends, stars from other sports, bigger media markets, and more cosmopolitan locations to offer. The Thunder ultimately had one thing to sell to Kevin Durant: Kevin Durant.”
Chris Mannix of The Vertical: “Honestly, it’s hard to watch Oklahoma City crumble. This is an organization that did everything right. It drafted talent, developed it and watched it bloom into a title contender. A model small-market franchise. Stephen Curry’s bargain contract helped the Warriors find room to add Durant, but they got an assist from the NBA – and the union, too. The owners’ inability to foreshadow the type of cap spike the new television deal would yield during collective-bargaining negotiations created this climate, and the National Basketball Players Association’s unwillingness to agree to the league’s cap-smoothing proposal rubber-stamped it.”
And there are a million more things to read if you’re interested.