If Durant joined the Warriors 2 seasons ago, no one would have cared.

[Spurs m8]

Can we just ban people this stupid?

Smh

[RedBlackAttack]

I was semi-watching ESPN today and I heard several analyst criticize Reggie Miller and Charles Barkley's disappointment with Durant on his decision. To the point some analysts attacked Barkley saying he did the same thing in his career while in Phoenix he couldn't get pass the Rockets two years in a row. Then he joined him.

There is one hole in that argument. Barkley joined that team after his prime and he was 33 years old. Most of those players on that Rocket's team were past their primes when he joined. Durant joined a historically good team that had the best regular season ever right in the middle of his prime and the Warriors prime.

What Barkley did is so blatantly obviously different than what KD has just done that it really isn't worth entertaining. I didn't hear the conversation, but I'm not surprised. ESPN has become a bunch of Warriors homers to the point where I've completely abandoned basically all of their daily shows and articles.

I think part of it is their trending toward an analytical way of watching basketball, so all of the math dorks on the network like Haberstroh, Elhassan, etc., just want to see how many three-pointers can be made in a game for efficiency purposes.

The other half are basically just TMZ-level celebrity hunters who are happy they're able to cover all of these really famous athletes in one place. It makes their lives easier.

The NBA has gotten really weird, and the media has followed suit.

[DMAVS41]

What Barkley did is so blatantly obviously different than what KD has just done that it really isn't worth entertaining. I didn't hear the conversation, but I'm not surprised. ESPN has become a bunch of Warriors homers to the point where I've completely abandoned basically all of their daily shows and articles.

I think part of it is their trending toward an analytical way of watching basketball, so all of the math dorks on the network like Haberstroh, Elhassan, etc., just want to see how many three-pointers can be made in a game for efficiency purposes.

The other half are basically just TMZ-level celebrity hunters who are happy they're able to cover all of these really famous athletes in one place. It makes their lives easier.

The NBA has gotten really weird, and the media has followed suit.

Yep.

The way some talking heads have acted "shocked" that Barkley and SAS reacted like they did is just pathetic.

It is just hilarious. If MJ had joined up with the Pistons after the 90 loss...every single honest person in the world knows he would have been hammered for it and his legacy would never be what it is today.

End of story. It was a weak ass move.

[NBAGOAT]

Barkley did get himself traded to Phoenix however who were pretty great even if they lost Hornacek to get Barkley. He had no help in Philadelphia however so it's not comparable either.

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

I don't agree with OP's reasoning, but I do think people are being too critical.

Especially the LeBron camp. We haven't seen another player put the league on its axis like Durant has by joining an already established and formidable juggernaut, but we have seen superstars, franchise CALIBER players in their primes, team-up and attempt to be SUPER squad.

At the end of the day, its just hypocrisy. This is what the NBA is today.

[RedBlackAttack]

Yep.

The way some talking heads have acted "shocked" that Barkley and SAS reacted like they did is just pathetic.

It is just hilarious. If MJ had joined up with the Pistons after the 90 loss...every single honest person in the world knows he would have been hammered for it and his legacy would never be what it is today.

End of story. It was a weak ass move.

Listen bro... I'm f#cking still on cloud nine. The Warriors can win the next 5 championships and it won't take anything away from what our fanbase just experienced. And, to see my guy Kyrie, who I've been flat-out hyping on here for five years, step up the way he did? I have no reason to be angry and I'm not.

I'm still living in the afterglow of that awesome comeback.

But this is just weird. The move by Durant is weird and ESPN acting as though it is business as usual is weird. Have we really gotten to this point with free agency, where we can expect a guy who was on the verge of taking down a 73-win team with his own superteam (and OKC was that) says "oh screw it" and throws his lot in with the superteam that beat his own personal superteam?

If so, the league needs to be contracted down to about 15 teams.

I know all about how there has never been true parity in the NBA and there have always been "superteams," but none like this... We've never seen a 27-year-old guy who has already won the MVP joining a 73-win team. Hell, we've never seen a 73-win team.

Having grown up in the 80s and 90s, I just can't rap my head around this stuff.

[DMAVS41]

I don't agree with OP's reasoning, but I do think people are being too critical.

Especially the LeBron camp. We haven't seen another player put the league on its axis like Durant has by joining an already established and formidable juggernaut, but we have seen superstars, franchise CALIBER players in their primes, team-up and attempt to be SUPER squad.

At the end of the day, its just hypocrisy.. This is what the NBA is today.

How is it hypocritical to simply say both were weak moves, but Durant's is worse because of the team he joined and because he left a top contender as well?

I don't see they hypocrisy at all in the above.

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

How is it hypocritical to simply say both were weak moves, but Durant's is worse because of the team he joined and because he left a top contender as well?

I don't see they hypocrisy at all in the above.

But everybody isn't saying that.

Only after LeBron won his titles nobody f*cking cared. That's whats hypocritical, IMO.

[DMAVS41]

Listen bro... I'm f#cking still on cloud nine. The Warriors can win the next 5 championships and it won't take anything away from what our fanbase just experienced. And, to see my guy Kyrie, who I've been flat-out hyping on here for five years, step up the way he did? I have no reason to be angry and I'm not.

I'm still living in the afterglow of that awesome comeback.

But this is just weird. The move by Durant is weird and ESPN acting as though it is business as usual is weird. Have we really gotten to this point with free agency, where we can expect a guy who was on the verge of taking down a 73-win team with his own superteam (and OKC was that) says "oh screw it" and throws his lot in with the superteam that beat his own personal superteam?

If so, the league needs to be contracted down to about 15 teams.

I know all about how there has never been true parity in the NBA and there have always been "superteams," but none like this... We've never seen a 27-year-old guy who has already won the MVP joining a 73-win team. Hell, we've never seen a 73-win team.

Having grown up in the 80s and 90s, I just can't rap my head around this stuff.

Agreed.

Question for you though...

Do you trade Love? I heard Griffin admit he didn't build the best team in terms of beating the Warriors. Do you now simply have to think about just beating the Warriors if you are the Cavs?

I mean...it was bad before, but now Love and Frye are pretty much unplayable because of this. Frye already was, but Love will now be in an even tougher spot.

So...as the Cavs expert...what would you do and what do you want?

[RedBlackAttack]

I don't agree with OP's reasoning, but I do think people are being too critical of Durant.

Especially the LeBron camp. We haven't seen another player put the league on its axis like Durant has by joining an already established and formidable juggernaut, but we have seen superstars, franchise CALIBER players in their primes, team-up and attempt to be SUPER squad.

At the end of the day, its just hypocrisy.. This is what the NBA is today.

It's not hypocrisy if you also criticized LeBron's move to Miami. I thought that was cowardly. I said so at the time and I'll say it still today. As a Cavs fan, it ended up working in our favor because we got Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson, etc., out of his four-year departure, but I never thought a title with Miami would be even close to winning a title in Cleveland in terms of his legacy. A lot of people agreed with that, too, which is why it was so important for him to come back and do what he did this year, legacy-wise.

But, as bad as that was (and it was bad), this is 100x worse.

James, Wade and Bosh had never played a minute together in a real, competitive NBA game. That was a superteam experiment. We all thought it would turn into championships and it was successful in terms of wins/losses depending on the kind of expectations you had ... but it was absolutely not the same thing as him going to an already established title favorite.

What would we have said about LeBron if he joined San Antonio after they beat the Heat in the Finals in 2014? This is akin to that and it is comically bad.

[ArbitraryWater]

They literally replaced the weakest link in the death line up with the 3rd highest scoring avg player in NBA history

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

Klay, Steph and Durant? That's a lot of redundant talent. Now that they got rid of Barnes and Bogut...who knows? They're bloated AF in the perimeter department.

Different team. Different year. Let it play out.

I jumped the gun earlier by saying they were locks for a title. That was pretty silly considering I haven't even seen them play a game together.

[DMAVS41]

But everybody isn't saying that.

Only after LeBron won his titles nobody f*cking cared. That's whats hypocritical, IMO.

What?

People still care after he won his titles.

I still can't figure out your issue.

You agree this is worse for the obvious reasons. You make it sound like Lebron to this day still doesn't get heat for his decision. He does...and it will come up in his legacy talk as well.

I think you are confusing the shift on Lebron. It didn't happen when he was on the Heat. It happened when he went back to the Cavs and just led them to one of the most improbable titles ever.

If Durant does something similar...he'll be in the position Lebron is now.

What is so hard to understand about this?

Lebron has gone through the hate and pressure...and came through winning without super team help multiple times now.

And now he's given an even bigger PR boost because bitch made Durant just ran to a 70 win Warriors team.



And again...everyone with a brain still thinks Lebron's move to the Heat was a weak move. It was just far more understandable because he left a franchise that gave him dog shit to work with compared to what Durant got. Literal dog shit comparatively. Durant had like 6 rosters better than Lebron's best roster on the Cavs. And...he didn't join a proven team to play the Harrison Barnes role. He joined a team with two other great players on a team that he had to build from the ground up.

Sigh...

[NBAGOAT]

But everybody isn't saying that.

Only after LeBron won his titles nobody f*cking cared. That's whats hypocritical, IMO.

if Durant wins MVP and a title and faces even a little adversity, I think his legacy can be improved just like Lebron's was. The worry is Curry is still going be in his prime the next 4-5 years and Durant might not even be the best player on that team. Even if he is, if he's only like a top 5 player the next few years it won't mean as much. Personally, idc too much about rings. Being the best player in the league while not winning a championship shouldn't help you as much on a GOAT list as only being a top 5 player in the league on a championship team.

[ArbitraryWater]

Klay, Steph and Durant? That's a lot of redundant talent. Now that they got rid of Barnes and Bogut...who knows.

Different team. Different year. Let it play out. I jumped the gun earlier by saying they were locks for a title. That was pretty silly considering I haven't even seen them play a game together.

son what?

Go hea

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