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Kevin Durant Longhorn Legend


Patrick Bateman

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  On 6/9/2018 at 3:37 PM, Goodman said:

I wish people would just come out and state why they really hate KD/Warriors vs. making up shit that does not make sense. 

- Being a Rockets/Spurs/OKC fan

 - Hating Greene

- Warriors are not urban enough

- Hate Curry/Thompson for a sleuth of weak reasons including not being "black" enough

- Hate UT so I hate KD

- KD sold out, he should have to live in the OK shithole

- KD is soft and could never carry a team, dumbest statement ever

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I have never heard the "not urban enough" thing. Only OKC fans were mad that he left Oklahoma; most NBA fans were mad that he went to Golden State.

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  On 6/9/2018 at 3:37 PM, Goodman said:

I wish people would just come out and state why they really hate KD/Warriors vs. making up shit that does not make sense. 

- Being a Rockets/Spurs/OKC fan

- Hating Greene

- Warriors are not urban enough

- Hate Curry/Thompson for a sleuth of weak reasons including not being "black" enough

- Hate UT so I hate KD

- KD sold out, he should have to live in the OK shithole

- KD is soft and could never carry a team, dumbest statement ever

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I think it’s the whole joining the team that beat you in the western conference finals when you were up 3-1 against them. It’s never been done, and probably won’t ever be done again, because any true competitor would despise that team. And the fact that he’s one of leaders in techs, like he’s fucking draymond green all of a sudden. Then acting like he wants to fight players he’s gotten into it with. Like bro, you don’t have to act fake. You aren’t about to fight anyone. I dont like nick Wright, but he said something not too long ago that was spot on:

”KD acting like he wanted to fight Boogie Cousins is quite possibly the fakest thing I’ve ever seen in sports. Maybe even the fakest thing I’ve ever seen in life. When did KD turn into this fake tough guy?”

 

He’s a top 10 player all time, but he’s still a bitch at times. Like after game 3 when he got into it with a Cleveland fan that was heckling him. You just made the biggest shot of your life. A shot that basically just won the championship. But you let a fan get under your skin? Really? But im not saying anything that you haven’t already heard. 

Edited by youdunnf'dup
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  On 6/9/2018 at 3:37 PM, Goodman said:
I wish people would just come out and state why they really hate KD/Warriors vs. making up shit that does not make sense. 
- Being a Rockets/Spurs/OKC fan
- Hating Greene
- Warriors are not urban enough
- Hate Curry/Thompson for a sleuth of weak reasons including not being "black" enough
- Hate UT so I hate KD
- KD sold out, he should have to live in the OK shithole
- KD is soft and could never carry a team, dumbest statement ever


Have you read this thread? The reasons have been posted multiple times.
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  On 6/9/2018 at 4:04 PM, youdunnf'dup said:

He’s a top 10 player all time, but he’s still a bitch at times. Like after game 3 when he got into it with a Cleveland fan that was heckling him. You just made the biggest shot of your life. A shot that basically just won the championship. But you let a fan get under your skin? Really? But im not saying anything that you haven’t already heard. 

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BTW, that was a joke..... He was joking around, even the original article (TMZ) admits he was smiling as he walked away..... 

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  On 6/9/2018 at 4:38 PM, Patrick Bateman said:

BTW, that was a joke..... He was joking around, even the original article (TMZ) admits he was smiling as he walked away..... 

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Well there you go. That makes a little more sense. When I originally saw that, it blew me away. If you can’t enjoy life enough to ignore a heckler on the road after hitting a game winning shot in the finals, I don’t know what to tell you.

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  On 6/9/2018 at 6:24 PM, BigOrange1 said:

that's totally fair.  

the "his rings aren't earned" and "the warriors don't even need him" takes are the idiotic ones that deserve ridicule.  

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Yep. Having legitimate arguments is one thing, but saying “he didn’t come to my team so I don’t like him” is another.  

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  On 6/9/2018 at 6:24 PM, BigOrange1 said:

that's totally fair.  

the "his rings aren't earned" and "the warriors don't even need him" takes are the idiotic ones that deserve ridicule.  

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I think this depends on how you’re trying to frame your argument. Of course his rings were earned. Nobody can argue that with a straight face if you watched him throughout the year and in the playoffs. But did they really NEED him last year? Without a healthy curry, yes, they needed him. But the warriors would’ve gone back to back without him if Draymond Green didn’t act like a fucking idiot in that finals. 

 

With that being said, he’s probably the hungriest superstar on that team, and they definitely needed him this year. The rockets caught up to the warriors and probably beat them this year without KD.

Edited by youdunnf'dup
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  On 6/9/2018 at 7:23 PM, youdunnf'dup said:

I think this depends on how you’re trying to frame your argument. Of course his rings were earned. Nobody can argue that with a straight face if you watched him throughout the year and in the playoffs. But did they really NEED him last year? Without a healthy curry, yes, they needed him. But the warriors would’ve gone back to back without him if Draymond Green didn’t act like a fucking idiot in that finals. 

 

With that being said, he’s probably the hungriest superstar on that team, and they definitely needed him this year. The rockets caught up the warriors and probably beat them this year without KD.

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I agree they would have gone back to back if Draymond wasn't an idiot but they didn't and when Bogut got hurt, you could see the impact on their defense as it started to splinter.  I mean, they still had 2 games, including one at home, to close out and they couldn't do with Draymond back and actually being the best player on the court for them in the deciding game 7. 

Now, if you take stock of what the Warriors were expected to do if they didn't sign KD, it was to re-sign Barnes, try to keep Bogut and then work to replace Ezeli (West) and maybe Speights.  Bogut was pretty much done after the injury and proceeded to play 26 games the last 2 years.  He probably would have a been a non-factor coming back.  He was used up.

Barnes would have come back and you never know how a guy is going to develop in different circumstances, but based on a enormous increase in USG% (~10%) he's averaged career best in most top line numbers for Dallas.  But there hasn't been a big jump in actual effectiveness.  His PER went up marginally, as expected with the ball more, but it's still in the 15/16 range, which is league average.  His WS/48 went down by 30-35% and his VORP reduced to basically replacement level.  His shooting didn't improve, you could argue it got worse.  In other words, Barnes stayed pretty much the same player, he simply had more opportunities to handle the ball.  I could easily make a case with this increased USG, his inadequacies became more pronounced and he's a worse player but perhaps this will make him a better player going forward (don't hold your breath).   Also, Barnes had an interesting ability to get worse in the playoffs.  His all around game decreased in the playoffs.  His contribution during those 3 games the Warriors had to close out the Cavs in 2016 when they needed him most?  5-32 from the field, 3-15 from 3, 9 rebounds, 7 personal fouls, and 2 assists.

In some ways, signing Durant saved the Warriors from themselves and yes the Warriors FO have done a lot of great things but they also have been extremely lucky and been bailed out when they make bad decisions.  They offered Barnes an extension early in 2016 to stay with the team.  4 years for 64-68 million were the rumors.  If he signs this, no KD to the Warriors but he didn't and bet on himself.  In some ways, he won...... Dallas paid him 25 million this year and 8 million is a ton of dough.  But he plays for a shitty team, puts up empty stats and hasn't appreciably become a better player.  

Assuming that Barnes doesn't magically become an All-Star in 2017 for staying with the Warriors and Golden State isn't hiding the Lazarus pit from Andrew Bogut, the Warriors are not the same team.  Everyone sees 73 wins and they think it's easily duplicated.  It's not.  It was pretty much everyone's career year.  Steph will never have a regular season as great.  He lead the league in WS, WS/48, VORP, TS%, PER, BPM, OPBM.  Fucking everything.  It was crazy.  He'll never have a regular season as good, it was a great player's career year...... by a ton (about 15% better). 

It was Draymond's career year, certainly offensively.  It was Shaun Livingston's career year.  Bogut's career year.  Klay's 2nd best year.... etc, etc.  You get it.  Everything came together in a crazy way and they were never going to be that good again.  But ignorant people (not you) simply see 73 wins and think it'll continue into infinity, b/c they're dumb.  Interestingly enough, when the Bulls won 72, it wasn't Michael's best year.  One of them?  Yea, but not his best.  It was one of Scottie's best year but not definitively such.  Same with Rodman.  

All of that written goes to say, yea the Warriors probably needed KD last year b/c Bogut would have been hurt and Barnes would have probably been the same meek player.  Kyrie was still great and the Cavs were better offensively.  Certainly they needed him this year.  Houston probably beats them in 5 with Barnes and Bogut.

Edited by Patrick Bateman
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I'm thinking that now Durant has moved himself up to at least ~15th all-time in the NBA.  If you look at Bill Simmons pyramid from 10 years ago (as a reference), he certainly compares favorably to guys in that range.

Now he has:

  • 1x NBA MVP
  • 2x Championships
  • 2x Finals MVP
  • 9x All-Star
  • 4x Scoring Champ (but 5x most points)
  • 5x 1st Team NBA + 2x 2nd Team

Compare to:

  • #19 Charles Barkley - No Titles / Finals MVP, Same NBA MVP, Same 1st Team NBA, No scoring titles - Advantage KD
  • #18 Karl Malone - No Titles / Finals MVP, 11X 1st Team NBA, 2X NBA MVP, No scoring titles - Advantage KD but close due to Malone career numbers
  • #17 Bob Pettit - Too long ago, don't care.  But... 1 Title, 9x 1st Team NBA, 2x MVP, 2x Scoring title.  Advantage KD due to recency bias
  • #16 Julius Erving - ABA / NBA makes it too hard to compare.  Probably advantage Dr. J due to 3 combined titles and 4 MVPs.
  • #15 Elgin Baylor - Too high.  No Titles, No scoring titles, No MVP - Advantage KD.
  • #14 John Havlicek - 8x NBA Champ, 1x Finals MVP, No NBA MVP, No scoring titles - Close. Advantage KD due to MVPs and Finals MVP
  • #13 Moses Malone - 1 Title, 1 Finals MVP, 3x NBA MVP - Advantage Moses for more MVPs but close
  • #12 Shaq - Advantage Shaq
  • #11 Hakeem - Advantage Hakeem
  • ...

 He has a legit chance to move into the top-10 with a few more Titles / Finals MVPs plus he will keep moving up all the all-time charts in points and could be at the top when all is said and done.  I put him at #14 right now with maximum upside potential of top 5 depending on the next 10 years.

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I was just reminded that the Mavs helped GSW get KD by taking in Bogut's contract. Because........they needed a center 😆

Reminds me of playing Monopoly and you have that one person that gives up the first color monopoly because he wanted the second utility (Bogut wasn't even that).

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  On 6/10/2018 at 5:50 AM, Chapo said:

I was just reminded that the Mavs helped GSW get KD by taking in Bogut's contract. Because........they needed a center 😆

Reminds me of playing Monopoly and you have that one person that gives up the first color monopoly because he wanted the second utility (Bogut wasn't even that).

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Amazing how quickly centers became obsolete. 

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  On 6/10/2018 at 5:50 AM, Chapo said:

I was just reminded that the Mavs helped GSW get KD by taking in Bogut's contract. Because........they needed a center 😆

Reminds me of playing Monopoly and you have that one person that gives up the first color monopoly because he wanted the second utility (Bogut wasn't even that).

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Cuban was too busy playing grab ass with team secretaries. He had no time to think about basketball. 

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  On 6/9/2018 at 7:23 PM, youdunnf'dup said:

I think this depends on how you’re trying to frame your argument. Of course his rings were earned. Nobody can argue that with a straight face if you watched him throughout the year and in the playoffs. But did they really NEED him last year? Without a healthy curry, yes, they needed him. But the warriors would’ve gone back to back without him if Draymond Green didn’t act like a fucking idiot in that finals. 

 

With that being said, he’s probably the hungriest superstar on that team, and they definitely needed him this year. The rockets caught up to the warriors and probably beat them this year without KD.

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They probably beat them with KD if CP3 stays healthy, but this is just coulda, woulda, shoulda...

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From Zach Lowe's  KD article: Link

"In choosing Golden State, Durant (temporarily) forfeited a chance to craft a team in his image. Right now, Durant may be on pace to be the greatest player to never work full-time as the No. 1 option in terms of controlling the ball. (Some Golden State officials and players, including Shaun Livingston, nominated Larry Bird as another tweener forward who fits this description. Others pitched centers -- Shaquille O'Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon -- but even if those guys didn't dribble much, they were indisputably the fulcrums of almost every possession.)"

What are they trying to say, he is the best non guard ever? Better than Kareem, Duncan?

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  On 6/13/2018 at 1:25 AM, Chapo said:

From Zach Lowe's  KD article: Link

"In choosing Golden State, Durant (temporarily) forfeited a chance to craft a team in his image. Right now, Durant may be on pace to be the greatest player to never work full-time as the No. 1 option in terms of controlling the ball. (Some Golden State officials and players, including Shaun Livingston, nominated Larry Bird as another tweener forward who fits this description. Others pitched centers -- Shaquille O'Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon -- but even if those guys didn't dribble much, they were indisputably the fulcrums of almost every possession.)"

What are they trying to say, he is the best non guard ever? Better than Kareem, Duncan?

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IMO, he's trying to be complimentary as most of the piece is about how Durant is wired differently and doesn't need the ball to dominate a game and his growth as a player in the NBA who came in being a raw, uber talented kid who didn't even know how to read a functional pick and roll to unstoppable scorer to overall player.  Lowe goes overboard a little in this statement.  Plenty of teams weren't built in one star's image and plenty of them didn't control the ball.  Dr J and Moses and Magic and Kareem are some of the biggest examples.  Also the latest Boston champions with Garnett who really didn't control anything on offense.  It's a nice sentiment but IMO, he doesn't really flesh it out or definite it well....

It's a fantastic article which reviews some of his down moments during his tenure with the Warriors and places he has improved and parts of his game he's still trying to grow.  As usual, it's well researched and has some great quotes.  Reminds folks that although KD may be the 2nd best player in the world, he still has his bad games, his bad possessions.  He still has slumps.  He doesn't always make the right play..... but he works to.  Dude puts in tons and tons of work.... Grinder is not something you would associate with KD b/c of the smoothness and ease of his game, but he really is a grinder.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  On 6/9/2018 at 3:39 PM, Machinator said:

I have never heard the "not urban enough" thing. Only OKC fans were mad that he left Oklahoma; most NBA fans were mad that he went to Golden State.

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Agreed, Oklahoma City fans (in my opinion), had the "We ain't no small market now" mentality which took a blow when Durant chose to better his brand out in San Francisco & join the Warriors, as there was nowhere near the backlash when the franchise traded away Harden to Houston, and no one complained when Ibaka was shipped out the year Durant left...

Now, I think a many fans would have not cared as much if KD went to Boston/ San Antonio or another contending team in a larger market, but overall I personally don't have a problem with what KD has accomplished as a part of the Warriors dynasty...

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  On 7/13/2018 at 1:36 AM, BigOrange1 said:
meh, the guy tagged KD and he responded rather innocuously.  people think they can say whatever they want to famous people online and then get butt hurt when they respond.  
Uhhh no. He actually private messaged him which is weird. Especially when he thought he was only 12. He was actually 17 but KD thought he was 12. So he's getting his feelings hurt enough to private message what he thought was a 12 year old. That's fucking pathetic. And that comment made to KD was rather innocuous. Nothing at all personal. I'm just surprised he used his actual account and not one of his socks.
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