Now that the Kevin Durant to the Warriors has become official and I finally am over the shock of him leaving the Thunder, I have just one thought about KD. He gave into peer pressure.Durant has seen how LeBron has won a championship, teaming up with other superstars and being an almost unstoppable force. Durant doesn’t have a ring but almost had one in 2010, my question is why join the best regular season team of all-time?
Durant knew that he was going to get backlash if he joined the Warriors, or any team other than the Thunder really, but he is getting the most backlash for joining the Warriors. KD gave into peer pressure to win a ring, and I don’t have a problem with that, but joining the best regular season team is a cowards move.
Yes he has the best chance to win rings there, but if we remember his Thunder team had them down 3-1 in the Conference Finals, after beating San Antonio another great regular season team, and choked it away, like they have been doing all season. Maybe Durant went to the Warriors to not choke away games anymore? Well he chose the wrong team because this team choked a 3-1 lead in the NBA FINALS, yes these guys know how to win after winning a ring last year but now that kind of looks like a fluke.
Durant may have a better chance to win a ring on the Thunder because they have a lot of good chemistry and know how to play together. The Warriors had great chemistry with their players without Durant and getting him they lost a lot of those players as well. They had to trade away Andrew Bogut and lost Festus Ezeli, Harrison Barnes, and Brandon Rush among others. That is a lot of good role players and chemistry lost.
Speaking of the Warriors and what they lost, among chemistry they also lost their identity. Not their on court identity as they still will still play the “Throw up a bunch of threes and high quality shots after moving the ball” style. But their team building identity, the 2015-2016 team comprised mostly of players that the Warriors drafted. Some players like Bogut, Andre Iguodala, and Anderson Varajeo among others came either via trade or free agency. But they aren’t superstars on the caliber of Durant, yes Iguodala came to the Warriors as one of the best defenders at his position but not a elite scorer.
The Warriors chose to mortgage their future on a free agent now and hope that Steph Curry is not egotistical enough to demand a max contract. Right now the Warriors have barely any cap room and that is with everyone but Durant earning less that 17 million dollars. If the Warriors really want to have all four players, Durant, Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, on the same team all in their primes they all need to make concessions in contract negotiations.
A year after breaking the regular season wins record this team will have a steep regression, well maybe not that steep. They wont get off to that hot start of 26 wins in a row, they wont even come close to that 73 wins plateau but will have about 66-69, barring injury. Durant made a poor choice and so did the Warriors as they chose to pay for the top free agent instead of keeping their core together.
I hope the Warriors know that they are doing and can keep their core together or else this whole off-season was a bust.
Ryno Sports Talk 