^^^^ This. Sets him up for a monster contract in two years. Two years in the Socialist Republic of the Bay Area is tolerable.
If that doesn't proudly represent the Academic Standards set forth by The University of Texas at Austin, I don't know what does! LOL
If you have been to Oklahoma City and you have been to San Francisco, I kind of think this is a no brainer. He was on the sidelines up in Stillwater one year, maybe he will be in Berkeley this year. Good luck Big Man. You have always represented yourself, your school, your family, your team and the game very well.
I don't know the ins and outs of the CBA but this was apparently a perfect storm for Golden State to be able to sign a fourth wheel star and be able to afford it. Curry is still making less than some no-names who just hit the lottery because his contract hasn't come up yet. I think that the way it works is that they were able to fit Durant in with the current cap room and when they resign Curry they will be able to exceed the cap because of the Bird Rights clause or something. Had Durant played one more year at OKC and GS paid Curry enough to bust the cap then Durant would not have been able to sign with them. I have a feeling Jerry West explained all of this to Durant and said the time is now for a true super team and this opportunity may never happen again. I'm also thinking that Westbrook may have told Durant that he is going to GTFO so Durant had to look at the opportunity that presented itself now and pulled the trigger. OKC was destined to fail so it was time to accept reality. Maybe?
Jerry West does know a thing or two about building dynasties. He was the only one who could see what Kareem and Magic were going to be together. It spread the NBA brand from sports to sports and entertainment. A boy. A ball. A dream.
Even though (apparently) Durant had become very friendly with Westbrook, I would think that from an on-court perspective, having Westbook as your forever ice cream flavor would wear thin. As much as Westbrook has overcome his gunner nature and become a truly great overall player, when he is on the team, you aren't playing "normal" team basketball the way the Spurs and Warriors have perfected. I think KD wants to play that style of X's and O's ball as much as he wants to win a championship. Just a theory....
I would have preferred that KD go to Dallas; or San Antonio. but the guy wants to win a championship. Who can blame him. He went where he'll have the best shot to do so. I will never stop supporting KD, as long he continues to give the hook em sign at opportune times. Which he does, unfailingly.
Early on at his time in OKC we played a night game in Stillwater and he was on the sidelines, he seemed almost embarrassed when the ESPN camera's found him and he flashed that big smile and a Hook Em. He came down to the corner of the stadium where the UT fans were, and where the team came in and out and signed a lot of autographs and posed for a lot of pictures. He is, and in mind always has been, a fine representative of UT and the game of basketball. His writing a $1,000,0000 personal check after one of those horrible tornadoes went through Moore, OK and his showing up the next morning for 10 hours helping load trash says a great deal about the young man and the very strong woman who raised him.
I've been to both and I disagree. OKC sure isn't glitzy if you're a big-time star, I'll give you that easily, but I never thought Durant was the type to care much about that. The difference is, LeBron really was a one-man show in Cleveland before he went to Miami. Durant wasn't - in essence, Durant was already in his Miami.
Unless there are injuries GS will be champions easily and no point in other fans watching. Bye bye nba.
Well, it looked like the Patriots could not be beat when Randy Moss went there, but then...they lost one game.
This move makes me happy. As a former Seattle Sonics fan, I hope OKC never wins another game. Their ownership, management and David Stern can rot in hell for literally stealing the franchise from Seattle.
No worries. The way the NBA played that made it impossible for Seattle to retain the team unless they agreed to a 100% tax payer funded stadium that would have been the most expensive basketball stadium ever built (at the time). Oh, and the ownership required they also get 100% of all add revenue year round. They set the bar so high that it was unattainable because they wanted an excuse to move the team to OKC. Sam Presti also pulled a Major League move in that he raped the team of talent to submarine the season and drive down attendance so they could claim low attendance. Still, Seattle fans finished #22 in attendance for a team that finished at the bottom of the NBA. I personally wrote David Stern a letter that the NBA would never see a dime of my hard-earned money again. I was able to hold to that until catching a Bulls game on a business trip this year. This years finals is the first I watched a game since they left.
SH, you will be happy to know that just today a wore my green Seattle Supersonics tee. Oh how I enjoyed those days of Jack Sikma, Downtown Freddie Brown, and that freckled face dude.
Dennis Johnson. I was a huge fan of the The Glove, Kemp, Ricky Pierce, Eddie Johnson and Schrempf. Used to scrape together my coins to buy a 6-game package while going to school at UW. Needless to say, I'm bitter they left.
I rmbr that Sikma team pretty well too. We used to pretend to be Freddie Brown in my driveway. If we start from the merger, then Gus Williams was the first combo PG -- he looked like he was on skates out there compared to some of his contemporaries. He is under appreciated by history, IMO. Got much better over the years with assists (or at least his numbers went up over time). They also had a great passing no-name SF named John Johnson. ---------- ps - but NOT a fan of the Payton, Shrmpf, Kemp teams - they killed my Rockets
