What Player would you "Blow it up" For...

[Sothron]

16 hours ago, AHF said:

Good pitch but I'm not buying it.  He can't lead that team to a ring ever because that team is led by the two time reigning MVP.  Durant is now along for the ride to a championship and should play a big role but he has officially become player B on that team.  So he prioritized chasing a ring over the chance to be the guy who leads his team to win the ring.  Plus the Warrios were one of OKC's biggest rivals.  Jumping to the superior rival team and then claiming it was because he wanted a ball movement offense rings hollow to me.  I would buy it more if he had made a big deal out of it in 9 years in OKC but we never heard about it until he was signed and sealed for GS.

QFT. This would be like Isiah Thomas after losing to the Celtics deciding to leave Detroit to take over for an aging Dennis Johnson in Boston to chase rings with the team that beat him.

[Guest]

Just now, Sothron said:

I would trade everyone on the roster for KAT. That kid is the big man for this generation of NBA play. If you guys get league pass or something like it you should seriously watch the TWolves just to see that kid play.

It's not only his play.  He has a maturity that belies his age.  Did you see that interview he conducted with the rookies at the draft.  He's comfortable in his own skin.

[Thomas]

21 minutes ago, AHF said:

Sooo he abdicated a position of leadership so he could join a team that was already good enough to win a ring without him so he could take on a less demanding role while still winning a ring.

I call that ring chasing:  joining a team that is good enough that you can glom  on to win a ring instead of earning one by building or leading a team.

Believe MJ feels the same way.

[Sothron]

Just now, JayBirdHawk said:

It's not only his play.  He has a maturity that belies his age.  Did you see that interview he conducted with the rookies at the draft.  He's comfortable in his own skin.

Yes, his maturity and humble nature are so rare in today's game. I said this I think on the realgm's Twolves board but I'll repeat it here: we lost Duncan and people said we'd never see that kind of superstar again. We already have that guy in KAT. He has that Duncan need to excel on the court and not care about "the life" in the Association.

Can't wait for next season to start to watch both the Hawks and TWolves.

[macdaddy]

1 minute ago, Sothron said:

Yes, his maturity and humble nature are so rare in today's game. I said this I think on the realgm's Twolves board but I'll repeat it here: we lost Duncan and people said we'd never see that kind of superstar again. We already have that guy in KAT. He has that Duncan need to excel on the court and not care about "the life" in the Association.

Can't wait for next season to start to watch both the Hawks and TWolves.

Hope Minny makes the playoffs this year.     We should have traded Teague to them.

[HawkItus]

Davis

KAT

Porzy

 

[Guest]

It's funny everytime I read this thread I keep misreading it and it makes me chuckle a bit...hehehe

[AHF]

I'll be rooting for and enjoying KAT and Davis for their entire career even if I root against their teams (and I don't have a real rooting interest either way with the TWolves and Hornets).  They are classy and incredibly skilled.  Loved watching them in college and continuing that dominance in the NBA.  Bring them here and we can really have Catlanta (Katlanta?).

[RandomFan]

7 hours ago, AHF said:

Sooo he abdicated a position of leadership so he could join a team that was already good enough to win a ring without him so he could take on a less demanding role while still winning a ring.

I call that ring chasing:  joining a team that is good enough that you can glom  on to win a ring instead of earning one by building or leading a team.

Again, to you this seems like a negative thing, I get it and I understand that's why you think Durant is ring chasing. But I don't see it as a negative thing.

You call it a less demanding role, I don't see it that way. I see it as a different, more preferred role for him. Some people are happier being the alpha-dog and trying to be the king of the hill; other people are happier working with other people as a team and achieving goals together in a group.

Neither is wrong, it's merely a matter of personal preference. I'm not sure of your feelings on that matter - but from this conversation it seems like you think the alpha-dog is the role to strive for, and anything else is of lesser value or meaning? 

You see it as joining a different team based on better quality. I simply see it as joining a team based on a more preferred playstyle, environment, and team oriented structure - while also being able to win championships there too.

[AHF]

23 minutes ago, RandomFan said:

Again, to you this seems like a negative thing, I get it and I understand that's why you think Durant is ring chasing. But I don't see it as a negative thing.

You call it a less demanding role, I don't see it that way. I see it as a different, more preferred role for him. Some people are happier being the alpha-dog and trying to be the king of the hill; other people are happier working with other people as a team and achieving goals together in a group.

Neither is wrong, it's merely a matter of personal preference. I'm not sure of your feelings on that matter - but from this conversation it seems like you think the alpha-dog is the role to strive for, and anything else is of lesser value or meaning? 

You see it as joining a different team based on better quality. I simply see it as joining a team based on a more preferred playstyle, environment, and team oriented structure - while also being able to win championships there too.

Agree to disagree.  I don't love the idea of Jordan, Bird and Magic foregoing organic team growth and competition to team up to play magical team ball in the 1980's.  Different perspectives.

To me, that is the role of the Dream Team - get your stars together and let them blend in basically an exhibition.  The real NBA is working to build a team into a champion without consolidating the very best players on the same roster.  Having the last two MVPs join the same team so the path to a ring is easier to blasphemy to me.

[Guest]

Ring chaser.  A team that's already stacked and CAN without him.

[RandomFan]

25 minutes ago, AHF said:

Agree to disagree.  I don't love the idea of Jordan, Bird and Magic foregoing organic team growth and competition to team up to play magical team ball in the 1980's.  Different perspectives.

To me, that is the role of the Dream Team - get your stars together and let them blend in basically an exhibition.  The real NBA is working to build a team into a champion without consolidating the very best players on the same roster.  Having the last two MVPs join the same team so the path to a ring is easier to blasphemy to me.

Yeah, but you keep focusing on the bolded part, which as I've said doesn't appear to be his main motivation. Your focus keeps going to the wrong thing IMO. Can you even contemplate the possibility that the bigger driving force for Durant was his desire to play on a "team" instead of making his path to a ring easier? I'm not saying you have to believe it. But can you even contemplate it? So far it doesn't seem like it.

Also, Jordan, Bird, and Magic played in a different era, that didn't have the same free agent possibilities there are today. Unfair comparison. Another big thing is all three of those players were already playing in great team systems alongside other Hall of Fame players in their own rights. They didn't have any motivation to search out a better option - there wasn't one.

[Guest]

Rings are all that matter when it's all said and done.

Boston is a team. Atlanta personifies team basketball.

GSW is the easiest path to a ring. In Boston and Atlanta he is THE man, in GSW he can be one of.

[AHF]

2 hours ago, RandomFan said:

Yeah, but you keep focusing on the bolded part, which as I've said doesn't appear to be his main motivation. Your focus keeps going to the wrong thing IMO. Can you even contemplate the possibility that the bigger driving force for Durant was his desire to play on a "team" instead of making his path to a ring easier? I'm not saying you have to believe it. But can you even contemplate it? So far it doesn't seem like it.

Now I see our gap.  You believe what I see as PR spiel and I have a more cynical view.  Did you expect him to say, "yep, I'm tired of falling short and I want to join a team that is so good I am almost sure to win a ring with them"?  

I believe KD is doing this because he "believes in TEAM" like I believed LeBron did "the decision" not to feed his ego with massive media attention but as a charity effort that was all about the kids.  (I.e. Not at all).

The kids and the "I'm all about team" line are just window dressing to make super friends ring chasing a more palatable narrative to a segment of the fans who both will believe it and would be offended by a frank and honest admission of "I just want a ring and think the path of least resistance is teaming up with other stars who are so good they could be contenders without me."

I do think it is a legit shot at Westbrook's ball hogging so I'll give it credit that he was fed up with Westbrook.  

[Guest]

9 hours ago, AHF said:

I'll be rooting for and enjoying KAT and Davis for their entire career even if I root against their teams (and I don't have a real rooting interest either way with the TWolves and Hornets).  They are classy and incredibly skilled.  Loved watching them in college and continuing that dominance in the NBA.  Bring them here and we can really have Catlanta (Katlanta?).

Pelicans.

[AHF]

14 minutes ago, Spud2Nique said:

Pelicans.

Even less interest in the Pelicans.

[Buzzard]

Anthony Davis or KAT are the only two I would trade Howard and SAP away for, just to get one of them. That is not really blowing things up but it would probably put us back in the late lottery area for one season.

I am really not positive I would even do that. I think this is the closest we have been to being a contender since Dominique,  Willis, Tree, and Doc were playing together.

Edited July 23, 2016 by Buzzard