Kevin Durant Leaves OKC- Joining Warriors

tedginnjr said:

In my opinion, you have to trade Love now to match up. It was one thing when you may run into the Spurs, OKC, etc. Now you're pretty much certain to be matching up with this team for the next 3-5 years.

Griffin already admitted we didn't match up well with GS and that was his fault... No excuse now for continuing with that issue.

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Why not doing the opposite of what they are doing: GO BIG! Love + whatever for Cousins! How do this GSW team defend Cousins + TT + Bron frontcourt?

I'm not just talking about a Finals matchup. They have to play the whole season with a roster that has no size and no depth. Rush barely played in the regular season.

Green is gonna have to guard more centers than ever. Durant is gonna be asked to play more small ball 4 than ever. IGuodala is gonna play more minutes per game than he has in three years. Livingston might play more minutes per game than he has since his Clipper days.

All of this adds up and makes for a different type of team than what they've had the last two years. And then all of those things that they have to deal with throughout the regular season make a difference in the playoffs.

Yea, if that starting 5 could get to the playoffs totally healthy and FRESH, they'd be the easy favorites. But that is going to be very hard with the roster they're gonna have. Very hard.

The Wizard of Moz said:

But it wasn't just a Bogut for Durant swap either

I think we are just going to have to agree to disagree on this one. We just have very differing opinions on it.

I think it will be very problematic for them not having a single rim protector against two of the best drivers in the NBA.

I am willing to say this eliminates all competitiveness in BOTH conferences. It is so clearly a rubber match next year

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Unfortunately, I just think its a rubber match we are going to be underpowered in unless the Cavs make a big move. Which they have almost no ability to do.

Just my take on next year. We won it this year, and Im still ecstatic about it and nothing can take it away. But this is sports and our championship is alreqdy an afterthought in the NBA world with this news. Its already onto next year, so simply giving my opinion on it. People had these same takes on the Heat and why they wouldnt work out, in the end they did. never doubt great talent, it rises above almost all problems.

Lee said:

I wonder what is availabe via our TPE. I think we arent matching Delly to add this type of wing player and hand the reigns over to McRae with his more athletic ability.

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I'm excited to see McRae develop with more PT. There's potential. He's a good finisher.

Rich said:

Yea, buddy. Mo Williams.

These are bum players that don't make a difference. Jermaine O'Neal coming out of fucking retirement isn't what I consider "assembling a strong bench." Hell, even Richard Jefferson only made a strong showing here and there. He sure as shit couldn't be relied on to eat up minutes during the regular season.

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Mo Williams was a nice signing. You're judging it with hindsight bias because he ended up getting hurt. He came at a nice price and looked like he was going to provide quality depth. David West signed a vet minimum deal this last offseason with the Spurs, and he ended up being a nice player for them.

I think you're being a tad bit cynical about this signing.

Chris said:

Unfortunately, I just think its a rubber match we are going to be underpowered in unless the Cavs make a big move. Which they have almost no ability to do.

Just my take on next year. We won it this year, and Im still ecstatic about it and nothing can take it away. But this is sports and our championship is alreqdy an afterthought in the NBA world with this news. Its already onto next year, so simply giving my opinion on it. People had these same takes on the Heat and why they wouldnt work out, in the end they did. Mever doubt great talent, it rises above almost all problems.

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Talent won them 2 indeed but they lost 2 as well!

The Wizard of Moz said:

Bogut was phenomenal for them in the finals

The series mostly opened up for us when he went down

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Don't know why people are discounting Barbaso as well. We would have won game 1 if it wasn't for him tag teaming with Livingston to blow up defense.We had the best second unit in the league for the playoffs (frye, lebron, delly, shump, and RJ) and we couldn't even play it because the matchup advantage they had.

That was what made GS so close to being considered maybe the best all time team if they had won: they had 2 guys at each position who could either play great defense, great offense, and often both. They could exploit every mismath

Jscc said:

I'm excited to see McRae develop with more PT. There's potential. He's a good finisher.

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He is, I think we are handing him and Mo the keys. Mo was a huge pickup for us while Irving was hurt, lets not forget that.

But we need to spend the TPE, letting Delly walk has to come back with athleticism or the move made zero sense. I am already on the dont agree bandwagon, just tryng to understand the thought process instead of joining the chicken little group.

Rich said:

Yea, if that starting 5 could get to the playoffs totally healthy and FRESH, they'd be the easy favorites. But that is going to be very hard with the roster they're gonna have. Very hard.

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Okay, but think about this: if the Warriors are dominant and a juggernaut, they're going to blow teams out. If they're blowing teams out, they're going to be afforded the luxury of routinely resting their starters in the 4th quarter, which can help cut down on minutes quite a bit.

Think about the Cavs in Spring of 2015, after the JR/Mozgov/Shumpert acquisitions. Remember when we went on like a 34-3 run or something like that to end the season? I remember numerous games where it was so out of hand by the 4th that Love/LeBron/Irving hardly played. I could totally see that happening with Golden State, because their starting lineup is absolutely terrifying.

tocov said:

From all the information I gather, I think GS are not as scary as people think.

With a SUPER short and SUPER soft rotation, with ZERO perimeter players, I don't think they would be that much harder to guard than this year's roster. Especially in the playoffs, when things get more physical and you already have 82 games behind you.
And there is no doubt that they have gotten much worse on D.

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Tocov, honestly, none of this is true.

1) They are not super short.

Curry is 6'3, Klay is 6'7 at the SG (tall), Iggy is 6'6 at the SF (avg), Durant is 6'10 at the SF/PF (tall), Green is 6'7 at the C (short). That's not a "short" lineup, it's a "small" lineup since you're playing 5 guards. But "small" and "short" are being confused and cluttered.. Playing small doesn't mean you're running out 5 short players.

2) They are NOT soft.

Curry is a good defender; he just can't defend Kyrie Irving.
Klay Thompson is a DPOY level defender at multiple positions.
Iggy is a DPOY level defender at multiple positions.
Durant is an All-NBA level defender.
Green is a DPOY level defender at multiple positions.

People saying they are "soft" are confused or don't know the personnel.

3) Zero perimeter players?

This... makes absolutely no sense. All 5 of their starting lineup are "perimeter players." Steph Curry isn't a perimeter player?

What's going on in here?

4) They did NOT get worse on defense.

This keeps getting repeated. The Cavs picked apart Curry/Ezeli/Bogut/Varejao on the PnR. The Warriors had to play a big to rebound, but it didn't work.

Durant is a better defender than Barnes, and while Bogut is a better rim protector, you're better off with Green playing center for the majority of the game regardless.

Yes, rim protection wise, they are worse. Perimeter defense wise they are better. Net net they are a much better team.

Let's stop pretending people; instead, we'd be better off focusing on stategy and potential trade partners, etc.

Oddly enough I think James will be MVP this year because of this...

Lee said:

It wasnt Love's fault, it was the fact we didnt have enough athletic wing players. One of the reasons they are not matching Delly, he didnt match up well.

Love played hurt, but his shooting stretches the floor, rebounding kills them, and can play on a center or guard Draymond for stretches.

I just dont think trading him helps, it wont. His defense is improved. I think we dont realize how bad the concussion effected his play for a few games afterwards. He probably shouldnt have been cleared to play till game 7.

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I'm not saying the lack of wings is Love's fault, I'm just acknowledging the lack of wings and that Love is our only trade chip.

Ok if you think about it there's only one basketball. So my dream scenario is that GS gets used to KD calling his own number all 4th quarter and they stop moving the ball. Because every second where they aren't moving the ball helps us because we can guard any 5 straight up. Also hopefully KD does ALOT of bringing it up and taking it himself because that takes Green out of the game.



These are great players but it still has to mesh together. Same thing happened to the Heat when they came together and us.


I think KD is gonna find out that playing with Russ wasn't so bad when he's watching Curry and Klay shoot horrible 3s that don't go in in the playoffs because people actually care about guarding them

Kizzle said:

Ok if you think about it there's only one basketball. So my dream scenario is that GS gets used to KD calling his own number all 4th quarter and they stop moving the ball. Because every second where they aren't moving the ball helps us because we can guard any 5 straight up. Also hopefully KD does ALOT of bringing it up and taking it himself because that takes Green out of the game.



These are great players but it still has to mesh together. Same thing happened to the Heat when they came together and us.


I think KD is gonna find out that playing with Russ wasn't so bad when he's watching Curry and Klay shoot horrible 3s that don't go in in the playoffs

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KD doesn't run the point... Draymond and Steph do.. Draymond will facilitate smartly, as he always does; and Steph and Klay will fire on any open look, particularly Klay (who does not pass the ball).

Unfortunately, Durant killing them with ISO is not as likely to happen as it is in Cleveland.

Hell, he's used to deferring anyway...