Kevin Durant and the New Super-Duper Team
Kevin Durant is now a Warrior, with a capital "W". If that's news to anyone reading this then I'd like to thank you for making your way out from under your rock and finding your way to a computer, and then accidentally finding this article and taking the time to read these first two sentences. The 73 win Warriors are now adding one of the three best basketball players in the world, and most recent MVP not named Stephen Curry, to their roster, which features the most recent MVP not not named Stephen Curry (Stephen Curry). Since no one else is talking about this in the sports world, let's discuss what led to Durant deciding to choose Golden State, and how he'll impact this team (teaser: he makes them better).
Durant to the Warriors may have all started in 2010
Pictured above is the 2010 U.S. men's basketball team. You'll notice a couple of things in this picture: 1) Kevin Love looks weird, 2) Chauncey Billups looks like he wants to kill the photographer, and 3) Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala, and Kevin Durant are all on this team. Once it was announced that Durant decided to sign with the Warriors, stories started to come out about how important Iguodala's pitch to Durant was during his meeting with the Warriors. Iguodala brought up the time they spent together on Team USA that summer, and apparently he, Durant, and Curry would shoot together after practice every day, creating a friendship. You can read more about the importance of that summer playing together here (and that article is written by a professional so its obviously much better than the one you're reading now). The three of them were all on different teams at the time, Curry wasn't the player he is today, and the Warriors were not very good at basketball. I think its safe to assume that they were never discussing playing together on the Golden State Warriors at the time, but the friendship the three cultivated would certainly impact Durant's decision in the summer of 2016.
Iguodala joins the Warriors before the 2013-2014 season after the Warriors beat Iguodala's Denver Nuggets in the playoffs, Golden State drafts Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, and Draymond Green, Stephen Curry revolutionizes basketball, and the greatest regular season team in history is born. This situation in itself is highly improbable, Curry has to struggle with ankle injuries early in his career in order to suppress his value, then he has to overcome all those injuries and become the greatest shooter in history and two-time MVP, they then draft another one of the greatest shooters ever (Thompson) to start alongside Curry. Keep in mind that all this is happening right as the NBA is starting to realize the importance of three point shooting, and changing the way NBA offenses are run. Thompson also has to develop into an elite perimeter defender to cover for Curry, Draymond Green has to be overlooked by every other team and then blossom into a bowling ball of destruction on both ends of the court (other players' penises would be the bowling pins in this analogy), and an all-star (Iguodala) has to accept a bench role in order for the team to reach its full potential. Surround this core with a young, top 10 pick (Harrison Barnes), a former number one overall pick who can block shots, throw sneaky-good passes, and be Australian (Andrew Bogut), and a cadre of bench players who know what they can do and stay in their lanes, and you end up with a team that goes 73-9 in the regular season. This team then has to lose in the Finals right before the summer when there's a huge jump in the cap and the player that Iguodala and Curry bonded with in 2010 becomes a free agent. All of this came to fruition in the best possible way for Golden State, but that certainly didn't guarantee that Durant would join their team. The last piece of this puzzle has to do with Durant's former teammate, Russell Westbrook.
Every member of the Warriors' staff
By all accounts, Durant would have preferred to continue to chase a ring with Westbrook in OKC, but Russell's contract is up after next season, which leads to quite the dilemma for Durant. If Durant thought Westbrook would re-sign with OKC, then KD could've done a 1+1 contract, just like he did with GS, opt out next summer and then he and Russ could both get even more money to stay with OKC. Since Durant didn't do that, I think its safe to assume that Westbrook did not commit to a future beyond next year with the Thunder. That's not to say that he is leaving, just that he is not sure about staying (although I do think that he is leaving). Durant's second choice seemed to be to play in Golden State, but they only have the cap room for him this summer. So that put him in the position of either re-signing with Oklahoma City for one year and hoping that he and Westbrook can both remain with the Thunder next offseason, or choosing to go to the Warriors this season. This scenario is what led me to believe he was going to Golden State (which I did, I promise. I would never lie to you, loyal reader). Judging from everything I had heard and read (which is the same thing you heard and read since I'm no more connected to any of these people than you are), it sounded like Westbrook was 50/50 at best to stay in OKC next summer (even if Durant stayed), that Durant didn't want to play for the Thunder without Westbrook, that the Golden State Warriors were Durant's second choice, and that Durant didn't want to go through this whole process again next summer. Put all that together with the fact that the Warriors only had cap space for him this summer and it seemed likely that KD was headed to Oakland.
Thunder GM Sam Presti
Now that we know Kevin Durant is headed to Golden State, let's think about how he'll fit in there. Well, maybe we should start with who the Warriors have to give up to make the room for Durant. Harrison Barnes is gone, which means they'll have no one to pass the ball to when they desperately need someone to miss a wide open three in the Finals, Festus Ezeli is gone, and they've traded Andrew Bogut to Dallas. Despite my ridiculing of Barnes only seconds ago, I actually think he is a pretty good player, and was an important cog in their Death Lineup (no idea if that should be capitalized or not, so I may try out a couple variations to see which one looks right). His ability to shoot threes, NBA Finals not withstanding, and defend power forwards allowed Draymond Green to move over to center and Iguodala to guard a perimeter player in the Death lineup. Ezeli is probably a starting caliber center in the NBA, but he looked really bad for the majority of the playoffs, and doesn't make sense for the price for Golden State, especially with how often they're going to be running with the DeaTH LineuP. Bogut is a really good shot blocker and a heady passer, but his body broke down last year and he was only playing roughly 12 minutes a game in the Finals. Either he or Iguodala had to be moved to make room for Durant, and it was fairly obvious that Bogut was the odd man out.
Durant brings scoring ability (duh) and a positional versatility that should actually improve the dEATH lINEUP. Durant is a strong defender (watch the video above), and looked downright elite against Golden State in the playoffs. His length should help bother opponents' shots in the paint when the Warriors are playing small, which was sorely missed against the Cavs in the Finals. Durant is also an excellent shooter, and you could make the argument that the Warriors now have the three best shooters in the league on their team. He was already a very efficient shooter, but now he'll have more wide open shots than he could have ever dreamed. Durant also brings an unstoppable one-on-one game to Golden State, which may not sound like a big deal with the way the Warriors move the ball and trust their teammates, but it would've made all the difference in the Finals. With Curry ailing (and I think that his knee really hindered his driving game) and the Splash Brothers being unable to get free off screens, the Warriors were forced to take contested threes as the majority of their offense, and we saw what happened with that. Having Durant means having a player that you can give the ball to when nothing else is working and you are GUARANTEED to get a good shot from that possession. There are very few players in the league like that, and Golden State just added the best one. His shooting ability creates just as much fear in opponents as Steph's and Klay's, which stretches the defense out even more, and should open driving lanes left and right. The Warriors have already added Zaza Pachulia and David West to cover the minutes when they don't want to go small, and there are now reports that Ray Allen may want to come back and play on this team, because who wouldn't want to play on this team. And now that you swap out Harrison Barnes for Kevin Durant in the DeatH LineuP, the Warriors can go small while still playing a 7-footer who can shoot threes.
These super teams don't often perform to our expectations; the Lakers lost to Detroit in 2004, the Heatles went 2-2 in the Finals, and the Cavs with LeBron, Kyrie, and Love are now 1-1 in the Finals, but this feels different. These stars already play an unselfish brand of basketball, and this fit seems much more natural than any of the super teams we've had to date. Curry and Thompson can both play off the ball, and Durant had to play off the ball because Westbrook treated the ball like Gollum treated the one ring (Lord of the Rings reference. Nailed it) in every fourth quarter. So this isn't like Wade and James or James and Irving, guys who need the ball to be effective. These are guys that know how to get open shots without the ball, and are comfortable giving the ball up because they know they'll get it back. While it is true that there is only one ball (#facts), this ball will find the open man like it never has on any super team before. And the scariest thing of all is that that open man is probably a superstar.
