The (3 point) Shot Heard Around the League
I am not going to spend a lot of time on why Kevin Durant went to the Warriors (I will summarize at the end), but I did want to point out that after 1230 regular season games, and 4 rounds of playoffs, the entire NBA offseason, and future, came down to a single made 3 point Field Goal by Klay Thompson to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder (the 1:02 mark of the video, which made the score 104–101).
The Sequence
A lot had to come before to make this shot so important, but if Klay misses (Quod), and OKC goes on to win the game and series (Erat), there is no Kevin Durant in Golden State (Demonstrandum*).
- * Quod Erat Demonstrandum is latin for ''That which had to be proven.''
Why did I choose this shot? Despite the fact that Klay was unconscious (making everything) most of the game, this particular 3, in my opinion, could have been made by only 5 men in basketball history (accounting for consistency versus blind luck):
Klay, Curry, Durant, Reggie (Miller) and Ray (Allen)
Neither MJ nor Kobe had that range. Bird, lacked the turn & shoot athleticism required. Any other known 3 point specialist — Dale Ellis, Dell (father of Steph) Curry, Dennis Scott, Kyle Korver — definitely lacked the athleticism as they were more off the screen or catch and shoot shooters.
The precursor to this basket also contributed mightily to Durant's departure, and adds to the lore of this shot. Russell Westbrook drove down the court, entered the paint, and promptly lost the ball. Result?
Iguodala → Klay → Return to Video Above
This sequence was a microcosm of KD and Russell over the past years. So if you are KD, your logic is this:
- Russell fumbles with the game on the line (again)
- The Warriors move the ball and hit the 3
- We lose
- They win
- They're two time finalists*
- We're on the outside again
- * The Warriors then accommodated KD's transfer by promptly blowing the biggest lead in NBA Finals history. But I already wrote about that here.
The Fallout
Oh my God, The NBA is unfair. Super teams! The Salary Cap does not work….
All of this may be true to some extent.
- The NBA is unfair. 70 NBA seasons and the Celtics, Lakers, Bulls (actually MJ) and Spurs (actually Timmy) have won a combined 44 titles. Merely 63%. Nice parity (#sarcasm). So quit acting like the Warriors, who have not won anything yet in their new form, are some sort of anomaly.
- Super Teams. Lebron going to Miami was hardly the first super team, or the first attempt at one. While the Celtics of the 60s in that super duper competitive 9 team league may have built from within — whatever — many other super teams were built under what could be considered unusual circumstances. The Lakers duped Ted Stepien of the Cavs into a first round pick that became James Worthy. The Celtics drafted Larry Bird when he was NOT eligible but signed him before the subsequent draft. Kareem whined his way out of Milwaukee as did Charles out of Philadelphia. Clyde Drexler joined a loaded Houston team with Hakeem, and Karl and The Glove jumped to the Lakers in hopes of winning a title. And Ray and Kevin were gifted to the Celtics as was Pau to the Lakers. Shaq signed with LA, MIA, PHX, CLE and BOS. So save it with the Super Team lamentations. Dirk Nowitzki is the anomaly, not Kevin Durant.
- The Salary Cap does not work. Alan Crabbe just signed with the Portland Trailblazers for 4 years and $75M. Draw your own conclusions. Mine is he went to Cal, so I hope he donates 10%. However, this year was certainly an anomaly where 3 factors combined to create the perfect storm that allowed KD to sign with Golden State:
1. The TV money coming into the NBA tripled from $900M to $2.7B in the upcoming seasons. In the words of Chris Rock — ‘’ That’s a whole lotta money.’’
2. In the 2009 NBA draft, the Grizzlies took Hasheem Thabeet, the Kings took Tyreke Evans, and in a move that is even worse than Bowie over Jordan, the Minnesota Timberwolves GM, David Kahn, took Ricky Rubio AND Jonny Flynn, both Point Guards back to back. The Warriors? Stephen Curry.
3. At the end of his 4th year in the NBA, Curry, who had been suffering from chronic ankle injuries, signed a 4 year $44M contract, which was team friendly due to his history of injuries. This contract expires at the end of the 2016–2017 season.
The above points made it possible for the Warriors to fit Kevin Durant under the cap at 2 years and $54M. Quod Erat Demonstrandum again.
So all that is left is WHY did he go?
I could do it justice, but Bill Simmons does it better. I will just make Editorial (ed:) comments.
For one thing, maybe he was just tired of playing with Russell Westbrook (ed: mentioned above). He played with him for eight years. Maybe he loves Westbrook as a friend — he just didn’t want to play with him anymore. Maybe he was tired of living in Oklahoma City, which is a really small city where he stands out. He’s a 7-foot black guy walking around this tiny little town in the middle of America. Everywhere he goes, people know who he is, what he’s up to, and what he’s doing. Maybe he just didn’t want to deal with that anymore. Maybe he wanted to live in the Bay Area. Maybe he just wanted to buy some house in San Francisco and just be left alone. (ed: I live in Brazil. People think I need mental help when I tell them I am from San Francisco but chose to live in Sao Paulo. If I were from OKC, they would understand why I moved away.) Maybe he wanted to be more of a business guy and be around Silicon Valley people. Maybe he wanted to play with Steph Curry and Draymond [Green] and these guys. (ed: OKC weakened themselves in the short term with the Ibaka trade. Oladipo cannot shoot, so no relief at 2 guard, and you lose Dion Waiters. Sabonis will be an intelligent energy player, but he is not swinging the title. And the “Yugoslavian” throw-in is just that. You lost 3 point range, length, and rim protection.) Maybe he wanted to be in a better offense. (ed: Watch Russ pound the ball, or go 1:1 or 1:4 yourself versus the Warriors ball movement offense? Choice? Not!) Maybe he wanted to be on a team that just spends money. Nobody talked about that part. He’s on a team that’s gonna spend money now. He was not in that situation in Oklahoma City. He wanted to be in the best position to succeed, in an organization that put every available resource into their team. (ed: Google the Harden Trade) How does that make him weak?
J.H.: Not to mention the chance to play for Steve Kerr, a guy with a pretty good track record.
B.S.: He’s never had a good coach! (ed: self explanatory)
J.H.: Never had a good coach. That’s precisely the point I was gonna make. I’m in violent agreement with you on all of those things. That’s the beauty of what the collective bargaining agreement affords these players. I support it — the players’ right to self-determination when the circumstances provide the opportunity, and, for KD, it genuinely struck me as something that was week-by-week. The circumstances that led to him heading off to Golden State: If OKC had beaten Golden State, he would have stayed. If the Warriors had won again, he might have stayed. Think about how everything changed in great, big, dramatic fashion from week to week, which led to the [Golden State] situation being the attractive [option]. I don’t think it speaks to his character one bit.
B.S.: And the loyalty thing is really annoying to me. First of all, Clay Bennett moved the Thunder from Seattle to Oklahoma City. That doesn’t seem very loyal. (ed: Screw Clay and former Seattle owner Howard Schultz of Starbucks fame; they deserve zero sympathy)
J.H.: Because he tried to hold Seattle hostage for a publicly funded stadium and the city wouldn’t pony up. Of course he had the right to do that.
B.S.: That’s one thing. Second, he signs a huge extension in 2010 to stay there for five years, so does Westbrook, and then, [two years] later, they just trade Harden. Not sure about the loyalty there. They fired Scotty Brooks a year ago. That doesn’t seem very loyal.
Sports isn’t loyal. Shit happens. And I know Durant was talking about “Yeah, the community,” all this stuff, but, you know what? He’s [27]. Shit changes. I changed my mind a million times in my mid-20s. We act like these guys are like 45 years old. (ed: He signed the 5 year deal in 2010 with NO opt out, unlike every other player. And he stay 9, NINE, years in OKC. OKC! For my Brazilian friends that would be like Rondonia, or Tocantins when Rio or Santa Catarina wants you.)
Ed: No one weak could survive OKC for 9 years
Quod Erat Demonstrandum!