Kevin Durant on why he left OKC and joined Golden State: “In OKC, we had a lot of specialists. Dudes that played defense but couldn’t score on their own. Couldn’t shoot the ball, somebody who could shoot but then couldn’t guard that well”
“Dudes that played defense but couldn’t score on their own.” Most obvious Andre Roberson slight ever
The opposite of Andre Roberson is Anthony Morrow
It’s also hilarious because Roberson ended up being KD’s teammate again briefly in Brooklyn.
Roberson in Brooklyn probably had more to do with his brother in law Spencer Dinwiddie being on the Team.
Pretty sure by that point Roberson had a bunch of injuries piled up.
Fastest release in the NBA
or Steven Adams and Enes “can’t play” Kanter lol
Enes “Freedom from Defence” Kanter
Andre Roberson walked so that Jarred Vanderbilt could also walk.
Roberson was a way better defender than Vando
Andre Roberson walked so Jarred Vanderbilt could crawl
Jarred Vanderbilt crawled so that bronny James could be born. Uhhh wait no that’s someone else
Lebron FUCKED so that Bronny could be born
Vando when healthy is an incredible rebounder for his size
Also they aren’t even the same position or player profiles lol.
Roberson is an all time defender. Too bad his offense was also all time worst
Game 7 in the WCF when KD got triple teamed, passed it to Roberson with no one near him at the top of the key, and Roberson passed it away, you could see KD make the decision to leave right there.
Exactly what I was thinking listening to him talk. I remember that game very specifically and thinking the same thing. Andre tapping his chest while KD chewed him out.
I also thought KD did not get enough credit for his defense that series, and Russ’s defense was… Russ’s usual defense. KD gets tons of shit for not shooting it well but he was setting up other guys and he was playing his ass off on switches.
I get just wanting to play on a more balanced team, with smart decision makers from 1-5.
yup i remembered that series is when KD realized he can play the 4 and 5 effectively
I mean KD joining the Warriors was definitely a good move for him personally, it just killed the competition for about three years
The change in narrative is wild — r/nba in a nutshell.
Don’t get me wrong he’s still a little bitch I’m a certified KD hater.
It’s just that I would’ve been a little bitch too in his position.
That was the most negative legacy-defining offseason move of all time. Every non-GSW fan were just waiting for the draft. The only people who unironically thought they could beat them were the Cavs and Houston. I still don’t get how people defend that bitch ass move lol. The magnitude of having a majority of the sport’s fanbase already losing immediate hope is so understated.
I still don’t get how people defend that bitch ass move lol
It’s defensible because any one of us would do the exact same thing if we were in KDs shoes. It’s just that simple.
When the best team in the sport courts you and their star player is serenading you through text messages, you’re telling me that you’d say no? Come on now, be sensible.
KD did a human thing and made the choice that was best for him. You’re free to hate on him for that but at the end of the day, you’d have made the same choice as well.
Couldn’t win with those cats
Anyone got a link to this?
https://streamable.com/iif7s
Not only did he pass out he passed to a covered man lmao
He was a terrible shooter, esp when he wasn’t shooting from the corner, tbf. An open Roberson 3 at the top of the key is probably a worse shot than someone else taking a contested shot.
Roberson could do some cuts quite well and dunk offensively, but he was truly awful at shooting. His defense was why he was on the floor.
He had a guy closing out hard though. Pump and drive even if to then kick out was another option to continue putting pressure on a collapsed defense
thats though, brother at least attack the close out and shoot a 2 idk, valid crashout
Nobody is closing out to him hard enough that he could attack it.
That’s Sefalosha erasure
Blame NYPD for that
Thabo could shoot. It just took 5 seconds to release
And a third of the time resulted in a pump fake instead of a shot attempt.
Although one time it did work very well.
The most ironic part of that is in the GS series close out game when OKC was up 3-2 in OKC, Roberson was the only OKC player to make a shot for like the last 6 minutes of the game or something lol. OKC got outscored by 15 in the 4th to blow the series and KD couldn’t hit shit the entire quarter. I think he went 1-9 that quarter. Roberson and an occasional Westbrook FT was basically their only offense that whole quarter.
I don’t have the stats to back me up, but I’m almost positive Roberson never missed a 3-pointer once playoffs started
99% 3P, 1% FT in the playoffs
A lot of 3s to get to 99%
Yeah Roberson was a good 3 point shooter in the playoffs. Was the weirdest shit ever since he was awful in the reg season.
Bingo. Remember it clear as day
He with the 2k girl he won at life
He already explained this from his burner twitter account.
He didn’t like Billy Donovan and couldn’t “win with those cats”
and didn’t bash westbrook. ‘it was just him and russ’.
I think his beef with Westbrook was the unconditional love the fans were and still give him and calling him the greatest Thunder of all time. It wasn’t really about how he played.
Nowadays, Durant really doesn’t have a “home” in the NBA
Wild that the closest he’s ever really come to a “Home” both before and after OKC was UT lol
For a select period of time KD would go to OU/UT games in Norman and when shown on camera the crowd wouldn’t know if to cheer for a Thunder player or boo a Longhorn.
it’s an ou game. fuck them horns
Seattle loves him - especially after he burned okc. He could retire on their expansion team as a return “home”
Except nobody said that until after he left
Exactly that is such revisionist history lol. People were hating on Russ and largelyblaming him for the teams shortcomings saying he shot too much and made bone headed plays in clutch situations when Russ and kd played together
Both KD and Russ had horrible games in the Warriors series. Russ shot a higher 3pt % in the 2016 playoffs than KD did.
Yes, which kd caught shit for before leaving, but throughout their time together in okc, the common complaint was Russ’s usage being too high and him not deferring more to kd
“trade him for a real PG” was all anybody said for years
That’s why I replied to the comment that mentioned “it was just him and russ.” KD didn’t have beef with Westbrook until after he left.
His home is the NBA. But his legacy will probably always be Team USA. By far the GOAT of our national team
Its more like Russ was mad at what happened, understandably so. But it was one-sided. Even in his burner KD was specifically excluding Russ
No one’s even mad at him for leaving. It’s him going to the team you just choked a 3-1 lead too who also won 73 games is some next level wimpy villain shit 😂
People saying this is different from Lebron joining making the big 3 in Miami are so hypocritical. Yes KD’s was a step further, but it was the same sentiment. Did what they thought was best for their legacy.
Has he ever had a coach he did like?
Not for long
Still boggles my mind that OKC went up 3-1 against that ‘16 Warriors team.
OKC blowing that series is a moment in nba history that creates so many ripple effects
Even with our recent chip, ive got a pit in my stomach from that team losing then breaking up.
Perfect example for how fast a window can open and shut for a team
And shut for decades potentially if you have no draft capital or whiff on the lottery draw/who you pick. We are lucky as hell to even come back 10 years later.
nah, that’s not luck when you’ve built teams that way twice. That’s skill. Winning it all is luck, but building a great team is an ultra-competent org.
I mean I don’t think even Presti could’ve foreseen SGA becoming MVP caliber. There was definitely some luck that they ended the Westbrook+PG experiment right as Kawhi entered Free Agency and wanted a running mate in LAC and then us (stupidly) trading CP3 for Westbrook to go be the perfect mentor for SGA.
I think even without SGA hitting MVP levels this OKC team would be solid, probably top 4 seed. Won’t be the same personnel but they just have too many assets to not build a competitive team.
No, I highly disagree. Presti and the rest of the FO know what they’re doing. Yes, there’s always luck involved but you don’t just luck into a 68 win team.
They lucked into the fact that the Clippers exist.
Lol no
They lucked out twice hard
Firstly they gambled heavily on Paul George trade , Paul George resigned in part due to Russ and introducing him to fishing and possibly him just not wanting the lakers as much as was previously thought with the lakers being bad. Otherwise he could’ve left them after they trade a haul for him and they get just one year but no title .
Then Kawhi wanting pg so hard on the clippers . It allowed okc to strong arm Jerry west who was really against trading shai.
These things are completely independent of okc and presti drafting or team constructing. Without pg staying or getting haggled down and not getting shai they are nowhere fuckinh close to what they are. The pg signing on which was a suprise to everyone was prob the biggest thing or they’d look more like the wizards of hornets trading assets for a rental.
Y’all just love to act like presti some secret genius when that team is a play in seed at best without shai
That’s why I was happy for the thunder when you guys won, that shit was heartbreaking with how KD left and to see yall not only draft well but come out with a chip must’ve been vindicating.
IMO, there are no three events with greater ripple effects than OKC blowing that 3-1, GSW blowing their 3-1 lead in the very next series, and Dame’s “Bad Shot”.
You think the three biggest ripple effects in NBA history all happened within a 4 season stretch?
they were that freakish defensively. it was outrageous how athletic and in sync they were when they locked in defensively. just was missing some shooting and collective iq on offense
Before Roberson tore his patella tendon he looked like the best defender I’ve ever seen.
IIRC, they were also a historically great rebounding team, able to expose one of GS’ few weaknesses that year.
Great point. Adams Russ ibaka, sheesh
I can’t believe the fact we seen two consecutive series start 3-1 and go to 7 with the team down 3-1 winning. Insane.
And the series before that the 67 win spurs go up 2-0 against OKC with like a 40pt win, then proceed to lose 4 straight
The spurs didn’t go up 2-0 that series
Boggles my mind that, if in the very next series, the Warriors don’t blow the next series up 3-1, KD probably stays in OKC.
Nah, he would have left for the Cavs for sure. lol
I think KD was leaving anyways finals or not. You can tell that he was getting frustrated at times on the offensive end.
The entire offseason he was loud and clear about his intentions on staying in OKC. That’s why July 4th, 2016 is one of the craziest days in free agency history.
Ya I remember Duncan announced his retirement like the day after too 😭
i don’t blame him. people will look at that thunder on paper and call it stacked but it was not good for the new nba. every other star was able to drive and kick surrounded by multiple shooters and had way more space to operate in. the league was entering the era of spacing and more 3 pointers. meanwhile u had the thunder with 2 fat dudes clogging the paint and westbrook as ur shooter
KD on the Cavs would have been maybe the most broken combination imaginable. I can’t imagine a better running mate for LeBron.
they also choked like really hard iirc, i remember KD coudlnt buy a shot down the stretch on a closeout game, truly a what-if moment. He prob loses to the cavs and joins GSW anways but u never know
just say you joined cuz you wanted to win a championship
He wanted an easy ride to a ring. He could come up with all excuses in the world, but at the end its obvious he just wanted the easy way out,
Not uhh, it was tHe HaRdEsT rOaD
Even when he’s on my team, I can’t help but dislike him. Such a baller, but so incredibly weak lol. I know hes the reason the warriors dynasty was a thing, but dude took the easiest route to a ring and continues to shit on his old teammates like move on brother you got back to back rings
I know hes the reason the warriors dynasty was a thing
No one became a bigger Warriors fan than me in 2022. The fact that Steph and Draymond won a title before KD in 2015, and then won another one after him was so bittersweet because it showed everyone that they didn’t need KD (I know they really did and he went off in the finals in 17 and 18) to win again.
They didn’t need KD. They needed a SF that wouldn’t shit the bed and go 5⁄32 in the closing games. 2022 Wiggins averaging 17ppg would have done the job, or anyone of that caliber
Or they just needed an uninjured Curry, the series was so close that they would have certainly won if he was fully healthy.
That too
Wild ass statement for that flair
Us Thunder fans hate KD more than we hate the Warriors lol
I hate KD and Dray the same ish
Speak for yourself
I don’t hate the Warriors. I hated KD’s move to the Warriors.
I mean everyone criticized his move, but genuinely imagine being a MVP player in ‘2016 and your roster is trying to play a double non-shooting big line up and your PG/SG aren’t really shooters either against the fucking Golden State Warriors lmfao.
That’d make sense if OKC never were up 3-1 and if Durant hadn’t choked game 6.
Durant was also the main reason they were even up 3-1 to begin with. Hell even in game 6 he still had like 30 points and 7 rebounds if I remember. You can’t blame that series on him.
That’s expected, he was the #1 player on the team. But you can’t have it both ways, you can’t say OKC was winning thanks to Durant and OKC was losing thanks to the supporting cast.
Game 6 was lost by 7 points. Durant shot 1⁄8 from three, missed 2 FT, 10⁄31 from the field!!!! That’s unacceptable at home for a player of his caliber.
This post has also a ton of good statistics. It shows that the supporting cast wasn’t bad during the series but for the difference Iguadola made. And again I raise my point that he choked a 3-1 lead, followed it by joining the easiest path to a title.
This ^^^ dudes are giving KD all the praise when they’re up 3-1 and he’s the reason why they’re in that position, but when he chokes a 3-1 lead suddenly it’s his supporting cast not being good enough. Just ridiculous logic lol
29⁄7, but on 10⁄31 shooting. game 5 he shot 12⁄31, game 4 8⁄24… they won that last one but he absolutely started slipping when it mattered.
Then game 7 he shot 10⁄19 while the rest of the team shot 24⁄70 (Russ shot 7⁄21)
Westbrook is the one who choked Game 6 honestly
he turned the ball over FOUR TIMES in the last 2 minutes of a tied game lol
Bro even Fred got a podcast?
he said he wasnt doing much else anyways. but sheesh 2+ hour podcast with the same guest is wild
reminds me of that 3 hour Bill Simmons pod he did the first time with KD in the back of some restaurant
They be just vibing and chillin
but sheesh 2+ hour podcast with the same guest is wild
I’m over here watching a podcast with the same 3 people every week and is on average like 3.5hrs. Sometimes it is even 5+hrs.
Idk why its “even Fred” lol hes kind of one of the more believable podcasters. Extremely smart with the media and statements and interviews and hes been focused on making his own brand and stuff. And plus hes hurt the whole year.
I think ppl forget he’s also the current president of the NBA Players association, so his peers clearly respect him, like him, and think he’s a smart representative of themselves.
I’m convinced everyone starts a podcast just to slap a llc behind it and use it as a tax loss strategy
You left because you’re not a leader and you wanted the easiest ring.
Because of that move, KD will never get the respect he should have. Will any team retire his jersey? He doesn’t have a home.
GS 100% going to retire his jersey.
Carter and Toronto eventually made up. Anything can happen
Good. He won’t even get to enjoy that because it’ll just be a constant reminder of the biggest bitch move in league history.
He’ll never be as loved as Curry, but I’m sure GS retires the Big 4 from those 2017⁄18 teams. Iguodala just got his retired last season.
I don’t fault KD for leaving, he was a free agent and he wasn’t obligated to come back (even though he was pretty consistent that he wanted to stay and play his career here). What I fault him for is leaving to join GS which already seemed to be on it’s way to being a dynasty without him.
You should fault him for being pure ass in the entire wcf basically. You can bet his play sucked because he dreamed of being elsewhere.
I told my friends at this time that he was leaving us for Boston. That made the most sense to me. If it wasn’t Boston I thought he was gonna come back to us. I thought it was laughable that he’d go to the warriors after what they just did to us.
I remember at the time that the media narrative was he was either re signing with OKC or wanted a chance to play for a historic franchise like Boston. The GSW decision was a dark horse that I remember being like “WHAT THE HELL”.
Yeah….usually when you join one of the 3 best teams in NBA history things are going to be pretty easy dawg
He left because he’s a bus rider not a bus driver.
Bingo, he wanted the easiest road
He could have just said, “I went ring hunting.”
So a normal team?
Not really they had literally no spacing
KD: at OKC we had a lot of role players. What’s wrong with them? Why can’t they hoop?
Lame ass excuse. You can say that about almost every team in the league because if guys could do both things well they would be an all-star 😂
No you really can’t say the same thing for every team, for all the glaze Presti gets now he did an awful job of surrounding Westbrook and KD with proper players that fit them and all he did was give them non shooting wings or bigs
They didn’t have the capital/assets to make trades and there wasn’t a real lure to get free agents. I am not sure that is Presti’s fault. I think KD re-signing maybe changes that I remember rumors that Presti had met with Horford who was interested in coming to the Thunder in 2016 if KD chose to stay.
Years later they are able to manufacture assets and have built an organizational culture that is now well known around the league. Still the biggest FA they have ever signed is IHart and second place there is fuckin Patrick Patterson.
Tf are you talking about. It clearly worked because they averaged 53 wins from 09-15 season and if ownership didn’t cheap out with Harden they probably win at least one title or if Pat Bev doesn’t injure Russ
Your average redditor as a GM would have gotten you 53 wins if he had KD/Westbrook/Ibaka and the talent they had, it’s the role players that he got that sucked
This is historical revisionism, outside of letting harden walk, presti has been fine. Even when harden was gone, the sentiment was still that the thunder were going to be major contenders. They were literally up 3-1 against a 73 win team. Sam presti had nothing to do with the thunder’s lack of success during the mid to late 2010s.
You joined to win titles just say that lol
KD GSW 3rd quarter runs were the best offensive basketball in nba history. Up 6 halftime leads would turn into 12 digit deficits in a blink
He would score 100 billion points in the third quarter?
I’ve been over this for a minute tbh. Dude got drafted by Seattle and then had to go play in Oklahoma with no say for years and years (no beef to OK, I’m sure it’s lovely but he’s from DC, probably not his speed), they were up 3-1 on those Warriors and blew the lead (largely because of weaknesses like the ones he’s mentioning here, Andre Roberson anyone), and then in the midst of getting a storm of shit from OKC fans (and apparently not having a great time in the locker room), Draymond and Steph call him like “yo, wouldn’t you rather come live in Oakland and dominate the league?”
Don’t get me wrong, it was objectively a weak move, I was furious at the time and I hated the Warriors lol, but I really feel like most other dudes in their 20s would’ve done the same thing in his position. It’s easy to sit online and act like you wouldn’t, but it was his first UFA after securing the max bag, GSW recruited him hard and again, he was going from Oklahoma (where he’d been for the past like 8 years and probably never wanted to be in the first place) to Oakland. Obviously forming the best team in the league was probably factor number one (also something that I think most fans who fault him would’ve done lol, very few players would’ve turned that down, LeBron left Cleveland to do the same thing at the exact same juncture of his career), but there’s a lot that goes into a decision like that, and looking back 10 years later I just can’t rly b mad
It stops being understandable the minute the guy says “the hardest road” with a straight face lol. And understandable doesnt mean it wasnt extremely weak and soft
then in the midst of getting a storm of shit from OKC fans
This is written like someone who was not around, the overall fan sentiment was not that it was Kevin Durant’s fault they lost 3-1. Bro Russ was straight trolling the entire time he lead the team, and everyone in OKC was riding with him the whole time.
I mean, it was partially his fault in G6. Him and Russ just kept turning the ball over in the 4th and neither of them couldn’t make a shot. Durant couldn’t shoot the whole game.
You were up 3-1, you didn’t lose of Roberson
Check those games and the 4ths, it was you kd
Your a 2nd option, you aren’t the driver, Barkley was right
You are = you’re 👍
Yep, he’s mad when he wasn’t making his shots that nobody else stepped up when it mattered.
Not their problem though because they continued to do their jobs.
so why couldn’t he join other great teams or teams that would massively improve with KD like San Antonio, Boston or even Washington
Imagine prime Kawhi & prime KD together or prime KD with prime Wall/Beal
Spurs starting line up with KD that year could have been Parker, Danny Green, KD, Kawhi and LaMarcus Aldridge with Manu, Patty Mills and Pau Gasol in the 6th through 8th slots
What a load of hot garbaggio
For sure bro great reason to join the arguably the best team of all time, that just broke the regular season wins record and came back against a 3-1 lead on yall on the playoffs. It was the only logical move to join them like a bitch and ruin your legacy. I really understand now.
Wasn’t Golden State like that too? Curry can shoot and cant defend. Draymond can defend and cant shoot
Draymond was decently productive offensively during that time, as well as being a high calibre playmaker. Steph is an underrated defender.
Steph has somehow gone 180 degrees to being an overrated defender on this sub, with how much people claim he’s an underrated defender.
Maybe he’s underrated in the sense that instead of “total dog shit” he’s actually just “pretty bad.” I mean sure, Steph has never been Steve Nash bad, but he has also never been close to good.
He’s not all defensive by any means, but he isn’t exactly a sieve either.
That’s a prime example of why “underrated” and “overrated” are useless terms on the internet.
Hes not pretty bad either. I dont know what you guys are watching or if you just have selective memory but he’s a regular average defender that can sometimes be cooked but also have some really good defensive games
he’s underrated because everyone on here thinks its 2009 and he can’t guard for shit. he’s an average nba defender and above average in our system that funnels to our guys who can defend well ala Draymond
He’s probably talking moreso about the role players. Those GSW teams had guys that could contribute in numerous ways, depending on what was required.
So, KD, you’re not good enough to lead a team to a win.
Seriously. Was it a perfect team? No
But it was actually well-constructed given that KD’s defense and Russ’s defense were never that consistent (which is understandable, given their offensive load).
So it was good for what it was, and they were up 3-1…
ah yes the weekly “why I left OKC” KD shitposting.
Well I guess OKC fixed those issues lol
He’s said this on his burner account but people still found a way to blame Russ later on
andre roberson and dion waiters / enes kanter?
It was a lot of Thunder players pre rebuild. Sefalosha, Lamb, Anthony Morrow, Perk was doing much but setting screens on offense, Derek Fisher wasn’t doing much on defense, Kevin Martin. It was kinda more of how most of the league was before the last ten or so years, but yeah the Thunder had a lot of guys who didn’t do a whole lot outside of their thing
Crazy how the sport was like football back then. More physical and specific roles. Now, if you can’t score, you will not even make it to college.
Roberson for sure for defense but cant shoot. For offense I’m thinking either Waiters or Anthony Morrow
we still talking about this 9.5 years later ?
Yea. It’s the weekly KD shitpost lol. That move has people hurt til this day lmao.
I get it tbh. I mean watching Andre Roberson fucking sucked can’t imagine playing with him
Does…does he not understand the concept of role players? Of course they can’t do everything, there’s a reason they aren’t stars. This is just a really bad look.
Just stop, bro.
And now the best team in the league is full of guys who can guard and play defense but can’t get their own shot lol. Difference is now we don’t have a star player who shrinks in the biggest moments.
KD wants his titles won in the off-season.
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so kd admits the haters were right about him the whole time
Hardest road he said
Isn’t this what OKC still is? A bunch of great defensive players with a couple of guys who can create their own shot. Guess Shai is just a better leader.
KD either just woke up from an 8 hour sleep or he’s fried lol
“I just wanted to take it easy and pile on with the good guys”
Andre Roberson catching strays
The underrated thing we missed because of kevin durant joining the warriors is that we missed Steph curry being undisputed number 1 and klay being undisputed number 2 for the four years KD was there because 2015, 2016, 2022 playoff runs were so fun watching the splash bros making crazy runs
Perkins catching strays
Interestingly the new thunder have a big emphasis on players that can play both sides of the ball
Thabo Sefolosha
Truly the hardest road
How does Dame not have a podcast? I feel like he is someone who doesn’t like to be egomaniacs like most of these podcasters but I would love to see it.
It’s ironic that the Thunder won a championship and now they’re just as dominant as the Warriors he drafted, with a team full of specialists and a superstar who scores in isolation just like KD. They have Dort, Caruso, and Cason, who are defensive specialists and can score occasionally, but they don’t create their own shots. In fact, only three OKC players are true shot creators off the dribble (Shai, Ajay, and JDub).
The Warriors had a very sophisticated offense with mobility both on and off the ball. But with KD, they switched to playing much more in isolation to adapt to him.
Friendly reminder that he has been swept in the first round twice with the superteams of his choosing and has never won a second round playoff series without russell westbrook or stephen curry
as shitty as it was that KD went to the 73-9 team he blew a 3-1 lead to in the WCF, he would’ve gotten at least SOME less hate if he didn’t call it the hardest fucking road. if he just acknowledged he wanted to go to a team where he would have it easier and be able to play how he wants and win some championships, people would’ve at least acknowledged his honesty.
Steph: shoots and can’t guard Dray: can’t shoot Klay: can’t pass
I’d never trade the 2 chips but goddamn it was so much fun watching the pre-KD Warriors’ offense.
Damn Andre Roberson get up, the bus wasn’t that bad lol
I’m glad he finally admitted it and stopped being pussy, he not wrong.
This guy is such a loser
With KD, Steph, and Klay you didn’t beat Toronto.