{"id":2639,"date":"2016-07-13T06:58:16","date_gmt":"2016-07-13T10:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigredsportsmachine.com\/?p=2639"},"modified":"2016-07-13T06:58:16","modified_gmt":"2016-07-13T10:58:16","slug":"tuesday-teabag-july-12-2016-the-kevin-durant-free-agency-freak-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/?p=2639","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday Teabag, July 12, 2016 – The Kevin Durant Free Agency Freak Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kevin<\/a>That\u2019s right!\u00a0 We\u2019re back with a brand new Teabag!\u00a0 We receive millions, thousands, hundreds, tens,<\/span> many emails and tweets (if you\u2019re not following us on Twitter, you\u2019re doing it wrong), and they all want to know the same thing:\u00a0 Why haven\u2019t you written a Teabag in so long?\u00a0 Are you still hungover from the Draft Party?\u00a0 Busy playing Pokemon Go?\u00a0 Do you no longer like to give Teabags?<\/p>\n

No, no, and no.\u00a0 True, we may have drunk our weight in Coors Light at the Draft Party, but we\u2019re not going soft on you.\u00a0 In fact, we\u2019re busy gearing up for another for another (wildly successful) fantasy football season. \u00a0Also, if we catch any of you playing Pokemon Go (and yes, we\u2019re watching) we will openly shame you.\u00a0 And we\u2019ll never stop loving teabags.\u00a0 So with that, let\u2019s get right to our Teabag du jour.<\/p>\n

You may have heard that Kevin Durant signed with Golden State last week.\u00a0 The signing is beyond huge.\u00a0 KD is a Top 5 player\u2026a Top 3 player if you really know your NBA.\u00a0 League MVP.\u00a0 He\u2019s spent his entire career with the OKC franchise, and after (multiple) unsuccessful postseasons, decided to take his talents to Oaktown.<\/p>\n

Now, not surprisingly, OKC fans freaked out<\/a>\u2026burning his jersey, crying in the streets, essentially erasing his name from the City.\u00a0 Some of that\u2019s to be expected\u2026at least from the fans.\u00a0 Fans are, by nature, fanatical, and have a weird sense of ownership over the players that play for their team\u2026well, at least the good ones.\u00a0 Pretty sure no one would freak out if Cameron Payne left the Thunder.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A bit much.<\/p><\/div>\n

Anyway, what\u2019s odd is that KD is getting shit from journalists and other \u201cknowledgeable\u201d sports writers.\u00a0 Notable blowhard Stephen A. Smith (a past Teabag recipient<\/a>) said it was \u201cthe weakest move I\u2019ve even seen an NBA superstar commit.\u201d\u00a0 He then tried to explain his reasoning<\/a> as follows:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are riding the gravy train. You’re jumping on the bandwagon. They don’t need you. They’ve won without you. Chances are, they’d win again, without you. You are jumping on their coattails to do what some would say you should have done already. Considering the great talent that you are. That’s my issue with Kevin Durant. Nothing else. Not him choosing to leave Oklahoma City. Not him choosing to go someplace else. Not him choosing to depart from Russell Westbrook.\u201d<\/p>\n

Think about that for a second.\u00a0 He\u2019s not upset KD left Oklahoma City.\u00a0 He\u2019s upset he left to go to Golden State, a more successful team.\u00a0 Where was he supposed to go?\u00a0 Milwaukee?\u00a0 Why would he go to a worse team?\u00a0 If he took more money from a worse team, wouldn\u2019t that make him more selfish?\u00a0 Instead, he decided to go to a (much) better team.<\/p>\n

But more than just Stephen, other people have come out against this trade.\u00a0 Michael Rosenberg wrote a long-winded, get your ball off my yard article, incredulously wondering<\/a> \u201cwhere is Durant\u2019s competitive spirit?\u201d Mike Lupica whined<\/a> that Durant took \u201cthe path of least resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Machine is here to say, you guys are out of your fucking minds.\u00a0 Path of least resistance?\u00a0 Guess what team is going to have the most pressure to win next season?\u00a0 Golden State.\u00a0 If they don\u2019t win the title, the season will be a waste.\u00a0 Shit, if they don\u2019t win more than 73 games, the season will be a waste.\u00a0 Where\u2019s his competitive spirit?\u00a0 Umm, he was sick of losing in the playoffs and waiting for OKC to bring in more talent.\u00a0 He made this move because of his competitive spirit.\u00a0 He wants to win, and wants to win now.\u00a0 The NBA is a young man\u2019s game.\u00a0 He\u2019s in his prime, but he won\u2019t be there for long.\u00a0 He can\u2019t keep wondering if the Thunder will put together a championship caliber team.\u00a0 They\u2019ve been unsuccessful in 9 years.<\/p>\n

If OKC really wanted to keep KD, then they wouldn\u2019t have let James Harden leave.\u00a0 Yes folks, the writing\u2019s been on the wall since 2012, when OKC traded Harden to the Rockets.\u00a0 The Thunder were just coming off a Finals appearance\u2026Harden was a budding superstar (he won the NBA 6th<\/sup> man of the year in 2012) and they were poised to get back to the Finals.\u00a0 Instead, OKC hit reset, traded Harden, and put it all on KD and Westbrook\u2019s shoulders, which isn\u2019t enough.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because if any of the past, say, five NBA champions have taught us anything, it\u2019s that\u2019s you need more than 2 superstars on your team to win.\u00a0 Here\u2019s some math equations:<\/p>\n

Duncan + Manu + Parker = Championship.<\/p>\n

LeBron + Kyrie + Love = Championship.<\/p>\n

Wade + Bosh + LeBron = Championship.<\/p>\n

Wade + Bosh = NO Championship.<\/p>\n

\"What<\/a>

What could’be been.<\/p><\/div>\n

Durant and Westbrook were never going to win a championship together, and OKC didn\u2019t do enough to bring in a third championship-caliber player.\u00a0 Which leaves to my next point.<\/p>\n

Guess where Russell Westbrook is going to be after next season?\u00a0 Answer:\u00a0 Not Oklahoma City.\u00a0 Should KD sit around and wait for Westbrook to bail and be left holding the bag?\u00a0 That\u2019s absurd.\u00a0 Leaving now is the smartest decision he could make.<\/p>\n

You know what else is smart?\u00a0 The contract Durant signed.\u00a0 Durant signed a two year, $54 million contract.\u00a0 But the beauty is that the second year is a player option\u2026meaning Durant will be a free agent again after next season.\u00a0 This sets him up perfectly for the projected salary cap increase.\u00a0 If you recall, LeBron James has been milking the one year player options<\/a> as well.\u00a0 Durant has put himself in the best position possible.\u00a0 He can win a championship, and then land a max contract.\u00a0 Not a bad deal.<\/p>\n

And, while we\u2019re talking about money, let\u2019s be clear that his decision was not motivated by money.\u00a0 Per NBA rules<\/a>, his best option money-was would\u2019ve been to sign a 1 year deal with OKC and then a max out contract.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t about money\u2026it\u2019s about winning.\u00a0 And spare me the bullshit, nostalgia talk of yesteryear.\u00a0 Larry Bird would never play with Magic Johnson\u2026blah, blah, blah.\u00a0 You know what KD owes OKC?\u00a0 Not one god damn thing.\u00a0 He balled for them, brought them to the Finals, won an MVP, made the franchise relevant.\u00a0 He deserves to enjoy the fruits of his labor.\u00a0 A fan\u2019s loyalty runs only as deep as the talent.\u00a0 And, not for nothing, but THAT\u2019S WHAT FREE AGENCY IS FOR!\u00a0 Gone are the days when superstars stayed with their team for life.\u00a0 LeBron, Wade, Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett\u2026all left.<\/p>\n

This is also perfect for Golden State (so much for the big market cities dominating free agency).\u00a0 There is uncertainty with Steph Curry\u2019s ankles, and who knows what\u2019s going to happen with the nut-ninja Draymond Green<\/a>.\u00a0 This move gives the Warriors the ability to rest Curry so that he\u2019s not limping into the playoffs next year.<\/p>\n

Kevin Durant, The Machine says bravo.\u00a0 The Warriors are going to score 400 points a game next year.\u00a0 All the KD bashing is just nonsense, we\u2019ve yet to hear one credible argument.\u00a0 Somehow, the fun loving, small market team turned into the enemy overnight.\u00a0 That\u2019s alright\u2026KD will laugh all the way to the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

Enjoy your teabag.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That\u2019s right!\u00a0 We\u2019re back with a brand new Teabag!\u00a0 We receive millions, thousands, hundreds, tens, many emails and tweets (if you\u2019re not following us on Twitter, you\u2019re doing it wrong), and they all want to know the same thing:\u00a0 Why … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nba"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Bp3y-Gz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2639"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2643,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2639\/revisions\/2643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}