I can’t say how this team would look and what their record would be with a healthy FVV. But I would have never traded for Durant. A 28-29 year Durant hell yes. I would trade him as well for an asset in this draft or a future one.
Funny I feel like Jabari has progressed the most. But regardless of which young guy you think is furthest along I would definitely investigate these tweets and trade KD if they are in fact, him. Im just generally underwhelmed with what KD brings to the table. Just puts up whatever shots whenever he wants and then reverts to this defensive "just appreciate greatness while you still got it man" shtick which is annoying. Just retire and take Lebron with you man there will be greatness after you and I'd rather watch that.
I can't imagine how Jabari has to handle this. There's no win for him here, no matter what he does. It's either gonna be "see he freaking out he's not mentally tough just like kd said" or "he didn't do anything not mentally tough just like kd said". Honestly if the Rockets front office aren't considering some sort of team-imposed suspension for conduct detrimental to the organization then they deserve the fallout. Spend the rest of this punted ass season finding out what a 5 of Reed-Amen-Tari-Jabari-Alperen looks like. I don't give a flying **** about KD's legacy.
I’m disappointed with Bari’s development, but I really like the kid. Even if the burner stuff is all bogus, it’s still incredibly embarrassing for Bari. I’m genuinely sad for him on a human level. He tries hard, works hard. Maybe this will help make him mentally tougher. I don’t know. but anyway, we should be looking to trade KD regardless. We don’t need the drama, and he doesn’t fit our timeline; we’re not ready to contend. Am I crazy to expect we can get a decent 2026 draft pick and a good player?
Yeah, I agree. Between him and Amen, there's at least a little bit of the toughness left in this team. It damn sure isn't coming from Kevin Durant, holy smokes him being the judge on mental toughness is actually wild. If he were a rapper his name would be "The Notorious N-C-Cure".
It wouldn't be a surprise to anyone, but the evidence is incredibly weak. The sentences look like someone asked chatGPT to write things as though it's KD. Listen I'm furious with him about other things. I have no motive to defend him. It's just not reasonable evidence. It's easily faked and it looks faked. I would wait till there's something a bit stronger. I don't need him to admit it or see his phone, but I do need better evidence and you must see that that's reasonable. My mind is dying to unload on him but I honestly can't justify it yet. I think in the next 24 hours we find out a lot more.
Think it was always Durant team. But the problem is now evident. It’s not enough. And we only have 3 years of it before we start scratching our head on what to do next.
I really don’t understand people’s problem with Durant. He was never supposed to create points as the playmaker and we were always meant to rest him on defense/minutes in the regular season. This is the end of his career. On his own possessions, he gives you historically elite scoring and we run the plays he prefers (ISO inside the arc). On the other guys’ possessions he’s giving you historically elite gravity and spacing and you can run the play however you like. Maybe you expected more but that’s all he’s done his whole career and anyone would take it. Everyone needs a guy who can get you 27 points on insane efficiency shooting over everyone from everywhere with very little time on the ball (if you give him a backup PG even). He’s not the motivational leader. He’s not the playmaker. He’s not your iron man. He’s not your role model. He’s not any of those things. If we want to be contenders, this team should be capable of beating the worst team in the playoffs without him. This is Sengun and Amen’s team just like 2018 was Curry’s Warriors. Durant is the sniper you install in those systems. He’s not responsible for the culture and the strategy. If we’re terrible outside of KD then it was the wrong time to acquire him.
It was the wrong time to acquire him and it was Ime’s choice to have him play PG in the half court. In prime Ime fashion, he came in with a plan of an Amen and FVV backcourt with FVV playing off ball. When FVV went down he did not have a plan B and does not have the offensive chops to construct one. I have never seen a worse bench coach. He is totally dependent on having a vet coach on the floor. KD has never been that. There are certainly problems with the roster construction, but far and away our coaching situation is our most dire issue and they have given him Bill O’Brien like power over our immediate future. We need a miracle in the 27 draft and Ime to be fired or we are looking at another decade of mediocrity.
We can only hope the chatter about his weaknesses keeps accelerating. Guys like Udoka, JVG, Bickerstaff tend to get fired just a year after it was thought to be impossible. The nature of their coaching is that they overachieve at the start of their tenure by demanding playoff intensity on day 1 of the regular season and then quickly show their inability to get over the hump or find another gear or implement an offensive identity. If he doesn’t win back this locker room in the playoffs, early next season we will underachieve and his seat will get real hot real quick.
Let’s just hope they don’t gut the future for Giannis. If FVV and KDD come back we will be fine in the regular season, so we will have to live with him another year until we get clobbered in the playoffs again. I hope you are right and they pull the plug sooner.
Its clear KD is not the problem. His skills are still elite. Not every team has an all NBA talent like Houston does. The front office just didn't do a great job of filling our holes and that's not on the players. The Rockets should still make the top 8 with a first round victory.
I don't have a problem with Durant himself. I just did not agree with the trade when it happened, nor do I now. Based on age and not having as you said a Curry ( had just won 73 games hell yah it's his team) or Wemby/Cooper Flagg type player. All it did was spin your wheels. Trade for someone younger regardless not Durant's age.
