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6 minutes ago, Llogg said:

So the BKN management makes a colossal, historic fucking terrible trade for a guy that ultimately submarined the entire team and KD is not entitled to react to that in any way? "Presumably endorsed if not requested the Harden trade" == I know of no evidence to support my position but I'm going to make up a story that confirms my irrational belief.

All KD has done basically is declared he has a lack of confidence in the direction the team is going and does not believe the current management is up to the task of correcting course. You act like he fucked the owner's wife and called Nash a racist. He just wants to work somewhere else. People getting upset about players wanting to move teams really say more about themselves than about the players.

So you believe they traded for Harden against KD’s wishes? If so, I guess he can blame the team for the situation and be justified to move on. But re: the rage in your post, I think you may be confusing my single post for some ongoing debate against KD. 

I am definitely in the camp against star players 1. bailing on their team while under contract 2. Demanding specific destinations so the current team cannot get fair value in return. It is particularly disgusting when their contractual obligations are made in bad faith (e.g. Deshaun Watson and Texans), or players leave teams in shambles after they pulled the strings to wreck the franchise’s future (Lebron twice in Cleveland, and now in LA).

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On 6/3/2022 at 11:29 PM, cmontexas said:

ESPN or somebody is gonna pay him about 500 million dollars to be their version of Chuck once he finally hangs up his sneakers

Lol. KD is an interesting cat, but his personality is nowhere near that of Chuck, Shaq or Draymond. Give me Draymond. 

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50 minutes ago, Llogg said:

So the BKN management makes a colossal, historic fucking terrible trade for a guy that ultimately submarined the entire team and KD is not entitled to react to that in any way? "Presumably endorsed if not requested the Harden trade" == I know of no evidence to support my position but I'm going to make up a story that confirms my irrational belief.

All KD has done basically is declared he has a lack of confidence in the direction the team is going and does not believe the current management is up to the task of correcting course. You act like he fucked the owner's wife and called Nash a racist. He just wants to work somewhere else. People getting upset about players wanting to move teams really say more about themselves than about the players.

Dude, KD and Kyrie absolutely signed off on the Harden trade. It wouldn't have happened without their approval.

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2 hours ago, Murfdogg21 said:

Ok then the devil’s advocate still says KD can’t hold Brooklyn accountable for having Kyrie and his crazy antics when KD knew what he was signing up for, and presumably endorsed if not requested the Harden trade. 
 

Brooklyn’s only real faults were making the stupid Harden trade from Houston, and then making the slightly less stupid Harden-Simmons trade. 
 

I hope the NFL and NBA owners (sorry, “governors”) take control and put their feet down on these star divas demanding trades to specific teams. It is uncompetitive and terrible for teams and fan bases losing homegrown stars, or in this case stars that the franchise mortgaged the future to get. The boogie man is that one team tells a star to take a hike and they get blacklisted by agents and figure free agents. Ok well what if all the teams agree to put an end to this bullshit?

Explain to me how Brooklyn is worse off for having signed KD and Kyrie. You can’t because they aren’t. They will get made whole when they trade those guys. They were irrelevant before they signed. 
it’s a deal every team that is not a legit title contender will make every single time. 

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1 minute ago, Dutchrudder said:

A Raptors board was pushing for FVV and OG Anouby plus picks. Not sure how that works with the FVV extension, but it's not too bad.  

Siakam is okay but VV and KD is a better fit. I actually think VV is a better player than Pascal. 

(I mean I'm not sure I need to say "actually" - VV is a stud)

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It didn't work between Harden and Durant with the Nets but I wonder how it would have worked in Houston with a better front office. 

Harden and Durant with Morey making moves had the potential to be special. Maybe I'm speaking with bias here but those two should have teamed up in Houston. 

 

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1 minute ago, Rickylovesweed said:

It didn't work between Harden and Durant with the Nets but I wonder how it would have worked in Houston with a better front office. 

Harden and Durant with Morey making moves had the potential to be special. Maybe I'm speaking with bias here but those two should have teamed up in Houston. 

 

Morey just signed PJ Tucker to 3 years and 30 million. He has yet to prove to me he knows what the fuck he's doing in Philly. 

Unless part of your assumption is that he's a better GM in Houston. 

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8 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Morey just signed PJ Tucker to 3 years and 30 million. He has yet to prove to me he knows what the fuck he's doing in Philly. 

Unless part of your assumption is that he's a better GM in Houston. 

Morey has made some questionable choices with the Sixers but he's a good GM. I believe most would agree and that's not just Rockets fans. 

I always thought these 3 were perfect fits together because Morey has shown the ability to find players that fit his system. Morey would have found 3 point shooters and defenders to pair around both those players. 

Those two with Morey would have been dangerous and I always thought it was a huge mistake by Durant. It's speculative though and there is evidence that Durant and Harden didn't work well together with the Nets. 

 

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23 hours ago, Murfdogg21 said:

So you believe they traded for Harden against KD’s wishes? If so, I guess he can blame the team for the situation and be justified to move on. But re: the rage in your post, I think you may be confusing my single post for some ongoing debate against KD. 

I am definitely in the camp against star players 1. bailing on their team while under contract 2. Demanding specific destinations so the current team cannot get fair value in return. It is particularly disgusting when their contractual obligations are made in bad faith (e.g. Deshaun Watson and Texans), or players leave teams in shambles after they pulled the strings to wreck the franchise’s future (Lebron twice in Cleveland, and now in LA).

I don't know what KD thought about the Harden trade in private. I don't know if management asked him to sign off on it. I don't know if KD went to management and said "Go get me James." But I'm not going to just pick one of those hypotheticals and use it to bag on KD's subsequent actions. Sure if it's the last option he has less room to bitch, however, if management caved to an obviously bad idea to cater to their star player, that's bad management and KD is right to want to get out from under bad management.

What rage?

This thread is a 2000+ long thread of ongoing debate (mostly) against KD. Your post is a part of that.

Again, your stance against "star players" wanting to work somewhere else says more about you than it does about them.

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42 minutes ago, Llogg said:

I don't know what KD thought about the Harden trade in private. I don't know if management asked him to sign off on it. I don't know if KD went to management and said "Go get me James." But I'm not going to just pick one of those hypotheticals and use it to bag on KD's subsequent actions. Sure if it's the last option he has less room to bitch, however, if management caved to an obviously bad idea to cater to their star player, that's bad management and KD is right to want to get out from under bad management.

What rage?

This thread is a 2000+ long thread of ongoing debate (mostly) against KD. Your post is a part of that.

Again, your stance against "star players" wanting to work somewhere else says more about you than it does about them.

Come the fuck on. You don't think KD pushed for Harden? Or at worst signed off on it? Zero chance. None. They let him do whatever he wanted. They maxed him knowing full well he would miss a year and without knowing how he would come back. He very well could have not recovered. They also gave up an asset in Russell that they didn't have to in order to get him more money. They let KD hand pick the coach. They maxed him again. They've paid massive luxury tax. He's missed a ton of games.

And now, he's like, "Fuck it, I'm out." I'll agree with you that it's bad management to let the star run your franchise like that, but they got in bed with him and he clearly has all the power. What were their options? They were apparently going to get screwed either way. 

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12 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

Come the fuck on. You don't think KD pushed for Harden? Or at worst signed off on it? Zero chance. None. They let him do whatever he wanted. They maxed him knowing full well he would miss a year and without knowing how he would come back. He very well could have not recovered. They also gave up an asset in Russell that they didn't have to in order to get him more money. They let KD hand pick the coach. They maxed him again. They've paid massive luxury tax. He's missed a ton of games.

And now, he's like, "Fuck it, I'm out." I'll agree with you that it's bad management to let the star run your franchise like that, but they got in bed with him and he clearly has all the power. What were their options? They were apparently going to get screwed either way. 

They could have not signed a star. Max Dangeko Russell. Given $20 million it Lavert and 25 to Jarrett Allen and 18 million to Dinwiddie, been over the salary cap and maybe win 46 games one of these Last 3 years. 
boy, I can see why a bunch of UT grads should shit all over KD for stopping the Nets from taking that road not travelled. 

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7 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

Come the fuck on. You don't think KD pushed for Harden? Or at worst signed off on it? Zero chance. None. They let him do whatever he wanted. They maxed him knowing full well he would miss a year and without knowing how he would come back. He very well could have not recovered. They also gave up an asset in Russell that they didn't have to in order to get him more money. They let KD hand pick the coach. They maxed him again. They've paid massive luxury tax. He's missed a ton of games.

Those are all management decisions. Again, no one on this board knows exactly how the Harden trade went down, but let's assume KD demanded they get Harden for him to hang out with. They still have a management decision to make there. Appease the star or do what's right for the franchise. And KD is right to judge the management on the outcomes of their decisions.

Quote

And now, he's like, "Fuck it, I'm out." I'll agree with you that it's bad management to let the star run your franchise like that, but they got in bed with him and he clearly has all the power. What were their options? They were apparently going to get screwed either way. 

They could have opted to keep a quality team around him and let it play out. If they win a title KD's happy with or without Harden there. And if they don't and he wants out, I mean, that's the business. I just don't see this as some sort of personal failing that guys want the freedom to change jobs. If the league wants to start imposing some sort of penalty for this behavior, I'm cool with that. Any contract can be broken. You just have to pay the penalty for doing so.

I'll just say KD is not out here dogging the Nets. He doesn't have his reps doing that. He just has put it out there that he's ready to move on. This isn't Kawhi faking an injury and bashing the team that nurtured him from a draft night afterthought into a superstar. This is a guy who has played hard everywhere he's been and never cheated the game. He just wants to hoop and he wants to enjoy hooping. Nothing wrong with that, imo.

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6 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

They could have not signed a star. Max Dangeko Russell. Given $20 million it Lavert and 25 to Jarrett Allen and 18 million to Dinwiddie, been over the salary cap and maybe win 46 games one of these Last 3 years. 
boy, I can see why a bunch of UT grads should shit all over KD for stopping the Nets from taking that road not travelled. 

They would still be in a better place than they are now. 

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2 minutes ago, Llogg said:

Those are all management decisions. Again, no one on this board knows exactly how the Harden trade went down, but let's assume KD demanded they get Harden for him to hang out with. They still have a management decision to make there. Appease the star or do what's right for the franchise. And KD is right to judge the management on the outcomes of their decisions.

They could have opted to keep a quality team around him and let it play out. If they win a title KD's happy with or without Harden there. And if they don't and he wants out, I mean, that's the business. I just don't see this as some sort of personal failing that guys want the freedom to change jobs. If the league wants to start imposing some sort of penalty for this behavior, I'm cool with that. Any contract can be broken. You just have to pay the penalty for doing so.

I'll just say KD is not out here dogging the Nets. He doesn't have his reps doing that. He just has put it out there that he's ready to move on. This isn't Kawhi faking an injury and bashing the team that nurtured him from a draft night afterthought into a superstar. This is a guy who has played hard everywhere he's been and never cheated the game. He just wants to hoop and he wants to enjoy hooping. Nothing wrong with that, imo.

And there's also the very distinct possibility that KD was going to be unhappy regardless. He was unhappy in okc. He was unhappy in Oakland. He's unhappy now. What's the constant here? 

But I agree with you about the league doing something about these situations. The next cba is going to be interesting. He's got four years on his contract. Not one year. Even for this age of empowerment, that's some balls. 

And @Wulaw Horn... I appreciate perspective on this, but you still believe that James Harden is a good soldier who was wronged by the Rockets. But yeah.... They would have b been better off. 

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@aggie08 I think my instinct was right. Windy isn't as tight as he used to be - I'm just not buying that the Ws winning it was some huge factor. 

https://www.si.com/nba/2022/07/01/kevin-durant-nets-trade-request-fallout-kyrie-irving

This much is clear: Durant is fed up, as underscored by the trade demand he issued on Thursday. From there, it all gets much more confusing.

Those who know Durant cite two primary factors: a rocky Nets season that ended in a first-round playoff sweep; and the franchise’s soured relationship with Irving, his close friend.

Durant doesn’t see much hope for a revival under the circumstances, those sources say. And he’s unhappy that his friend is unhappy.

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3 hours ago, ztejas said:

@aggie08 I think my instinct was right. Windy isn't as tight as he used to be - I'm just not buying that the Ws winning it was some huge factor. 

https://www.si.com/nba/2022/07/01/kevin-durant-nets-trade-request-fallout-kyrie-irving

This much is clear: Durant is fed up, as underscored by the trade demand he issued on Thursday. From there, it all gets much more confusing.

Those who know Durant cite two primary factors: a rocky Nets season that ended in a first-round playoff sweep; and the franchise’s soured relationship with Irving, his close friend.

Durant doesn’t see much hope for a revival under the circumstances, those sources say. And he’s unhappy that his friend is unhappy.

Woj said it, not Windhorst. Still pure speculation, but Woj doesn't have a history of throwing things out of his ass. I doubt that it was the deciding factor, but every dumbass talking head went after KD when the Warriors won...might have been enough to solidify his plans.

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Warriors fans should probably now thank Durant for leaving because it got the ball rolling on this latest title. Acquiring Russell from the Nets led to the trade for Wiggins. Without Wiggins they do not win the title this season. He inadvertently kept that title window open for the Warriors so he deserves some credit here. 
 

Obviously they still would have been in the small group of teams that would have had a legitimate shot to win a title had he stayed. Just kinda funny how things work out at times.

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Irving is a problem. He doesnt play and lost his mind in the playoffs. He’s only played more than 70 games in the regular season 3 out of 11 seasons and that was 6 years ago.

If Durant wants to tie his legacy to Irving and co-opt another NBA team, so be it. It appears he is flailing and him and Irving take up a lot of space. And so he can try to cupcake his way to another title. He can do better.

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14 hours ago, UpperWestside said:

Warriors fans should probably now thank Durant for leaving because it got the ball rolling on this latest title. Acquiring Russell from the Nets led to the trade for Wiggins. Without Wiggins they do not win the title this season. He inadvertently kept that title window open for the Warriors so he deserves some credit here. 
 

Obviously they still would have been in the small group of teams that would have had a legitimate shot to win a title had he stayed. Just kinda funny how things work out at times.

There's nothing inadvertent about it. KD did Golden State a solid agreeing to a sign and trade. He could have signed with Brooklyn straight up, but Bob Myers convinced him to help them out one last time. With the Warriors bloated salary, it was the only mechanism available to ultimately add another star next to the core 3.

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7 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

There's nothing inadvertent about it. KD did Golden State a solid agreeing to a sign and trade. He could have signed with Brooklyn straight up, but Bob Myers convinced him to help them out one last time. With the Warriors bloated salary, it was the only mechanism available to ultimately add another star next to the core 3.

One of the big reasons I give KD the benefit of the doubt in all these talks about him changing teams. He played out his contract at OKC. He played out his contract at GS. At the end of his GS contract he helped them get something in return. At age 33-34 he's aware his time is winding down and he doesn't want to waste it on a team he doesn't enjoy the culture or believe they can win. I fail to see the personal fault there.

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13 minutes ago, Llogg said:

Right. It's fine. Let someone else be the cheerleader and drill sergeant. He just wants to be the best player on the court. I see no fault in that.

Me either. This media fascination with the best player also having to be the MJ-type leader is dumb. If he goes to Phoenix, all he has to worry about is being an atomic bomb on the court. My worry is how quickly he’ll want to kill Chris Paul. 

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7 hours ago, aggie08 said:

There's nothing inadvertent about it. KD did Golden State a solid agreeing to a sign and trade. He could have signed with Brooklyn straight up, but Bob Myers convinced him to help them out one last time. With the Warriors bloated salary, it was the only mechanism available to ultimately add another star next to the core 3.

The inadvertent part was being able to turn Russell into Wiggins. The Warriors looked at that trade as a home run. I was on the fence about how much was Wiggins going to help them, but Kerr was adamant at the time that Wiggins would be a better fit for their style of play. 

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44 minutes ago, UpperWestside said:

The inadvertent part was being able to turn Russell into Wiggins. The Warriors looked at that trade as a home run. I was on the fence about how much was Wiggins going to help them, but Kerr was adamant at the time that Wiggins would be a better fit for their style of play. 

I'm not sure which team's "style of play" is a good fit for D'Lo. 

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On 7/3/2022 at 12:29 PM, Kermit said:

They would still be in a better place than they are now. 

Disagree.  Then Nets were going NOWHERE with the previous core. They might have been good enough for the play-in or first round exit.  And they would be expensive for what you would get, for years to come.  They were stuck in dreaded mediocre land.

Now, they are likely to get a couple win-now stars in a trade for Durant, plus a likely boat load of picks.  They could easily get a Zion Williamson, DeAndre Ayton, Paul George or comparable player.  If freaking Ben Simmons plays up to his level two years ago, he is better than anyone on the last roster. 

Durant elevated their franchise.

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2 hours ago, ztejas said:

I'm not sure which team's "style of play" is a good fit for D'Lo. 

Talk about a ballsy move. Taking Russell on a maximum contract with the hope that someone would want to trade good pieces for him. Minnesota was always the sucker they were counting on (because, for some reason, they needed them some D'Lo), but it could have gone wrong in so many ways.

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20 hours ago, HookEm said:

Disagree.  Then Nets were going NOWHERE with the previous core. They might have been good enough for the play-in or first round exit.  And they would be expensive for what you would get, for years to come.  They were stuck in dreaded mediocre land.

Now, they are likely to get a couple win-now stars in a trade for Durant, plus a likely boat load of picks.  They could easily get a Zion Williamson, DeAndre Ayton, Paul George or comparable player.  If freaking Ben Simmons plays up to his level two years ago, he is better than anyone on the last roster. 

Durant elevated their franchise.

It’s almost impossible for me to believe that this little nugget of reality is being promoted by me, you and Derka on here and that’s more or less it, but there you have it. 

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“Are they better for it?” and “was it worth the risk to take a shot?” are two different questions. 
 

In hindsight, it failed. Are they actually better today than if they’d taken another path? Who knows? They had Jarrett Allen, LaVert, Dinwiddie, all their draft picks, and enough cap room to sign two max players. 

Today they have Ben Simmons on max, Joe Harris at 2yr/$40M, lost their next six first rounders altogether or after pick swaps, and whatever they get after unloading KD and Irving. They can’t take another “rookie max” guy so their trade options for “star” players are very limited. Sounds like they may get Westbrook and some other trash for Irving. I doubt whatever they get back for KD will be better than 3 firsts, 3 pick swaps, Allen, LaVert, and Dinwiddie. But y’all are sure they will be better off in ‘23 than ‘19?
 

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That's a good argument but it's an argument about the harden trade not signing KD and kyrie. They could have kept Allen and levert (who might have died of cancer if not traded), given Joe Harris his money and let Dinwiddie walk because of the injury, and kept all their draft capital. And had kyrie and KD. I mean wtf were they doing with that harden deal?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't really go on any of the NBA threads, and former players tends to be about the NBA. I also have a rough time with the title of this thread. I remember following Durant as a sophomore in high school because Gerry Hamilton told me about him and said we had a legitimate shot at him. I couldn't believe what I saw. His recruitment had some twists and turns, but in the end he wore the burnt orange for a season, and it was fantastic. I was driving in from Houston for all the home games back then. I remember heading to campus for the preseason exhibition game, and having fun with all the students by asking random people if they were going to watch Durant play tonight and get his autograph afterwards. Of course no one had any idea who he was. Not that he was an under the radar recruit or anything. Just no one paid enough attention to basketball to really know. 

Well, it was just announced he's being inducted into the Texas Athletics Hall of Honor. 

https://texassports.com/news/2022/7/20/t-association-texas-athletics-announces-2022-hall-of-honor-class.aspx

Here's the write up on Durant:

Quote

A Collegiate National Player of the Year whose jersey number 35 is retired at Texas, three-time Olympic Gold Medalist, two-time NBA Champion and 2014 NBA Most Valuable Player as well as a 12-time NBA All-Star, Kevin Durant is one of the most decorated Longhorns ever. In his first and only season at Texas in 2006-07, he was the Consensus National Player of the Year, becoming the first freshman in NCAA history to win any of the major National Player of the Year Awards. Winner of the Wooden Award, Naismith Trophy and Adolph Rupp Trophy, he also earned National Player of the Year honors from The Associated Press, NABC, USBWA, CBS/Chevrolet and The Sporting News. A consensus first-team All-American, he ranked fourth nationally in both scoring (25.8 ppg) and rebounding (11.1 rpg) as a freshman. He also was the Big 12 Player of the Year and his 66 steals (2.1 pg) and 67 blocked shots (2.1 pg) helped him earn a spot on the Big 12 All-Defensive team as well. Durant declared for the 2007 NBA Draft following his freshman season and was the second-overall pick of the Seattle Supersonics, where he earned NBA Rookie of the Year honors in 2007-08. He averaged 21.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists as a rookie in the Sonics final year in Seattle. The Sonics moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder in 2008-09 and he played eight seasons there, leading that franchise to four Western Conference Finals, the NBA Finals in 2011-12 and winning league MVP honors in 2013-14. In three seasons with the Golden State Warriors, he averaged 27.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.7 assists and led that franchise to the NBA Finals three times, winning the World Championship twice and earning 2017 and 2018 NBA Finals MVP honors. Currently a member of the Brooklyn Nets, the four-time NBA Scoring Champion is averaging 29.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and 6.4 assists in 13 NBA seasons. Durant helped lead Team USA to Olympic Gold Medals at the London (2012), Rio (2016) and Tokyo Games (2021). That’s the most Golds of any Longhorn in an Olympic team sport. He was honored with Outstanding Young Texas Ex Award in 2016, is very active in community service efforts, and donated $3 million to The University of Texas in 2018. His number 35 jersey was retired at Texas in 2009.

 

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6 hours ago, SL Xpress said:

I don't really go on any of the NBA threads, and former players tends to be about the NBA. I also have a rough time with the title of this thread. I remember following Durant as a sophomore in high school because Gerry Hamilton told me about him and said we had a legitimate shot at him. I couldn't believe what I saw. His recruitment had some twists and turns, but in the end he wore the burnt orange for a season, and it was fantastic. I was driving in from Houston for all the home games back then. I remember heading to campus for the preseason exhibition game, and having fun with all the students by asking random people if they were going to watch Durant play tonight and get his autograph afterwards. Of course no one had any idea who he was. Not that he was an under the radar recruit or anything. Just no one paid enough attention to basketball to really know. 

Well, it was just announced he's being inducted into the Texas Athletics Hall of Honor. 

https://texassports.com/news/2022/7/20/t-association-texas-athletics-announces-2022-hall-of-honor-class.aspx

Here's the write up on Durant:

 

My cousin was a student manger for Rick that season.  He also helped me out with coaching a flag football team.  I'll never forget him coming to one of our games and asking him about the team.  He just looked at me and said "Kevin Durant is going to blow your mind."  Then he described a play in practice on his second day where Augustine threw him an alley oop on a 3 on 1 break that was 3 feet over his head and behind him.  He was coming up on the right side of the hoop, caught the ball in his right hand above his head and behind it, pass it to his left hand behind his head and then slammed it home all while in the air.  He said they all stood there stunned for a minute and then everyone lost their minds. 

I was not disappointed with the season and I'll always be a Durant fan.  Fuck the haters.

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42 minutes ago, Felix said:

My cousin was a student manger for Rick that season.  He also helped me out with coaching a flag football team.  I'll never forget him coming to one of our games and asking him about the team.  He just looked at me and said "Kevin Durant is going to blow your mind."  Then he described a play in practice on his second day where Augustine threw him an alley oop on a 3 on 1 break that was 3 feet over his head and behind him.  He was coming up on the right side of the hoop, caught the ball in his right hand above his head and behind it, pass it to his left hand behind his head and then slammed it home all while in the air.  He said they all stood there stunned for a minute and then everyone lost their minds. 

I was not disappointed with the season and I'll always be a Durant fan.  Fuck the haters.

Watching him during his high school games on the ones that were on TV, I could not believe someone that tall could handle the ball that well and shoot from distance with ease. 

It's funny. On his recruiting trip Daniel Gibson, PJ Tucker, and Lamarcus Aldridge, and Mike Williams were all underclassmen still on campus. Plus DJ Augustin came on the same trip. He said it was the most talented group he scrimmaged with on his recruiting trips. "We're going to win a national championship for sure!"

Of course, none of those guys were on campus a year later. I still wish Tucker had stuck around for one more year, but he's had an amazing NBA career after spending time playing internationally. That team was so ridiculously young. Michigan's Fab Five gets a lot of credit for starting 5 freshmen, but they didn't start until well into the season and there were plenty of veterans in the rotation. Texas had nobody of note that year. Augustin, Abrams and Durant all averaged over 35mpg. Damion James and Justin Mason averaged over 25mpg. Connor Atchley about 18mpg. And the rest just bit minutes here and there. 4 freshmen and 2 sophomores. And that's it. 

I remember telling everyone in the offseason the team was going to be better despite losing Durant, and everyone thought I was insane, but a lot of the improvement was just the maturation process of everyone on the roster. Of course the team would have been better with Durant, but that was never going to happen, naturally. But they were just so ridiculously young. A lot of great memories that season. It's too bad it's brought up as a disappointing year because people in hindsight felt like Durant should have been able to accomplish more in terms of tournament success. I never felt that way. Fun stuff. Glad he's being inducted into the Hall of Honor. 

 

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