Well here we are, watching one of the best scorers ever to play the game, doing his thing, and scoring the ball. He is an amazing shot maker, why then, aren't we happy, why aren't we winning, here are a few thoughts from the cheap seats as to why. KD is not a team player, he is a ME FIRST player, a guy who cares more about his legacy than winning a basketball game, he wants to get his at all costs, even if it means the team loses. He doesn't hustle back on defense, he doesn't hustle forward on offense - he plays within a small window on both ends, conserving energy for when he gets the ball. And, because he is no longer 30 years old he can't get by guys anymore and is relegated to his silky smoot jumper just going up over them, so when he is guarded by younger more athletic guys - he turns it over, a lot.....and the maddening thing about that, is after a turnover, he just shrugs and jogs back leaving others to clean up his mess. That is what is going on....on the court, and as teamates they all see it - and worse, KD yells at others for doing exactly what he is doing, KD is a DE-Motivator as a teammate, a selfish Me first guy who you love to watch him do his thing, but he makes you not want to play with him because he doesn't do what he expects everyone else to do, a prima donna - and here is the worst part of it......IME buys in..... Ime is a FAVORITES coach, man his favorites can do no wrong, but others, he glares, he calls out, he benches, but his favorites, oh no, never a word of criticism ever. This is a DEMOTIVATING situation we have here, and our GM is not the kind of guy to try to sort it out....... SO, we are stuck with a bunch of guys who don't want to play with KD, a coach that doesn't really know basketball on an intellectual level and has been discovered to not be as consistent or have actual integrity, the players no longer trust him, etc.... This team needs a KD Enema, or an IME one, or we have 2 more years of this nonsense. DD PS. Once again the asshat Draymond Green was right.
I was concerned about this when we made the trade. Hate to see it playing out in real time. Can't wait for him to be off of our team. He is the difference between why we loved watching the Rockets last year and why we don't love watching them this year. Hell, I've opted not to watch games at all 3-4 times recently. That's unheard of for me.
I think what we have here is a MELO situation but with a way better player than Melo.....the last GM saw it right away and did the right thing. This one seems to have **** THE BED on it. The question is now a matter of when will people have the COURAGE to talk about what they see - it is inevitable that this truth will slowly come out. Will the sycophants on Rockets twitter start talking about it, or will they still ignore this truth so they can stay close to their idols? DD
alternative and more likely hypothesis: except for reed, every other player on the team is playing well below expectations, and we are down two playoff starters.
I think Durant has played better than expected, with the exception of turnovers. His handles are not that crisp anymore because he's getting older. However, when you have two individuals on the floor that are not playing good defense or actively rotating, it makes it really difficult to win.Sengun doesn't rotate well, doesn't move his feet, and pouts and complains, which makes it difficult to like his game. In addition, he has seemed to regress when it comes to hitting the mid-range shot. I don't like the offense when he's holding the ball at the top of the key for 8-10 seconds, not knowing exactly what to do. But I believe that this team has over-succeeded because of the injuries to Steven Adams and VanVleet.
I agree with a lot of this tbh. I'm usually up at 3am through thick and thin but this season it's been very easy for me to say "bit of a late game, I'll skip it." I can't believe how quickly the excitement/buzz died coming into the season.
Durant is fine, you accept the baggage for his level of shot making which is still top 10 on the planet of Earth - the team around him doesn't fit together or complement his or their own skill sets
No regrets for trading for him. We would be worse off without him. However if we get Embarrassed in the playoff ,its re-build time.
You do - IF you use him right - and that means not nearly as much as he is being used. He can no longer win games late, he is easily double teamed, we need to move away from him as a primary - and go to a more team oriented approach. But the bigger issue is his b****ing at his teammates for things he doesn't do, he might need a good helping of shut the **** up by one of them...... DD
KD is a lazy super star. He passes lazily and when he turns it over he just throws his hands up and makes zero attempt to get back. Pathetic.
I don't see this mentioned a lot a week or so after the event... but did KD kill Sengun with his burner? And thus, the team? Is it possible that KD's tweets have really gotten into his head and that's why he's regressed so much recently?
