The last three posts nailed it. Just a couple of things in response:
I agree with Samsara's overall point, except the point about "begging" Durant to come. That isn't really accurate. For reasons Azyiu pointed out, and others, Durant was already dissatisfied with OKC. He was VERY seriously considering leaving no matter what. The Warriors already knew this, and Curry and Green had been talking to him about it for the past three years. Why pass up the opportunity on a free agent who is likely to go SOMEWHERE other than his current team? They didn't "beg," but presented him with an opportunity to mutually benefit. And it was a pretty unique opportunity. Not only because he was going to a team that was already a prohibitive favorite, but because he was going to a team that is unique in its unselfish style of play to the point where he could come without largely diminishing either his own amount of touches or anyone else's. And the proof is in the pudding that the experiment worked and wasn't merely lip service. He fit right in because of the unique style of play of this team.
As far as this somehow diminishing him as a competitor, I disagree with that as well. As far as the examples given, the problem is that those are different situations. Would Jordan have joined a rival team if the environment on the Bulls had become somewhat toxic and the front office showed little interest in developing and keeping a supporting cast around him? We'll never know because it didn't happen. But regardless, the environment wasn't good at OKC, and Durant wasn't happy. Should someone stubbornly stay in a toxic environment and stay on a team that the front office has torpedoed and placed on a downward trajectory just to stay a competitor? To me, that doesn't make sense.
Also, consider the fact that Durant not only wanted to win, but he wanted to challenge LeBron. He couldn't do that in OKC. He just couldn't. Again, going back to the front office not supporting building a strong enough team, the fact is that an OKC team couldn't challenge a LeBron-led team because the Cavs as a whole were much more stacked than OKC, which would have allowed the Cavs to disregard other OKC players and focus solely on RW and KD. For him to truly go toe-to-toe with LeBron, he had to be on a team with the talent to spread the Cavs. Yeah, he has an incredibly competitive nature. But the team he was on would not have allowed him to express that in the way he wanted due to the dynamic of the Warriors/Cavs-led league. He couldn't truly go at the one guy he views as his competitive rival in any meaningful way. He changed the dynamic to make that happen. And this year anyway, he came out on top.
All in all, I think Azyiu hit it on the head. Despite OKC managing to content this year even without KD, and despite them making and almost winning the WCC last year, they are and were a team on the decline and a team that, from my understanding, RW has made somewhat toxic. If I were on that team, I'd have been looking for an exit as well.
Anyhow, I'm going to lock this thread since Josh has started a new one. But if anyone wants to continue this discussion, feel free to copy/paste from here into that thread.
Just wanted to quickly respond to this bosk post from the old thread.
Fair point about the supposed "toxic" environment in OKC, but I never criticized Durant for leaving OKC. I think that was certainly the right decision for him and for his career: they had a team with enough talent and all the pieces that they should have been a perennial title contender, but repeatedly fell disappointingly short every single year. Seems many people blame the front office, perhaps rightly so. I attribute most of those shortcomings to coaching, but that's another discussion.
Disagree with your second paragraph about "challenging LeBron." First of all, in terms of talent, the Cavs were not remotely "much more stacked" than OKC; their rosters were actually very comparable. The Cavs were a better TEAM I think, maybe not by the widest of margins, but the reality was that OKC would never have been able to get past GS to face them. GS was the real insurmountable obstacle since 2014 or 2015.
Had he joined ANY other team, it could be argued that he went somewhere that couldn't make it to the next level without him, and earned success by coming in and toppling one of the giants who were formerly unbeatable. But instead, he joined the best team in the league, already well-equipped to face and beat LeBron's team annually, and surprise...they won again. Even from a "Durant versus LeBron" perspective, and even considering his great performance in some of the playoff games, how can a TRULY competitive individual think that he really got the best of him, going about it in such a way?
In truth, Durant is not on LeBron's level and never has been, nor is any other active player. He's great, for sure, one of the very best scorers in the game right now. But he remains among the Westbrooks, Hardens, etc of the league: while very good company to be mentioned alongside, none of them are actually LeBron's "rival" as an all-around individual player, regardless of how they may see themselves.
-J