Bruce Jenkins:
Kevin Durant’s move from the Bay Area to Brooklyn typically is shrouded in mystery.
Kevin Durant won’t be playing for the Brooklyn Nets for a long time, but we’re getting a fresh look into the superstar’s world — and it’s just as strange as ever.
In an interview with New York radio station WFAN, Nets general manager Sean Marks said he had no conversations with Durant before he decided to play for Brooklyn. It seems Durant just assumed everything would be cool — and it will be, once Durant steps on the court.
“I think we all know what we’re getting with Kevin,” Marks said. “The talent is undeniable.”
Fine, but you’d think Durant would make some connection with the front office before barging in. It seems crazy that he wouldn’t, in one form or another, and perhaps we don’t have all the details.
Here’s what’s equally strange: Marks said that when he did connect with Durant, after the announcement he’d be joining Kyrie Irving on the Nets, Durant told him, “I love the system. I love how you guys play. I see how hard you guys play ... you were never out of games. We (the Warriors) could never take you guys lightly.”
That sounds like a reasonable comment, except that Durant chose to leave the best system in the NBA, one that changed the league’s approach to offense and won two championships in the three years Durant played for Golden State. Moreover, as much as the Nets impressed insiders with their cohesive play and Kenny Atkinson’s smart coaching, they finished 4240 and won just one game in a firstround playoff loss to Philadelphia.
The Nets’ biggest move, as it turned out, was clearing salarycap space after enduring a brutal fiveyear period in which the team (because of a disastrous trade) surrendered four firstround draft picks to the Boston Celtics. Marks, who played at Cal and spent parts of 11 seasons as an NBA journeyman center/power forward, wanted to have room for two freeagent superstars, and after months of rumors that Irving and Durant were planning to join the Knicks, they wound up in crosstown Brooklyn.
“We planned a couple years out so we could have an opportunity here,” Marks told si.com. “You never know how it’s going to play out because there are a lot of different contracts, guys can opt in, or opt out, but for us, the big picture was to be staying flexible. I think when you have an opportunity, you have to swing for it and take a chance, and if you can do it with the right people, that’s the time to do it.”
As for Irving and Durant, “It was pretty well documented that those two have some sort” of relationship, Marks said. “We know they’re close friends, but the other side to that is we (had) opportunities to pair maxtype free agents together. I don’t know that we exactly knew when that was happening. I don’t think you know until you get these guys in your building and you sit down with them for the first time.”
Which, apparently, has yet to take place.
At some point, we need to hear from Durant, who probably will miss the entire season as he recovers from Achilles tendon surgery. We need to know exactly how he feels about the Warriors, whether his November oncourt spat with Draymond Green was the trigger point (as rumored) of his departure, and whether he had any misgivings about the circumstances surrounding his return to the court during the Finals against Toronto.
Until then: weirdness. Vintage Durant.