SUPERVILLAIN wrote:He failed with James Harden and Kyrie Irving. Now he failed again with Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. These two huge disasters should be seen as a big, ugly stain on his legacy. Durant has only thrived when he is playing with one of the greatest core of all time in the history of this sport. I really can't see Durant as an all-time great anymore. An all-timer should have done way better with opportunities like his.
Also we can't forget that Durant has always been a guy who joined a superteam. Basically he is a follower. He never been the alpha. He joined Golden State when the golden core is already established. He went to Brooklyn because Kyrie told him so. Lastly, he picked Phoenix as his trade destination when things get ugly in Brooklyn. And it's very possible that he is going to try to run away from Phoenix to be in a better team.
I will say it one more time. Kevin Durant is not an all time great. He can't be in the conversation anymore.
Let me be clear that I am all for clowning on KD. He's one of my least favorite players of all time and to this day haven't really gotten over his decision to go to GS.
With that said, I don't think these failed superteams should be reflected on his abilities as a player. While he shares some blame, I think they should serve as an ultimate reminder as to why superteams generally do NOT work, especially when done very poorly.
The Celtics big three and LeBron's tenure with superteams have fooled people into thinking they are guaranteed paths to a title, or at least some form of championship contention. In reality, they are very risky endeavors and can backfire pretty easily. I'm not really sure how we still have NBA executives who still don't get why proper roster construction is important, but it feels like no one has learned their lesson and they are continuing to make the same mistakes others have made, very recently might I add.
How you build your superteam is very important. You have to keep in mind what the roles of your players will be on the team, what adjustments will need to be made, and most importantly, what is being given up to make this happen. Because of the latter, superteams are more often than not bloated top heavy teams with almost no depth and no real way of making adjustments if other teams have matchup advantages.
The Nets and Suns were poorly put together and poorly thought out. Harden to the Nets, a move I supported at the time, turned out to be extremely unnecessary and backfired tremendously. The difference with the Suns is that I didn't support the Beal move at all and knew it would come back to haunt them, and it did. But even that one had unintended consequences. Beal's injury problems made adjusting to the team very difficult, but that's the price you pay when you go this route. Your depth is shot and you are left with very minimal choices. This is why I don't consider teams like the 2011 Miami Heat to be stacked, even if their big three definitely was superior to this one. You HAVE to take into consideration how the rest of the team is formed.
If you want to blame KD for anything, blame him for requesting that Nash be the head coach of the Nets in the first place, or for being an idiot and requesting a trade in the offseason in 2022. But honestly, you can't really put this on his playing abilities. I think this is a important reminder as to why superteams should pretty much be avoided unless you are able to form them through organic needs that don't require you to give up all your first round picks for an entire decade and doesn't destroy your depth.