Will the Celtics' big splash be enough to lure Kevin Durant to Boston?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2016/07/02/kevin-durant-free-agency-day-2-celtics-big-splash/86648620/




Will the Celtics' big splash be enough to lure Kevin Durant to Boston?


Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports



1 hour ago



Kevin Jairaj, USA TODAY Sports
Kevin Durant is still to meet with the Heat and Thunder again.

The Boston Celtics’ meeting with Kevin Durant on Saturday in the Hamptons was enough to leave their free agency competitors deflated.

It made perfect sense, then, that NFL star Tom Brady took part.

On Day 2 of the Durant sweepstakes, the New England Patriots quarterback joined a Beantown bunch that had quite a pitch ready for the biggest NBA free agent of them all: Not only do the Celtics want Durant to come to town and become a local legend like Brady himself, but they want him to do it while teaming up with newest Celtics star, Al Horford.

By luring Horford away from the Atlanta Hawks team that he’d played for since 2007, the Celtics have put themselves in about as good a position as possible to steal Durant away from the only pro franchise he has ever known. They’re still considered dark-horses, as almost everyone you talk to inside league circles still expects Durant to return to the Oklahoma City Thunder for at least one more season. But the Celtics, make no mistake, made all the right kind of noise in their biggest free agency moment.

USA TODAY
Al Horford, Boston Celtics agree to four-year, $113 million contract

No one but Durant truly knows what he’s thinking, of course, which means it’s armchair psychology time all around. But when considering this Boston meeting that clearly overshadowed the San Antonio Spurs visit that preceded it, it’s best to remember that Durant has always had a certain affinity for the Celtics organization. Or, at least, its most legendary player — Larry Bird.

When we sat down at the Thunder practice facility for a long interview in December 2012, Durant revealed how he had fashioned his game after Larry Legend. In the months that followed, his insight actually prompted a first-ever meeting between the two.

"Larry Bird is a guy I like watching," Durant said back then of the man who is now running the Indiana Pacers’ front office. "I watch film on him all the time. I like his approach to the game when he was playing. When I first started playing the game, my godfather Taras Brown — who taught me how to play — he always was a Larry Bird guy, always used to look up his stats.

"So of course as I got older and started to watch NBATV, legends games, and of course you hear the stories about the rivalries with him and the Lakers and him and Magic, so I like his competitiveness, how low-maintenance he was, how he just went out there and did his job. He played hard. He played for the love of the game, and that's what I've got."

None of which is to say that this is some sort of deciding factor. As Durant’s visit with the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday showed, optimism can be fleeting. Just hours after folks close to Durant were saying that he was "blown away" by the Clippers' presentation, they were unofficially waving the white flag in the Durant sweepstakes by coming to terms with role players like Austin Rivers.

Rest assured, the Clippers wouldn’t make such a move if they still thought they had a shot. With the Golden State Warriors still looming large after their Friday meeting and the Miami Heat and Thunder still set to meet with Durant on Sunday, he has much to consider.

FOR THE WIN
Tom Brady is at the Boston Celtics' Kevin Durant pitch meeting

But there’s a certain mystique that comes with the Celtics that is tough to ignore, not only because of the 17 championships but because of a fan base that — as Horford’s father was quick to share — makes its players feel even more passionate about this game.

As for the basketball optics of the current group, they won 48 games during the regular season with the diminutive Isaiah Thomas as their best player and now have the chance to be an elite team with Horford in tow. Adding Durant to the mix would put them on par with the recently-crowned champs, the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Chances are, Durant still heads back to the Thunder and these conversations with the Celtics start up again a year from now when he hits the free-agent market again. Yet for now, regardless of the outcome, the Celtics did both their city and their storied franchise proud.



bob


.

Injuries and time diminish a player's skills.  Injuries and time can derail a contender's chances at success in the playoffs. There is no time for hesitation!

If Durant cannot live on and support his family on the McDuck vault of cash that the Celtics can throw at him, I do not know what to say.  

He now has a chance to get an automatic seat at the Eastern Conference Final's table, as well as a good chance to go to the NBA Finals in his first year with the Celtics.

He can join a team that has a good mix of old and young players.  
He can join a team that has a steady 2-3 year source of lottery picks.  
He can join a team that doesn't already have in place a "Superstar", so he can make his own legacy here.  
He can join a team that has a coaching staff that can and will bring out the best in every single player.  
Etc., etc., etc.,

It's a no-brainah, for sure!!

gyso

Gyso,

All great points especially the one where you claim that Durant should be able to "live off what he will make from the Celtics".

I would think that all of these guys could live off far less, but what does an old, retired school teacher know about living life as an NBA type player? Jalen Brown has already made waaaaay more money in his ten day career than I ever did in my total career.

I do fully believe that many of the star athletes in every sport feeds his ego (much more than the mouths around his dinner table) with how much he makes in comparison to his peers. If you don't make what "the other guy" makes they seem to think that they are not as highly regarded as "the other guy" for some reason. This factor almost seems to distance some of the many other and strong things that are also part f where you work such as community, team continuity, coaching staff, etc, etc. It just does not seem to be OK to be able to say that "even though I may not make as much as so and so, I am 1000% happy with where I am playing".

This weekend, with the crazy new contracts, Isaiah Thomas was quoted saying something about that he knows that he is underpayed moving forward. I predict that even though Thomas was/is happy playing for the Cs that we will hear of this situation many, many more times from him over the next two seasons until he reaches his own free agency. Hopefully, this issue does not ever get in the way of his superlative play or feelings for his team and community.