Durant's Warriors comments 'basically the truth' - Kerr

Greetings all my green-tinted compadres. Haven't posted in a while, but I am always checking in to see what you all are saying. I found this article, which I post below, and thought it might stimulate some interesting conversation. It's basically a variation on the age old question of system vs individual talent. I guess Durant criticized GSW's system, which obviously sounds tone deaf as hell, and below is Kerr's measured response. I have my own thoughts, but I wl hold off on expressing them until I hear what the board thinks. Enough of my rambling, here is the piece:


Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr was not offended by Kevin Durant's recent criticism of their offense, describing his comments as "basically the truth".

Durant, who won two NBA titles with the Warriors but joined the Brooklyn Nets in July, told The Wall Street Journal this month that he did not believe Golden State's offense worked well in the playoffs.

"The motion offense we run in Golden State, it only works to a certain point," Durant said. "We can totally rely on our system for maybe the first two rounds. Then the next two rounds we're going to have to mix in individual play. We've got to throw teams off, because they're smarter in that round of playoffs.

"So now I have to dive into my bag, deep, to create stuff on my own, off the dribble, isos, pick-and-rolls, more so than let the offense create points for me."

Asked about Durant's comments, Kerr told The Athletic: "I wasn't at all offended what Kevin said because it's basically the truth. You look at any system, I mean, I played the triangle with Michael Jordan.

“The offense ran a lot smoother all regular season and the first couple rounds of the playoffs than it did in the conference finals and Finals. It just did.

"That's why guys like Michael Jordan and Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant are who they are. They can transcend any defense. But defenses in the playoffs, deep in the playoffs, combined with the physicality of the game - where refs can't possibly call a foul every time - means that superstars have to take over.

"No system is just going to dice a Finals defense up. You have to rely on individual play. I didn't look at [his comment] as offensive. I look at that as fact."

Warriors star Stephen Curry last week gave Durant's comments short shrift.

"Well, I don't care what plays we ran. We won two championships," Curry said. "And, at the end of the day, we had a lot of talent and there was an expectation of us figuring out how to balance all that. And we talked a lot about it throughout the three-year run. It wasn't always perfect, but I think in terms of the results and what we were able to do on the floor, that kind of speaks for itself.

"We all want to play iso-ball at the end of the day in some way, shape or form. But I'd rather have some championships, too."

Durant, a 10-time All-Star, averaged 25.8 points per game with 7.1 rebounds and 5.4 assists during his three seasons with the Warriors. He signed with the Nets on a four-year, $164 million deal.