FIRST TAKE | Durant to Houston – Stephen A. Smith believes Rockets gonna win a title with KD
j will be there too kevin Durant will most likely dawn a new uniform next season as he has a very clear picture of where he’d like to end up now according to Arsham Strania the Heat Spurs the Rockets are KD’s preferred destinations and that he has no desire to play for the Timberwolves Mad Dog should Phoenix help KD out and send him where he wants to go to trade why did he win a championship in Phoenix that I missed has he ever won a playoff game for the Suns no they were swept by Minnesota and this year they didn’t even get into the postseason they owe KD absolutely nothing warriors you can make an argument he helped him win two championships what did KD do for the Phoenix franchise i don’t understand well what did he do he has left no legacy there to speak of they’ve had you know Kevin Johnson left the beggar legacy tom Chambers Paul Westfall Dennis Johnson Booker they’ve left bigger legacies in Phoenix than KD does so the idea now you want to tell me contractually KD won’t go somewhere so you’re in a tricky spot you can argue that that’s not the That’s not the question though the question is does Phoenix owe a This is not Ray Bourke leaving a Bruins let’s get him to Colorado so he can win a Stanley Cup championship he’s done nothing in Phoenix in the big picture they haven’t won they didn’t even make the playoffs this year and last year in the first round he was completely outclassed by the Timberwolves they got routed in four straight games so now we got to make sure that KD gets what he wants nonsense i wouldn’t do that if I was the Sun management i’m going to make the best deal for my team and if KD ends up what’s the in New Orleans deal with it there you go geez doggy uh what’s the original question Molly is O the word that we’re using oh um yeah yeah should they send him to his pref essentially should should I didn’t even ask the question because I think Mad Doug just went but but should they help him out and send him to his preferred destination should Phoenix pick those three spots of the um that he just wants to go to San Antonio or Miami um I I I personally say meet in the middle because I don’t understand where all the heat came from on your end Mad Dog like I I understand that Phoenix needs to put themselves in the best position moving forward but if the deal can be done within those preferences from KD why not like I don’t understand why you have to intentionally strike an adversarial relationship now if it absolutely cannot be done Phoenix Abby is looking at their future moving forward and KD is clearly trying to get out of dodge but it’s not as if yes he did not bring a championship to that organization but he’s been available you look at the numbers when he’s been on the floor for this team the record is I believe it’s 33 and 29 when he played it’s dismal when he did not play so it’s not as if he was in the organization and was problematic if you can do a deal where both sides are like “All right cool we’ll compromise we’ll meet in the middle.” I would think that is the best course of action because I don’t think you need to have an unnecessarily adversarial relationship with one of our gangs great doggy you have to take you have to take into consideration the circumstances not just the individual as an individual Kevin Durant is a hall of famer the brother is a two-time champion in the two-time NBA Finals MVP and one of the greatest scorers this game has ever seen in his mid30s he’s fresh off of averaging nearly 27 a game on 52% shooting and nearly 40% from three-point range and nearly 90% from the free throw line when we look at Phoenix the 20 games that he missed or so they were like 3 and 17 yep but they were like 33 they were like 33 and 28 or something like that with him on the basketball court so they desperately need him when he’s there the bottom line is that you can’t blame him for what has transpired with the Phoenix Suns what kind of thing did you build around him now I got on Matt Ishbia the owner but I think that he’s steering things in the right direction but uh to to Monty Williams is the coach there that took you to the finals you take over ownership you get rid of him you hire Frank Vogle who won a championship just a couple of years earlier with the Los Angeles Lakers and you get rid of him after one season you bring in Mike Budenhoer who won a championship after Frank Vogle won his championship in the bubble he won a championship the next year you sign him to a five-year deal you get rid of him after one year and so there are certain things that one could easily argue is beyond Kevin Durant’s control now some people might say when you’re a superstar like of his caliber you could have done more to make things right fair enough i understand that but let’s not look at him like this is a brother that’s a liability we can’t talk about Kevin Durant like that you won’t say he’s not old fine but because they have Bradley Beal who has a no trade clause and clearly Devin Booker is younger and he’s the face of the franchise and you’re not getting rid of him in order to improve your roster the only choice you have is to unload KD now you unload KD for the best assets possible the flip side to it is that if the best asset possible is the Heat the Spurs or the Rockets in terms of what they’re offering why wouldn’t you do that that’s a different for him as well but what I’m saying is is that what I’m saying is of course it has to work for you too but there’s nothing wrong with looking out for him in the process because he’s not some truckulent individual who didn’t give a damn about the franchise and go on the basketball court and failed to perform he did you know he he he he did a lot okay he was an allw world player there’s no question about that steve it’s just that they don’t have a team steve here’s the bottom line durant gets valued more he’s not a two go he He’s He gets valued on a different level because who he is was he successful his two-year tenure in Phoenix would it be deemed a success no not at all i just s ring culture and it being a team sport well how about just making a playoffs and winning a couple of games winning a round said that how about just being How about being competent in postseason play and I’m not talking about I’m not talking about him but I’m saying you’re just acting like they should just throw him out with the bath water and just say the hell i’m saying I’m saying but what if what I’m saying if if look at the teams that he wants to go to and see if they’re offering you equitable compensation i’ll give you that i’m saying there’s nothing wrong with that i’ll give you that that’s all I’m saying that’s all I’ll give you that but if if it turns out that Miami San Antonio and Houston are offering less than the New Orleans Pelicans he’s going to the New Orleans Pelicans they owe Durant absolutely zero this idea that we’re going to go plate Durant why what did he do for the Suns if you walk down Time out time out if New Orleans has the exact same package as Miami has are you okay sending him to Miami exact same let’s say it the money line i’ll be okay with that okay you’re saying you’re looking I’m not going to spite them okay that’s what I’m asking you you’re looking at preferred destinations if those don’t work you need to make a business decision but the idea that we got to here’s what bothers me the idea that Durant who left the war who left OKC when they’re on the cusp of winning a championship up 3-1 the year he left he left OKC he he left the he left the the Warriors he demanded to be traded from the Nets and now he’s out of Phoenix i mean really now we’re gonna have oh these are the three spots I want to go how about Durant say you know what send me to a team that’s best for you and I’m gonna go win for that team how about he say that for one well no nobody say that you guys are way too pro player you guys are way you got to look at it from a team perspective you got to look at it from a team what did he do for the Phoenix Suns did they win did they make the playoffs they do anything we agree with you though we’re agree with you first try the preferred destinations if it doesn’t work out if all things aren’t equal it doesn’t work out then we look elsewhere and you make a business decision i I Yeah I don’t think like I’m doesn’t help anybody don’t treat him like he was Don’t treat All I’m saying is don’t treat him like he was a cancer to the team and he was the reason that they had problems they had problems in spite of him but if other cats came to do their job the way that he came to do his job they would have been better they didn’t do that and as a result you got to move him on because that’s the way you can get equitable compensation for him you don’t have a chance of improving your team without getting rid of Kevin Durant but you don’t have to throw him out with the bath water and act like he was a cancer to the team he doesn’t deserve that steve steve this is going to be his fifth team in his career for an alltime grandd hold on he was loved in Oklahoma City and he bailed won two chips and what hold on hold up he won two chips and he went well okay you want to call it failure I got you but the man did go to a final he went to a conference he went to several conference finals went to a couple conference finals went to an NBA champion finals as well but he didn’t win a championship in Oklahoma City he won back-to-back titles in OK in Golden State and he would have won a third had he not to his Achilles and then he goes to Brooklyn without Kyrie and with James Hard and injured if he wore a size 13 size 12 shoes instead of a tie 13 they would have went to the finals and they had awarded that year so we can’t ignore that and act like the brother ain’t KD and we also can’t ignore the fact that when he left we also can’t ignore the fact that when he went OKC they were 3-1 up on Golden State and what’s the team he decided to go play for golden State let’s not forget that either he joined that team that he couldn’t beat in a conference final with a 3-1 lead and an eight-point lead in game six at home let’s not forget that either you just brought that up more than me all right who brought that up more than me but that still doesn’t negate the fact that he’s one of the greatest players in the world still remember called it the weakest one in the world apologized to his mom where were you [Music] foreign
FIRST TAKE | Durant to Houston – Stephen A. Smith believes Rockets gonna win a title with KD
