game you want to start with let's let's
start with nets warriors it's enough to
unpack with nets warriors on its own
right let's start with the first game so
where you want to start there
yeah nets warriors uh jumps out at me
because of what i i say there uh of k.d
this whole versus match-up versus uh kd
and steph no former teammates and and kd
is not being uh
fully transparent right now where he's
telling people oh yeah it's just another
game
on the schedule no it's not it's not
another game on the schedule first of
all it's your first game
it's your first game in about a year and
a half you're coming off a major injury
so i'm sure it's very significant to you
from that standpoint
and then it's a game against a team that
you won a couple of championships with
uh you were a finals mvp this is where
you really established yourself people
started calling kevin some did
start calling kevin durant the best
player in basketball i i think
we've got two guys who have a lot to
prove in this game durant
and steph they're about the same age and
they both have kind of been
overlooked to a degree by the new dudes
again
uh whether it's whether it's luca or
or anthony davis or or anybody else
who has been mentioned as like a top two
top five player
and these guys have kind of been pushed
out but you look at the look at the
accomplishments
of both of them that big zero hurts
there for finals mvp for steph
uh three championships i'm looking
forward
to seeing these guys i know they won't
be guarding each other
i'm looking forward to seeing what they
both do
in the first in the first game for for
both of them in a long time
just seeing kd is special in and of
itself
it's just a blessing uh for him to be
back uh he's
his gifts are our gift to all of us uh
as basketball
fans so just seeing them on the court is
going to be great for everybody nets
fans
kd fans alike and otherwise
uh but katie ever like he's had an
interesting journey
when you go from uh you know
his ascent to superstardom in oklahoma
city to his famous
you the real mvp speech to his mother
um and then all that good will
for a lot of people went out the window
when he bolted for golden state
now in golden state he became a champion
uh he became again
in some people's eyes even though he was
on the better team
because he stared down lebron and
outplayed him again as part of a better
team
i'll play lebron had to head in the
finals some people gave him the throne
he had the juice as the best player in
the game
okay but kd whether it is
and you've talked about this uh you know
the rabbit ears
whether it's uh you know the burner
account or even his own account or just
he always seemed to be searching for
something
you know like you know he always see me
never never quite satisfied
and it seemed to bother him how people
viewed him
and viewed his championships and his
finals mbps
still does because he still does he left
it still does it still sits with him he
left
oklahoma city to join the warriors
became the best player on the warriors
make no mistake about it love steph
curry
but durant was the better player the
moment he walked in the door became the
best player on the warriors
led them to two titles but it still
didn't feel
fulfilling from a narrative or legacy
standpoint which brings us to now
i don't think he has anything to prove
as it relates to his skills everybody
knows how lethal he is everybody knows
how gifted a scorer he is he's already
one of the best
to ever touch a basketball no question
but if he come
but if he comes back this year
and not only defeats
an achilles tendon injury and defeats
that recovery
like few players have but
if i may fast forward because i will get
to the lakers in the west in a second
you know how much i i love
the heat and that story in the bubble
and what jimmy butler did
you know how much respect i put on that
organization's name
i think they deserve to be seen as one
of the favorites if not the favorite in
the eastern conference
milwaukee they got the two-time mvp
the pressure's on clock's ticking
he might not walk but that window they
needed to maximize that window of having
a two-time mvp but when healthy
on paper i think the favorites got to be
the team
with arguably the best player in the
game
who's flanked by kyrie irving
and i would love nothing more than to
see
kevin durant not only defeat rehab
favorite ware and recovery
from an achilles an eastern conference
uh
recov defeat a recovery and a rehab from
an achilles tear
but also i'm rooting for him
one more time to go head-to-head with
the king
that's the match-up i want to see in the
finals with all due respect to miami
they look great with all the respect to
giannis in the four city years
i would love to see durant come back
be his old self take kyrie with him
back to the finals and go head to head
with the king and if he could beat
lebron
with lebron's old running mate
in brooklyn that might be the thing
that gets kevin durant
the respect
that i i think he thinks
he's lacking i actually think his
paranoia is a little overblown
i don't i think more people respect
kevin durant that he realizes
outside the game and you know to my fans
i think too often we look at one dm or
one twitter troll or
and be like well people are saying this
like because one person sent you a
message
but i think that could be that's it that
that shifts his narrative but i
think that could shift his narrative
michael
back to where it was pre-leaving
oklahoma city
for golden state i think a lot of people
would have to shut up at that point
if he takes this team to the finals in a
good eastern conference
and and takes down lebron see mike seem
like
those are all the threads that i'm
trying to untangle right there
i mean they just laid it out beautifully
if you put if you just say
talent-wise who's the most talented okay
tell me the most talented player in the
eastern conference
i will not hesitate the most talented
player in the eastern conference is
kevin durant
period done got it healthy kevin durant
better than anybody in the eastern
conference and kyrie
uh you know in the east i'd say he's a
top 10 player in the east
without even thinking about who's an
easter company easily top 10 player in
the eastern conference right
so from a talent standpoint i don't
worry about the brooklyn nets but how
much does that other stuff factor into
it
you say you know kevin durant uh he he
may not feel that he gets the respect
that he deserves
the only reason he would feel that way
or of the major reason i'll say this the
major reason he would feel that way
is he's looking at twitter but here's a
spoiler alert
for those on social media
you will always run into some haters
there they oh man
like twitter that's where they live
built for it
twitter especially but there are some
people who are looking for it
you know like people like people that
look into their messages
from people who don't follow them be
like somebody sent me this message is
like but
don't follow like you had you see you're
seeking out the hatred you know
even if even if even if you're going out
if you're going on a twitter and
not my stay mode okay you're going out
there you're going you're going there
smudging
you're going smudging on twitter you're
going to find somebody
who's not feeling you you're going to
find somebody who's got something
really disrespectful to say but how much
does that affect you
and that's what i don't trust i trust
the talent
of kevin durant on the court i don't
trust everything else
off the court like his response to it i
don't trust it
and i think he is in a bad space i think
kyrie and kevin durant are in the worst
place possible for their insecurities if
they don't have insecurities they got
something
that just causes them to it triggers
them
to respond when sometimes a response is
not necessary that's one
another question about the brooklyn nets
is a head coach
i've seen rookie head coaches you have
two coming to the league
and just
just get it done okay uh yeah the guy
figured
he got his counterparts at night his
counterpart today right did it once upon
a time
coaches have come in and balled out
first year coaches have come in and
balled out you know what i mean
yeah so steve kerr has done it uh yeah
larry bird
i think it is yeah first or second year
as a head coach yeah uh larry burke is a
good staff too he's got a strong staff
next to him
yeah okay but then that's a question too
because some guys are some guys are
meant to be
head coaches and when you take that head
coach despite all the knowledge and
experience and you make them an
assistant
uh that doesn't always work out that
that happened in brooklyn
the last time i thought they had a
championship team remember they had
jason kidd
as their head coach he had lawrence
frank and others on the staff and it
just was nasty
got he got out of hand i don't know if
if steve nash
and that staff are are all about it are
all about the championship material
that's
those are the questions but on the court
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