https://www.slamonline.com/nba/kevin-durant-join-warriors-i-needed-validation/

"At that time in my career, I didn’t know how other people felt about my game. And I knew that I was pretty damn good and I knew I worked extremely hard, but I needed that validation from my peers and teams and GMs, people that are really into the game, to really help me feel good about myself and help me feel confident and let me know that what I was doing was working.

So when they all came, and they all put stuff to the side to come to the meeting, I was like, man, this is amazing. Best team in the league, some of the best players, most accomplished players want me on their team and want what I do, what I bring to the table. It was pretty cool, you know what I’m saying?

Because I’m looking at this whole basketball thing from a kid’s perspective. I’m still excited, I’m still learning. So to have that much love in the room for how I play basketball, that’s cool. They’ll get to know me as a person, I was confident with that. But the basketball side, I was, like, man it’s pretty damn cool that people enjoy the way I play and want me to play with them."
-->

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrDgMp4BS5Q

I agree. If not this year - in 2020. He's not staying in GS much longer.

-->

He’s going to leave Curry & Klay to go play with Wall & Beal?

________________________________________
"Take the surprise out your voice Shaq."-The REAL CP3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2H5K-BUMS0

The GOAT and the Snake: Superfriends

I'm gonna vomit

<--- Big Baller World Order

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

-The Knicks’ coaching search still includes a lone frontrunner, Kurt Rambis, whose qualifications for the position include a strong relationship with Jackson and a willingness to take the job.

________________________________
There are dozens of us! Dozens!

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He's said he doesn't have anything against the organization, but he's suggested there's too many issues dealing with hangers-on that pop up when you play in your hometown.

-----------------

www.albumism.com

Checkin' Our Style, Return To Zero:

https://www.mixcloud.com/returntozero/

Not a serious prediction as to his destination.

________________________________
There are dozens of us! Dozens!

it takes a level of security to be so public with your insecurities, so on a minor level, I kind of respect this level of honesty. Dude is definitely a weirdo though, that is for certain.

More power to him though because I could care less about his personal life since I only care about his skills on the court.

"Sean sparks like John Starks, nah, Sean ball like John Wall" - Rest In Power Forever Sean Price.

<--- Big Baller World Order

wasn't just after they lost to CLE in the Finals. Who knows how much his heart was even in being a Thunder when those WCF games were going down. Dude is a spectacular talent, but he ain't exactly the "strong friend" (c)Royce. He is not the put the team on my back dude. He ain't built for the struggle. That's cool. Everybody wanted it to be Russ' fault, doe. Thunder fans knew.

...I'm from the era when A.I. was the answer, now they think ai is the answer - Marlon Craft

- Nassar State
- WWE fouls against the Thunder
- Trying to Punch The Royal Jewels
- Existing

some need it more than others.

-The Knicks’ coaching search still includes a lone frontrunner, Kurt Rambis, whose qualifications for the position include a strong relationship with Jackson and a willingness to take the job.

You play your ass off, put up MVP contender style numbers, make the Finals even, but because you have no ring, all you hear is "he's a loser, he can't get it done, etc."

I think it's not a coincidence that ring-chasing really cranked up in the 24-hour sports media cycle with shouting heads screaming loud and bad takes on TV all the time.

My movies: http://russellhainline.com
My movie reviews: https://letterboxd.com/RussellHFilm/
My beer TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeertravelguide

but, you right. I remember someone made a post asking was he Top 5, lol. I guess these dudes do feel the "frying".

...I'm from the era when A.I. was the answer, now they think ai is the answer - Marlon Craft

because twitter/instagram/whatever else these dudes use is a lot harder to compartmentalize for these dudes that the loud-mouth talking heads on sports talk shows.

"Sean sparks like John Starks, nah, Sean ball like John Wall" - Rest In Power Forever Sean Price.

___________________

Mar-A-Lago delenda est

Nobody ever irrationally penalized greats from the past (malone, barkley, ewing) for not having a ring by vilifying their entire career -- that is until LeBron's critics realized they could have a used car salesman type of career by peddling lies & hate..."the king w/ out a ring!" "He'll never win because he doesn't have the mentality!" etc...

The fans and media are to blame for this lack of nuance and simple simon "where's the ring?" analysis.

-->

from the day i first started following basketball (96) i remember the 90s greats (olajuwon/drexler aside) being shit on and considered lesser than for not having rings. so that's probably a solid decade before skip got rolling.

<--- Big Baller World Order

every great player wants to win a ring - but it's a team sport and there's so many ingredients that go into winning a title. That some of the greats never won one doesn't necessarily mean they didn't "have what it takes" to win - they just may not have been as fortunate as others to play on an all-time great team.

So cats were criticized - yes - but it was never like 'oh Barkley's not great unless he wins!" like it is now.


-->

because people kept saying, 'he doesn't have the mentality to win, can't make teammates better, not like Magic'.

It's been a thing for at least 60 yrs.

Wilt vs Russell - "Wilt isn't a winner like Russell because he was selfish"
Doc vs Kareem - "Never been to the promised land"
Jordan vs Magic - see above
Kobe vs Shaq vs legacy - "Can't win without Shaq, sidekick"

____________

-The Knicks’ coaching search still includes a lone frontrunner, Kurt Rambis, whose qualifications for the position include a strong relationship with Jackson and a willingness to take the job.

Shaq was too busy making rap music and movies to become good at FT’s. Jordan shot too much.

The hot takes BS has been a thing as long as I can remember.

The “no ring” has been used against everyone
from Wilt to MJ to Barkley to Kobe (not winning
without shaq) to Bron...and on and on.

This is why it seems like you started watching
basketball in 2012- you think Lebron is the
first to deal with this stuff.

It is legit strange because it isnt true. And Bron
is great enough that you dont need to lie
to build him up.

He wasnt the first star to get the “no ring” critique-
and he didnt get that criticism any worse than
others.

Hes not the first best player in the league to not
win MVP every year.

Hes not the first player to carry a team.

Hes not the first player to face a “super team”

Etc


This isnt to say he isnt great, and this isnt to say he
hasnt done/faced these things.

But stop pretending he is the first, and for the love
of JR Smith, please stop making every thread/topic
about Bron.

and are objectively upset.

>But stop pretending he is the first, and for the love
>of JR Smith, please stop making every thread/topic
>about Bron.

^but this humored me the most. When's the last time you responded to a non-LeBron post?

Be better tomorrow.


-->

>The “no ring” has been used against everyone
>from Wilt to MJ to Barkley to Kobe (not winning
>without shaq) to Bron...and on and on.
>
>This is why it seems like you started watching
>basketball in 2012- you think Lebron is the
>first to deal with this stuff.
>
>It is legit strange because it isnt true. And Bron
>is great enough that you dont need to lie
>to build him up.
>
>He wasnt the first star to get the “no ring” critique-
>and he didnt get that criticism any worse than
>others.
>
>Hes not the first best player in the league to not
>win MVP every year.
>
>Hes not the first player to carry a team.
>
>Hes not the first player to face a “super team”
>
>Etc
>

It's so objectively untrue, yet, like Trump, he is undeterred

I'm from the lost black tribe of Israel, the Yos

http://coolehmag.com/frontEnd/

Nobody really knocked Ewing, Barkley, Malone & Stockton etc for being ringless

Ewing caught some heat for that missed layup

And folk knocked Barkley post career because hes a loudmouth, hot take analyst on TNT and opened himself up to it.





____________

Dallas Cavericks LETS GO!!

of which Skip Bayless is part. The NBA we enjoy today is so wrapped up in the legend of Cheese Eyes, those 2 3-peats became the gold standard despite two other franchises owning almost all the rings in the history of the league

in the NBA since then

it aint a new thing

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

Not to derail - only speaking up because I'm a Miami fan - I feel like Marino and Kelly pre-dated the rangz argument and were thus mostly immune. I was a youngin' back then, though.
______________________________
http://i.imgur.com/v2ye7l2.jpg

but Kelly has been stuck with that label ever since SB L #2

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

this INCREDIBLE NEW EVIL that been unleashed onto the world... nah, really isn't new at all. kinda always been around.

___

it is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. - sherlock holmes

___________________

Mar-A-Lago delenda est

___

it is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. - sherlock holmes

Or even ring-chasing, for that matter. Just felt like clearing that up since the post seems to have started to spin out elsewhere.

I just think the act of ring-chasing become more transparent, and it seems to more frequently include bigger names nowadays. And I'm not unconvinced that that surge isn't related to 24 hours of shouting loud-and-wrong takes for international audiences on TV/online.

Shit, Coach K was the Jim Kelly of college coaches until 1991. Ring criticisms have always been around. That's why I have zero problem with players ring chasing. You'd have to be inhuman to totally not give a shit about hearing the same criticism over and over again.

My movies: http://russellhainline.com
My movie reviews: https://letterboxd.com/RussellHFilm/
My beer TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeertravelguide

cats are just acting brand new.

The pressure to win rings has always been there - but it took an egregious to turn to where people were trying to devalue entire careers of great players simply because they didn't play on a great, champion caliber team.

It's really a lazy analysis to just do a ring-count when comparing players. Nobody is going to say that Dirk is greater than Malone simply because he has a ring and Malone doesn't. It's silly.

-->

it was. it's gotten amplified somewhat due to the 24-7 sports media + social media cycle of non-stop blather (as have many other things as well), but that doesn't mean it wasn't a big deal before.


>cats are just acting brand new.

lolz. post #35. What you got ain't nothing new.


>The pressure to win rings has always been there - but it took
>an egregious to turn to where people were trying to devalue
>entire careers of great players simply because they didn't
>play on a great, champion caliber team.
>
>It's really a lazy analysis to just do a ring-count when
>comparing players. Nobody is going to say that Dirk is
>greater than Malone simply because he has a ring and Malone
>doesn't. It's silly.

funny thing is you're cosigning a guy who spent half a decade trying to devalue Dirk's entire career simply because he didn't have a ring prior to dispatching Lebron in 2011, along with a majority of poster on here. As did the sports media and fans at large, so much so that Dirk felt so lost and down on himself following the 2007 season he went on a freaking walkabout in the Austrailian outback for a month to escape all the noise and decompress, re-center himself and take stock of where he was at in his career & learn to accept it so he could move forward.

But it was never a big deal before and nobody ever tried to devalue the careers of great players simply because they hadn't won a ring before Skip started going in on Lebron. Right.

___________________

Mar-A-Lago delenda est

and people being like "well you didn't get this thing that really depends more on what other people do"

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

and said he missed the college recruiting process.

Max type players probably have 1 or 2 spots in mind going into free agency, and take a few extra meetings just in case, and also as an ego stroke.

Sometimes KD overshares, though.

In a generation of swine, the one-eyed pig is king.
-Hunter S. Thompson

-The Knicks’ coaching search still includes a lone frontrunner, Kurt Rambis, whose qualifications for the position include a strong relationship with Jackson and a willingness to take the job.

-----------------

www.albumism.com

Checkin' Our Style, Return To Zero:

https://www.mixcloud.com/returntozero/

enjoy him while you can.

-->

-----------------

www.albumism.com

Checkin' Our Style, Return To Zero:

https://www.mixcloud.com/returntozero/

and your conclusion from that is KD looks bored?

___________________

Mar-A-Lago delenda est

<---
Fuck a sig, my presence is enough.

And those are maybe some of the best athlete interviews ever. Dude's got KD laid back in private booths at restaurants drinking bottles of wine and answering fan questions while debating the history of the NBA and calmly explaining how there's no loyalty in sports and anybody that has a problem with him playing for the Warriors can boo as loud as they want. But he's also become very candid about why he went there, and a lot of has to do with having fun playing basketball.

He felt like he wasn't having fun playing a game anymore, that it was too much work, and he was jealous of teams like the Warriors. It's been a while since he specifically talked about it, I think, but I remember him making some analogy along the lines of "I was working for one employer and looking at how much fun and success employees were having with another employer, so I got a job with that employer." I remember hearing him walk through that and thinking, "well, duh." But somehow it felt like a revelation because so much of the conversation around sports, particularly basketball, is that The Best Guy has to do it on his own, and that it's a privilege more than a job.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

all of his sitdowns w/ Simmons are a treat.

it wasn't no deep, bear my soul interview. but there was no front there. it was 2 (really 3 with rich kleiman) dudes talking ball, drinking wine.

blog boys.

Need more like him. These are all natural human emotions and feelings that need to be embraced and understood rather than pushed down and denied.

---------------------------------
<--The drought is over

"have fun reveling in your pettiness tho" (C) Dula summing up 98% of OKS

"I didnt finish a damn thing...matter of fact I jerked off after she left."
-Kobe speaking to investigators

L D E A