Kevin Durant admitted he was seriously considering the Celtics as his next destination. Tom Brady attended the meeting and Boston apparently had quite the presentation.
On Thursday, a report from Tom Westerholm of MassLive.com detailed that the Celtics played video clips in their meeting with Durant on how they were able to beat Golden State last season. Boston snapped the Warriors’ 54-game home wining streak on April 1, downing Steph Curry and Klay Thompson 109-106 in overtime. Harrison Barnes missed the game-tying shot.
Because they laid everything out on the table, Boston guard Jae Crowder felt quite disrespected and spurned by Durant’s decision.
“We were the only team in the NBA to beat both (Cleveland and Golden State) on their home court — the only team in the NBA, the Boston Celtics,” Crowder said. “We told him that. We played him clips from both games and told him basically the scouting report of how we guarded Steph (Curry) and Klay (Thompson) — our entire game plan, basically. That’s what made me mad. We (expletive) told him everything we do to beat these guys, and we beat them, and he went and joined them. I mean, that’s part of the process, but I did not think he would go to those two teams … I felt like afterward, I was talking to Isaiah, like maybe after you sit back, you shouldn’t have told him everything, but who the (expletive) thought he was going to Golden State, realistically? It was like a slap in the face for us, basically.”
You’ve got to admire Boston for laying everything on the line in their effort to convince Durant. But Crowder is completely out of touch with reality if he really thought KD wasn’t seriously considering the Warriors. The idea of forming a super team is nothing new in the NBA, even if it hurts people’s feelings.
Crowder didn’t just stop there with his criticism of Durant. He’s surveyed a portion of the league, and the rest of the Warriors have very few allies in the NBA at the moment.
“That team is for sure the villain of the league,” Crowder said. “Every other NBA guy, friends of mine, are really disgusted from how the league is turning on that standpoint. Everybody is joining together, everybody wants to go to Golden State or Cleveland.”
The Celtics added Al Horford in the offseason and drafted Cal Bear Jaylen Brown with the No. 3 overall pick. Boston still has a talented trio of guards in Isaiah Thomas, Marcus Smart and Avery Bradley. They did lose Jared Sullinger to the Toronto Raptors.
Crowders comments will make next year’s games against the Celtics a little more intriguing.