Kevin Durant (Photo : Twitter)
Until Kevin Durant announces his decision, the NBA free agency is all about the former MVP.
The Oklahoma City Thunder will try their best to keep their prized player, but they failed to do the one thing that would have guaranteed his presence: an NBA championship.
While it can be argued that OKC will still feature a strong team with most of their roster returning, that is a "glass half full" view. The "glass half empty" view is that this roster has reached their ceiling. They were healthy, complete and they have made the bold coaching change that most pundits thought GM Sam Presti was not capable of, and they still fell short. What else could they do?
In Bill Simmons' piece at The Ringer, he discussed that the only way for Durant to get an easier path to the title is to move East. He described the West as "murderer's row." The Thunder took on two teams (Spurs, Warriors) with a combined total of 140 wins. The West looked weak this season because it was a down year for the Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies and even the LA Clippers battled injuries.
There are upstart teams on the brink as well. If the Portland Trail Blazers get a frontline stud, if Tom Thibodeau whips the young Timberwolves into shape, they will also be playoff regulars.
Simmons broke down the other side: "The East has Cleveland (FYI: Year 14 for LeBron next season), Boston's Collection of Awesome Assets That Can't Translate to an Actual Contender Yet, Whatever Toronto Is, Whatever Atlanta Was, Whatever Orlando and Milwaukee Might End Up Being, Whatever Pat Riley Might Have up His Sleeve and that's about it."
From one these teams, Durant can build an empire to challenge LeBron. There are two teams at the forefront, the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat. Even for Chad Finn at Boston.com, the Heat are identified as the primary rival.
"Should he choose to leave, wily Pat Riley in Miami worries me as a warm-weather spoiler of Boston's basketball dreams, and there will be many, many other willing suitors," Finn said.
The Boston Celtics have more "upside" because they have young players' who will develop and a promising coach. They have the best collection of assets in the league and a shrewd trader to handle it. But the Celtics are still just a collection of awesome possibilities. The Heat are already prepared to host a superstar title-chaser-because they already had one.
While Wade is older and Bosh is questionable, Riley has Hassan Whiteside (who may actually leave but while he hasn't, he counts here) and Goran Dragic as center and point guard-a position the Heat marginalized in the big three era. They also have the solid rookie Justise Winslow.
Apart from these two, who would be the East contenders if they got Durant? Washington will parade Wall and Beal but they have to improve their frontcourt. The Atlanta Hawks have to re-sign Al Horford and the Raptors have to keep DeMar DeRozan. They could form the second-tier of East contenders.
