NBA Free Agency Update: Will Durant sign for GSW?

At 9 p.m. on the West Coast, the Warriors officially begin the next phase of revamping of their roster in efforts of getting back the championship they let slip away.

Nine free agents lets you know they’ve been pointing to this offseason for a while. Their eyes have been on Kevin Durant for years, which is why only their most critical contracts, save for the rookies they have added, extend past the 2015-16 season.

Now it’s here, and Kevin Durant is possible. The Warriors will meet with him in the Hamptons on Friday morning. Joe Lacob, Bob Myers, Steve Kerr, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green — the Warriors’ best foot is forward. And per the scuttle behind the scenes, many believe the best chance of Durant leaving is to join the Warriors. The smart money is on him staying with the Thunder. But if he leaves, it will be the lure of the Warriors pulling him away, several have told me.

Two sources connected with Durant told me the Oklahoma City star is aware of the top five players the Warriors will pitch him on — Curry, Thompson, Green, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston — and Durant likes it. A Super Death Lineup.

One of the sources said he will have input on filling out the roster. He would be needed to help recruit as the Warriors would then seek to sign players willing to take minimal money for a great chance at a title, including a starting center.

There is a reason they want Durant. Those reasons were there even before they lost in the NBA Finals. And they will still be there if they don’t get Durant. He’d cover quite a few of them.

Now is the time, actually it’s been time, for followers to light up the trade machines and scour free agents lists to see who the Warriors can get to fill out the roster or where they go in case they don’t get Durant. To have a better idea, here is what the Warriors’ need heading into this offseason.

Another takeover guy

No player in the NBA is trapped more than Stephen Curry. He is blitzed and smothered so much because he doesn’t have a counterpart who can flip a switch and takeover.

That is not a knock on Klay Thompson or Draymond Green. They are great. But that teams still relentlessly seek to take away Curry and live with the consequences tells you all you need to know.

The Warriors don’t just need another player who can score. Thompson can score. They need another player who can bend defenses to his will. They need another player who commands a double team. They need another player who requires complex schemes to defend.

We see this in the teams that give the Warriors problems. The Warriors have to come up with two-and-three-layered schemes to contend with Durant and Russell Westbrook, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.

Since 2012, when Curry came back from his ankle surgery, every team the Warriors have lost to in the playoffs has had a second superstar. This has been a thing for Curry and the Warriors since they traded Monta Ellis. If you take away Curry, you can beat the Warriors.

That grew less and less true with the development of Thompson and Green. Plus, the defensive ability of the Warriors and scoring contributions from all over the lineup, have covered up the need for another superstar quite well.

But against other great teams, that need still exists. And Thompson is a finisher, not so much a creator. When he is feeling it, he is that guy. When he’s not, he isn’t. Green is a creator, not so much a finisher. And they both benefit from the holes created by the attention given to Curry. Thompson and Green combined sort of becomes that No. 2 superstar, especially as Green’s offensive game improves. But the reality exposed in the Finals is that Green is a defensive superstar who can also hurt teams on offense but that’s not the pinnacle of his game, and Thompson’s success is directly tied to his jump shot, which is epic but still defendable in ways.

And since that’s what this is about now, how to win at the highest levels, the Warriors need to address that. It’s clear, again, the Warriors still need somebody else who they can give the ball to and tell him to “go carry us” when Curry can’t. The Warriors were minutes from winning back-to-back championships and lost because Curry didn’t have it to carry them and no one else could. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers had LeBron and Kyrie Irving.

Durant is that guy. And if the Warriors get him, they will have two of those guys plus Thompson and Green. That would make them close to un-guardable.

Category: Basketball