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Showing posts with label Phoenix suns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Phoenix suns. Show all posts

Just like in GS, BKLYN , KD shows no leadership in PHX

 


Kevin Durant is not a leader. Plain and simple: when things get tough, there's zero accountability from him. 

That's why when he formed a big three in Brooklyn alongside Kyrie Irving and James Harden, things fell apart. Both Irving and Harden accept zero responsibility when things go sideways. 

It's either changing area codes or changing coaches, not looking in the mirror for these mercurial stars. 

It makes sense why Durant would want to play with two players with similar characteristics to his own. Devin Booker and Bradley Beal fit that mold as well. 

Now in his second not even full season in Phoenix, the Suns just hired their third coach,  championship winning one at that, and dismissed him after only one season.

Monty Williams was fired after a very successful run with the Suns including an NBA finals appearance in 2021.

They are now rumblings that Durant has not exactly ingratiated himself to teammates in Phoenix.

This dream big three they formed out in the Valley is going the same way as things went in Brooklyn. More drama and dysfunction than achievement. 

It's kind of sad in a way to see how Durant's legacy will be tainted after his last few seasons, but he has nobody to blame but himself and his ring chasing ways. 

Maybe if he spent less time trying to pull strings behind the scenes and play general manager and coach, he might form a closer bond with his teammates and develop some leadership skills that are sorely lacking. 

From championship slayer to coach killer, it was KD's fault afterall

 


When you think about the most uncoachable players in the NBA, there are a few names that come to mind. These players specifically have a penchant for getting coaches fired. 

Lebron James and Kyrie Irving are among the first to be considered as difficult to manage and easy to place the blame on others. 

But there is in fact one player that actually takes the cake when it comes to uncoachability.

Surprising or not, that man is Kevin Durant. 

Since arriving in Brooklyn in 2019, Durant briefly played for Kenny Atkinson before he was ousted out of Brooklyn and the Nets hired Steve Nash. Durant quickly grew tired of Nash and issued the Nets an ultimatum during his first trade request: 'fire Nash and Sean Marks or trade me'. 

Durant rescinded his first trade request, and Nash was only back for the first handful of games to start the 2022 season before Brooklyn pulled the plug and anointed Jacque Vaughn as the new full-time head coach with an extension. 

Then Durant revisited his trade request right before the trade deadline and was dealt to Phoenix. 

The Suns reached the second round of the playoffs last year before losing in five games to the eventual NBA champion Nuggets with Monty Williams as Durant's head coach. 

To no one's surprise, Phoenix then made another coaching change and hired a title winning coach in Frank Vogel to lead the sidelines. 

The Suns underachieved this year and were swept out of the first round by the Minnesota Timberwolves. 

This week it was announced that Vogel was fired and former head coach with the Bucks an NBA champion Mike Budenholzer is expected to take over.

So this will be Kevin Durant's sixth different head coach since he joined the Nets in the summer of 2019. 

He cycled through three coaches in Brooklyn and now is on his third coach in Phoenix. 

Durant hurt his NBA legacy by super team jumping after leaving Oklahoma City and now his reputation is taking another hit for being a coach killer late in his career. 


KD sticks it to Nets one more time, this time in return to Brooklyn

 


Kevin Durant always loved the rims at Barclays Center and he barely needed them on Wednesday as he dropped 33 to go along with eight assists and five rebounds.

The Nets, led by Cam Thomas with 25 and Mikal Bridges with 21 for the game, hung tough in the first half, trailing by just three points.

Once the third quarter hit, Phoenix blew the doors off Brooklyn with a 42-26 frame, including a stretch where the Suns went 14 of 16 from the field.

The Nets allowed the Suns to shoot 62 percent for the game and despite a late charge to cut the lead to just ten points inside 5 minutes remaining, the Nets couldn't get any closer.

Prior to the game, the Nets showed a tribute video to Durant, one that was rumored, and Durant indicated on X that he neither wanted nor deserved due to his short stint with the team.

The Nets are sinking into oblivion while the Suns seem to be finding their footing. Anything short of a Phoenix championship will be an utter failure during Durant's contract, which runs through the 2025-26 season. 

The Nets, meanwhile, are mired in a brutal stretch of basketball. With the trade deadline seven days away, Sean Marks' future with the club may depend on how he positions this roster for both short-term and long-term success.

Durant's boneheaded foul seals Nets win in Suns Big 3 debut

 




The Brooklyn Nets got the revenge that many fans are hoping for on Wednesday night against Kevin Durant and his new team the Phoenix Suns. 

Much Durant's ime in Brooklyn, Phoenix has been unable to stay healthy with Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal  finally all seeing the court together. 

Spencer Dinwiddie was clutched down the stretch as he scored eight fourth quarter points and Cam. Thomas connected on two free throws to seal a 4-point win at Footprint Center. 

Thomas led the way for Brooklyn with 24, while Mikal Bridges chipped in 21 and Dinwiddie 16.

Booker dropped in 34 points and Durant 27, but Durant committed a bone-headed foul on Cam Johnson with just 3 seconds remaining on the shot clock where a stop would have given the Suns the ball down only two points with less than 10 seconds remaining.

Durant was adamant about asking out of Brooklyn at last year's trade deadline and with the Nets on the rise he can't ask his way back in now. 


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