Just kind of a random, passing thought with me right now as I see this Thunder team meandering in mediocrity forty games in and showing no real evidence anything is different in the team culture with Billy Donovan. Don’t get wrong, Sam Presti should be taking most of the heat, but as a basketball fan who wants Durant to win a ring in his prime–the thought of Durant with Greg Popovich intrigues me somewhat.
I mean, as a lifelong NBA fan living in Deer Creek, Oklahoma–it means he wouldn’t be playing a mere twenty-minute drive from my front door anymore. It would mean the Thunder would be in a very bad way, but I’m tired of seeing this ugly basketball. The lack of correction, the mentally lazy mistakes made over and over again.
Durant is a student of the game. A historian of the game. A smart player. This can’t be escaping him. He’s too smart for it to be.
I’ve run all the franchises thru my head as to who would be the best fit for Durant, and to me it would be the Spurs provided Pop stays on after Duncan and Ginobli retire after this season. I would have Phil Jackson, Derek Fisher, and the Knicks as my third choice, with my second choice staying in Oklahoma City with Westbrook, Donovan and Presti. But to win a ring –if that’s what matters most to Durant, which I think it does, the Spurs with Pop would be my first choice.
There is a quiet, elegant grace Durant and Tim Duncan share which I think would make KD and Pop an instant mesh in a superstar/iconic coach relationship.
Just some random self thoughts.