Jerry West on Kevin Durant, 2017

Jerry West is one of the smartest guys I’ve ever observed in professional sports. A Hall of Fame player, a championship head coach, and a championship GM and consultant. When he talks, I take the time to listen. I respect his takes.

Like I wrote on here earlier, my initial response to Kevin Durant leaving to play for Golden State was negative. It took me about six months to get over it. I’m over it. In fact, in a way, a part of me has to admit other than the Thunder the Warriors are the team I watch most often when they’re playing against a top eight team on the road. They play the game the right way. They move the ball. Ron Adams has them playing championship defense. I’ve seen Durant’s game as an overall player flourish. Durant is on my list as either the second best player in the world or the third best player in the world. He is a generational iconic player.

He never played money games with OKC. He fulfilled his contractual obligations to the fullest and in fact played very well in the Game 7 defeat to the Warriors in 2016. He became by the letter of the CBA a free agent after nine years of contractual ‘slavery’ to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

He never did the bullshit we saw from Kawhi in San Antonio, or like Jimmy Butler did in Minnesota or like Anthony Davis is presently doing in New Orleans. He fulfilled his contractual word.

He never was a problem within the community. He opened a restaurant in Bricktown. His foundation donated a million dollars to the tornado victims in Moore. He talked up Oklahoma City on a Sixty Minutes piece. He was the face of a city as it was growing thru the transitional facelifts of MAPS. He was the literal pulse of a city coming back from the dead. He was a part of all this we see in downtown Oklahoma City. You think Mick Cornett did this all by himself? I read Mick Cornett’s book and he’s a smart dude, but he and the others in MAPS should say a little prayer for Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook every chance they get.

And let me be clear with this, unlike Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant was accessible and professional to the local media… especially Berry Tramel. He didn’t play games. He was a professional. He didn’t drone, “The execution was really good.”

So he left after nine years and pursued something different. My son after nine years left his Fortune 500 job in downtown Oklahoma City which earned him a better job in Denver. More money, a better place to live, a better educational system for my grandchildren some day, four major league sports teams, trout fishing, ski slopes, Washington Park, etc.

Tell me what my son did wrong?

And the answer is he did nothing wrong.

Tell me what Kevin Durant did which was wrong other than not meeting with Russell and Nick and explain to them in person why he made his decision.

My advice to Kevin Durant after reading the supportive letters Berry Tramel got in support from OKC Thunder fans of his column makes me realize Kevin Durant shouldn’t come back for Nick Collison’s jersey ceremony. He should call Nick in private. He should do the same with Russell. But there’s no reason for him to waste an airline ticket to come back to what in essence is a city it was ten years ago only with a facelift via MAPS. Kendra Horn, baby…I’m guessing you’re a one termer.

Let it go… Kevin Durant.

Is it racial thing per se? I don’t think so. Here’s what I think…it’s a state which ranks dead last in education and at the end of the day is in essence still a college market even after Hurricane Katrina.

So while I think Kevin Durant should make the effort to rekindle his friendships with Russell and Nick…don’t come back. You don’t owe these people a thing. Move forward, and grow as a man. Learn from this. We all learn in different ways.

Bill Russell after eleven world championships never came to terms with the fans in Boston and had his own Celtics jersey retired in private. The same will probably be true for Kevin Durant in Oklahoma City.

Forgiveness and kindness…such flawed concepts in our biblical heartland.

My bad. I should have known better.

13 thoughts on “Jerry West on Kevin Durant, 2017”

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