Bill Simmons: Kevin Durant Should Go to the Clippers.

The first 15 min or so of the podcast is praise being heaped on the Clippers. Simmons sees the Clippers as the best fit (I agree) and implies the team is tailor made for a superstar to join and lead. Prior to this season KD wasn't even on the radar. With many thinking he's walking win or lose though, and Kawhi meshing so well in Toronto, he may be THE guy to put all the marbles in on. If the Clippers can land a pair like KD+Kemba or Butler, (elite, but not tier 1 players) and SGA+Harrell keep stepping up, they will be DANGEROUS. Even if they decide to keep Harris instead of chasing a 2nd star and just grab KD, re sign some depth like Scott... they would be great.

I think we should go for Kawhi and try to resign Tobias and maybe Try to trade for a decent center Vucevic would be a great fit on this team, what’s annoying is his salary matched perfect with austin’s. We would have had his bird rights and he would only count as an $18mm salary against our cap space... oh well!

Yeah, I'll pass on KD.

Get rid of Tobias (he will be overpaid) and try for Leonard. If we are lucky and Jerome pans out, we are set for guards.

I sort of feel the same way. We finally have a team free of jerks. Bringing in Durant would make us hated again.

I guess Kawhi and AD is better than Kawhi and KD.

Why would we be hated if KD joins the Clipps? Him leaving GS will put him back on the redemption path like how Bron left Miami and went back home to Cleveland. Draymond is an ungrateful pos. I think it'll be fun to have one of the top players in the game on the Clipps. We might mess around and be the bigger attraction in LA next season

KD's reputation was completely destroyed when he joined Golden State. He even made things worse with his burner account fiasco and throwing the Thunder coach and players under the bus. Even in his recount of the process he told his agent "how could you let me do this?" What a narcissistic comment. He blames the decision on joining the Warriors on his agent for "not stopping him." The Clippers are barely recovering from the tantrums, flopping, whining, and complaining that Paul and Griffin created here. The NBA fan base is slowly forgetting that narrative and seeing the Clippers as more of a blue collar team...bringing in Durant would just reverse that and put us back in a negative light. I'm in the minority though...truth be told, I want a rebuild with Shai, Jerome, and Harrell as the cornerstones.

Also, the Clippers are an L.A. team, so the NBA fans are going to hate KD choosing another "big market." Even though we have very little success, the Clippers still are treated as if they are the Lakers, Dodgers, or L.A. Kings. They don't know that we are the hard working, loyal fans we are. In the minds of other fans, Clippers fans are just Kardashian elites that rooted for the Lakers a few years ago. They don't know that we have been here all along and hate band wagons and celebrity hobnobbing at games.

SORRY give me KD over ANYBODY on this roster!!! KD makes you an instant title contender. Why wouldn’t anybody want the best player in the league on their team??

I see what you getting at but I disagree. If he joined the Lakers then it would be part 2 of being a heel/villain but joining the Clipps would put him on a path to redemption imo. Yes we are blue collar. The cry baby Lob City days are over with. And why not have SGA, Harrell, Jerome, and KD? That would be awesome! And truthfully I've had enough of passive stars(Blake, CP3, Tobias, etc) playing hot potato in the 4th quarter. Get me an unconscious killer on this team. No matter how we feel about KD we can't pass up a top 5 player in the league. I hope Golden State burns to the ground! Burn baby burn!

If KD comes we gotta keep Pat Beverly to at least instill some toughness here.

I guess we do disagree yeah. However I do agree about the passive Stars comment. I think shooting and specifically shooting late in the game is something your team needs to have. Durant would give us that. However what Durant will do is a complete mystery. During his last free agency, I thought the race to get him was between two teams the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Washington Wizards. When he joined Golden State I was completely shocked. Who knows he may join us or he may pull another similar decision and just go to the next Contender like Houston or some other team that is close only Durant knows what he's doing I guess

"It is better to be feared than loved", Machiavelli. Other than Clipper Nation, I'd love to be hated. I don't care what the rest of the world will think when succeed. I fart in their general direction. I want respect. Not getting KD if available is insanity if we don't have to sell the whole ranch. He is a walking Championship. The OKC problems were more caused by his Westbrook's /relationship. STUPID, like Shaq and Kobe. I don't care if KD brings his security blanket and sucks his thumb. We will lose Trezz, probably Tobias. Lou has a cheap contract and SGA is now a bargain. A trade might kill us. We will have to prove ourselves to get a marquee player. We still don't have a center and our guards piss in the punch bowl.

Great quote, but that is assuming there is a dichotomy (a choice between two options only). The Spurs proved that there is another way. They developed from within and scouted overseas for quite some time. They won championships and were respected. Their players were class acts, not jerks. Success and love/respect are not concepts that are mutually exclusive. We can be successful without having a Kobe-Shaq feuding team. But since we are bringing in quotes I will add mine:

"Perhaps we've grown so used to horror we assume there's no other way." Lord Varys.

This is a quote that stems from a discussion of power and ruling. I'm a big fan of Game of Thrones. This series of books is amazing because it has a lot of philosophical concepts. This quote stems from a discussion of power. Two characters, Lord Varys and Tyrion Lannister, talk about ruling, power, and success. Varys explains that he wants a world where the strong do not prey on the weak. Tyrion responds in a mocking tone, "...where the castles are made of gingerbread and the moats are filled with blackberry wine. The powerful have always preyed on the powerless, that's how they became powerful in the first place." To which Varys responds with "Perhaps we've grown so used to horror we assume there's no other way."

I love this quote because it challenges what we believe is possible. So many of us fans believe that because things are currently the way they are, there is no other way to have success. That is, to win a championship we need to acquire a guy of Durant's personality, skill, and standing, but that is not true. There are many ways to build a contender. We can build a contender that will not be loathed in the NBA. Unfortunately, recent teams have had so many ass#oles on them that we assume we have to put up with that or build that way.

First KD is not the best player in the league. He is among the elite. But that's a relative argument isn't it? I would probably consider Kawhai Leonard and Lebron James as better than him. But what good is the best player in the league if the surrounding cast is not the right one? Currently, the Lakers have the best player in the league, Lebron James, but that isn't working out for them. They, like many others in the league, assume that you can just lure stars together an instant contender is built. However, that only moves the needle so much. The rest of the cast needs to compliment that player. We saw this dilemma with Houston. Last season, they were one win away from the championship. They kept their best players: Paul, Harden, and Cappella, but they let go of some ancillary players they deemed expendable: Mbah A Moutte and Ariza. I would rather build a sound team rather than chasing after the marquee names, and I would rather have that done from within to keep costs low and the window wide open. Of course that's just me, and it's just my opinion. It's not as far-fetched of an idea as it would sound though. I believe that SGA is going to be a good player, and JR, if he ever gets a chance, can be a similar player to Redick (albeit with higher potential due to his physical attributes). Harell is ready, that guy is solid, and just between those three our window is long. We need to build on that and develop it, not throw it away for a brief 1-3 year frame of being beat by GSW. Once these kids are ready...then we add vets.

The quote from Machiavelli referred to a dichotomy. If you could have one OR the other. One may have gotten used to horror but unless you have an option, tough sh*t. Would you rather be Triple H or Rick Flair or goody shoes Hulk Hogan? I'd rather be stylin' and profilin' than taking my vitamins. After a certain level, it doesn't matter who is the best. KD, Leonard, LBJ, Hardin, Curry. Wild Irish Rose, Thunderbird, Gallo in the jug, after a certain point they are all the same.

Back to sanity. KD will put butts in seats but blow the best opportunity we've had since Brand. The main thing is that we don't have albatross contracts. We have young guys while they're cheap. I think SGA will be in the running for ROY. The last thing this team needs is a big ego. These guys are fairly egalitarian. We got lucky with Scott but not our guards. Right now we have two Lou and Shai. Build the garage before you buy a Ferrari.

Whether the quote refers to a dichotomy or not...dichotomies are false. There aren't only two options, which is what you are still failing to see. Remember this isn't a one or the other situation. In building an NBA team, there are myriad ways. San Antonio has proved that, Detroit has proved that, and countless others as well. KD will put people in the seats, but that's the same with any other players that is marquee. Look at how many fans we got when Chris Paul came to the Clippers. The NBA is full of fans that essentially follow one guy. Whether that's Lebron, Durant, Kawhaii , etc. We would get fans with ANY key free agent...a following is not exclusive to Durant at all.

About the only thing I think I agree with you on is that we don't have huge contracts on this current team, which I love.

Yes sir! Clip Gang Gitty Gang shows no fear in these big games!!

Just think if we hit our free throws and if Lou could hit at least 50% percent of his shots like he did last year. Most of our games would be over by the 3rd quarter.

-edit.. wrong thread

What are you talking about? Have you read Machiavelli's "The Prince"? The question first posed above was - would you like to be a champion and be loved or be a champion and be feared and hated? The Prince posed this question to Machiavelli and Machiavelli replied that it is better to be feared than loved. This is an extremely famous quote. Yes it was a dichotomy because only two options were presented in the question,-- liked OR disliked If dichotomies are false then computer code cannot exist. Do you turn left OR right.

Please read my post. I said that once a player reaches god like status they are all the same. KD, LBJ, Curry, Leonard, Hardin--- will all fill seats. This is what you said. Since they are jerks i compared them to bad wine. I also said that getting Durant may not be our best option since it will destroy our long term plans. This is what you said.

PS what if Durant played center?

I'm damn near certain we're getting either Kawhi or KD next season. Outside of Klay Thompson, what star wouldn't want to play on this team in LA?

If we keep playing like this I'm pretty sure KD will connect to Jerry West, And Kawhi too.

I agree, although he is not the best PG we have, I love his toughness, He is like a lice that irritate the head of Curry and some PG in the league.

If he’s playing along a healthy Galo and Tobias it could work. Galo is extremely versatile in the defensive end and can guard every positions in switches. But KD can’t or shouldn’t play center when we’re playing with 3 guards line up