Kevin Durant seriously considered the Celtics, and that can’t be a bad thing
COMMENTARY
On Monday afternoon, Kevin Durant celebrated July 4 by lighting up a roman candle and taping it to the inside of the NBA’s collective shorts. In signing with the Golden State Warriors, Durant redirected the trajectory of both his career and basketball history. He changed everything, no matter how you feel about his decision.
In Boston, the most common feeling is disappointment. This is because the Celtics were close. How close, we may never know — but it was close enough that it felt real. By the time Monday rolled around there was an entirely reasonable scenario in which Durant’s ghostwriter typed “Boston Celtics” instead of “Golden State Warriors.” In that scenario you better believe Boston had a round of contingencies lined up and ready to guarantee themselves “contender” status for the next several years. It would’ve further cemented Danny Ainge as one of the best executives in basketball. It would’ve handed Brad Stevens the ammo to start really building that legendary resume. It would’ve been a throwback to the summer of 2007, when another former MVP named Kevin showed up and turned the Celtics back into the “Celtics”.
But then Durant slipped away.
Even worse he slipped away into the hands of Golden State. That’s like finding a winning million dollar scratch ticket on the sidewalk, bending over to pick it up, and then suddenly Warren Buffet squeals by on a rascal scooter and rips it out of your hands. He drives away laughing and talking trash, meanwhile you’re standing there like “damn it, Warren. I need that a lot more than you do.”
But what’s done is done. The best regular season team in NBA history just added one of the best players in NBA history at the height of his prime. When you look at it that way it’s easy to remember why the Celtics were such an underdog in all this. They couldn’t hang with certain teams on some of the more conventional levels of franchise attractiveness. So they had to get scrappy and creative and inject some chaos into the situation. They were basically the Mighty Ducks in D2 but with a knuckle puck named Thomas Edward Brady.
In this case the Celtics fell short of their Hollywood ending, but let’s agree on one thing:
It was still a pretty good movie.
I mean, can you imagine the reaction back in February if someone told you: “Hey just a heads up for July 4th weekend. The Celtics are gonna sign Al Horford and on the same day Danny Ainge, Brad Stevens and, oh, Tom Brady have a face-to-face meeting with Kevin Durant.”
You’d have thought there was a better chance to see Brady retire and become Trump’s running mate.
Either way, this past Saturday into Sunday and Monday morning turned into the most exciting and inspiring stretch of Celtics existence since the 2012 Conference Finals. And even though it didn’t work out, there are two positives worth focusing on because, really, what’s the alternative? Be angry and resentful? That won’t make anything easier while the Warriors are running train through the NBA regular season.
Positive No. 1 — That Brady thing was awesome.
And the best part is how much everyone outside of Boston absolutely hated it. They were almost offended by it. As if it was such a classic tool bag Boston move to act like any problem in the world can be solved by simply throwing Tom Brady at it.
But here’s the actual best part of all that — the thing which makes Brady’s role in Durant’s recruitment so amazing for Boston fans.
He didn’t have to do it. If that presentation passed without an appearance from Brady, not even the most psychotic attention whore in the Boston media would have created an issue. No one’s sitting on a barstool screaming, “Yeah, I know, but I still think it’s MESSED UP Brady didn’t show up with Ainge.”
In reality, Brady flew back from Costa Rica, left his family at a time of the year when you imagine time is most valuable, and flew to the Hamptons. He wouldn’t have done that unless he really wanted to. And you imagine he has too much respect for Durant to go out of his way to lie to the guy’s face. He’s not going to convinced him to move to a bad place. He’s not looking to manipulate personal interests to screw with another human’s quality of life. He’s not Roger Goodell.
Bottom line: The only reason Brady can tell Kevin Durant how much he’ll love playing in Boston is that Brady himself really loves playing in Boston.
He likes us. He really likes us.
Not that the Bay Area is a horrible sport town. The Warriors have some of the best crowds in the NBA. But the difference is some of those Warriors fans are 49ers fans, while some are Raiders fans. Some are San Francisco Giants fans, while others are Oakland A’s fans. Maybe some of them pretend to care about the Sharks who play about 50 miles away in San Jose. It’s just not the same. It’s not as contained. It lacks the singular bug that connects every athlete and inspires Brady to fly up to New York, or David Ortiz and Julian Edelman to reach out over social media. It’s because those guys are Boston fans, too. They want Durant in Boston for the same reasons as the guy tweeting at Durant while wearing a stained Ortiz jersey on the T.
Everyone is in this together — well at least the fans and the players —and that’s hard to understand until you’ve felt it.
But in this case it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t a big enough sell. More than anything else, Kevin Durant just wants to win a championship as quickly as possible.
Still the Celtics were right there. Durant was one of the most coveted free agents of all time, and by most counts, the Celtics were among his top three choices along with only a) his old team and b) literally the best regular season team in NBA history.
That’s decent company.
Positive No. 2– If the Celtics are good enough for Kevin Durant to consider, they’re good enough for anyone.
If Al Horford will sign in Boston, anyone will sign with Boston.
In other words, congratulations are in order because you’ve heard your last THE CELTICS WILL NEVER SIGN A BIG TIME FREE AGENT argument. After five thousand decades, it’s over. In fact, at this point it’s fair to guess that Boston will be in the running for every major free agent over the next few years — including one guy who’s back on the market next summer.
Maybe you’ve heard of him —
About 6-10?
A deadly shooter?
Deputy publisher at the Player’s Tribune?
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