Warriors, come out to play...

Living in the shadow of the King

That´s the first interesting question we´ll be looking at. KD´s free agency has been often compared to Lebron´s "the decision", so that´s the first milestone to revisit. It´s been six years already, and the turn of events that led King James to South Beach (pretty much like everything else in Durant´s career) make Durant look like a diluted version of the King. Ever since KD35 entered the league, he was appointed as the heir to the throne... after current king reign ended, of course, which has yet to hapen. Durant has always been under James´ shadow in terms of position (sf), basketball greatness, accolades, career path, public impact, mommy´s influence... even when it comes to making his own decisions and rubbing people off in the process, James has outshined durant, and this is no different.

To begin with, the whole narrative we have been sold on (Durant and Warriors needing each other) has been a sellable one because of the amazing finals performance of one single individual: James.

Take a course on superteams

But let´s take a look back: in 2010, Bron was coming off yet another playoff disappointment. The noise surronding his free agency had been loud as it could get for the whole year, and it only took off from there when the Celtics eliminated the Cavs. Soon as he made public his decision, Lebron took the same hits Durant is taking nowadays: he was portrayed as a seccond fiddle to Wade, a false alpha dog, a player unable to establish his own legacy: a traitor. Even the fact he chose to wear number six took a wrong turn: he was paying homeage to Dr. J, a controversial figure himself, with the twisted way his career developed.

Miami became the world capital of basketball, and everything Heat-related was heavily scrutinized. They had an unproven coach in Eric Spoelstra, a roster filled with holes and a permanent storm around them.

And here comes the first lesson the Warriors (and we the fans) should be looking at: god forbid the Warriors start the season slow. The Heat started 9-8 and the whole project almost crumbled: Spo was rumored out, trades were rumored in, Bosh was forced to reinvent his game, James was despised by fans all over the league, even Riley was questioned for putting together a roster that seemed to fit quite well... on paper only. Even god forbid the Warriors have a bad preseason. If this was a regular team, one would say we must wait to mid-season to draw serious conclusions. If this was just a superteam, one could expect every game to be unde ¡r the microscope from the very beggining of the season. For this warriors team? Expect preseason to be huge. And, as 2012 Lakers showed, good preseasons can mean nothing, but bad preseasons certainly do mean something.

So if you happen to stumble upon KD at your local groceries store, don´t miss the chance to warn him: something bigger than oklahoman tornadoes is coming his way...