The Nets have had an up-and-down first month of the 2022/23 season and are in the midst of another downturn right now, having given up 153 points to the Kings in a blowout loss on Tuesday.
Still, Kevin Durant tells Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report that he likes the energy new head coach Jacque Vaughn has brought to the team. According to Durant, the Nets have been “preparing ourselves well” for games, “playing as hard as we can,” and are starting to build real chemistry.
In Durant’s view, the way the Nets are readying themselves for games under Vaughn is how the team should have been approaching its preparation last season. That was the primary reason the star forward requested a trade in the summer, he told Haynes.
“It wasn’t difficult at all to request a trade because it was about ball,” Durant said. “I went to them and was like, ‘Yo, I don’t like how we are preparing. I don’t like shootarounds. I like practices. I need more. I want to work on more s–t. Hold me accountable. Get on my ass in film if that’s going to help you get on everybody else’s head. I want to do more closeouts. I want to work on more shell drills at practice.’
“This was the type of s–t I was coming at them with. It wasn’t like, ‘Yo, y’all need to make sure everybody around me can make my life easier.’ Hell nah, I want to make everybody else’s life easier. Ask Steve Nash, you can go call him right now. I would say, ‘Yo, I need more closeout drills. We need to practice more.’ That’s what I was on.
“I wasn’t feeling that, and nobody was on that same vibe with me. Jacque Vaughn is. I had some complaints in the summer, and my complaints were not about just me; it was about how we are moving as a unit. I want us to be respected out here in the basketball world. I don’t want players to look at us and say, ‘Oh man, these (expletive) are full of s–t. That’s not the type of team I want to be on.’ So when we’re all playing like s–t, you know the one person they’re going to look at. That’s why I requested a trade.”
Durant opened up to both Haynes and Marc J. Spears of Andscape on Tuesday about a number of topics beyond his offseason trade request. Both interviews are worth checking out in full, but here are some of the highlights from the former MVP:
On the Nets’ lineup with Kyrie Irving unavailable and Ben Simmons struggling to regain his old form:
“Look at our starting lineup. Edmond Sumner, Royce O’Neale, Joe Harris, (Nic) Claxton and me. It’s not disrespect, but what are you expecting from that group? You expect us to win because I’m out there. So if you’re watching from that lens, you’re expecting us to play well because No. 7 is out there.”
On the perception that he’s not a true leader:
“I’m not a leader? What the f–k does that mean? A lot of people say I’m not a leader because I didn’t tell Kyrie to get vaccinated. Come on. Or I didn’t condemn Kyrie for leaving the team, going out and living his life. I’m not about to tell a grown-ass man what he can and can’t do with his own life and dissect his views or how he thinks about s–t.
“… I don’t need to show or tell everybody what I’m doing with my teammates so y’all can pump me up and say, ‘Yeah, KD, you’re the boss, you’re the leader.’ These other (expletives) need that. I don’t. I don’t come to you and say, ‘Haynes, write this story about me.’ I don’t do that to nobody. But I come here and respect y’all. I talk to y’all like a real one, even after a blowout (loss).”
On whether he’s happy in Brooklyn:
“I’m incredible. Loving life right now. I don’t think the world understands that. Maybe I need to get miked up more. Maybe I need to have more fluff pieces written about me. Smile more in pictures.
“What’s not to love about this life? I’m a great player. I get up to go hoop every day, work on my game. I make a s–t ton of money. I buy a lot of cool s–t. I don’t understand why there’s even a question on whether I’m happy or not. I just look at the big picture of things. Obviously, basketball, I want to do well, win every game and I want s–t to be perfect. But that doesn’t mean my whole life is f—ed up.”
On his legacy as a player:
“All that extra s–t like, ‘You got to win before you retire and make sure your legacy is straight,’ that’s bulls–t to me. My legacy is predicated on what Cam Thomas is learning from me and what he’ll take away to help him by the time he’s in his 10th year. That’s my legacy. What I did with Andre Roberson, the confidence I helped him build when he was in the league. That’s my legacy. Being able to play with Russell Westbrook, Steph Curry and Kyrie and still be me. Yeah, that’s my legacy. That’s who I am. That’s what I bring to the game.
“I can play with anybody, anywhere, at any time, and you know I’m going bring it every day. That should be my legacy.”
He will be on the Warriors as soon as 2023.
I would like Durant if he wasn’t so sensitive about everything
Which makes the legacy answer all the more funny. So much for being a real one. Everyone knows legacy is extremely important to him.
“I’m not a leader? What the f–k does that mean? A lot of people say I’m not a leader because I didn’t tell Kyrie to get vaccinated.
No, people say it because you joined a 73-9 team to get bus rider rings.
He was Finals MVP. That’s hardly riding the rest of the team’s coattails.
Stupid comment. KD was part of that 73-9 team pugslie, helping get that record and sports a well earned ring because of it. Hall of Famer.
He was not part of the 73-9 team. That team was in 2015-16 while Durant was on the Thunder.
By “part of that 73-9 team” do you mean blowing a 3-1 lead to them in the WCF?
The same team that beat him in the WCF the previous year on top of that. Making it all the more cheap. That’s like if Ewing left the Knicks to join the Bulls and got a ring. Then called himself a leader.
I like KD’s passion. He might be BS’ing a bit, but I think he’s telling it like it is. I understand why people believe he has a little baggage, but doesn’t everyone? He’s one of the best to play his position in NBA history and should be acknowledged as such. And no, I’m not his mom.
Agreed. He could wind up playing out his contract if he’s genuinely happy doing what he’s doing.
I respect KD’s commitment to being a better basketball player, but being a leader and quality teammate, he is not. He’s too passive-aggressive. He’s aggressive against valid criticism, but when he needs to speak up, he doesn’t. I still go back to the podcast with Dray. That told me all I needed to know about KD. Blame others.
Oh yes, because Dray is a perfect of example of leadership? Just ask Jordan Poole after he picked himself up off the floor.
Man this interview makes KD sound like a complete d-bag.
He doesn’t need any help with that achievement.
I’ll always wonder what coulda been with those OKC teams
A leader doesn’t throw his entire starting lineup under the bus during an interview.
He should have told Kyrie to get vaccinated. His opinion on the matter is totally valid, because Irving wasted an entire year of KD’s career with this BS. He wasted the season for everybody in the organization. I’m surprised they didn’t get rid of him, honestly.
Seems a team leader would have somehow got Kyrie to think of & play for the team last year.
Kevin Durant really seemed a likable guy during his first years in the NBA.
MJ would have popped Kyrie’s head like a pimple. Play ball or shove off. KD is not willing to be the heavy and hold teammates accountable.
Why say all this now?
Asked 47000 times probably.
Now the specifics on nash.
At some point it will come out his disagreements on player transactions.
I think his life would be easier if he were upfront to the media at the time, instead of later.
Maybe Dr.Phil should be the Nets’ coach. Richard Simmons can hug KD during the timeout huddle.
Weak men aren’t leaders. KD doesn’t have go worry about being anything but a incredibly talented basketball player.
Proof is in the pudding. The subs, and the team play is way better since Nash left. Not sure how Nash could be such a poor game manager being a former point guard? Been a strong Rumor that Irving & Durant both felt that they were better players while playing with Nash, and were skeptical from the start of Nash’s ability to coach them effectively. They were right. Nash was one of the worst rookie coaches ever. Vaughn has proven that conclusively.