- Joined
- Jul 16, 2007
- Messages
- 49,276
- Reaction score
- 2,462
I think Durant is a stone cold bitch for going to Golden State.
That said: Golden State enjoys what happens when you build around home-grown talent. All of their stars were drafted and developed. That left a giant amount of money on the table for free agents. They lucked out in getting Steph long term and cheap after his series of ankle injuries, so none of the contracts were weighing them down. It's an expertly built and developed team. More teams should focus on building that way instead of dumping assets and trying to pay a fuck ton of money for free agents, or otherwise dumping all of their money into max contracts.
This is what I always say. Teams really need to focus on developing players, systems, and cultures. That's what actually wins titles...not big time free agent signings. If you go back through the history of the league there has only been one team since 1960 that wasn't led or co-led by at least one home-grown player. That was the 2004 Detroit Pistons.
Free agent signings are still essential don't get me wrong. But you need that one guy to get it all started and build around. Whether it's a Kobe, Dirk, Wade, Lebron, Pierce, Curry, Olajuwon, ect...you need somebody. Then you can make big free agent signings/trades and contend for titles.
That is how you know this Rockets team is not going to ever win a title. Nobody is homegrown.