Name: Kevin Durant: I thought championship would fill void, but it didn't - ProBasketballTalk | NBC Sports
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Kevin Durant: I thought championship would fill void, but it didn't - ProBasketballTalk | NBC Sports

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has been ejected five times this season. since Rasheed Wallace singlehandedly forced the NBA to crack down on technical fouls.Durant, :“It’s just a part of the evolution that I’m going through,” Durant told ESPN. “I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not perfect. I don’t have all the answers. It will probably take the offseason for me to assess, ‘OK, let’s figure out how to tone this down a little.’ But I’m comfortable sharing this because all I care about is that,” he said as he pointed to the practice court.“I love this game, and I’m going to do whatever I can to help my team get back to where we were last year. That’s what I’m excited for. That’s why you’re seeing this passion from me. Before, I used to care about the game and the lifestyle. Now, all I care about is my love for the game, the pureness of the game. This is me.”“It’s just my emotions and passion for the game,” Durant said after Friday’s practice session. “After winning that championship (last season), I learned that much hadn’t changed. I thought it would fill a certain [void]. It didn’t. That’s when I realized in the offseason that the only thing that matters is this game and how much work you put into it. Everything else off the court, social media, perception, isn’t important. What people say, how they view you, it’s not important.“What we did as a team was special, and I want to experience that again. My love and passion for the game has [blossomed] because I understand that’s what it’s all about, and I’m pouring all of this [newfound thirst] into this game. But I know I have to keep [my fire] under control, and I will.”Durant has been debuting The Real Durant . It doesn’t always stick. He keeps , and I’m not sure he’s there yet. It’s hard – especially in the spotlight like he is.I have numerous theories for Durant’s technical-foul barrage this season. Is rubbing off on him? Does Durant know he’s too good for the Warriors to punish him when he steps over the line? Is he bored by a long regular season on a championship favorite and picking fights to spice things up?He’s clearly passionate, but he was passionate before, and he wasn’t getting T’d up left and right like this. He says he’ll reign it in for the playoffs, and maybe he will. But he also touted that he got ejected only late in decided games. Last night was different, as Durant got tossed to end the first half.That was a line he publicly set for himself, and he crossed it. Looks like just part of the continuous journey of discovering himself.After nearly a year-long investigation, the NBA released a statement on Tuesday that detailed their findings in regards to Robert Sarver and both Phoenix professional basketball teams.The investigation, which included interviews with 320 individuals and more than 80,000 documents, yielded a number of findings of Sarver’s inappropriate workplace behavior, including:The NBA today issued the following statement:— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) As a result of the investigation, Sarver was suspended for one year, which means that he won’t be allowed at any NBA/WNBA event facility, allowed to represent the Suns or Mercury in any way, or be involved with any business or basketball operations within either organization or either league. Sarver was also fined $10 million and will be required to complete a training program that focuses on respect and appropriate conduct in the workplace.$10 million is the maximum amount that the NBA is allowed to fine. They will donate the money to organizations that are focused on racial and gender-based issues both in and out of the workplace.The Phoenix Suns released this statement:— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) The report indicates that Sarver “engaged in conduct that clearly violated common workplace standards, as reflected in team and League rules and policies. This conduct included the use of racially insensitive language; unequal treatment of female employees; sex-related statements and conduct; and harsh treatment of employees that on occasion constituted bullying.”While the NBA says Robert Sarver "cooperated fully with the investigative process," sources tell and me that the Suns owner was unaccepting of idea he deserved a one-year suspension and $10M fine for his behavior. The punitive part of process became largely acrimonious.— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) Along with those findings, the investigation did a deeper dive into workplace misconduct within the Suns’ organization that wasn’t related to Sarver, where they found evidence of racial insensitivity, mistreatment of female employees, inappropriate comments on sex or sexual orientation, and other disrespectful communication.Commissioner Adam Silver commented on the result of the investigation in the NBA’s press release.“The statements and conduct described in the findings of the independent investigation are troubling and disappointing,” Silver said. “We believe the outcome is the right one, taking into account all the facts, circumstances and context brought to light by the comprehensive investigation of this 18-year period and our commitment to upholding proper standards in NBA workplaces.“I am hopeful that the NBA community will use this opportunity to reflect on what this great game means to people everywhere and the values of equality, respect and inclusion that it strives to represent. Regardless of position, power or intent, we all need to recognize the corrosive and hurtful impact of racially insensitive and demeaning language and behavior. On behalf of the entire NBA, I apologize to all of those impacted by the misconduct outlined in the investigators’ report. We must do better.”The full report can be downloaded from this link:is not lacking for confidence.One big question hanging over the was a basic one: Could Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns play together?Towns expressed extreme confidence when explaining why this pairing would work .“The last time I had something like this, obviously I had , I played [power forward] a lot of years in the NBA. Fans forgot that. It’s OK,” Towns told CBS Sports. “And go back to me in college. This is how I played in college. is like 7-2. I don’t know what they’re missing in that…“I think that Rudy’s one of the best defensive players we’ve ever had in the NBA. He has the hardware to prove it,” Towns told CBS Sports. “I think I’m one of the best offensive players and talents the NBA has ever seen. So putting us together gives us really a whole spectrum of talent to use.”. And he is unquestionably a versatile and gifted offensive player, an All-NBA center who averaged 24.6 points and 9.8 rebounds a game last season. Timberwolves fans should want a player who believes he’s one of the best offensive talents the game has ever seen — just know in reality that is a long list. It’s a tough ladder to climb.Towns has played next to other bigs but has always spent at least 95% of his time at the five, according to stats. Offensively it’s easier to see how these Timberwolves fit, Gobert is more of a roll man while Towns can space the floor (30% of his shot attempts last season came from 3, and he hit 41% of them). They should be able to play off each other.Defense is the bigger question: How well can Towns and Gobert defend in space against teams that play smaller at the four and even the five? How will the two bigs defend against an increasingly positionless league?“I’ve had a lot of fun playing on the perimeter and guarding on the perimeter,” Towns told CBS Sports. “Just really getting a chance to utilize what some of my strengths are defensively, which is switching and being able to guard one through five. I’m having fun going out there and being able to back Rudy up when he needs to muscle with fives or fours and we’re playing big lineups or whatever, and then if they go small ball I feel very comfortable with my chances of guarding guards and stuff like that, the wings.”Towns’ comfort level defending on the perimeter will be tested this season, especially come the playoffs (when teams have made life difficult in the past for Gobert by forcing him to choose protecting the rim vs. covering a floor-spacing shooter). The Timberwolves will be good and much improved, but how good will depend partly on how well they answer the tough defensive questions.We know this much: Towns is not going into this season lacking for confidence.The bombshell that exploded in the NBA back in April of 2014 to his mistress, V. Stiviano, shook the league to its core. , but the undeniable, in-your-face nature of the recordings led to a backlash. Major team and league sponsors — State Farm, CarMax, Kia, Red Bull, Sprint, Corona, among many others — dropped the Clippers fast.Caught in the middle of the firestorm were the Clippers players and coach Doc Rivers, who were five games into a first-round playoff series against the upstart Warriors. The Clippers players debated a boycott, ultimately choosing to play, however, they turned their warmup shirts inside out so as not to show the logo.The Warriors debated boycotting, too. And looking back, Curry privately discussed a unified player response with the Clippers star , twice, because Curry and his teammates wanted to walk off the court after the jump ball. But the Warriors ultimately deferred to their opponents’ protest of choice — the Clippers wore warmup shirts with the logo inside out, then discarded them at center court — and to the league commissioner’s lifetime ban of Sterling.“One of my biggest regrets is not boycotting the game,” Curry told me. “That was a moment to leverage beyond anything we probably could have said.”It was not an easy decision for the Clippers players (), this was a 57-win Clippers team considered a title contender. The Clippers players wanted to take the court for each other, but not for Sterling. For Curry and the Warriors, it was logical to defer to the wishes of CP3, and the rest of the Los Angeles team, even if they wanted to do more. , plus took the first steps toward forcing a team sale, which the players saw as the league taking action, influencing their decision to play. Ultimately — — the NBA forced the sale of the team to Steve Ballmer. Nobody should think of Sterling as a loser out of this fiasco, he bought the Clippers for $12.5 million and sold them for $2 billion.Maybe the players could have done more at the moment, a boycott would have sent a stronger message of their disgust and given them leverage. But, at. Ultimately the Clippers went on to beat the Warriors in seven games that series, but the Sterling debacle had taken the steam out of their playoff run and they fell to the Thunder in the next round.Curry has the clarity of hindsight now, but at the time everything was chaotic and there were no easy decisions. The players’ protest at the time was heard, and ultimately Sterling was on his way out, but we’ll never know how much the message of a boycott would have resonated.LAS VEGAS — The Connecticut Sun might be down one game in the WNBA Finals after losing their first series opener of the postseason, but they haven’t lost confidence thanks to a stringent defensive effort in Game 1.The Sun did what they hoped to do, holding the league’s No. 1 offense well below its season average. The top-seeded Las Vegas Aces averaged 90.4 points per game during the regular season and were scoring a playoff-best 92.3 per contest heading into the championship round.On Sunday, the Sun held Las Vegas to its lowest point total of the postseason in the 67-64 loss, and Connecticut took confidence from that performance as it prepares for Tuesday’s Game 2.“I mean, after this game, we have to have a lot of confidence,” forward Alyssa Thomas said. “I mean, this is a three-point game and we had a chance to tie. I think we are very confident and we know that all you need is one, and then there’s two games at our place. So yeah, there’s some things we can clean up. Of course, we can make more shots, but overall we played a hard game.”Hard enough that Las Vegas shot just 39.7% from the floor, including 20.8% rom 3-point range — both playoff lows.In fact, the 67 points were the fewest Las Vegas scored all season, while there were only four other times the Aces shot worse from the floor, and one other time their long-range shooting was worse.“They play so hard the entire game,” Aces coach said. “That team is relentless, and so you can never let your foot off the gas.”Which is what the Aces learned after building their biggest lead of the game in the first quarter, a 21-9 advantage that they slowly squandered as Connecticut turned the pace in its favor.The Sun imposed their defensive will in the second quarter, opening the period on a 13-4 run to take a 30-29 lead while frustrating Las Vegas by blocking passing lanes, limiting space for league MVP A’ja Wilson and keeping the Aces away from the glass.“As the game settled in, we found rhythms to get consecutive stops,” Connecticut coach Curt Miller said. “Our defense settled in and got to our pillars, got to the game plan, and started to get the type of game that we feel we need in order to be successful.”The problem for the Sun was they weren’t able to convert on several possessions, missing ample opportunities with shots they might normally make and that would have allowed them to create some separation going into halftime, rather than a four-point lead that could have easily been double digits.“We came out, we played hard, and unfortunately they hit more shots than us and we didn’t get stops in a timely manner,” Thomas said. “But there’s a Game 2, and we will watch the video and be prepared for the next game.”Powered by

has been ejected five times this season. since Rasheed Wallace singlehandedly forced the NBA to crack down on technical fouls.Durant, :“It’s just a part of the evolution that I’m going through,” Durant told ESPN. “I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not perfect. I don’t have all the answers. It will probably take the offseason for me to assess, ‘OK, let’s figure out how to tone this down a little.’ But I’m comfortable sharing this because all I care about is that,” he said as he pointed to the practice court.“I love this game, and I’m going to do whatever I can to help my team get back to...

Kevin Durant: I thought championship would fill void, but it didn't - ProBasketballTalk | NBC Sports

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