View this email in your browser

9.22.17

Kevin Durant has a weird way of doing things

You know when someone keeps telling you about their questionable decision? Like, really keeps beating it into the ground? Like, won’t stop talking about that decision until you finally acknowledge it and “agree” with them that that decision was the “right decision?”

You know how Kevin Durant kind of did a mean thing by leaving the Thunder for the 73-9 team he just lost to? You know how he made the last year a victory lap of his right decision, insisting that he truly did not care what anyone thought about him? Remember when he made a shoe to “prove all the haters” wrong? Remember when he promised all of us he

really, truly, honestly, wholly, wholeheartedly

knew he was comfortable with himself and his decision?

Uh, yeah, right.

Durant was caught catfishing himself.

He fessed up to making a burner Twitter account to defend himself and trash his former team, but only after he messed up entirely by forgetting to switch Twitter accounts. Even the New York Times relented and 

joined in on the backlash.

An odd thing for someone to do, especially when that someone keeps telling the world he doesn’t care about what everyone else thinks.

Yahoo’s Chris Mannix makes a

good point here

.

It’s over, KD, you won. Move on. Stop looking back. 

Also from Mannix's piece: 

In an interview with Modern Luxury, Durant described the Internet backlash in the aftermath of his decision as “more than I could take.” His manager, Rich Kleiman, recalled a near meltdown in a hotel in China when Durant called and asked Kleiman, “Why the [expletive] did you let me do this to my life?”

At the end of the day, Durant just wants you to know he is an every-man who swears he drinks beer and has feelings like all of us. Sure. 

Nike reveals ‘smart’ jerseys to streamline the bandwagon process

Nike is all up in arms about its newest tech infused product -- “smart” jerseys. Upon purchase, a simple scan of the jersey’s label from your phone and you are forever profiled into their marketing database as, for example, “Steve from Western Mass. who shops at Footlocker and is a big Kyrie fan.”Nike will also send out highlights, stats, and any other news about the player to your phone. So that one bandwagon fan who bought a Devan Booker jersey after seeing his seventy point performance will now get his Players Tribune articles about "working hard off the court" sent straight to their phone. Nike also plans on luring the younger fanbase into this by offering free hacking codes for NBA 2K18 users if they sign up.  Brilliantly evil.

Thank you Hustle for this news alert.

Quick Hits

• In case you care/are Slovenian, Goran Dragic retired from the Slovenia national team after leading them to to a Eurobasketball championship.

• For whatever reason, Andre Bogut signed with the Lakers. What's the word for the opposite of symbiotic?

• Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are friends now.

• Joel Embiid is such a fool and it’s so damn entertaining.

• Enes Kanter weighed on the whole Durant-Twitter fiasco. As someone currently banned from his own country, a Twitter burner to defend one's self might understandably seem a little silly. 

Concrete Reads

• Why, from a financial standpoint, Kevin Durant’s move to Golden State is working out. [Tap Here]

• Understanding NBA player’s adjusted salaries from past decades. [Tap Here]

• What if the NBA axed seven teams and redrafted all those available players? [Tap Here]

• Think you know Dwight Howard? Try reading this vintage SI redemption piece and think again. [Tap Here]

Concrete Pods

• ESPN's Jackie MacMullan bangs out an hour of old NBA stories on the Lowe Post. [Tap Here]

Video Rewind: That time Kevin Johnson dunked on Hakeem Olajuwon’s entire country.

#throwbackeveryday

Because The Grip was late this week; September 20, 1917: The mind behind the Celtics of the ‘60s, Red Auerbach, was born in Brooklyn, New York. Wonder what Red would think of Williamsburg...

*picture credit: Boston Celtics Wiki