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Team USA and FIBA 2014 World Cup

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I could care less if a player doesn't want to play in these meaningless "World" games. Frankly, wouldn't bother me if Team USA pulled out. The best players in the world play in the NBA. Many of the best players on the other "World" teams are members of the NBA. An NBA championship, is to me, more meaningful than any of this "exhibition" play. Which is all it is.
 
KD is mentally soft. Nothing else to it.

Blake and Love pulled out. George got hurt. KD was easily "the man", and he couldn't handle it.


KD was the man in the 2010 championships. Had no problem then.
 
I could care less if a player doesn't want to play in these meaningless "World" games. Frankly, wouldn't bother me if Team USA pulled out. The best players in the world play in the NBA. Many of the best players on the other "World" teams are members of the NBA. An NBA championship, is to me, more meaningful than any of this "exhibition" play. Which is all it is.

I would have ZERO problem if Irving did the same...
 
Maybe KD has some stuff going on at home with his family and that's why he is taking a physical and mentally break from Team USA? :dunno:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Durant statement: &quot;I need to take a step back &amp; take some time away, both mentally &amp; physically in order to prepare for the upcoming season&quot;</p>&mdash; Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpearsNBAYahoo/statuses/497511685452611584">August 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Durant: It was a &quot;extremely difficult decision&quot; &amp; &quot;I could not fulfill my responsibilities to the team from both a time &amp; energy standpoint&quot;</p>&mdash; Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpearsNBAYahoo/statuses/497512093390622720">August 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Maybe KD has some stuff going on at home with his family and that's why he is taking a physical and mentally break from Team USA? :dunno:

I bet Durant is just extremely exhausted, and I'm sure the Paul George injury didn't help. Frankly Durant has no personal incentive to compete in this FIBA tournament anyway.
 
KD is mentally soft. Nothing else to it.

Blake and Love pulled out. George got hurt. KD was easily "the man", and he couldn't handle it.

Are people serious with this line of thinking?
 
He wasn't expected to be. He just went off.

Everyone knew KD was "the man" this go-around.

Well, that's not true. He was the best player on that team going in. No player from the 08 Olympic team played on that 2010 team.
 
Are people serious with this line of thinking?
i honestly hope not. embarrassing if so.

in any case, this just made the potential usa/spain game a lot more interesting.
 
So did Kyrie just become "the man" on this team? I think so.
 
Part of me hope KI pulls out and rests and spends time practicing with LJ and Love.
 
There have been rumors that Love might opt back IN to this tournament after this trade is official and over with.
 
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/1...-years-playing-rest-nba&ex_cid=espnnbaTwitter

From Rucker Park to the Goodman League to basically any blacktop in between, if there's a hoop and a round-looking ball that bounces, Kevin Durant wants to play.

A couple years ago, Durant showed up in Orlando, Florida, where his young teammates were playing in Summer League, ready to play. Management told him no, and Durant was forced to just watch.

But maybe for the first time ever, Durant has turned down the opportunity to play basketball. In a statement on Thursday, Durant pulled out of the 2014 FIBA World Cup, citing mental and physical fatigue.

"After going through training camp with USAB, I realized I could not fulfill my responsibilities to the team from both a time and energy standpoint," Durant said in a statement. "I need to take a step back and take some time away, both mentally and physically in order to prepare for the upcoming NBA season."

The only other time Durant has ever really admitted to being tired was when he said he was tired of being second. Other than that, he's almost taken offense to being asked about fatigue. He said during the 2012 NBA Finals that he could "shoot 'til my arms fall off." He said in the lockout year, seriously, that he could play two games in a day if needed when asked about playing back-to-back-to-backs. When he came up short on a game-tying 3 against the San Antonio Spurs in Game 6 in an overtime in which he went scoreless, Durant wasn't having any of heavy legs being the reason. Every time Oklahoma City Thunder coach Scott Brooks tries to sit Durant for brief rest, he readies himself for an argument.

Still, time off for an NBA player is precious, and Durant was quickly realizing what he had committed himself to. Coming off a season in which he carried the Thunder with teammate Russell Westbrook out for almost half of it, combined with yet another deep, draining playoff run, he essentially wasn't going to have any time to himself. From one thing to the next, Durant was going to play in the World Cup and then head to training camp just a couple of weeks later.

Durant made his commitment to the World Cup a full year ago, doing it with Kevin Love at a Team USA minicamp in Las Vegas. He wanted to follow through on that commitment, but after spending a week with the team, he quickly realized it felt like more of a chore than anything else. Then, Paul George broke his leg right in front of Durant.

Add in that he's about to be a sneaker free agent, with his seven-year deal with Nike about to expire, and the guy has a lot on his mind.

Since the 2010-11 season, no player has played more minutes than the nearly 15,000 Durant has logged on the floor between the regular season and playoffs. He played in the 2010 World Championships in Turkey (winning MVP), then again for USA Basketball in 2012 at the London Olympics. He's played until at least May the past five NBA seasons and hasn't missed more than eight games in any season. He's a basketball machine programmed to play.

The Thunder's 2013-14 season was a wild roller-coaster of emotions with Westbrook's injury, four-point plays, overtimes aplenty, emotional speeches, Serge Ibaka's injury and on. The mileage Durant tacked on wasn't just about the raw number of minutes. It was about the complete investment of body and soul. The price of all that adds up, even for someone as durable and relentless as Durant. Mentally more than anything, the haul of doing your job 270-plus days straight is a draining, almost inhuman experience.

After the Thunder's Game 6 loss to the Spurs, Durant said this:

"If you're on the outside looking in, of course maybe it looks easy because you only see us on the court playing the games," he said. "But you don't see the second after the game is over with the things we do to prepare for the next game. The emotional and physical toll it takes on you when you go home at night, the practices you go through to get prepared, the travel, taking time away from your family to play a game you love to try and win a championship. Guys on the outside don't see that."

And he was all set to give up almost two months of the only respite he'll get before it starts all over again. Can you blame him?

Durant's decision to withdraw from the World Cup isn't about one thing. It isn't just about the lingering fear from George's horrific injury. It isn't just about Nike and Under Armour dueling for his signature. It isn't just about the minutes that add up and hang on your legs like toddlers in May and June. It's about the price that comes with playing and the potential benefits of not.

Durant has never really said no to basketball. The game has always been in charge, always made decisions for him. And maybe, for the first time, he's putting his own body and mind ahead of it.

Dude seems to be carrying a lot, maybe the George injury was the straw that broke the camel's back?
 
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/1...-years-playing-rest-nba&ex_cid=espnnbaTwitter



Dude seems to be carrying a lot, maybe the George injury was the straw that broke the camel's back?

That is probably pretty accurate.

Durant is in an interesting place right now.

He has FA looming in 2016.

A big decision with Under Armour and Nike.

The pressure of winning a championship. Or even getting back to the finals. And an OKC team that seems to have lost flexibility and the upward trend they had a couple years ago.

I also think the George injury really bothered him on a lot of levels.

And maybe even the Love trade had a minor role. Durant sees another team forming that can easily prevent him from being a champion.

Probably just a lot to deal with right now. Going to be 26 and probably starting to question things much like LeBron did in 2008.
 
I'm actually kind of surprised Kyrie and even Harden didn't drop out yet either. Between Paul George's injury and these games not being too important, I'm thinking some other guys might drop out soon.
 

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