Yes, with Kevin Durant on the roster, the Golden State Warriors have potential to be one of the highest scoring teams ever.
But one of the big reasons Durant joined the Warriors has to do with defense.
Warriors assistant coach Ron Adams is considered a defensive guru in the NBA, and was a former assistant coach at Oklahoma City from 2008-10 while Durant was there.
At Thursday's press conference, when Durant was introduced as the newest member of the Warriors, he joked "Ron Adams is the only reason I came here."
The two have a fantastic relationship, one that continued from a distance after Adams left for the Chicago Bulls six summers ago. Before games between the Warriors and Thunder the past two seasons, Adams and Durant would routinely visit.
Whether it was just a half-hug or a brief visit, it was quite evident that there’s a mutual respect that should help them going forward.
After Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals at Oracle Arena, when the Warriors’ comeback from a 3-1 deficit to the Thunder was complete, Adams stopped Durant on his way back to the visitor’s locker room to make sure Durant knew how proud he was of the player he had become.
Durant is a born scorer, but his defensive improvements have come progressively over the years. And that, more than anything else, was something that Adams wanted Durant to know that he had noticed.