Kevin Durant Checking In

NBA All-Star, Kevin Durant, joined me from his Washington DC home today to talk NBA playoffs, playing against the Lakers, and leaving his first NBA city: Seattle.

I know you’re not happy with the NBA, Seattle, and I know you miss guys like this. So at least take a to what he had to say about our beloved city and his experience in the NBA.

On Seattle:

“Seattle’s always going to be in my heart. The first city I played for in the league and they accepted me so much. It was a place I was happy to call home. That’s one thing I would be up to do. If they get that going, hopefully I’m one of the first guys they call.”

On missing Seattle:

“I miss Seattle, I miss it a lot. Those fans they still hit my Twitter page up and tell me how much they miss me out there, how much they miss the team. And I’m looking at it from a fans view its very unfortunate that they had a basketball team just move. Of course fans come to the games a lot and they love the Sups ever since they were there a while back and that’s tough to deal with. But you know as a player we can’t to anything about it, but I loved my time in Seattle; my family did as well.”

On the Oklahoma City Thunder:

“I think we have something special building there. Everybody on our team, we consider each other brothers and I never envision myself leaving. But you know it is a business in this league and crazy things do happen but I always envision myself being in Oklahoma City. I love it, I love the organization and my family loves it as well. So that’s the only thing I’m worried about is getting better with the group of guys we have there now.”

On the Thunder’s Off-season:

“I think we do need to add a guy that’s a knock-down shooter. I think we could add one of those guys to help us out a little bit, and just bring somebody in that’s gonna mesh with us as a group, that’s gonna fit right in with us and well see what happens. Of course you never know what’s gonna happen from here all the way until the end of July when I guess free agency is over with. I don’t know the exact date but you can get anybody from there, you can trade picks, you never know what can happen.”

On Russell Westbrook:

“I would put him there now . His skill set and his athleticism and how big he is for his position, there’s not too many guys like him. He’s so explosive and he’s gotten a lot better. He’s a walking triple-double, he can score whenever he wants to. When we say Russell, go ahead and get us a bucket he can score 10 in a row,. He’s shooting a jumper now and it’s gonna expand to the three point line pretty soon and I would put him there now, he’s just a guy who can do pretty much everything.”

On the Lakers:

“Of course they’re the best team in the NBA . They’re impressive, they play great. It’s some of the best basketball I’ve seen all year. Kobe was just phenomenal, Lamar Odom did a great job of setting the tempo off the bench and everybody was chipping in. It was a great win for them.”

On Kobe Bryant:

“He’s one of the greatest players to ever play the game. Of course he wouldn’t even say that it was an excuse that his knee was hurting. But I think we did a good job of playing defense on those guys and we played hard and from the Utah series and this series its’ looks like Kobe Bryant is just roaming around on the offensive end and not being accounted for. I think we did a good job of playing him and Gasol and Bynum pretty well, but they did a great job of being a better team and winning the series, but you gotta give us a little bit of credit.”

On Defending Kobe and the Lakers:

“I think we did a good job on Kobe by making him shoot tough shots. You know if he hits tough shots you cant get discouraged, but you can’t give him the easy baskets like easy layups and fast break dunks and wide open threes, you gotta make it tough on him. If he’s hitting tough shots, then so be it. But Grant Hill has been in the league way longer than I have and I’m sure he knows even more than I know. Just playing him in the playoffs I think that’s what made it tough on him. But if Phoenix can run it up and down and get some fast break points then they can make it a good game. “

On Cleveland losing to Boston and LeBron’s future:

“I was surprised I had Cleveland going to the finals, but Boston’s playing very well at the right time and they have a lot of great pieces. They’re just an overall great team they have a great coach a great coaching staff and they play defense man, that’s what really wins championships. Guys are stepping up and they’ve been there before so it’s not a surprise. As far as the LeBron situation I’m a player that likes to see guys stay with one team for their whole careers, so hopefully he stays in Cleveland and handles his business for that city. But we’ll see what happens, either way it’s going to be fun for the game of basketball to see what he does.”

On the Boston-Orlando Series:

“Of course Boston is playing very well. Orlando is a great team but I think everyone has to play well for them to go into Boston and to win. Of course Jameer has to step up even more, Rashard Vince Dwight has to step up even more, but I think they’ll do it. They’re’ a great team they’ve been through a lot, went to the finals last year, so we’ll see what happens in Game 3.”

On the Wizards Getting the No. 1 Pick:

“You never know. Of course John Wall, people are gonna say he’s the number one pick for the Wizards. You can go any with it. You can go Evan Turner to be the shooting guard, you could go Derrick Favors to be a forward, you can go any way. But John Wall is probably the guy they’re gonna choose. It’s just good for the city. Of course the Wizards haven’t been in the playoffs in a couple of years, but I think it’s time for change. I’m happy for the city of DC. I’m sure whoever they pick, they’re going to embrace him and he’s going to have fun out there.”

You can listen to the entire interview right here.