"Mr. Unreliable" Responds To Headline
By Randy Renner
It’s been a crazy, wacky day.
First I open up The Oklahoman and see a rather shocking headline “Mr. Unreliable” in big, bold letters over a photo of Kevin Durant getting his shot blocked at the rim.
Image Screen Shot from Oklahoman.com - Sports Section
What you see here is a bit more tame version that is now being used on the paper's website. For those of you who saw the print version the headline was much more glaring.
The story by veteran Oklahoman columnist Berry Tramel was much more fair going into some detail about Durant’s shooting numbers, especially his free throws where Tony Allen can’t be directly to blame for KD’s 71.8 percent success rate at the line.
The reaction to the headline obscured the story.
“Mr. Unreliable” quickly became one of the top trending topics nationwide on Twitter. Fans, friends and family members of Durant let the newspaper have it.
Fans of other teams tweeted they hoped Durant would remember the headline when he comes up for free agency in a couple of seasons.
The reaction was so swift and so harsh the Oklahoman’s sports editor Mike Sherman released a statement on his “Open Mike” blog saying, “The words were overstated and unduly harsh. The headline and presentation left the impression that we were commenting on Durant’s season, career or even character. We were not. We were referring only to the Memphis series.
"The fact the headline and presentation left that impression with so many readers is proof that we failed.”
Meanwhile, in Memphis, Durant himself was just hearing about the headline. Reporters gathered around him and asked what he thought? His hometown newspaper had just labeled him unreliable.
And you know what he said?
“It’s all good…that’s what they supposed to write. I didn’t come through for my team, so they gotta write that type of stuff.”
So The Oklahoman basically apologizes for the headline and KD pretty much agrees with it.
See? Crazy, wacky stuff.
By the way Russell Westbrook was asked about it and called it “B.S.”
Head coach Scott Brooks said, “There’s a lot of things you can say about (Durant) but that wouldn’t be one of em. He’s as reliable as any athlete I’ve ever been around.”
Thunder GM Sam Presti said, “What I witnessed from Kevin Durant on the streets of Moore, Oklahoma, last year is the absolute definition of reliability.”
And KD went on to say after today’s shootaround, “it’s part of their job, it’s all about what have you done for me lately. It really doesn’t matter to me. The fans, my teammates, the organization, my family don’t feel that way. Like I said it’s all about what have you done for me lately and I understand that.”
You have to kinda wonder if this might actually be a good thing for Durant and his teammates. Instead of freaking out about Tony Allen and his Doberman defense get upset for a little while at a perceived headline writing hater.
Then tonight go out on the court at The Grindhouse and write your own headline, something like “Slim Reaper Comes Calling For Grizzlies”