There is so much cognitive research on the power of positive thinking that it’s impossible to ignore it. Thinking positively changes your perception of everything that happens around you. So to rephrase Lou Holtz’s famous quote with my own words: Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you perceive it.

Do you ever feel like everything’s going wrong, and things seem to be snowballing into an avalanche? That’s not an uncommon feeling. But what if you could stop this avalanche? Most of the time you can by altering your perception of the negative events around you. That’s where the “Spin Zone” comes in.

The “Spin Zone” is a positive thinking exercise inspired by a friend from university. In its essence, the “Spin Zone” involves the positive reframing of an event or situation that you initially perceive as being negative. When a bunch of negative issues seem to be piling on top of me, here’s how I employ the technique:

Step 1: Write Down Everything Negative before Bedtime

On a piece of paper, write down everything about your life that you perceive to be negative. Start with the biggest problems on your mind, and keep writing until you have written down everything that’s troubling you.

Step 2: Feel Sorry for Yourself

There’s obviously a negative stigma associated with people who feel sorry themselves, but the truth of the matter is that sometimes feeling sorry for yourself feels damn good. And sometimes its necessary. If you can go from feeling crappy to feeling great in a matter of seconds, you might just be a psychopath. It’s totally human to let yourself feel bad. Do this right before you go to bed, but don’t complain to others, because that can bring them down as well. Bringing other people down is not part of the ‘Spin Zone’ technique.

Step 3: Go to Sleep

With your thoughts written down, sleep on it.

Step 4: The Spin Zone — Write Down a Positive Corollary to Everything Negative

When you wake up in the morning, before you start your day, revisit your list that you wrote the night before. Look for things you have control over that you can change. If you have control over the situation, write down all the things you can do to change the negative situation into a positive one.

If you can’t immediately take control of the situation, try and find some positive aspects within it. Even if you’re upset about something that seemed like it was a total failure, there’s usually something positive you can draw from it, even if that positive is that it was a learning experience. Write those positive aspects down.

While you’re writing down everything you can change and reframing things to seem more positive, use confident, empowering words. Take it over the top. Become a general rallying his troops in the epic final scene of war movie: I will do this, because I am the fucking greatest there ever was.

Step 5: Cross out the list of negatives; then, if necessary, revisit the list and re-read all the positive things you wrote down. Do this as many times as you need.

Here’s an Example of the Spin Zone Exercise:

Before Bed:

1. My boss is requesting an unreasonable amount of effort from me, and my work is suffering.
2. I gave an awful presentation in a meeting yesterday. All of my data was wrong, and I looked like a total imbecile.
3. I got into a fight with my significant other.

In the Morning:

1. Today I’m going to talk to my boss and let her know that I’m struggling to produce quality work given my current workload. I will let her know that I will get this work done, though. She gave me so much responsibility because I’m the most capable worker on the team, and I always do the best job of anyone. I will bust my ass to do the best damn job she’s ever seen, but in the future, I’ll let my boss know that she’s going to have to be more considerate with project delegations.
2. This problem was a result of having too much work. Once I get through this week, I’ll have more time to do a quality job. Now that I think back, I only messed up two things in the presentation and the majority of it was actually correct. Everyone on my team knows that I usually do a great job — this was just a small slip up. I’m a great speaker and they asked me to do the presentation in the first place because I normally always do the best job. Everyone makes mistakes. It’s in the past now. Everyone trusts that I’ll bounce back, and I know I will.
3. Okay, actually it was a small argument. It was stupid, really. I was stressed out about work, and I yelled at her over something stupid. I need to apologize. I’ll explain why I acted the way I did. Everything is fine — I just need to talk to her.

As you can see from this example, many “problems” are interconnected; hence, the “snowball effect.” Being proactive or simply reframing one situation can help to create a more positive outlook on everything that you initially perceived as negative. That’s the power of positive thinking. Once you change your mind-state, things are never as bad as they seem. Even if everything isn’t sunshine and rainbows, life is way more fun when you make everything seem awesome.

Think what you want to about the Yankees pushing Alex Rodriguez out of baseball last week. I’m not saying that a man battling to stay above the Mendoza line deserves to be allowed to chase the legendary 700 home run mark, and I’m not saying that he would be in a position to have a 700 home run total without PEDs. What I am saying, though, is that the man already has hit 700 major league home runs in his career — 709, in fact.

Alex Rodriguez has played in 76 postseason games in his career, and he hit 13 postseason home runs. Combine that with his 696 regular season home runs, you get 709. My point in writing this is not to defend A-Rod, but rather to condemn a stupid rule about statistics keeping. The argument for omitting postseason statistics is that it gives some players more games to accumulate statistics than other players whose teams do not make the playoffs. There is no doubt that if a player breaks the all time single-season hits record after playing 180 total games in the season, that would be unfair to Ichiro, who did it in within the confines of a 162-game regular season. So it’s fair that postseason stats should definitely not be included towards regular, single-season totals. What I will always fail to understand, though: why are postseason statistics omitted from career statistics?

There is no good reason for this. None. This is why:

There is no limit on games played in a career

While there is a finite amount of games each season, there is no limit on the amount of games a player can play during his career. Because of this, there is no breach in the integrity of the accumulation of statistics. Was it controversial to consider Roger Maris’ 61 home run season the single-season record over the 60 home run season that Babe Ruth accomplished in a shorter regular season? Absolutely. Single-season records hinge on accomplishment over a specific, finite amount of games. BUT do we consider Pete Rose’s all-time career hits record invalid because he played 500 more games than Ty Cobb? Not at all.

The point I’m making is that the 76 postseason games that A-Rod played over his career didn’t give him a statistical advantage over anyone in the record books. He still endured the wear-and-tear of those 76 games. If there was a 2000 game limit on a baseball career, and A-Rod got to play 2076, then his postseason stats should be omitted, but thats just not how it works.

Postseason baseball is a grind

Postseason baseball is not an exhibition where pitchers might be experimenting with pitches they don’t normally throw. In the postseason, a pitcher will do everything it takes to get the hitter out. He will be even more focused and prepared to pitch to the batter than in the regular season. Given this, it is actually probably harder to perform in the postseason. These aren’t meaningless games. Big league players have to perform against the very best of other big league players. Bottom line: A-Rod hit 709 home runs against major league pitchers who were doing their very best to get him out.

It will not taint the record books

Postseason statistics are just as well kept as regular season statistics. We can easily go back and update each players career statistics accordingly. It’s a simple adjustment that should be made.

With everything I’ve put forward, I find it inconceivable that not only do we not include postseason statistics in the career statistics category but also that we never talk about them. Its rare in baseball to reference postseason statistics at all, let alone open the discussion for including them in career statistics. I don’t see this atrocity of record keeping ever being corrected, but I do know one thing: Alex Rodriguez hit over 700 major league home runs, and he deserves to hold that title.

But what if I told you that Monday is the best day of the week? Yeah… You can call me crazy, but Monday is my favorite day of the week. What? How? Why?

Oh, I’ll give you 3 great reasons, and maybe you can eliminate your Monday woes:

1. I’m fully re-charged after the weekend

Why would you do anything on Sunday besides relax? You have six days each week to be as productive as possible so that you can use Sunday to recharge for the next six productive days. Most weeks, my relaxation on Sunday and over the weekend is just the boost I need to make sure I can have an awesome start to a fantastic week.

Pro-tip: On Mondays, I wear my favorite clothes and look extra nice. If you’re lagging a little, looking your best can make you feel just a little better.

2. Monday is the perfect day to reset your goals

“I will start [insert activity here] on Monday.” Not everyone will abide by their Monday resolutions, but nonetheless, Monday gives you an opportunity for a fresh start. You have a full week ahead of you — a clean slate — and you can achieve as little or as much as you want in that week. Monday gives you the best weekly opportunity to reset and pursue your most important goals.

Pro-Tip: I schedule my favorite workout of the week on Monday. Whether or not your Monday resolution is fitness related, start strong with something you’ll enjoy doing.

3. There is less traffic on Mondays

Every person around you seems to move more slowly on Monday. People go to work late and leave early on Mondays, and it gives you the opportunity to benefit. The traffic issue is just a microcosm of the popular attitude towards Mondays, and you can further benefit by moving at your normal pace while everyone else lags behind you.

Pro-Tip: Be your normal self on Monday, and everyone else around you can feed off of your positive attitude.

4. Bonus: Monday Night Football

This one only pertains to 17 Mondays out of the year, and some people don’t even like football. That’s why its a bonus. BUT if you’re like most Americans, you’ll cherish your ability to go home and watch a PrimeTime football matchup on Monday nights.

Pro-Tip: Even though MNF only exists for one-third of the year, you can still watch your favorite MLB or NBA team on almost every other Monday for the rest of the year.

Now I certainly don’t mean that Little League is the best form of baseball for the spectator, but for the player, there can be little doubt of how valuable the Little League experience is. As the captain of an NCAA baseball team, I’ve committed more time to a game than anyone should, because I love it. When I crawl off the team bus at 11pm on a Wednesday night, after going 0–4 in 9-inning grinder amidst arctic conditions in southern New Hampshire, I sometimes think to myself, “Why the **** do I play this game?” But the answer to that is simple. I play this this damn game because I fell in love with it — in Little League.

I’m an American, and I’m a competitor. Winning matters to me. A lot. Being the best matters to me. A lot. Individual achievement matters to me. A lot more than it should. In fact, somewhere along the line, individual achievement became more important to me than winning as a team. When I play a great game and my team loses, I still feel a sense of satisfaction. When I play badly and my team wins, I still lack a sense of fulfillment. The games that stand out to me in retrospect are the game that I played great — not the games that my team did. It’s not that I don’t care about winning, because I genuinely do — just not as much as I should. I don’t think I’m alone in this. I don’t think its my fault either. What I do know is: this was never the case in Little League.

Little League bred the purest form of competition I’ve ever experienced. No one really cared above making it to the next level or standing out among his peers. We didn’t keep statistics (except for home runs) or carry our previous performances over to the next game. Every player focused on the present, only caring about winning the current game. We cheered as loudly and obnoxiously as we could for our teammates, scrapped together some wins, and had a whole lot of fun doing it. I never cared about whether or not I was friends with someone on my team; I wanted only for that player to succeed because he was my teammate.

Today, all my best friends are the guys I played with in Little League baseball. There’s something about experiencing the unconditional desire to win together that cultivates friendships. 10 years later, we still talk about the great games that we won as a team, and we never talk about how we performed individually in those games. I’ll never remember if I went 4–4 or 0–4, because that didn’t matter. Competing to win the game we were playing was all that ever did. Playing the game that way is damn fun. It truly is. That’s why I fell in love with the game, and it’s why I still play today.

Sometimes, amidst the grueling workouts, individual pressures, and draining failures that come with the territory of playing the game, I forget that I love baseball. BUT, in the final analysis, I have one year left to play this game that’s been a part of my identity for the entirety of my life. As I reflect on my 16-year baseball career, all I can think about is how Little League is, without question, the best brand of baseball.

It’s true that I’ve started to care a lot more about individual performance as I’ve grown up, but I sure as hell will do everything in my power to channel my Little League spirit just one more time.

“I was disappointed. I was disappointed like I was disappointed when LeBron went to Miami,” Charles Barkley stated yesterday, drawing the comparison between Kevin Durant’s recent signing with the Golden State Warriors to LeBron James’ 2010 departure from the Cleveland Cavaliers. The recent headlines surrounding Durant’s departure prominently feature similar comparisons to LeBron James, as the Warriors chose not to heed my advice on foregoing Durant.

This does seem to be an oddly familiar situation — on the surface: an MVP-caliber player, who has failed to win a championship with the team he’s played for throughout his entire career, leaves to play for a seemingly unbeatable team. In this sense, these two situations do seem very similar; however, when more carefully considering both scenarios, they are truly quite different.

1. The Warriors have been an all-time great team without Durant

In case anyone forgot, the Warriors are coming off the single greatest regular season in the history of the NBA. They put up a 73–9 record en route to a championship bid that could only be dismantled by a series of untimely injuries, a key suspension, and superhuman performances from LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. This team should have won the 2016 NBA Finals, and despite their inexplicable failure to do so, the Warriors maintained their status as heavy favorites to win the 2017 title. Statistically speaking, the Warriors chances to finish the 2017 season as NBA champions were probable — without Durant. Joining this Warriors squad, from Durant’s perspective, resembles a sign-up to participate for the 2017 NBA champions.

In contrast, LeBron’s departure saw the formation of a star-studded roster within an NBA franchise. It was not an unprecedented move: the Boston Celtics trio of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett formed in a very similar manner. In LeBron’s situation a couple of NBA stars got together and said, “You know what would be really cool? If we all played on the same team and got to hang out in Miami.” Yeah, they may have “cheated” the system, but the difference between LeBron and KD’s departures is critical: one guy helped form a super-team and the other joined an already existent super-team.

2. LeBron was more important to the city of Cleveland

Silence fell over the city of Cleveland. Only a few errant remarks could be heard. Grown men fell to their knees, crying. Cleveland fans burned their number 23 Cavaliers jerseys. The city deflated and fell into depression.

Such was the scene in Cleveland, and likely most of Ohio, on the fateful June night that LeBron announced his decision to leave for Miami. LeBron meant more to the people than what he did 50 nights per year at Quicken Loans Arena. Sure, he was the difference between a 66-win squad in 2010 and a 19-win team in 2011, but he was much more than that. He was the savior of the Cavaliers franchise. He was the hometown kid, born and raised in Akron. Most of all, though, he was a beacon of hope, a symbol that the tough times that had befallen Cleveland would soon be over. In a city struggling economically, LeBron James’ performances filled bars and restaurants with fans, generating half a billion dollars each year. With LeBron’s departure, everything he meant to Cleveland vanished.

Don’t get me wrong, OKC fans greatly valued Kevin Durant. The governor of Oklahoma, Mary Fallin, offered Durant a seat on the Cabinet if he stayed with the Thunder. When he signed with Golden State, he received criticism and harsh reactions from fans, but the backlash proved relatively docile. If you talk to Seattle sports fans, Oklahoma City shouldn’t even have an NBA basketball team. Quite simply, their fans’ allegiance to the Thunder could not possibly run as deep as the Cavaliers fans’ in Cleveland.

Oklahoma City’s appropriate admiration of Durant contrasted with Cleveland’s dependence on LeBron. The fallouts of both departures provide great examples for why these two situations are clearly different.

3. LeBron is more polarizing than Durant

No one has ever drawn consistent comparisons between Michael Jordan and Kevin Durant. Durant competes with his contemporaries, while LeBron competes against the ghost of Michael Jordan. Ever since LeBron’s face dawned the cover of the Sports Illustrated magazine titled “The Chosen One,” sports fans have held LeBron to a higher standard than any other athlete in the world. LeBron has since been elevated on a pedestal, and not judged solely on his own accomplishments, but rather on his accomplishments against those of Michael Jordan. To be publicly held in that regard made leaving Cleveland taboo, because he was “cheating” in a competition against the greatest American athlete in the last forty years.

Remember the national backlash from “The Decision,” when LeBron left Cleveland? In itself, that’s a key difference regarding how the two men chose to depart, but it’s more telling than that. At the time, “The Decision” seemed appropriate. It drew the highest television ratings of any individual program in June of 2010. The ESPN server for live streaming crashed. Had LeBron said, “I’m keeping my talents in Cleveland,” this hour-long television special wouldn’t have been used as the explanation for why LeBron went from being adored to hated.

Really, “The Decision” demonstrated the epitome of the degree to which the figure of LeBron James polarizes America. Had LeBron posted his decision on The Players Tribune like Durant, he still would’ve received far more criticism and backlash than Durant, simply because of the figure he represents.

4. The Heat never eliminated LeBron from a playoff series

Anyone who has ever played or followed sports can understand the agony of defeat — that’s how deep-seeded rivalries form. Any competitor who competes at the professional level should feel a strong sense of resentment towards the teams or individuals that hand them that defeat. At the very least, the fans of the teams who compete at this level will feel that passion, so even if Durant doesn’t care himself, his decision to join a team that barely knocked his team out of the playoffs this year seems traitorous and pathetic on many different levels.

OKC fans hate Golden State, and Durant should hate Golden State. Regardless of his decision to leave Oklahoma City, joining the Warriors perpetuates a sentiment of submission to a superior opponent. Durant pulled the ‘ole “if you can’t beat ’em, join ‘em” maneuver. BUT that’s the worst part! Durant could have and SHOULD HAVE defeated the Warriors. Instead, he joined ’em. Say what you want about LeBron, but at least he didn’t do that.

Quest Nutrition has earned the reputation for making the best tasting protein bars on the market, while still limiting the amount of calories in each bar. Many popular protein bars have macronutrient profiles that essentially make them glorified candy bars, but Quest has managed to make a nutritious protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Other companies have tried to mimic the Quest Bar, flavoring their bars with fiber instead of sugar, but Quest Nutrition still dominates the market.

I set out to make a definitive “power ranking” of the best tasting Quest Bars on the market, but I struggled. Instead of listing my favorite bars, I decided to put together a tiered system, basing it mostly off of my own flavor preferences.

Tier 1: The flavors that made this tier are the consensus-best flavors on the market. These are the most widely consumed flavors by a wide margin. It’s hard to find someone that will tell you that their favorite flavor of Quest bars is not in this category. They are simple. They are chocolate-y. They are delicious.

• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (Calories: 190; Carbs: 20g, Protein: 21g, Fat: 9g; Fiber: 14g, Sugar:<1g): If Quest had “Original” listed as a flavor, this would be it. This flavor revolutionized the protein bar industry, putting Quest Nutrition on the map.

• Cookies and Cream (Calories: 190; Carbs: 20g, Protein: 21g, Fat: 9g ; Fiber: 14g, Sugar:<1g): Cookies and Cream is a classic flavor for anything, and when pulled off correctly, it is dynamite. Quest hit a home run with these ones.

• S’Mores (Calories: 180; Carbs: 22g, Protein: 20g, Fat: 8g ; Fiber: 13g, Sugar: 1g): My personal favorite flavor. Crunchy chunks of chocolate, crispy graham wafers, and a chewy overall consistency. A+

Tier 2: This tier is reserved for the delicious flavors that everyone seemingly loves when they try, but they have not achieved the same level of popularity as the flavors in Tier 1. These are damn good flavors, but they are shy of “great.”

• Cinnamon Roll (Calories: 170; Carbs: 23g, Protein: 20g Fat: 7g; Fiber: 14g, Sugar: 1g): Who doesn’t love cinnamon rolls? Quest also throws in a few tiny chunks of nuts for a bit of a crunchy texture!

• Mint Chocolate Chunk (Calories: 190g; Carbs: 21g, Protein: 20g, Fat: 9g; Fiber: 15g, Sugar: 1g): This flavor might have made it into Tier 1 if the mint graham wafer chunks were mint chips. Nothing might be more satisfying than the feeling of biting into a chunk of chocolate. These are very tasty, but could easily be better.

• Vanilla Almond Crunch (Calories: 190g; Carbs: 21g, Protein: 20g, Fat: 9g; Fiber: 15g, Sugar: 1g): This flavor is a hidden gem. It’s a simple vanilla flavor with a few crunchy nuts. What could be bad about that? Nothing.

Tier 3: This tier features some solid but not excellent flavors. Many enjoy them, but most will choose the flavors in the previous tiers beforehand, if given the option.

• Double Chocolate Chunk (Calories: 180; Carbs: 23g, Protein: 20g, Fat: 8g ; Fiber: 13g, Sugar: 1g): Solid, crunchy texture, but a bit overpowering with the amount of chocolate.

• Banana Nut Muffin (Calories: 180; Carbs: 22g, Protein: 20g, Fat: 8g ; Fiber: 13g, Sugar: 2g): A slightly less-tasty version of Vanilla Almond Crunch, with a hint of banana flavor. Not bad at all. If you prefer the taste of Banana to Vanilla, you will prefer this over Vanilla Almond Crunch.

• Chocolate Peanut Butter (Calories: 170; Carbs: 23g, Protein: 20g Fat: 7g; Fiber: 14g, Sugar: 1g): Hard to go wrong with the combination of chocolate and peanut butter, but the consistency of the bar itself isn’t nearly as exciting as let’s say, a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk.

• Chocolate Brownie (Calories: 170; Carbs: 22g, Protein: 20g Fat: 7g; Fiber: 15g, Sugar: <1g): Can’t get much more basic than a chocolate flavor. Emphasis on “basic.”

• Peanut Butter Supreme (Calories: 200; Carbs: 20g, Protein: 20g, Fat: 10g ; Fiber: 14g, Sugar: 2g): One of those rare flavors of Quest bars that you can’t easily find, but isn’t bad at all. Tastes like peanut butter. Peanut butter is good, but its nothing special, just like this bar.

• White Chocolate Raspberry (Calories: 200g; Carbs: 21g, Protein: 20g, Fat: 9g; Fiber: 14g, Sugar: 2g): The only “fruit-category” flavor to make it into one of the first three tiers, as I’m personally under the belief that protein bars should not taste like fruit. Some might argue that this belongs in Tier 2 at least, but personally, I find the raspberries give it a sour taste and unpleasant texture; however, the white chocolate chunks keep it in the rankings.

DISCLAIMER: I have only included the flavors of Quest Bars that I have personally tried in this review, which does not include Limited Time Only selections. I have considered every bar that is currently listed on the Quest Nutrition Website as of July 1, 2016.

Kevin Durant is undoubtedly the most coveted NBA free agent on the market for 2016. As a volume scorer, solid rebounder, and overall brilliant basketball player, the man can be the centerpiece for any NBA franchise.

Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors, coming off the greatest regular season in NBA history, plan to heavily pursue Durant. After falling one win shy of an NBA championship in 2016, the Warriors should look to upgrade their roster with a marquee free agent signing, right? WRONG. Here are four reasons why the Warriors should absolutely NOT sign Kevin Durant.

1. The Warriors team chemistry is too beautiful to mess with

Perhaps the Warriors front office has forgotten the fact that they just posted the greatest regular season record ever. Perhaps they haven’t considered that their team, by all advanced metrics, put together the single greatest season in the history of the NBA. Perhaps they have not realized that it was a minor miracle that they lost the NBA Finals! Sure, they didn’t cap it off with a championship — a fact not easily forgotten — but you can’t ignore the sheer fact that they should have won it.

This team put together such a great run, not because it had the best players at every position, but because all of their players fit perfectly into their roles. Draymond Green provided a multi-purpose threat. Klay Thompson served as an offensive force. Andrew Bogut protected the lane. Andre Iguodala played tenacious, lockdown defense. All the players who came off the bench knew what was needed of them, played hard, and executed. Every single one of these guys played their roles perfectly around their best player, their centerpiece, Steph Curry. When you put that together, you get a nearly unbeatable team, operating on two-thousand metric tons of team chemistry.

Enter Kevin Durant.

You’re now considering adding a legitimate superstar to a championship-caliber squad that will indubitably shift the entire team dynamic. Yes, KD is a great player, but no, the Warriors do not need to sign him. Signing KD will mean forfeiting pieces that were so valuable to Warriors success. Signing KD will create a variable of uncertainty and unfamiliarity with the system. Signing KD, a supremely talented player, does not mean that he will fit into the system better than the previous guys, because that’s probably impossible.

The Warriors, as they are, will be the heavy favorites to win the 2017 NBA Finals. Why jeopardize that by making major changes, when they clearly don’t need to?

2. Steph Curry needs to be the unquestioned centerpiece for the Warriors

For the majority of the 2016 NBA season, the media paraded Steph Curry as the best player in the NBA. Although they quickly backtracked following his poor performance in the 2016 NBA Finals against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, there’s no doubt that he is one of the two best players in the world. When the game is on the line, he needs to be the guy that the Warriors can lean on. After all, he has won two consecutive MVP awards. But what happens when Durant, the last guy not-named-Curry to win an MVP award, is on the court with him? Who’s going to run the offense? Whose job is it to take over? Who’s going to take the shot with the game on the line?

Sure, having one-too-many superstars to decide who’s the centerpiece may not be the biggest problem in the world, but it’s a dynamic that needs to be considered when constructing a championship team. Just look at what happened in OKC with Durant and Westbrook. The wrong superstar kept trying to take over at the wrong time. It didn’t make the Thunder a bad team, but it evidently didn’t help them to a championship. This Warriors team is already too strong to take the risk of having an unhealthy dynamic between Curry and Durant.

3. Too much talent may yield absolute diminishing returns

The NBA is not the MLB. You can’t just put out all the best players in the world and be the best team in the world. You have to consider the different skills that the players bring to the table when constructing an optimal team. What happens whenever the US assembles a super-team for international competition? They have to battle it out with teams like Spain, who feature good-but-not-great NBA talent.

My point is this: The Warriors finished 73–9 in 2016. It’s actually impossible to perform significantly better than this over the course of an 82 game season — I don’t care who is on your team. Why try to squeeze in another superstar, who’s best abilities may not optimally fit with an already great team?

4. Kevin Durant is not a winner

The entire Warriors squad is full of champions from top to bottom. Steve Kerr is a champion. Steph Curry is a champion. Klay Thompson? Champion. Draymond Green? Champion. Festus Azeli? Champion. Kevin Durant? Not a champion.

I’m not suggesting Kevin Durant won’t hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy one day, but I am definitively saying that Kevin Durant, a superstar of the highest order, has the potential to hold back a team of champions. Look at what happened in the OKC Thunder vs. GS Warriors 2016 Western Conference Finals. In the series’ biggest moments, when the Thunder needed Durant, their best player, to take over the game, he was seemingly absent. To be a championship team, you need your best player to show up in the biggest moments; instead, KD drifted around the court and let Russell Westbrook self-destruct en route to a gigantic collapse against the Warriors.

Remember when we wanted to call Kevin Durant the “Slim Reaper?” The nickname holds aura of the coveted “killer instinct” that people rave about when talking about Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Instead of embracing that nickname, Durant asked to be called “The Servant.” Are you FREAKING SERIOUS, KD?! He was right, though. Durant’s play shows his passive-sounding, self-dubbed nickname to be the epitome of the player he is on the court — one that doesn’t take over in big moments to deliver championships. That’s what winners do. Kevin Durant is not a winner.

Concluding Thoughts

I’ve given four plausible reasons for why I believe that Kevin Durant will actually make the Warriors worse. This is, by no means, a guarantee. He may fit the system, perform unbelievably, and lead the Warriors to an undefeated season. The only thing I’m saying is: If you’re already the heavy favorites to win the NBA Finals, why make a drastic change and risk losing everything?