Lowell Cohn: Can Kevin Durant blend in with star-studded Warriors?

OAKLAND - Used to be different at Warriors media day. A few newspapers, radio and TV stations. All local. Players came into the gym. Sat at round tables with reporters. Talked. Casual. Relaxed. Nothing formal about it.

Way different on Monday, Warriors media day 2016. Now, the Warriors are a big sports story. They lost the championship but feel like America's team. Forget the round tables in the gym. Now, it's a big media room.

The players came into the room one by one and, sat on a stage and talked into a microphone to the locals and the New York Times and Washington Post and CNN. The list goes on. Everything serious like a presidential news conference.

Me, I waited for Kevin Durant, one of the final Warriors to speak. Didn't know much about him. Still don't. But he's the reason for the media attention, for the sweat-stained reporters crowding that large over-heated room during the Bay Area's September version of summer.

He's the reason America is stalking the Warriors. Some people are thrilled by this fantasy team. Others feel it's shady, like Durant should have stayed in Oklahoma City out of loyalty. Like he did something underhanded coming to Oakland. Didn't have a right to choose a new employer.

Reminder: The NBA is big business for teams and for players.

He walked slowly into the room, climbed onto the stage. Tall, of course. Thinner than you might imagine. Athletic. Graceful.

I was forming impressions fast as possible. It's the game I play - I bet you do, too. At a dinner party you see someone new and try to create his/her story. If not the story, then a personality profile. You do that, right?

That's what I was doing. I could be dead wrong about Durant, but here's what I came up with. Sensitive, intelligent face. Sat with his head in his left hand. Looked around room. Took it all in. Seemed to find the mere act of being there fascinating.

Reporters took microphones and began asking questions. He looked at each questioner. Listened. Thought about his answers. Warriors assistant coach Ron Adams told me Durant would act this way.

When Durant spoke, his voice was soft. Not in a hurry. Wanted to make his meaning clear. Articulate. Smiled easily. Reminded me of a young Dusty Baker. The highest praise.

Someone asked what it's like being with the Warriors, a standard question.

“It's new and fresh,” Durant said, “and I'm looking forward to it. I'm super-excited just walking in here.”

How much did the Warriors sales pitch go into his decision to join them?

“I wouldn't even call it a sales pitch. They came in and they were open and honest about who they were. It drew me towards them, and here I am.”

How important is a sales pitch?

“It matters. You want to see these people up close. You want to know what they're about. I'm at the point in my life where I can meet someone and I can figure out what they're about and what they stand for just from talking to them. Sitting down and talking with Bob (Myers) and the rest of the guys for a couple of hours showed me what I needed to know.”

Here's one thing he learned that he needed to know. Stephen Curry was on the sales-pitch team and told Durant “how much I want to win.” Klay Thompson said Durant taking away some of his shots would be no big deal. “You don't sacrifice when you get a player like Kevin Durant,” Thompson said on media day.

More questions.

Now that some fans see him as a “villain” for leaving OKC, does he have a chip on his shoulder, will he play with more emotion?

“I always played with emotion. I always played with passion. But my thing is just playing for myself. I don't want to go out there and play upset at everybody else. That takes me out of who I am.”

Was that a reference to former teammate, forever-angry Russell Westbrook? Could be.

What's Durant's goal?

“To get on the court and get acquainted with my teammates and coaching staff. Now that I'm here, my jersey on, it's media day, it's real. It's been a different summer than I've ever experienced. I've just been anxious to play.”

How will his game change as a Warrior?

“We'll see. I'm relying on Coach (Steve) Kerr and see how he's going to put me in great positions to help the team be successful. I'm going to be who I am every single day. I'm going to approach the game like I've always done it. Nothing's changed on my end except for my jersey.”

Final question, and then a summary. What does he learn from Curry?

“Just how he approaches his craft. That's one thing I tend to watch more than anything. He works extremely hard and I know he'll push me to be the best player I can be.”

Interesting how Durant referred to craft. Because what Curry does and what Durant does is a craft. Everything Durant said and how he said it had a purpose. To downplay his Durantness. His superstardom. His fame. His arrival as Savior-in Chief.

He is here to play ball. To fit in. The Warriors are not making room for him. He is making room for them.

Nothing about him cried out “ego.” Of course, he knows he's great. But he doesn't wear it outside the way Barry Bonds did. He talked about himself like a role player, just one of the guys. He sees himself as the newcomer. It's his job to read the room, to fit in seamlessly.

And he is entirely likable. And normal.

That's what I got from Kevin Durant.

For more on the world of sports in general and the Bay Area in particular, go to the Cohn Zohn at cohn.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at lowell.cohn@pressdemocrat.com.