Kevin Durant: Nets are cool, Knicks not so much

Yes, Nets fans, your team’s organization is as good as everyone says it is. And no, Knick fans, your team is not cool.

So says Kevin Durant, who spoke to a New York-based talk radio show Ebro in the Morning Show Monday and talked about why he chose the Nets and why the Knicks still have a long way to go. He also reiterated Sean Marks comments that fans shouldn’t expect him to take the court this season.

Here are some of the highlights from the interview.

On why he chose the Nets:

“The organization, basketball is the most important thing for me, so playing with Kyrie (Irving), DeAndre Jordan, the young players they got, was key. Playing with Golden State, playing with an older group. I thought it was time for me to kind of impose my will on a younger group. ... I just wanted to be around a nice group of young players and also a good mix of vets.”

On whether he considered the Knicks:

“I thought about it, yeah, just a thought. But I didn’t really do any deep, full analysis on the Knicks.”

At Media Day, KD said, “I thought about it for a couple seconds to see how my life would look in all of those places for a minute. But ultimately, I wanted to be here.”

On why not the Knicks:

“I think a lot of fans look at the Knicks as a brand and expect these younger players who, in their lifetime, don’t remember the Knicks being good. I didn’t grow up with the Knicks. I’ve seen the Knicks in the Finals, but kids coming up after me didn’t see that. So that whole brand of the Knicks to them is not as cool as, let’s say, the Golden State Warriors or even the Lakers or the Nets now.

”It’s like the cool thing right now is not the Knicks.”

On why he risked injury playing in Finals Game 5:

“I wanted to play. It was the finals..... nobody would’ve stopped me at that point. I was gonna play no matter what.”

“Shit happens”

On his rehab and whether fans should expect him back this season:

“It takes a lot of time. It’s an everyday process. It’s tough, you know. You dive into it every day, two or three hours a day of just rehab, trying to get stronger. There’s nothing ... no accelerated process. So I’m working like everyone else who tore their Achilles.:

Q. “So Nets fans should go into this season expecting not to see you this year?”

“Yeah.”

Tuesday morning, Durant responded by tweet to a Knicks fan who wondered if he understood New York was a Knicks town and that he’d be playing in front of empty seats.

Later, he noted in response to a full-on Knick fan’s assault...

Still later, there was this exchange...

• Kevin Durant on decision to sign with Nets, Knicks’ failure to attract stars - Ian Begley - SNY
• Kevin Durant’s snub explanation is troubling for Knicks’ future - Howie Kussoy - New York Post
• The Knicks aren’t the cool thing now, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be later - Kristian Winfield - New York Daily News
• Kevin Durant says Knicks can’t rely on past success, ‘not as cool’ with younger players - ESPN
• Nets’ Kevin Durant takes shot at rival: ‘The cool thing right now is not the Knicks’ - Chris Bumbaca - USA TODAY
• Nets’ Kevin Durant Says the ‘Cool Thing Right Now Is Not the Knicks’ - Tyler Conway - Bleacher Report
• Kevin Durant Explains Why Free Agents Don’t Go to the Knicks - Tara Mahadevan - Complex.com