In an effort to recruit Kevin Durant to the Golden State Warriors, NBA legend Jerry West spoke with Durant by telephone Saturday, league sources told ESPN.com.West, a member of the Warriors Executive Board, did not try to tell Durant which team to choose. West did, however, share several reasons he believes Golden State would be the ideal fit for the superstar forward.West spoke to Durant from the perspective of an all-time great player who kept falling short of winning an NBA championship. Although West won a title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1972, he lost in his first seven trips to the NBA Finals and finished 1-8 in the Finals overall. West, 78, told Durant those losses still eat at him to this day, according to sources.West also told Durant that playing alongside the Warriors star trio of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green would make it much easier on him. West opined that in Oklahoma City, most of Durants shot attempts are difficult and contested. He told Durant, a career 27.4 point scorer, that his points would come much easier in Golden State and suggested it would take fewer shots to score the same amount of points.Finally, West pointed out to Durant how he believes his overall game is overlooked in Oklahoma City. Although Durant is known as one of the greatest scorers of all time, he does not receive much credit for his rebounding -- he led the Thunder with 8.2 boards per game last season -- or defense.West said that if Durant goes to a team with other great scorers and wins championships, the other parts of his game will receive recognition, and hell be known as a great all-around player rather than just a great scorer.West, one of the greatest executives in league history, has a well-earned reputation as a top recruiter. In 1996, he convinced Shaquille ONeal to leave Orlando to join the Lakers, with whom ONeal won three championships. West has also served on occasion as a sounding board for LeBron James.Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News first reported that West spoke with Durant. Lorenzo Cain Brewers Jersey . But the quarterback hopes to stay involved in football after officially calling it quits Tuesday. "Id love to look at those opportunities as they arise," Pierce said in an interview from his Winnipeg eatery. Tyler Austin Jersey .S. hockey team after paying his dues as an NHL general manager for more than three decades and giving up a lot of his free time to help USA Hockey. https://www.cheapbrewers.com/1659y-rob-deer-jersey-brewers.html . -- Arizona knocked off some quality opponents, rolled over a few overmatched ones and grinded out victories even when things didnt go so well. Brewers Jerseys 2020 . Houston won 3-0 to advance to face New York in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Last in the game, Di Vaio and Romero got into a shoving match with several Houston players. Romero appeared to elbow and kick Houston defender Kofi Sarkodie. Robin Yount Brewers Jersey .C. Lions has come to an end. Banks told TSN on Jan 2 that he had no interest in playing out the option year of his contract with the Lions in 2014, and he again made that clear in a conversation with Lions GM Wally Buono last week. When youre trying to put the accomplishments of Alabamas Nick Saban into some kind of historical perspective there are a lot of numbers to choose from:?Alabama has won four of the past seven national championships. He has five national championships in his career, second only to Alabamas Bear Bryant, who won six.?The No. 1 Crimson Tide (7-0, 4-0 SEC) enter Saturdays game with No. 6 Texas A&M (6-0, 4-0) with a 19-game winning streak, which is Sabans personal best.?A win over Texas A&M would be Alabamas third straight against a team ranked in the AP Top 25. Only one other time in history (1999) has Alabama done that.?Since Saban has been at Alabama he has coached in 28 games where both teams were ranked in the Top 10. He is 22-6 in those games.But here is the number that I think cements Sabans status as a future Hall of Fame coach:Since the inception of the AP poll in 1936, Alabama has played 66 games as the nations No. 1 team. Of those 66 games where Alabama has been ranked No. 1, a staggering 42 of them have come in the 10 seasons with Nick Saban as head coach. He is 37-5 in those games.And heres the kicker: There is talk that the 2016 team could be Sabans best at Alabama.Whether or not Saban and Alabama can keep it rolling against Texas A&M is one of many good storylines for Saturday. Here are a few more: When No. 21 Auburn (4-2, 2-1) started 1-2 there were a lot of doubts about where the 2016 season was headed. But now the Tigers have won three straight and have picked up some confidence along the way.When Auburn was 1-2 Malzahn asked for patience because he could see that things would get better, and they have.The good thing about our team is that the leadership is very strong, Malzahn told reporters this week.Now Auburn has the No. 3 rushing offense (262.83 ypg), a quarterback (Sean White) who is completing almost 70 percent of his passes and a defense that is fourth in the SEC in points allowed (16.0 ppg). After an off week Auburn hosts No. 17 Arkansas (5-2, 1-2), who is coming off a big 34-30 win over Ole Miss. It has been a very interesting ride for LSU. The Tigers started off with a gut-wrenching 16-14 loss to Wisconsin, a game that looks better with each passing week. After an 18-13 loss at Auburn in the fourth game, head coach Les Miles was fired and defensive line coach Ed Orgeron became the interim.LSU has beaten Missouri (42-7) and Southern Mississippi (45-10) under Orgeron but the Tigers Oct. 8 game with Florida was postponed due to Hurricane Matthew.So we really dont know how good No. 25 LSU (4-2, 2-1) really is, but were going to find out soon. The Tigers host No. 23 Ole Miss (3-3, 1-2) on Saturday (9 p.m. ET, ESPN). LSU takes next week off and then hosts No. 1 Alabama.The good news for LSU is that running back Leonard Fournette will return to action after missing three games due to nagging ankle injuries. Both Mississippi State (2-4, 1-2) and Kentucky (3-3, 2-2) will still have an outside shot at a bowl when they meet at Commonwealth Stadium (7:30 p.ddddddddddddm. ET, SEC Network).Kentucky has had a week off since beating Vanderbilt 20-13 and has won three of its last four games. The only loss in that stretch was to No. 1 Alabama (34-6).Mississippi State has to be physically and emotionally exhausted. The Bulldogs are playing their fourth road game in the last five outings. Last week they traveled all the way to Provo, Utah and lost 28-21 in double overtime.If Kentucky could win and beat Austin Peay on Nov. 19, the Wildcats would have to find just one more win to get to a bowl. Given the fact that UK was 5-7 the past two seasons that would be big, really big. UMass (1-6) will play its third SEC opponent of the year when it faces South Carolina (2-4, 1-4) at Williams-Brice Stadium (Noon ET, SEC Network).The big story in Will Muschamps first year as head coach is the struggling South Carolina offense. The Gamecocks are last in the FBS in scoring, averaging only 14.0 points per game.Muschamp may pull the redshirt off of freshman quarterback Jake Bentley. Bentley, who skipped his entire senior year of high school to enroll at South Carolina, has not played this season. He would be the second true freshman quarterback to start for the Gamecocks this season. Brandon McIlwain has played in five of South Carolinas six games this season. Vanderbilt won its biggest game of the Derek Mason era last week when the Commodores beat Georgia (17-16) in Athens. Now Vanderbilt (3-4, 1-3) will have a chance to get back to .500 when it hosts Tennessee State (5-1), an FCS team from the Ohio Valley Conference.Tennessee State, which is also located in Nashville, has lost only once this season and that was on the road at Eastern Illinois, 35-34. The Tigers are ranked No. 25 in all of the FCS polls.Vanderbilt will be trying to win two straight games for the first time under Mason.Were trying to take a snowflake (the Georgia win) and turn it into a snowball, said Mason. Missouri (2-4, 0-3) has been struggling of late, losing to LSU (42-7) and Florida (40-14) in its last two games.Normally stepping outside of the conference would provide some relief, but the Tigers are hosting a Middle Tennessee State team (4-2) that can light up the scoreboard.The Blue Raiders are led by quarterback Brent Stockstill, the son of head coach Rick Stockstill. The younger Stockstill has thrown for over 300 yards in nine of his last 12 outings.Middle Tennessee is 24th nationally in scoring at 38.5 points per game.They are a very explosive and well-coached team, said Barry Odom, Mizzous first-year coach. We havent played well the past couple of weeks but weve played some very good teams. Were not that far off. ' ' '