Author Topic: Why should Durant leave OKC?  (Read 11183 times)

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Re: Why should Durant leave OKC?
« Reply #30 on: June 07, 2016, 11:40:08 PM »

Offline LarBrd33

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A few of the reasons I mentioned:

- It's questionable whether that franchise knows how to build a winner.  There's been several pretty significant missteps - most notably trading away a young All-NBA player to save cash.

I'm not sure that that's the case.  Presti did build a winner by drafting Durant, Westbrook, Harden, and Ibaka, and that team made it to the finals.  His mistake was not resigning a key cog in their attack in Harden, but as far as building a contender, he's proved to be more than capable, imo.
He took over the job when they had the #2 pick.  Durant was the obvious pick there.  95% of the work was done already.

Then he put together a 20 win team by letting an all-star walk and trading away a hall-of-famer, because he had a mandate to make the team suck so bad Seattle fans would forget they existed.

Yeah, two years of tanking produced Westbrook (#4 pick) and Harden (#3 pick).   So he's a luckier version of Sam Hinkie.  Big whoop. 

Beyond that, they've done some pretty incompetent things. 

In 2009, they backed out of a deal to acquire Tyson Chandler.  Chandler went on to eventually win a DPOY award and help Dallas win a title in 2011.   Had they done that deal, OKC probably has a couple titles already. 

Instead, they solved their big man problems by trading Jeff Green for Kendrick Perkins... a 35 million dollar mistake.  Love Perk, but he was consistently one of the worst starters in the league while in OKC... and by giving him that money, they eventually found themselves in a cash situation where they had to give away a 23 year old All-NBA talent for peanuts, because the owners were too cheap to build a champion.

They also traded Eric Bledsoe for Cole Aldrich... drafted Andre Roberson a pick over Rudy Gobert, because they already had bigs, desperately overpaid for garbage boy Dion Waiters at the cost of a 1st round pick, because they had already made the Harden mistake, and gave up Reggie Jackson for a 17 million dollar per year defensively inept backup center... a contract they paid, in part, to retroactively con Durant into believing the franchise was actually willing to spend money ("Herp derp... so what we were too cheap to play James Harden... we're giving homeless man's Jahlil Okafor 17 million per year to come off the bench!").   Lots of stupid decisions on top of stupid decisions on top of stupid decisions.   BTW, Jackson is a young starting PG who averaged 19 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds with 43%/35%/86% shooting for a Pistons this season while leading them to the playoffs - something Westbrook proved incapable of doing last season without Durant.  Add the 44 win Pistons to the list of teams that arguably provide a better supporting cast than the sub .500 lotto team Durant is carrying over in trashbag Oklahoma. 

So let's summarize:

- The ownership group sucks - cheap scumbags who stole the team from Seattle
- The surrounding talent sucks - below .500 team that failed to even make the playoffs without a healthy Durant
- The GM sucks - mistake after mistake that has compounded and robbed Durant of a title
- The stability sucks - Sure, sign on for a year of media hell with constant Westbrook trade rumors and magnified free agency chatter
- The chemistry sucks - Constant bickering back and forth. Poor talent fit. 
- The money sucks - Nike deal incentivizes him to leave. 
- The location sucks - I wouldn't wish a life in Oklahoma on my worst enemy
- The conference situation sucks - Western conference is a blood bath and should be avoided


« Last Edit: June 07, 2016, 11:52:55 PM by LarBrd33 »

Re: Why should Durant leave OKC?
« Reply #31 on: June 07, 2016, 11:46:29 PM »

Offline Ilikesports17

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A few of the reasons I mentioned:

- It's questionable whether that franchise knows how to build a winner.  There's been several pretty significant missteps - most notably trading away a young All-NBA player to save cash.

I'm not sure that that's the case.  Presti did build a winner by drafting Durant, Westbrook, Harden, and Ibaka, and that team made it to the finals.  His mistake was not resigning a key cog in their attack in Harden, but as far as building a contender, he's proved to be more than capable, imo.
He took over the job when they had the #2 pick.  Durant was the obvious pick there.  95% of the work was done already.

Then he put together a 20 win team by letting an all-star walk and trading away a hall-of-famer, because he had a mandate to make the team suck so bad Seattle fans would forget they existed.

Yeah, two years of tanking produced Westbrook (#4 pick) and Harden (#3 pick).   So he's a luckier version of Sam Hinkie. 

Beyond that, they've done some pretty incompetent things. 

In 2009, they backed out of a deal to acquire Tyson Chandler.  Chandler went on to eventually win a DPOY award and help Dallas win a title in 2011.   Had they done that deal, OKC probably has a couple titles already. 

Instead, they solved their big man problems by trading Jeff Green for Kendrick Perkins... a 35 million dollar mistake.  Love Perk, but he was consistently one of the worst starters in the league while in OKC... and by giving him that money, they eventually found themselves in a cash situation where they had to give away a 23 year old All-NBA talent for peanuts, because the owners were too cheap to build a champion.

They also traded Eric Bledsoe for Cole Aldrich... drafted Andre Roberson a pick over Rudy Gobert, because they already had bigs, desperately overpaid for garbage boy Dion Waiters at the cost of a 1st round pick, because they had already made the Harden mistake, and gave up Reggie Jackson for a 17 million dollar per year defensively inept backup center... a contract they paid, in part, to retroactively con Durant into believing the franchise was actually willing ot spend money.   Lots of stupid decisions on top of stupid decisions on top of stupid decisions.   BTW, Jackson is a young starting PG who averaged 19 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds with 43%/35%/86% shooting for a Pistons this season while leading them to the playoffs - something Westbrook proved incapable of doing last season without Durant.  Add the 44 win Pistons to the list of teams that arguably provide a better supporting cast than the sub .500 lotto team Durant is carrying over in trashbag Oklahoma.

So let's summarize:

- The ownership group sucks - cheap scumbags who stole the team from Seattle
- The surrounding talent sucks - below .500 team that failed to even make the playoffs without a healthy Durant
- The GM sucks - mistake after mistake that has compounded and robbed Durant of a title
- The stability sucks - Sure, sign on for a year of media hell with constant Westbrook trade rumors and magnified free agency chatter
- The chemistry sucks - Constant bickering back and forth. Poor talent fit. 
- The money sucks - Nike deal incentivizes him to leave. 
- The location sucks - I wouldn't wish a life in Oklahoma on my worst enemy
- The conference situation sucks - Western conference is a blood bath and should be avoided
lol you ****ing hate OKC and I love it.
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Re: Why should Durant leave OKC?
« Reply #32 on: June 07, 2016, 11:50:17 PM »

Offline LarBrd33

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A few of the reasons I mentioned:

- It's questionable whether that franchise knows how to build a winner.  There's been several pretty significant missteps - most notably trading away a young All-NBA player to save cash.

I'm not sure that that's the case.  Presti did build a winner by drafting Durant, Westbrook, Harden, and Ibaka, and that team made it to the finals.  His mistake was not resigning a key cog in their attack in Harden, but as far as building a contender, he's proved to be more than capable, imo.
He took over the job when they had the #2 pick.  Durant was the obvious pick there.  95% of the work was done already.

Then he put together a 20 win team by letting an all-star walk and trading away a hall-of-famer, because he had a mandate to make the team suck so bad Seattle fans would forget they existed.

Yeah, two years of tanking produced Westbrook (#4 pick) and Harden (#3 pick).   So he's a luckier version of Sam Hinkie. 

Beyond that, they've done some pretty incompetent things. 

In 2009, they backed out of a deal to acquire Tyson Chandler.  Chandler went on to eventually win a DPOY award and help Dallas win a title in 2011.   Had they done that deal, OKC probably has a couple titles already. 

Instead, they solved their big man problems by trading Jeff Green for Kendrick Perkins... a 35 million dollar mistake.  Love Perk, but he was consistently one of the worst starters in the league while in OKC... and by giving him that money, they eventually found themselves in a cash situation where they had to give away a 23 year old All-NBA talent for peanuts, because the owners were too cheap to build a champion.

They also traded Eric Bledsoe for Cole Aldrich... drafted Andre Roberson a pick over Rudy Gobert, because they already had bigs, desperately overpaid for garbage boy Dion Waiters at the cost of a 1st round pick, because they had already made the Harden mistake, and gave up Reggie Jackson for a 17 million dollar per year defensively inept backup center... a contract they paid, in part, to retroactively con Durant into believing the franchise was actually willing ot spend money.   Lots of stupid decisions on top of stupid decisions on top of stupid decisions.   BTW, Jackson is a young starting PG who averaged 19 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds with 43%/35%/86% shooting for a Pistons this season while leading them to the playoffs - something Westbrook proved incapable of doing last season without Durant.  Add the 44 win Pistons to the list of teams that arguably provide a better supporting cast than the sub .500 lotto team Durant is carrying over in trashbag Oklahoma.

So let's summarize:

- The ownership group sucks - cheap scumbags who stole the team from Seattle
- The surrounding talent sucks - below .500 team that failed to even make the playoffs without a healthy Durant
- The GM sucks - mistake after mistake that has compounded and robbed Durant of a title
- The stability sucks - Sure, sign on for a year of media hell with constant Westbrook trade rumors and magnified free agency chatter
- The chemistry sucks - Constant bickering back and forth. Poor talent fit. 
- The money sucks - Nike deal incentivizes him to leave. 
- The location sucks - I wouldn't wish a life in Oklahoma on my worst enemy
- The conference situation sucks - Western conference is a blood bath and should be avoided
lol you ****ing hate OKC and I love it.
And so should Durant.  They robbed him of too many prime years already. 

Re: Why should Durant leave OKC?
« Reply #33 on: June 07, 2016, 11:53:44 PM »

Offline Ilikesports17

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A few of the reasons I mentioned:

- It's questionable whether that franchise knows how to build a winner.  There's been several pretty significant missteps - most notably trading away a young All-NBA player to save cash.

I'm not sure that that's the case.  Presti did build a winner by drafting Durant, Westbrook, Harden, and Ibaka, and that team made it to the finals.  His mistake was not resigning a key cog in their attack in Harden, but as far as building a contender, he's proved to be more than capable, imo.
He took over the job when they had the #2 pick.  Durant was the obvious pick there.  95% of the work was done already.

Then he put together a 20 win team by letting an all-star walk and trading away a hall-of-famer, because he had a mandate to make the team suck so bad Seattle fans would forget they existed.

Yeah, two years of tanking produced Westbrook (#4 pick) and Harden (#3 pick).   So he's a luckier version of Sam Hinkie. 

Beyond that, they've done some pretty incompetent things. 

In 2009, they backed out of a deal to acquire Tyson Chandler.  Chandler went on to eventually win a DPOY award and help Dallas win a title in 2011.   Had they done that deal, OKC probably has a couple titles already. 

Instead, they solved their big man problems by trading Jeff Green for Kendrick Perkins... a 35 million dollar mistake.  Love Perk, but he was consistently one of the worst starters in the league while in OKC... and by giving him that money, they eventually found themselves in a cash situation where they had to give away a 23 year old All-NBA talent for peanuts, because the owners were too cheap to build a champion.

They also traded Eric Bledsoe for Cole Aldrich... drafted Andre Roberson a pick over Rudy Gobert, because they already had bigs, desperately overpaid for garbage boy Dion Waiters at the cost of a 1st round pick, because they had already made the Harden mistake, and gave up Reggie Jackson for a 17 million dollar per year defensively inept backup center... a contract they paid, in part, to retroactively con Durant into believing the franchise was actually willing ot spend money.   Lots of stupid decisions on top of stupid decisions on top of stupid decisions.   BTW, Jackson is a young starting PG who averaged 19 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds with 43%/35%/86% shooting for a Pistons this season while leading them to the playoffs - something Westbrook proved incapable of doing last season without Durant.  Add the 44 win Pistons to the list of teams that arguably provide a better supporting cast than the sub .500 lotto team Durant is carrying over in trashbag Oklahoma.

So let's summarize:

- The ownership group sucks - cheap scumbags who stole the team from Seattle
- The surrounding talent sucks - below .500 team that failed to even make the playoffs without a healthy Durant
- The GM sucks - mistake after mistake that has compounded and robbed Durant of a title
- The stability sucks - Sure, sign on for a year of media hell with constant Westbrook trade rumors and magnified free agency chatter
- The chemistry sucks - Constant bickering back and forth. Poor talent fit. 
- The money sucks - Nike deal incentivizes him to leave. 
- The location sucks - I wouldn't wish a life in Oklahoma on my worst enemy
- The conference situation sucks - Western conference is a blood bath and should be avoided
lol you ****ing hate OKC and I love it.
And so should Durant.  They robbed him of too many prime years already.
I just want you to admit that you have a huge anti-OKC bias.

That said, when you draft KD, Jeff Green Westbrook, Ibaka and Harden over 3 drafts and you cant win a title you probably are pretty incompetent.

Although Ibaka at 24 and Jackson at 25 are really nice draft finds. Gotta give them some credit.
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Re: Why should Durant leave OKC?
« Reply #34 on: June 08, 2016, 12:00:11 AM »

Offline PhoSita

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The Thunder have had plenty of playoff success so far when their main guys have been healthy. 

I don't really see the relevance of what the team did when it was Westbrook by himself. The team isn't very good when it's Durant by himself either, especially now that they don't have Reggie Jackson to run pick and roll endlessly when Westbrook isn't playing.
Not enough success, though.  And it could be argued, Durant would already have a World Championship if he was paired with a more complimentary player than Russell Westbrook.

How could that possibly be argued except through excessive hypotheticals that couldn't ever be substantiated?

Maybe LeBron would've won five titles by now if he'd been drafted by the Celtics.

I can't prove it, but I can argue it if I want, because I want to believe the conclusion.
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Re: Why should Durant leave OKC?
« Reply #35 on: June 08, 2016, 12:00:35 AM »

Offline LarBrd33

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A few of the reasons I mentioned:

- It's questionable whether that franchise knows how to build a winner.  There's been several pretty significant missteps - most notably trading away a young All-NBA player to save cash.

I'm not sure that that's the case.  Presti did build a winner by drafting Durant, Westbrook, Harden, and Ibaka, and that team made it to the finals.  His mistake was not resigning a key cog in their attack in Harden, but as far as building a contender, he's proved to be more than capable, imo.
He took over the job when they had the #2 pick.  Durant was the obvious pick there.  95% of the work was done already.

Then he put together a 20 win team by letting an all-star walk and trading away a hall-of-famer, because he had a mandate to make the team suck so bad Seattle fans would forget they existed.

Yeah, two years of tanking produced Westbrook (#4 pick) and Harden (#3 pick).   So he's a luckier version of Sam Hinkie. 

Beyond that, they've done some pretty incompetent things. 

In 2009, they backed out of a deal to acquire Tyson Chandler.  Chandler went on to eventually win a DPOY award and help Dallas win a title in 2011.   Had they done that deal, OKC probably has a couple titles already. 

Instead, they solved their big man problems by trading Jeff Green for Kendrick Perkins... a 35 million dollar mistake.  Love Perk, but he was consistently one of the worst starters in the league while in OKC... and by giving him that money, they eventually found themselves in a cash situation where they had to give away a 23 year old All-NBA talent for peanuts, because the owners were too cheap to build a champion.

They also traded Eric Bledsoe for Cole Aldrich... drafted Andre Roberson a pick over Rudy Gobert, because they already had bigs, desperately overpaid for garbage boy Dion Waiters at the cost of a 1st round pick, because they had already made the Harden mistake, and gave up Reggie Jackson for a 17 million dollar per year defensively inept backup center... a contract they paid, in part, to retroactively con Durant into believing the franchise was actually willing ot spend money.   Lots of stupid decisions on top of stupid decisions on top of stupid decisions.   BTW, Jackson is a young starting PG who averaged 19 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds with 43%/35%/86% shooting for a Pistons this season while leading them to the playoffs - something Westbrook proved incapable of doing last season without Durant.  Add the 44 win Pistons to the list of teams that arguably provide a better supporting cast than the sub .500 lotto team Durant is carrying over in trashbag Oklahoma.

So let's summarize:

- The ownership group sucks - cheap scumbags who stole the team from Seattle
- The surrounding talent sucks - below .500 team that failed to even make the playoffs without a healthy Durant
- The GM sucks - mistake after mistake that has compounded and robbed Durant of a title
- The stability sucks - Sure, sign on for a year of media hell with constant Westbrook trade rumors and magnified free agency chatter
- The chemistry sucks - Constant bickering back and forth. Poor talent fit. 
- The money sucks - Nike deal incentivizes him to leave. 
- The location sucks - I wouldn't wish a life in Oklahoma on my worst enemy
- The conference situation sucks - Western conference is a blood bath and should be avoided
lol you ****ing hate OKC and I love it.
And so should Durant.  They robbed him of too many prime years already.
I just want you to admit that you have a huge anti-OKC bias.

Yeah if you read the article I posted, I make that clear multiple times: http://clnsradio.com/boston-celtics-news/item/13902-5-reasons-kevin-durant-needs-to-leave-the-oklahoma-city-thunder 

Lol. 

Re: Why should Durant leave OKC?
« Reply #36 on: June 08, 2016, 12:02:23 AM »

Offline LarBrd33

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The Thunder have had plenty of playoff success so far when their main guys have been healthy. 

I don't really see the relevance of what the team did when it was Westbrook by himself. The team isn't very good when it's Durant by himself either, especially now that they don't have Reggie Jackson to run pick and roll endlessly when Westbrook isn't playing.
Not enough success, though.  And it could be argued, Durant would already have a World Championship if he was paired with a more complimentary player than Russell Westbrook.

How could that possibly be argued except through excessive hypotheticals that couldn't ever be substantiated?

Maybe LeBron would've won five titles by now if he'd been drafted by the Celtics.

I can't prove it, but I can argue it if I want, because I want to believe the conclusion.
Maybe LeBron would have.  Maybe he should sign with Boston this season to see if it's true.  Instead of trying to trade Kevin Love for Avery Bradley, he can just fast-track things by signing on board.  Make sense. 

Re: Why should Durant leave OKC?
« Reply #37 on: June 08, 2016, 12:36:39 AM »

Offline CelticSooner

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LarBrd you dislike for OKC is disturbing. I will laugh if Durant leaves just to end up some place like Miami. The C's aren't the shoe in most think them to be. Could they get a meeting first?

Re: Why should Durant leave OKC?
« Reply #38 on: June 08, 2016, 12:59:01 AM »

Offline Beat LA

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Okay, so Presti got the job at the absolute best time, but while Durant was obvious at #2, you should at least give him credit for absolutely nailing the Westbrook and Harden picks.  Sure they were high, but Memphis had the second pick in 2009 and took Hasheem Thabeet, so when it comes to the draft, the guy clearly knows what he's doing. 

As far as Blesoe, yeah, okay, that was bad, lol, as he was traded for the first round pick in 2012 that ultimately became Fab Melo (thank you so much, Danny (sarcasm) ::). Ugh.).  However, as much as Westbrook and Durant don't compliment each other and never have, can you imagine trying to fit Bledsoe into that rotation, lol?  He is a much better shooter than Westbrook, sure, even though that's not saying much ;D, but if he could coexist with John Wall at Kentucky maybe it could have worked?  I really don't know, although it is a good problem to have ;D, I'll give you that.

Also, I understand that you're bitter about the ownership and what happened in Seattle, and I'd blame their cheapness for not being able to keep that team together more so than Presti, but yes, trading Harden to Houston for, what, Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, and a pick or two (right?  I can't remember), was monumentally stupid, and was further compounded by acquiring Dion Waiters, who did have some good moments in the postseason, but he simply isn't a good enough shooter to be able to fit with Westbrook and Durant, and especially because he needs to handle the ball to be effective, which just isn't happening on that team, lol ;D.  To me, the Harden trade looked like Presti was attempting to do a baseball trade where you acquire a few blue-chip prospects and a veteran for salary cap reasons to offset the loss of a superstar, except that that isn't how the NBA works.  If you've got a guy like Harden, Durant, or Westbrook, you do everything in your power to keep them (well, from his perspective, anyway.  I've never been a fan of any of those guys, to be honest,), because guys like that don't grow on trees or can be replaced the same way as in baseball.  That's how I look at it, anyway.

On the court, though, the blame rests solely on the shoulders of Westbrook and Durant.  Not only due they not play well together, they have also never understood the team concept because neither of them are team players.  They never have been and they never will be, barring a sudden epiphany from either party, and they just don't get it, same as Jordan.  The only time that I saw a light bulb come on was, unexpectedly, from Westbrook after game 3 against the Spurs, iirc.  From that point until the end of game 5 against the Warriors, he actually looked to have finally figured out how to be a point guard, recognize that Durant is the number one option, and only take over when need be. 

For his part during the same time frame, Durant, too, seemed to actually pass the ball, although not very well (there were times when he threw Ezeli/Whiteside passes out there, and at the most inopportune time, to boot), but when they had to close it out, Kevin was atrocious.  He played as if he'd never won a close out game before, just chucking bad shot after bad shot instead of passing, and when this happened Westbrook didn't come to the rescue, as he had been doing.  Both of them reverted to their 1 on 5 games, shutting out the other guys on the court and making their team much easier to defend, which is why they ultimately lost.  Both of them are simply way too selfish to ever be winners, in my book, and I hope neither of them ever becomes a Boston Celtic.  Just like Jordan and Kobe, KD and Russ don't like to pass - they see it as a chore that they begrudgingly have to do - and until that changes neither of them will ever win anything.  With the amount of talent that they've had on that team over the years it's honestly pathetic that they haven't won a title, and they only have themselves to blame, imo.

I will say this, though.  There is one player who might just be what they need in order to beat the Warriors, in addition to needing to change their mindset to the game, and that would be Avery Bradley, who I guess you can argue that they should have taken in 2010 as opposed to Bledsoe, and it's not just because of his defense.  Bradley doesn't need the ball to be effective, and his movement without it would, imo, anyway, be the perfect compliment to Westbrook and Durant on both ends.  Teams wouldn't be able to ignore him and his shooting like they blatantly disregard Andre Roberson, which would only make them in deadlier.  So why not give them Bradley for a first rounder next year, and maybe their second, as well?  He'd be perfect there and the guy deserves to be on a contender.

They could also possibly benefit from signing Evan Turner and have him run the show off the bench, but what would really make them an actual team, imo, is if they put Dakari Johnson in the starting lineup.  Steven Adams is nothing more than Greg Kite, but Dakari can actually score with his back to the basket (he's a very talented post player), and is a relentless offensive rebounder who keeps the ball high (don't underrate that), an excellent passer (really, you should watch his d-league highlights), and, despite outward appearances, can change ends really well, which Adams cannot.  Johnson is also developing a face-up/midrange game.  Yes, his free throw shooting will need to improve, but he's a hard worker with a great motor who plays his best in big games going back to his days at Kentucky, and with him in the lineup, the Thunder wouldn't be playing 3/4 on 5.  They should also get rid of Collison, who sucks, and give Mitch McGary a prominent role off the bench.  When he got a chance 2 years ago he was great for them.  He's got a nice outside shot, can post up, and is, like Dakari, relentless on the boards and a great passer, even more so than Johnson, which is saying a lot.  McGary's intensity and skill, combined with his speed, would make their offense hum, especially if you paired him with Dakari.

So, to sum up, Durant, who isn't coming here (sorry, man :-\), would greatly benefit from the additions of Bradley and Turner as well as the promotions of Dakari and McGary.  This starting lineup could be deadly -

Dakari Johnson, Serge Ibaka, Kevin Durant, Avery Bradley, Russell Westbrook

backed up by Cameron Payne, Morrow, Turner, McGary, and probably Adams, plus another veteran free agent at the 2/3 and 4/5.  Oh, and I almost forgot - get rid of Kyle Singler.  How is that guy even in the league, lol?  Kanter could probably stand to go, as well, especially if the 4/5 free agent can actually score inside AND defend.  What do you think?

I've never thought much of Tyson Chandler, btw.

Re: Why should Durant leave OKC?
« Reply #39 on: June 08, 2016, 01:02:18 AM »

Offline TheFlex

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I love me some Reggie Jackson. He used to be on my fantasy team. He's a beast. But two things:

1) don't be so quick to disrespect Enes Kanter. Obviously Detroit won the deal for the near future but Kanter was pretty instrumental in OKC's postseason success, which, while ultimately disappointing, was impressive.

2) what is your point in saying Jackson "led" (along with fellow beasts Drummond and the criminally underrated KCP and Marcus Morris) DET to the 7th seed and a 1st round sweep? The notion that Reggie is better than Russell is questionable, and that's putting it generously.


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Cap space: $24 mil.

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Re: Why should Durant leave OKC?
« Reply #40 on: June 08, 2016, 02:39:33 AM »

Offline mr. dee

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The only argument is that having to beat LeBron and then ONE of the Western Conference contenders is an easier road to a title than having to beat 2 or 3 Western Conference contenders and THEN beat LeBron on top of that.

No team in the East can offer Durant the level of talent his current team already.  But playing in a conference with only one other team that has any hope of beating you in a series means your odds of winning a title are much higher.


Aside from that, the only point I can see on this is that Westbrook might bail next summer to have his own show somewhere else (LA or NY probably).  Maybe Durant knows that's likely to happen, and so he decides to leave this summer so he can start building experience and chemistry with a different team, probably in the East.
I still feel like Westbrook is a bit overrated... and he's the main reason people say Durant can't find a better supporting cast.   Honestly, I'm not sure Westbrook's talents compliment Durant as well as some people think.   They never really seemed like a great fit together.

Someone mentioned in another thread, the Thunder without Durant would compare well with the Blazers.  The idea is that Westbrook is similar to Damian Lillard.   Lillard is a more efficient scorer, though... and the Thunder don't have a CJ McCollum lighting it up at the SG position.   Actually, the Blazers might be one of several teams that would provide a better supporting cast than Durant has right now in Oklahoma City.


Westbrook and Durant aren't an ideal fit.  They both have a #1 game and all they've ever done is take turns.

The thing is, it really doesn't matter.  Having two top 5 talents on your roster is better than having a top 5 talent and some top 20-30 guy who complements his game. 

Not to mention, Ibaka / Kanter / Adams is a pretty great, young frontcourt as well, plus they have Roberson and Payne on the come-up.  OKC is in a pretty good position moving forward as long as they can figure out how to manage their cap sheet with all of these guys needing to get paid.


And by the way, I love Damian Lillard, but he's nowhere near the player Westbrook is.  Westbrook is 80% of an all-time great, and the other 20% is unbridled chaos that is pretty much a coin flip as to which team it helps and which team it hurts.

Lillard is a great leader on and off the court, and he's a wonderful scorer.  He's not a good defender and he doesn't have the raw talent and athleticism to put up numbers regardless of what the other team tries to do about it.   Westbrook does.
Westbrook is great if you like your main chucker shooting 29% shooting from three and getting 5 turnovers per game.   I mean, yeah... the guy is talented without question. 

Lillard shot 38% from three this year.  He lead a team to the playoffs without Kevin Durant - something Westbrook failed to accomplish.   Plus, Lillard is a better rapper.

More importantly, Portland has McCollom, who had a brilliant season... so that's just one random example of a team who arguably offers a better supporting cast than Durant has in OKC.   

He could, of course, join the 48 win Celtic team that could also add talent via the #3 pick and an additional max cap slot.   I'm pretty confident that team, with Durant, would be superior to the lotto squad Durant is carrying in OKC.


Re: Why should Durant leave OKC?
« Reply #41 on: June 08, 2016, 06:06:06 AM »

Online Who

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He shouldn't but he should demand some changes.

(1) a starting SG who is a two way player.
(2) a trade of Ibaka or Adams for a big who can bring more passing and offense
(3) a proven top quality nba head coach

Re: Why should Durant leave OKC?
« Reply #42 on: June 08, 2016, 06:21:26 AM »

Offline LatterDayCelticsfan

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He shouldn't but he should demand some changes.

(1) a starting SG who is a two way player.
(2) a trade of Ibaka or Adams for a big who can bring more passing and offense
(3) a proven top quality nba head coach

That is pretty harsh in Billy Donovan methinks. He did get them to push Goldens State harder than anyone has, and they won ~60 games in the regular season
Banner 18 please 😍

Re: Why should Durant leave OKC?
« Reply #43 on: June 08, 2016, 10:21:03 AM »

Offline Moranis

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As a point of reference on the James Harden trade it was

Harden, Cole Aldrich, Lazar Hayward, Daequan Cook

for

Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, and 3 picks which became Steven Adams, Mitch McGary, and Alex Abrines (that was a 2nd rounder)

Obviously Harden is the best player in that trade, but Martin, Lamb, and Adams are probably the next 3 best players and Adams is a key part of the OKC future (heck as bad as McGary was this year he still might have been the 54th best player in the trade).  Of course they lost Martin in free agency (basically) and then traded Lamb for Ridnour and a future 2nd rather than lose him in free agency. 
2023 Historical Draft - Brooklyn Nets - 9th pick

Bigs - Pau, Amar'e, Issel, McGinnis, Roundfield
Wings - Dantley, Bowen, J. Jackson
Guards - Cheeks, Petrovic, Buse, Rip

Re: Why should Durant leave OKC?
« Reply #44 on: June 08, 2016, 10:52:02 AM »

Offline Endless Paradise

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The absolutely dumbest thing you can do is when trying to argue Westbrook isn't a #1-caliber player is point to the fact that the Thunder missed the playoffs last year without Durant. Westbrook himself missed 15 games on top of the slew of injuries to literally every single player save for Waiters and one or two unimportant bench reserves.  They went 40-27 with Westbrook playing, which is a 49-win pace over the whole season. They missed the playoffs on the basis of a tiebreaker. Try again.

Also, the fact that Who insists on dying on this strange "Donovan is a terrible coach" hill after watching the playoffs is just bizarre.