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the league has work to do to block a durant to golden state situation, a lot harder to block free agency, but for the sake of the league, how can this situation take flight? . with durant in gs, the title would pretty much be sewn up as there would be no need to even play the season.....does the nba want that?
So hypothetically speaking what happens to the Warriors depth if they bring in Durant?
It goes down the drain. They have to give up Harrison Barnes, Andrew Bogut, and Andre Iguodala. Plus it means that re-signing Leandro Barbosa and Shaun Livingston is increasingly much more difficult for the Warriors.
Honestly the Durant chase for the Warriors and Spurs is stupid. Makes no sense other than making a free agency splash. He's a great talent but they're gambling on fit after sacrificing productive depth for it.
Durant will stay with the Thunder though, so it doesn't matter. Why would a guy leave a team tailored around his style of play to join teams that play based off system ball? He wouldn't.
It goes down the drain. They have to give up Harrison Barnes, Andrew Bogut, and Andre Iguodala. Plus it means that re-signing Leandro Barbosa and Shaun Livingston is increasingly much more difficult for the Warriors.
Honestly the Durant chase for the Warriors and Spurs is stupid. Makes no sense other than making a free agency splash. He's a great talent but they're gambling on fit after sacrificing productive depth for it.
Durant will stay with the Thunder though, so it doesn't matter. Why would a guy leave a team tailored around his style of play to join teams that play based off system ball? He wouldn't.
Anyone that shares Russell Westbrooks ball with him for long enough might start thinking that system ball is pretty appealing.
Anyone that shares Russell Westbrooks ball with him for long enough might start thinking that system ball is pretty appealing.
This is true, but remember after Game 5 against the Warriors when reporters grilled Durant and Westbrook on their shot selection, decision making, and the fact that neither of them attempted to get their teammates involved in plays.
Both guys responded back by saying "this is how we play, this is who we are, and we wont ever change that."
I personally think both Durant and Westbrook have been extremely fortunate all their careers to have had coaches like Donovan and Brooks that have sort of given them both the greenlight to do whatever they want while on the floor. This is something that I personally think means a lot to Durant, because this has been his style of play his entire life. To see him having to adjust to system would be straight weird. The guy is the NBAs most efficient and effective isolation scorer. He's one of the few guys that make iso-ball actually look like it can still work and get big results in 2016.
I don't see him leaving the Thunder. Not this year and not next year either.
I think it would be beneficial for GSW and SAS to put more emphasis and effort into landing one of the other big names in free agency this year; before those more gettable big names make themselves unavailable. They'll be wasting their time with Durant, even if he is meeting with them personally. I'll be back next week when it becomes official that he's staying with the Thunder.
From 5:35 to the end, Durant explains how the Thunder play:
He seems to have zero regrets whatsoever about their style of play. It appears to be a concept both he and Westbrook have bought into and I just don't see that changing. I don't see either leaving the Thunder, not next year either, especially with how close they came to finishing off the Warriors and they did finish off the Spurs. Also from my perspective, the trade a few nights ago where Oklahoma City swapped Serge Ibaka for Ersan Illyasova, Victor Oladipo, and Domantas Sabonis made the Thunder much better. They added a stretch 4 to replace Ibaka's three point shooting with Illyasova, they added another playmaker, scorer, and defender with Oladipo, and they got younger and got a draft pick with an interior game with Sabonis. From my angle, while it is still too early, the Thunder look like the team to beat next year in the Western Conference. Their roster is young as well too and they've been quite successful for the last half-a-decade in going deep in the postseason. This trade may finally have given them the pieces to go all the way, though that remains to be seen.
Last edited by Trafalgar Law; 06-28-2016 at 01:24 PM..
This is true, but remember after Game 5 against the Warriors when reporters grilled Durant and Westbrook on their shot selection, decision making, and the fact that neither of them attempted to get their teammates involved in plays.
Both guys responded back by saying "this is how we play, this is who we are, and we wont ever change that."
I personally think both Durant and Westbrook have been extremely fortunate all their careers to have had coaches like Donovan and Brooks that have sort of given them both the greenlight to do whatever they want while on the floor. This is something that I personally think means a lot to Durant, because this has been his style of play his entire life. To see him having to adjust to system would be straight weird. The guy is the NBAs most efficient and effective isolation scorer. He's one of the few guys that make iso-ball actually look like it can still work and get big results in 2016.
I don't see him leaving the Thunder. Not this year and not next year either.
I think it would be beneficial for GSW and SAS to put more emphasis and effort into landing one of the other big names in free agency this year; before those more gettable big names make themselves unavailable. They'll be wasting their time with Durant, even if he is meeting with them personally. I'll be back next week when it becomes official that he's staying with the Thunder.
From 5:35 to the end, Durant explains how the Thunder play:
He seems to have zero regrets whatsoever about their style of play. It appears to be a concept both he and Westbrook have bought into and I just don't see that changing. I don't see either leaving the Thunder, not next year either, especially with how close they came to finishing off the Warriors and they did finish off the Spurs. Also from my perspective, the trade a few nights ago where Oklahoma City swapped Serge Ibaka for Ersan Illyasova, Victor Oladipo, and Domantas Sabonis made the Thunder much better. They added a stretch 4 to replace Ibaka's three point shooting with Illyasova, they added another playmaker, scorer, and defender with Oladipo, and they got younger and got a draft pick with an interior game with Sabonis. From my angle, while it is still too early, the Thunder look like the team to beat next year in the Western Conference. Their roster is young as well too and they've been quite successful for the last half-a-decade in going deep in the postseason. This trade may finally have given them the pieces to go all the way, though that remains to be seen.
That trade makes them good enough to come out of the west on paper. Still have to play on the court, but i think it gets them over the hump. However, free agency is still a few days away and other prized free agents are still out there like Conley and Horford. If the Spurs can find a way to get Conley and ship out Parker, they are going to be better than last year.
That trade makes them good enough to come out of the west on paper. Still have to play on the court, but i think it gets them over the hump.
Well they gave up Serge Ibaka for these three guys. All they need is one, possibly two of the three to be an immediate contributor for next season. Ibaka has been in decline for the last 3-4 seasons, each year his numbers and impact on the court have dipped further.
Victor Oladipo is only 22 years old; he's a shot creator, a playmaker, a scorer, defensive ace in the backcourt, and stuffs the stat-sheet with the intangibles. The Thunder, when they stalled out in Games 5, 6, and 7 against Golden State showed that they beat the Warriors at everything except for three point shooting and shot creating. With Oladipo, they've addressed those concerns.
With Illyasova, they get the prototypical stretch-4, a guy that can space the floor, collapse interior defenses, and knock down the 3 ball. Essentially replacing 80% of Serge Ibaka's role. The third guy, Domantas Sabonis was just drafted, he wont be a difference maker this year and will have to develop to the NBA but when he has developed, he'll give the Thunder the same interior presence and defense (his strong suits) that Ibaka had done in the past.
I think the Thunder robbed the Magic in this trade. In essence, Oklahoma City has what it needs to grab the title; now the question is if they can sort out their mental lapses and get over the hump. I think they can. This is the most talented young team in the NBA, position by position they are stacked with guys that specialize in set roles, they're an athletic team. Watching them play is like watching Olympians compete, they are simply too explosive.
I think they will be better next year regardless. At 55-27, last years Thunder team was actually a disappointment to the 2012-2013 (60-22) and 2013-2014 (59-23) teams. Their 55-27 campaign leaves them with only room to go up.
They blew 14 fourth quarter leading games in the regular season and choked each of those away, choking became their mantra call for the 2015-2016 season and ultimately that's what doomed them in the postseason too. I don't think they'll have this issue next year with more playmakers and scorers on the roster now. Imagine if they hadn't choked those 14 games in the regular season away this past season, their record would be 69-13, instead of 55-27.
Does OKC have much cap space? They might make some adds of their own?
Gotta say this much though...the fact that Durant is even entertaining visits to other teams is telling. I don't remember Kobe or Duncan ever doing that as an example of guys that stayed long term.
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