Durant, Westbrook, and OKC

allpurpleallgold

HeretoBeatmyChest said:

Good advanced stat info video on OKC:

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/67903/the-thunders-bad-mix

Apparently Durant & Westbrook together are terrible on D and on offense are not that great either.

I would be very careful what I take away from real plus minus. Considering that it has Nick Collison as a better player than Durant and Westbrook.

Tequilla

Boston sucked at the end of the Bird era because they rode that to the very end combined with the Len Bias and Reggie Lewis tragedies. They've been out of the playoffs 3 times since 2001.

The Knicks have had terrible ownership/management and that has killed them as much as anything else.

It's possible that that could be what does in the Lakers ... but given that they have made the playoffs in 35 of the last 40 years, I'm going to go with the fact that they normally tend to find a way to get things to work out.

allpurpleallgold

RoadDawg55 said:

Tequilla said:

The Lakers are going to be brutal next season. But they are the Lake Show. They have a plan. They have a history of executing said plan.

It's well known that they basically have cleared their cap at this point except for Kobe (2 years remaining) and Nash (retires next year). They will have at worst a Top 7 pick this year. Since they are the Lakers and we all know how the lottery works, they'll get a Top 3 pick this year (and probably the same with Boston).

Next year, they'll continue to be brutal and that will allow them to keep their 1st round pick in 2015 instead of sending it to Phoenix as long as they have a Top 5 pick. The only contract they'll have on the books for 2015-2016 at that point is Kobe. They'll go sign Kevin Love. When Kobe comes off the books, the only contracts that they'll have on the books will be Kevin Love and the 1st round picks from the '14 and '15 draft. They'll have a ton of cap room in a loaded free agent pool.

IF they don't get KD in the fold after 2016, then they'll get Westbrook in 2017. Combine either with Kevin Love, and what will most likely be 2 really good players from the '14 and '15 drafts, and then round out the roster with role players and guys looking for titles, and you'll have a title contender by the '16-'17 season at the latest.

A lot of hypotheticals. Other than Dwight, most players re-sign with their current team. They give up 30 million to take a deal with another team. Lots of teams have tried to get a ton of cap space to make a splash in free agency. The Heat are the only team that really succeeded. It didn't work for the Knicks and many others.

The Lakers also have little Buss running the show. He could be a disaster. Picking D'Antoni over Phil put him on the fast track to disaster. Kevin Love is a really good player, but he also can't guard anyone. So far, he's been a stats guy. A lot of things have to go right to be a title contender by 16-17. Not to mention, even if they hit home runs with the draft picks, it normally takes guys awhile to truly learn how to win in the NBA. It's not easy, even if you are the Lakers. This isn't fantasy basketball.

That 30 million number is bullshit. Almost all of it is just the 5th year, the year to year difference is minimal. If you get another max contract you can make it all up.

allpurpleallgold

He_Needs_More_Time said:

If OKC loses tonight wouldn't surprise me if they make a panic trade this offseason and trade Westbrook in a 3 for 1 deal that never works out in the NBA.

People will rationalize it that Westbrook shoots too much and they need more options.

Westbrook is having a bad series but so is Durant. Brooks isn't helping but playing Perkins and Fisher in crunch time.

Presti has assembled a terrible roster. I watched in game five as they were making a comeback Caron Butler miss three straight wide open three pointers. Sad part is he was one of the only guys on the bench not playing terrible.

I really don't see Durant staying there. After this year I think he'll face heat on not winning a title. He'll come to realization that Lebron did in Cleveland that he doesn't have the ownership group capable of winning a title. He'll take his talents to another place.

RE: Lakers. Remember Kobe's contract comes off the books in two years and Nash, Gasol will be off too. They'll get a top tier lotto pick this year and most likely next year. I think the Lakers can turn it around rather quickly especially if a Durant, Kevin Love, or Westbrook go there. Probably need two of them which they could haul in.

Westbrook isn't getting traded after the Harden debacle. Not by Presti at least.

[Deleted User]

allpurpleallgold said:

He_Needs_More_Time said:

If OKC loses tonight wouldn't surprise me if they make a panic trade this offseason and trade Westbrook in a 3 for 1 deal that never works out in the NBA.

People will rationalize it that Westbrook shoots too much and they need more options.

Westbrook is having a bad series but so is Durant. Brooks isn't helping but playing Perkins and Fisher in crunch time.

Presti has assembled a terrible roster. I watched in game five as they were making a comeback Caron Butler miss three straight wide open three pointers. Sad part is he was one of the only guys on the bench not playing terrible.

I really don't see Durant staying there. After this year I think he'll face heat on not winning a title. He'll come to realization that Lebron did in Cleveland that he doesn't have the ownership group capable of winning a title. He'll take his talents to another place.

RE: Lakers. Remember Kobe's contract comes off the books in two years and Nash, Gasol will be off too. They'll get a top tier lotto pick this year and most likely next year. I think the Lakers can turn it around rather quickly especially if a Durant, Kevin Love, or Westbrook go there. Probably need two of them which they could haul in.

Westbrook isn't getting traded after the Harden debacle. Not by Presti at least.

I think it would be a mistake but I could see a knee jerk reaction panic trade. I would also assume Presti and Brooks would be fired if they lost in the first round.

Anyways I should have took Sark's advice and not deal with hypotheticals.

whlinder

Durant is going to Washington when he becomes a FA. HTH