Kanter: Should they match?

[blackham9258]

Jazz Fan here. I love Kanter, but only as a backup 4/5. As a max starter you're screwed. Sorry, our GM got the better of you this time but only due to Portland being stupid. Let it go, at this point it's only cost you a 1st round pick. Don't let him become an albatross contract that ties your franchises hands. That is worse than giving up a late first. Just my suggestion.

Go get Darrell Arthur and bet on Adams natural year 3 jump.

Good luck.

[Inigo Montoya]

Allow me to offer my 2 cents and say that our GM didn't get the better of Presti, since Presti gave nothing of value in exchange for a 23 year old max player. As for Kanter, he gives you interior scoring, which is something your team never had and has been yearning for for years.Though the price is steep, I'd advise you to think long and hard about where you'd get quality interior scoring if you let Kanter walk.

[Pillendreher]

Should we match? No.
Do we have a choice? No.

Kanter needs to come off the bench, play about half the game and be the offensive focal point while he's in. He's atrocious defensively, a net negative, and a bit of a head case, but he could destroy 2nd units and work on his defense. A starting five of Russ/Robes/KD/Serge/Adams is still best in the league, following that up with DJ/A-Mo/Singler/McGary(Collison)/Kanter is the best bench in the league. The floor spacing on that second unit will just kill teams.

This. This is the way it has to be done if the team matches. Otherwise I don't want them to match.

[Pillendreher]

Here is my issue. The contract has little trade value - No trade provision in the first year, as a 15% trade bonus plus a 4th year player option. Sure anything may be tradeable but we would get sod all in return. This is way more onerous on the organization than the Perk deal was and I'd argue Perks offense was better than Kanters defense

Then add the tax for next year of at least $11M so he costs the organisation $28M in year 1 (assuming they can give Perry and Novak away free to a good home) and if his defense does not improve has an awful contract from a trade value point of view. I just don't get that he is worth the risk.

We've seen how the Pelicans can't get rid of either Gordon or Evans. If the Thunder match and need to trade him afterwards, teams are gonna be a lot more cautious. If he starts to bitch like Reggie did, nobody's gonna touch him because by then he's a proven headcase. Add the defensive struggles and the trade kicker and you got yourself an untradeable contract.

[tmorgan]

Outside POV -- (assuming KD is on board with it) -- Let Portland Have Him.

The reason why defensive bigs are more valuable and more common than offensive bigs is that a player's defense rarely has a bad night (perhaps a bad matchup, but that's it). A great defensive big that's extremely limited offensively can be counted on to contribute positively almost every game, and you still can't completely ignore them on offense because open dunks will be there. I'm thinking Ben Wallace here.

A great offensive big that sucks at defense isn't going to be a positive for you consistently, because no player brings it every night offensively, and further, that type of player can be schemed against in the playoffs. Can't you see Duncan and Aldridge looking at each other in the WCF, waiting to see who Kanter is matched up with so that guy can get the ball? Kanter's going to end up on the bench or be a huge net negative in too many situations.

He's good, certainly, and keeping him will likely get you a few extra regular season wins. OKC has good depth in the frontcourt without him, though -- who else has three other good bigs? Do you need 4? Let Portland deal with him, save your money, and develop the two younger guys you already have.

[No-Man]

Allow me to offer my 2 cents and say that our GM didn't get the better of Presti, since Presti gave nothing of value in exchange for a 23 year old max player. As for Kanter, he gives you interior scoring, which is something your team never had and has been yearning for for years.Though the price is steep, I'd advise you to think long and hard about where you'd get quality interior scoring if you let Kanter walk.

Kevin Séraphin for the MLE

[Old Man Game]

I really appreciate the fans from other teams showing up to give some perspective on this. They didn't suffer through the Kendrick Perkins years like we did (how about starting the game with a Perkins post up, Scotty?) so there may be a little less emotion attached to punting on a young guy with the sort of offensive skills Kanter brings to the table.

[CancerAssassin]

Allow me to offer my 2 cents and say that our GM didn't get the better of Presti, since Presti gave nothing of value in exchange for a 23 year old max player. As for Kanter, he gives you interior scoring, which is something your team never had and has been yearning for for years.Though the price is steep, I'd advise you to think long and hard about where you'd get quality interior scoring if you let Kanter walk.

This. As a taxpayer our MLE is $3.4M there aren't any FAs that could likely crack the rotation for us at that price.

Match = 1-2 yr championship window and then..who knows
Don't match = continue sustainable approach for as long as possible, championship still plausible

[bondom34]

Allow me to offer my 2 cents and say that our GM didn't get the better of Presti, since Presti gave nothing of value in exchange for a 23 year old max player. As for Kanter, he gives you interior scoring, which is something your team never had and has been yearning for for years.Though the price is steep, I'd advise you to think long and hard about where you'd get quality interior scoring if you let Kanter walk.

This. As a taxpayer our MLE is $3.4M there aren't any FAs that could likely crack the rotation for us at that price.

Match = 1-2 yr championship window and then..who knows
Don't match = continue sustainable approach for as long as possible, championship still plausible

By the way, welcome to the boards, glad to see a new member!

[slick_watts]

Allow me to offer my 2 cents and say that our GM didn't get the better of Presti, since Presti gave nothing of value in exchange for a 23 year old max player. As for Kanter, he gives you interior scoring, which is something your team never had and has been yearning for for years.Though the price is steep, I'd advise you to think long and hard about where you'd get quality interior scoring if you let Kanter walk.

This. As a taxpayer our MLE is $3.4M there aren't any FAs that could likely crack the rotation for us at that price.

Match = 1-2 yr championship window and then..who knows
Don't match = continue sustainable approach for as long as possible, championship still plausible

I don't think precedent agrees with you that Kanter = championship.

[CancerAssassin]

Allow me to offer my 2 cents and say that our GM didn't get the better of Presti, since Presti gave nothing of value in exchange for a 23 year old max player. As for Kanter, he gives you interior scoring, which is something your team never had and has been yearning for for years.Though the price is steep, I'd advise you to think long and hard about where you'd get quality interior scoring if you let Kanter walk.

This. As a taxpayer our MLE is $3.4M there aren't any FAs that could likely crack the rotation for us at that price.

Match = 1-2 yr championship window and then..who knows
Don't match = continue sustainable approach for as long as possible, championship still plausible

I don't think precedent agrees with you that Kanter = championship.

Absolutely not, I didn't reiterate the damage of his contract in 2017. I really only see Kanter in a reserve capacity. He's useful in that sense, but he's not a significant contributor. I'm less convinced than most that he's ever going to be average defensively.
Signing him at the max does force us into an unnecessary "championship or bust" window because we won't have the money to keep Ibaka, Adams, Roberson and A-Mo and we won't have alternatives to replace them with. I don't think his contract is especially tradable either.

[Pillendreher]

Absolutely not, I didn't reiterate the damage of his contract in 2017. I really only see Kanter in a reserve capacity. He's useful in that sense, but he's not a significant contributor. I'm less convinced than most that he's ever going to be average defensively.
Signing him at the max does force us into an unnecessary "championship or bust" window because we won't have the money to keep Ibaka, Adams, Roberson and A-Mo and we won't have alternatives to replace them with. I don't think his contract is especially tradable either.

This. People always talk about the higher cap in a few years, but they don't realize that by then the salaries are gonna be significantly higher as well. By 2017-2018 we could have tied up about 100 milion just for KD, Russ, Ibaka, Kanter, Singler and Payne. We would be forced to use the bird rights to retain Adams, McGary, Robes, Morrow, which puts us siginificantly over the cap.
Kanter's not worth that kind of stranglehold.

[Winglish]

Signing Enes Kanter to $17.5 million per year would only be the second dumbest thing OKC has done. Your franchise will be financially hamstrung, hung out to dry every free agency period of the contract. (Just because you have not attracted free agents does not mean it won't happen. Not many come to Utah either, but then Boozer and Okur came in the same year, both overpaid, and took the Jazz to the WCF.)

Aw, what am I saying? Sign Kanter!

Just kiddin'. I kinda like OKC. I don't like Portland. Let Kanter's contract be their problem.

[bondom34]

And to the "higher cap" crowd, there's a distinct chance there's a new CBA too. And that could mean this contract is still ridiculous.

[Thunderhead]

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[Kizz Fastfists]

Signing Enes Kanter to $17.5 million per year would only be the second dumbest thing OKC has done. Your franchise will be financially hamstrung, hung out to dry every free agency period of the contract. (Just because you have not attracted free agents does not mean it won't happen. Not many come to Utah either, but then Boozer and Okur came in the same year, both overpaid, and took the Jazz to the WCF.)

Aw, what am I saying? Sign Kanter!

Just kiddin'. I kinda like OKC. I don't like Portland. Let Kanter's contract be their problem.

You realize that even if they don't sign Kanter they will have at most $10M to offer out next off-season and nothing in future seasons. With the cap about to take off and next year's FA class there is no chance they could add a better player than Kanter through FA. They might, however, be able to trade Kanter's contract for something better in the future if he doesn't work out.

[Winglish]

Signing Enes Kanter to $17.5 million per year would only be the second dumbest thing OKC has done. Your franchise will be financially hamstrung, hung out to dry every free agency period of the contract. (Just because you have not attracted free agents does not mean it won't happen. Not many come to Utah either, but then Boozer and Okur came in the same year, both overpaid, and took the Jazz to the WCF.)

Aw, what am I saying? Sign Kanter!

Just kiddin'. I kinda like OKC. I don't like Portland. Let Kanter's contract be their problem.

You realize that even if they don't sign Kanter they will have at most $10M to offer out next off-season and nothing in future seasons. With the cap about to take off and next year's FA class there is no chance they could add a better player than Kanter through FA. They might, however, be able to trade Kanter's contract for something better in the future if he doesn't work out.

Don't come crying when you finally realize that Enes Kanter actually is the worst defensive center to play in the modern NBA. I mean, that's what his stats show, but nobody really buys into stats, right?
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pi/shareit/nnzEj

[tleikheen]

I mean, that's what his stats show, but nobody really buys into stats, right?

Nope .... new coach ,new defensive philosophy
Durant and Ibaka scheduled to come back a 100% healthy and pre season to learn to play together ....creating new stats ,can't rely on the old ones

[GQ Hot Dog]

I don't know why folks would get on OKC's case for matching this contract. OKC made the decision to do this when they traded for the guy knowing he would need a new contract at the end of the season. And it's not a bad decision. They desperately needed interior scoring and with a defensive standout in Ibaka alongside it made perfect sense. Not to mention that Kanter isn't yet an irredeemably bad defender. He's only 23 and with a 7'1.5" wingspan he's got some tools if Donovan can convince him to commit. What he doesn't have is quick feet but with Ibaka being such a good help defender it'll mean Kanter doesn't have to try to be a defensive factor on every foray into the lane. The biggest problem with Kanter is what do you do when going up against a small lineup? Does he stay inside while Ibaka goes out to defend on the perimeter? I'm not sure how that can work.

[Thunderhead]

its over, and Presti made the right move

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