2025 Regular Season Thread Vol. 9

[MettaWorldPanda]

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Done deal

https://www.sportskeeda.com/basketball/news-kevin-durant-s-agent-unloads-stephen-a-smith-awful-pat-riley-remarks

Your tracking and sourcing of these connections is impressive

It gets better

”Rich Kleiman, known for his social media presence and insights into sports, has often discussed and praised Pat Riley, the legendary NBA coach and executive. Kleiman has highlighted Riley's impact on team culture and his ability to build championship-caliber teams. Kleiman's content often delves into the history of Riley's coaching career, including his time with the Lakers and the Miami Heat, and his influence on the current NBA landscape.“

[MettaWorldPanda]

The biggest FU to Butler is trading for Durant and giving him that extension. It’s going to be glorious

[SoFlaKingReal]

Durant does not want to join this sinking ship. Y’all never learn smh

[MettaWorldPanda]

Durant does not want to join this sinking ship. Y’all never learn smh

We are not a sinking ship. We are a team in transition that had to endure a fluky year of turmoil in losing our star player while also him acting out like an A hole on the way out. We have A plus complimentary pieces that need a star player to put it all together.

[Lennyzinho]

Durant does not want to join this sinking ship. Y’all never learn smh

We are not a sinking ship. We are a team in transition that had to endure a fluky year of turmoil in losing our star player while also him acting out like an A hole on the way out. We have A plus complimentary pieces that need a star player to put it all together.

I mean, having a core of Herro Bam Ware is not a sinking ship. This off-season could go alot of different ways.

How many of Burks davion jovic we keep/extend is important and at what price.
What we end up sending to PHX if and when we get Durant is important.
What pick we end up with and who we end up getting in the draft is important.

It's way too early but there's definitely plenty of scenarios where we head into next year as a top 5 team in the east with a chance to compete for a title. I think Miami is plenty attractive to Durant.

You look at Miamis roster with no Wiggins and rozier and compare it to PHX roster with no KD. Miamis is superior top to bottom by a substantial margin imo. Better defensively, more depth, more young prospects developing, better coach. Really only place you lose is top end talent with book. But I'd argue herro and bam are more complimentary to Durant. Plus phx has no picks or way to improve. We will likely have two first round picks and flexibility. It's not close. Miami is far better positioned for him as his last stop in his career than phx.

The question will be ofc where else he wants to go to and who else wants him.

We have picks, young players and tons of movable contracts.

[Voltron914]

Can something like this trade happen on draft night a-la Ray Allen to the Celtics? Basics:

PHX sends:
-KD
-Cody Martin

MIA sends:
-Wiggins
-Rozier
-Jovic
-Jaime
-2025 Heat 1st (assuming no playoffs)
-2025 Warriors 1st

PHX then reroutes some of those guys in other trades during the off-season.

Heat have Duncan's contract restructured to 2/20, Burks/Mitchell/Dru are resigned, KJ's option is picked up, some of the remaining guys come back for more 2-ways/exhibit 10s, etc.

PG - Mitchell
SG - Herro
SF - Durant
PF - Bam
C - Ware

Bench: Anderson, Burks, Larsson, KJ, Smith (eventually), Love, Highsmith, Robinson, Martin, Draft/Off-season/Minor Trade filler.

i still believe in Jovic and hope we can keep him if this trade was to happen. it looks like the owner is ready to clear out so send them Love instead cause he is an expiring next year correct. u plug Durant into this roster and he boosts us up immediately. would prefer a younger star but i dont see that lining up for us soon

[3ammy3uck3ts]

We’ve damn near made 3 finals trips in the last 5 years and you’re swapping Jimmy for a better player in KD, Bam can do everything on both sides of the ball now, and Herro is actually efficient now. There’s no reason to think we won’t have success with that group and there’s still avenues to improve after.

[contract]

The biggest FU to Butler is trading for Durant and giving him that extension. It’s going to be glorious

And then what? You can't build around a 37 year old. And a 37 year old on a max contract that you can't build around is organizational suicide.

We need to find a star that we can build around.

[contract]

Durant does not want to join this sinking ship. Y’all never learn smh

We are not a sinking ship. We are a team in transition that had to endure a fluky year of turmoil in losing our star player while also him acting out like an A hole on the way out. We have A plus complimentary pieces that need a star player to put it all together.

I mean, having a core of Herro Bam Ware is not a sinking ship. This off-season could go alot of different ways.

How many of Burks davion jovic we keep/extend is important and at what price.
What we end up sending to PHX if and when we get Durant is important.
What pick we end up with and who we end up getting in the draft is important.

It's way too early but there's definitely plenty of scenarios where we head into next year as a top 5 team in the east with a chance to compete for a title. I think Miami is plenty attractive to Durant.

You look at Miamis roster with no Wiggins and rozier and compare it to PHX roster with no KD. Miamis is superior top to bottom by a substantial margin imo. Better defensively, more depth, more young prospects developing, better coach. Really only place you lose is top end talent with book. But I'd argue herro and bam are more complimentary to Durant. Plus phx has no picks or way to improve. We will likely have two first round picks and flexibility. It's not close. Miami is far better positioned for him as his last stop in his career than phx.

The question will be ofc where else he wants to go to and who else wants him.

We have picks, young players and tons of movable contracts.

Yes that is a sinking ship. That is not a core you can build around.

[contract]

Durant does not want to join this sinking ship. Y’all never learn smh

We are not a sinking ship. We are a team in transition that had to endure a fluky year of turmoil in losing our star player while also him acting out like an A hole on the way out. We have A plus complimentary pieces that need a star player to put it all together.

I mean, having a core of Herro Bam Ware is not a sinking ship. This off-season could go alot of different ways.

How many of Burks davion jovic we keep/extend is important and at what price.
What we end up sending to PHX if and when we get Durant is important.
What pick we end up with and who we end up getting in the draft is important.

It's way too early but there's definitely plenty of scenarios where we head into next year as a top 5 team in the east with a chance to compete for a title. I think Miami is plenty attractive to Durant.

You look at Miamis roster with no Wiggins and rozier and compare it to PHX roster with no KD. Miamis is superior top to bottom by a substantial margin imo. Better defensively, more depth, more young prospects developing, better coach. Really only place you lose is top end talent with book. But I'd argue herro and bam are more complimentary to Durant. Plus phx has no picks or way to improve. We will likely have two first round picks and flexibility. It's not close. Miami is far better positioned for him as his last stop in his career than phx.

The question will be ofc where else he wants to go to and who else wants him.

We have picks, young players and tons of movable contracts.

We won 37 games and we're talking about how many guys we can keep? The fewer the better.

[Lennyzinho]

The biggest FU to Butler is trading for Durant and giving him that extension. It’s going to be glorious

And then what? You can't build around a 37 year old. And a 37 year old on a max contract that you can't build around is organizational suicide.

We need to find a star that we can build around.

FWIW Durant has openly expressed his desire to keep playing ball and it's his passion and he doesn't necessarily need a max and will sign for less in the right situation. Ofc we can say, let's see him actually do it but it's not zero %. We are potentially getting two solid picks in a loaded draft class. Are we OKC or Houston? Hell no. Do we have a top ten player? No. But we have talent and pieces and assets.

We are not sinking. We are treading water and well positioned to make some good moves. If we dont land durant and give herro a max extension and lose davion and roll into next season with wiggins and make these playoffs and give our pick to OKC, meaning no top 12 rookie. THEN I'll agree with you that it's a sinking ship and 2025-2026 season will be no fun. But we aren't there yet. Gotta at least let the draft and off season play out but if you wanna panic and jump overboard, go for it.

[contract]

The biggest FU to Butler is trading for Durant and giving him that extension. It’s going to be glorious

And then what? You can't build around a 37 year old. And a 37 year old on a max contract that you can't build around is organizational suicide.

We need to find a star that we can build around.

FWIW Durant has openly expressed his desire to keep playing ball and it's his passion and he doesn't necessarily need a max and will sign for less in the right situation. Ofc we can say, let's see him actually do it but it's not zero %. We are potentially getting two solid picks in a loaded draft class. Are we OKC or Houston? Hell no. Do we have a top ten player? No. But we have talent and pieces and assets.

We are not sinking. We are treading water and well positioned to make some good moves. If we dont land durant and give herro a max extension and lose davion and roll into next season with wiggins and make these playoffs and give our pick to OKC, meaning no top 12 rookie. THEN I'll agree with you that it's a sinking ship and 2025-2026 season will be no fun. But we aren't there yet. Gotta at least let the draft and off season play out but if you wanna panic and jump overboard, go for it.

Unless KD is willing to sign a 1 year deal ... I'll pass.

[contract]

We’ve damn near made 3 finals trips in the last 5 years and you’re swapping Jimmy for a better player in KD, Bam can do everything on both sides of the ball now, and Herro is actually efficient now. There’s no reason to think we won’t have success with that group and there’s still avenues to improve after.

Herro looked better because he was an even greater focus of the offense than before. He can't do that with KD on the team, otherwise KD makes no sense. KD is not going to be fine with 12 shots per game like Jimmy was.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

And then what? You can't build around a 37 year old. And a 37 year old on a max contract that you can't build around is organizational suicide.

We need to find a star that we can build around.

FWIW Durant has openly expressed his desire to keep playing ball and it's his passion and he doesn't necessarily need a max and will sign for less in the right situation. Ofc we can say, let's see him actually do it but it's not zero %. We are potentially getting two solid picks in a loaded draft class. Are we OKC or Houston? Hell no. Do we have a top ten player? No. But we have talent and pieces and assets.

We are not sinking. We are treading water and well positioned to make some good moves. If we dont land durant and give herro a max extension and lose davion and roll into next season with wiggins and make these playoffs and give our pick to OKC, meaning no top 12 rookie. THEN I'll agree with you that it's a sinking ship and 2025-2026 season will be no fun. But we aren't there yet. Gotta at least let the draft and off season play out but if you wanna panic and jump overboard, go for it.

Unless KD is willing to sign a 1 year deal ... I'll pass.

I normally agree with you and you were one of my few brothers in arms in Bam >>> Bosh “debates” (now that Bam took significant strides to close the shooting gap this year it’s not even debatable) but I think you’re wrong here and will be pleasantly surprised if this all plays out!

[Shewasfly]

We’ve damn near made 3 finals trips in the last 5 years and you’re swapping Jimmy for a better player in KD, Bam can do everything on both sides of the ball now, and Herro is actually efficient now. There’s no reason to think we won’t have success with that group and there’s still avenues to improve after.

Herro looked better because he was an even greater focus of the offense than before. He can't do that with KD on the team, otherwise KD makes no sense. KD is not going to be fine with 12 shots per game like Jimmy was.

It doesn't really make much sense to say that. Having a greater focus on offense might make him score better, but it definitely wouldn't make him more efficient.

No one in their right mind, Bam included, thinks KD is going to come here and be anything less than a first option. Spo would have to find a system to make KD the primary and have Tyler and Bam as his outlets.

On KD, imo there is still too much focus on his age. The scary part about KD isn't really his age at all, its his injury history. KD will play comfortably for another 4 years if he wants to, and still likely a top 10-20 player doing it. But without fail, we see how he gets injured and misses a good number of games every year. That could be disasterous.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

We’ve damn near made 3 finals trips in the last 5 years and you’re swapping Jimmy for a better player in KD, Bam can do everything on both sides of the ball now, and Herro is actually efficient now. There’s no reason to think we won’t have success with that group and there’s still avenues to improve after.

Herro looked better because he was an even greater focus of the offense than before. He can't do that with KD on the team, otherwise KD makes no sense. KD is not going to be fine with 12 shots per game like Jimmy was.

That very well may be the case. You know I’m as big of a Herro skeptic as they come but I think this could’ve been a big year for him going forward in focusing more on efficiency and taking high quality shots to offset a decrease in total shots. If KD is deferring to Herro because of Spo I am DONE

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Not to get too greedy but we REALLY need to get a floor general with or without KD. It makes me sick seeing the wide open point blank shots (or 3s) guys like Zubac, Mobley/Allen, Siakam/Turner, everyone on the Hawks etc. get compared to our guys.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

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[MettaWorldPanda]

The biggest FU to Butler is trading for Durant and giving him that extension. It’s going to be glorious

And then what? You can't build around a 37 year old. And a 37 year old on a max contract that you can't build around is organizational suicide.

We need to find a star that we can build around.

That’s not so easy to get. Plucking young stars is damn near impossible without hoarding picks for years. Let’s take advantage of Durant’s two year window with this group. It’s going to work and with old man Riley this is the path he’s going to take. It’s not a Durant build. It’s a Durant complimenting all the current pieces and bringing them over the hump. The young star will have to be lucked into during the draft but don’t sleep on Kelel Ware reaching new heights.

[Vertical Limit]

If wiggins is going to be part of the KD trsde then i assume phoenix is going to want a third team involved so theyre not stuck with the contract. They are looking to get salary off the books on a 25-26 season that does not look promising.