AkelaLoneWolf wrote:Raptors Realtor wrote:AkelaLoneWolf wrote:you're right in that this would be a very risky move. kawhi was a huge injury/flight risk even at 28.
ibaka,fvv was huge in the playoff run. OG was out with appendicitis. powell and wright didn't really make significant contributions.
the starting lineup for 2018-2019 was lowry, green, gasol and siakam. now it would be fvv(or trent), siakam, barnes, ?precious?
lowry was better than fvv is now; i would consider barnes equivalent to gasol offensively although defensively gasol was indispensable against giannis and embiid. siakam is better now than he was before and in the playoffs, precious is probably equivalent to green.
that starting lineup was a little bit better than ours now, but the east is overall weaker than it was before as well.
don't worry about our FRP; we'll have to give that up in any durant trade.
i agree: bench is a problem but all you need are 8 players. on the bench:one guard, forward and one big man. we have boucher but will need that forward and guard.
The culmination of a likely lottery pick, in addition to dealing 25 year old OG & 23 year old Trent would definitely be enough to scare me off from dealing for 34 year old Durant. Not to mention, we'd be hard pressed to make the playoffs this season, and just don't think we'd be left with the assets, depth & salary to compete against the cream of the crop... To me, it's an easy pass, would much rather rebuild/retool.
durant is 34 but hasn't lost a single step. he's been great this season. at no point in their career will trent or OG be better than durant was this season. health is an issue though; i agree with you there.
as far as the playoffs go, we're only 1.5 games out of the play-in and there is no team in the play-in right now that scares me. so we'll be 7th-8th seed; after that you play either boston or milwaukee and i would put up our starting five against theirs any day.
I agree that Durant has looked great this season, and that OG & Trent will never be as good as Durant. With that said, as you touched on Durant injury risk is a concern also we still really lack 3pt shooting and adding Durant while subtracting OG & Trent is close to a wash in that respect. We also lose our top defensive player, and KD is definitely not on OG's level in that respect.
Also, if we keep OG, Trent & a potential lottery pick we have a much longer competitive window, and if things aren't working with them because of their age we have more options to build around or pivot. Whereas with Durant, if things don't work I think we're stuck in mediocrity/treadmill for 5-10 years while we restock the cupboards via trades/draft, but by the time we realize that Durant is 36 or so and is a depreciating asset compared to what we had given up for him.
In addition, by that point, FVV & Siakam are in their 30s and locked into max & near max deals which would make them harder to move and get a number of young quality assets back in return... Unless Masai is super confident that Durant will be durable and that you can find a way to surround this team with a much better bench and a lot more 3pt shooting, there's no way he can take this risk.
*INGRAM*ALLSTARSEASON* Wemby is HIM
