Oklahoma City Thunder Regular Season '15-'16 Part III

[bondom34]

Wow. That Rudy Gay trade really propelled Memphis to a championship.

Oh wait...........

What has been Memphis weakness the last 3 years? Wing scoring.

Actually they just need a shooter, not Rudy Gay. And the trade also sent Toronto to the lottery multiple years.

Kanter can be traded for cap space, which can be used to obtain a free agent.

What free agents? Not much available.

Unrestricted Free Agents 2016:

Wade
Jamal Crawford
Courtney Lee
Eric Gordon
OJ Mayo
Batum
Deng
Evan Turner
Jeff Green

I don't see anyone on that list that will help us beat GSW.

We need to trade away one of our stars to really build something good enough to beat GSW.

I'm 100% okay with trading Ibaka for 2 wings. We have enough big men and Ibaka is going down hill fast.

I'm okay with trading away Westbrook if we get 3 quality guys in return. No team needs two guys scoring 27 points per game. And I honestly think KD plays passive not to get in Russ' way. KD will be even better if Russ is gone and we get a wing who can defend (putting less pressure on KD on defense) and a SG/PF who can consistenly hit 3's to give KD floor space.

Look back at how GREAT KD played when Russ was gone in his MVP season. KD was free and did not have to worry about deferring to Russ. That was peak KD.

This is very much like what GSW did when they traded away Monta Ellis and handed the franchise to Steph Curry. They got back a defensive presence. But more importantly it allowed Curry to grow.

There are MANY teams willing to give away 3 quality pieces to get Russ. We could get back a quality PG, quality SG, and quality SF.

Batum, Deng, or Gordon would all help.

Or trade him for a wing. New Orleans for Asik and Evans, Phoenix for Chandler and a wing, etc.

If your trading Russ, trade Durant. He's the free agent.

[slick_watts]

i'd pursue nene. could get him cheaply considering his injury history.

[bondom34]

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=zkeo9ez

[kraytinprime]

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=zkeo9ez

Boston would hang up and laugh

[bondom34]

[Andre Roberstan]

:lol:

What's the trade?

[bondom34]

:lol:

What's the trade?

Ibaka, Adams, McGary, and Collison for Bradley, Crowder, Dipo, and Turner. All the bigs for all wings.

Boston sends out Bradley Turner and Crowder for Adams Collison and Jennings

Orlando sends Jennings and Dipo for Ibaka and McGary.

[Andre Roberstan]

KD averaging 27 PPG, Russ averaging 24.

2013 Heat Bron had 26, Wade 21.
2012 Heat Bron had 27, Wade 22.
2006 Heat Wade had 27, Shaq 20.
2002 Lakers Shaq had 27, Kobe had 25
2001 Lakers Kobe and Shaq both had 27.
2000 Lakers Shaq had 29, Kobe had 22.

Those are all championship teams. The point totals are similar enough to KD/Russ. Not coincidentally, those are the teams that also match us best in usage rate.

[Andre Roberstan]

:lol:

What's the trade?

Ibaka, Adams, McGary, and Collison for Bradley, Crowder, Dipo, and Turner. All the bigs for all wings.

Boston sends out Bradley Turner and Crowder for Adams Collison and Jennings

Orlando sends Jennings and Dipo for Ibaka and McGary.

SMALLBALL IS THE WAY OF THE FUTURE

[Zagor]

KD averaging 27 PPG, Russ averaging 24.

2013 Heat Bron had 26, Wade 21.
2012 Heat Bron had 27, Wade 22.
2006 Heat Wade had 27, Shaq 20.
2002 Lakers Shaq had 27, Kobe had 25
2001 Lakers Kobe and Shaq both had 27.
2000 Lakers Shaq had 29, Kobe had 22.

Those are all championship teams. The point totals are similar enough to KD/Russ. Not coincidentally, those are the teams that also match us best in usage rate.

Durant and Russ are not on the defensive level of those duos, and they are not ready in their minds to win a championship.
Also these teams had a system in defense and offense. We don't have that. They can't drag out best from their teamates.

[Andre Roberstan]

KD averaging 27 PPG, Russ averaging 24.

2013 Heat Bron had 26, Wade 21.
2012 Heat Bron had 27, Wade 22.
2006 Heat Wade had 27, Shaq 20.
2002 Lakers Shaq had 27, Kobe had 25
2001 Lakers Kobe and Shaq both had 27.
2000 Lakers Shaq had 29, Kobe had 22.

Those are all championship teams. The point totals are similar enough to KD/Russ. Not coincidentally, those are the teams that also match us best in usage rate.

Durant and Russ are not on the defensive level of those duos, and they are not ready in their minds to win a championship.
Also these teams had a system in defense and offense. We don't have that. They can't drag out best from their teamates.

The 2001 Lakers were 21st in the league in DRtg. That was the year Shaq famously got himself into shape on company time.

Championship mentality.

[Old Man Game]

Rudy Gay is an 18/6 guy who plays 36 minutes per game in his career. He is a good wing defender.

Kanter can barely stay on the floor for 20 minutes and is literally the worst big man defender in the league. Note that Rudy gay was traded for similiarly bad contracts. So in order to trade Kanter we would need to pick up someone elses horrible contract.

okay. point is that players with bad contracts get traded often. kanter has impressive counting stats and numbers that teams may be interested in, especially since it appears that his attitude has improved.

feel free to ignore precedent if you want, that's your business.

People said the same thing about Perkins contract.

We were only able to trade his contract when it was about to expire and we had to give up a 1st round pick and Reggie Jackson as part of the deal.

Rudy Gay was seen as a highly skilled and talented player. His contract signed in 2010 is not even close to being as bad as Kanter's.

Perkins was over 30, having had an ACL tear that everyone in the world could see had robbed him of any explosiveness and has skillets for hands. Kanter is a lot of things, but he's still a more attractive piece at this juncture than Kendrick Perkins was last year when that trade was made. There's a reason he got a max contract offer in free agency last season and its not just because teams wanted to screw with us (although that was likely part of it). The Blazers had to be comfortable offering him that knowing they might end up with him.

[Andre Roberstan]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/anthonyVslater/status/701852920531148800[/tweet]

YES, STEVEN, YES, GET MAD. CRUSH THE GSW WITH YOUR KIWI FISTS.

[Pillendreher]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-SEd2og5rc[/youtube]

Enjoy.

[spearsy23]

Man, if only we were as good as Detroit. Maybe if we trade Ibaka for KCP we can compete. Or maybe we shouldn't overreact to one game?

[kraytinprime]

Man, if only we were as good as Detroit. Maybe if we trade Ibaka for KCP we can compete. Or maybe we shouldn't overreact to one game?

Reggie freakin Jackson.

I still believe there was a way to salvage the situation and keep Jackson happy.

[spearsy23]

Dion as a starter (34 mpg) vs Roberson's per 36's
Pts 9.1 - 8.1
Ast 1.6 - 1.5
Reb 2.5 - 5.5
To's 0.9 - 1.0
Ts% 50.0 - 55.3


Dion is literally a worse Roberson offensively.

[bondom34]

Dion as a starter (34 mpg) vs Roberson's per 36's
Pts 9.1 - 8.1
Ast 1.6 - 1.5
Reb 2.5 - 5.5
To's 0.9 - 1.0
Ts% 50.0 - 55.3


Dion is literally a worse Roberson offensively.

Yep. "But no one will guard Roberson!"

That net rating for the starters w Dion has been about 9.4 since 1/23.

[bondom34]

This was copied on WTLC's postgame from Daily Thunder if you missed it (though I think this is slick commenting?):

Spoiler:

[spearsy23]

I've never seen anything to suggest Russ and KD like playing with Dion more than with Robes. I think they like Dion, I think they go out of their way to praise him, I Think they recognize that he brings a skillset that looks similar to what a secondary scorer should be, but I don't think they are so unaware as to not notice that the team plays better when Robes is out there.