Acquire Beasley!!

[Bubstubbler]

Beasley is way too talented to pass up, and I think OKC is the perfect environment for him. He would be re-united with his longtime friend Durant who would be a positive role model for him. Beasley is enough of a follower that if he has a good leader who is committed to doing things the right way (as Durant is), then Beasley will follow suit. I think Durant could get the superstar out of Beasley.

Since OKC only has about $6.5M of cap space left, they could simply absorb Beasley. So maybe they could acquire Beasley for a future 1st (perhaps the one Clippers owe us). But Miami will want to package James Jones with Beasley, since that's their only hope of ditching him (other than a buyout which would still cost them over $2M against the cap). That would be about $9.5M in salary, so OKC would have to bribe a 3rd team to get involved to absorb some of that salary.

To Miami: future OKC 1st (LAC)
From Miami: Beasley/Jones/$3M

To OKC: Beasley
From OKC: future own 1st/future LAC 1st/$3M

To some team with cap space: Jones (immediately cut)/future OKC 1st (own)/$6M
From some team with cap space: nothing


Miami doesn't just lose Beasley for nothing: they get a future LAC 1st plus are able to dump James Jones. That clears their roster of everyone but Chalmers (who only makes $800k) so they can assemble their new team.

OKC gets a guy with extremely high top-end potential, and there is good reason to believe he could reach his potential in OKC's culture with Durant as his leader.

The 3rd team will basically get a future 1st from OKC for free, as the $6M in cash they'll receive will cover almost all of the remaining portion of James Jones' contract after he's cut.


Some will say that OKC's frontcourt is already crowded. My reply is that Beasley should be acquired and lesser players should be thinned.

Westbrook/Maynor
Harden/Shef/Cook/MoPete
Durant/Green
Beasley/Ibaka
Aldrich/Krstic/Collison/Mullens

Cook/MoPete/Collison/Mullens/Krstic are chaff, and their current presence on the team is not a good reason to pass on Beasley. Here's what the 10-man rotation would look like for next season (assuming Krstic exercises his player option):

Westbrook/Maynor
Harden/Shef
Durant/Green
Beasley/Ibaka
Aldrich/Krstic

So when everyone is healthy, here's each player's positional and total mpg:

pg: Westbrook 36, Maynor 12
sg: Harden 22, Durant 14, Sef 12
sf: Durant 24, Green 24
pf: Beasley 30, Ibaka 12, Green 6
c: Aldrich 20, Krstic 20, Ibaka 8

38 - Durant
36 - Westbrook
30 - Green
28 - Beasley
22 - Harden
22 - Ibaka
20 - Aldrich
20 - Krstic
12 - Maynor
12 - Sef

That's a deep team loaded with talent and versatility, but without any problematic logjams thanks to Durant's ability to comfortably play sg at an extremely high level.

OKC can do major damage during stretches with Westbrook/Durant/Green at pg/sg/sf and some combination of Beasley/Ibaka/Aldrich/Krstic at pf/c. Most opponents would be completely overwhelmed.

[Big_Mac79]

I think Presti would have done this already if he wanted him
He chose the Cook package over him

[Bubstubbler]

I think Presti would have done this already if he wanted him
He chose the Cook package over him

I suspect you're right. If that's the case, though, I still hope he changes his mind.

[miltk]

as an outside observer(but ardent westy fan), i found okc's demeanor to be level-headed and extremely mature for such a young team. A hard-working, over the top talented team with seemingly no issues, and low maintenance. also a team that needs a 3rd steady scoring contributor down low.

so how does beasley fit into any of this. all of a sudden now, okc has to start babysitting someone who doesn't answer any of their needs nor fit their character profile? i think owning the clip's future #1 is gold.

[slick_watts]

No Beasley. Doesn't fit here.

[Bubstubbler]

No Beasley. Doesn't fit here.

Lee would of course been preferable, but Presti chose not to pursue him.

I think it would have been worth acquiring Aldrich in a way that didn't cost 21/26 + $10M in cap space. I think that if OKC had sent NOH a future 1st (the one we got from LAC?), or at worst 2 future 1sts (LAC's plus OKC's 2011 1st), MoPete could have been excluded and Lee could have been pursued.

Westbrook/Maynor
Harden/Sef/Cook
Durant
Lee/Ibaka/Collison
Aldrich/Krstic/Mullens

Would have been great going forward. So why didn't Presti go for it? My top two guesses:

1) He didn't think Lee would be open to signing with the Thunder

2) He didn't want to add anyone whose salary would be so high in comparison to all of the other players, reasoning that the culture would remain better without that factor. Plus, if he has to overpay Lee to get him there, it might make it harder to negotiate with his own players later.

[Balkman32]

Lee can still work here. Presti just put a cap on what he is willing to pay Mr. Lee. So now David can only get 6-7 million which is more than the mid-level and if the Knicks do recind their rights the Thunder are on a short list of teams w/ money and a fit.

[slick_watts]

Lee will not get $6-7 million. We won't even have $6 million in cap space now, unless we cut Kyle Weaver.

David Lee is pretty much out of the picture.

[dream_catcher_9]

[Canomad]

No Beasley. Doesn't fit here.

this and i think he has the potential to mess up your teams chemistry event hough him and durant are very good friends.

[Balkman32]

If the Tunder go out and aquire Beasley they can get mutiple draft picks to come over with him. I think the Thunder have showed they are willing to take on salary to get picks. The Heat have two first round picks next season. How about Beasley, and their two frist round picks (one from Tronto lottery protected) for Paccelis Morlende (over sea's player, who is 29 yrs). I think thoes two picks alone are worth $5 million Beasley is owed.

[crosswalkryan]

Are you kidding. Miami is not going to give up two first round picks for nothing. Maybe beas for a small asset but cmon...nobody is that dumb

[Batmanz]

NO.