RealGM

OK so the Magic are worried Dwight Howard might opt for greener pastures.
http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/71179/20110116/magic_worried_howard_will_opt_out_follow_other_stars/

So where does Dwight want to go?

The one thing the fans of Seattle said was that OKC wasn't going to be able to attrach free agents. Obviously Dwight Howard will be the #1 free agent on the market.

Why not OKC? Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka, and Harden. Who wouldn't want to play with that squad?

Seriously a squad of
PG Westbrook
SG Harden
SF Durant
PF Ibaka
C Howard

Add Thabo and Collison that could very well be one of the best defensive teams in history.

"F", "f"ing Kaman". Let's go for broke. Why contend when you can freakin' dominate?

And from a fans perspective I can easily bide my time knowing that he is a legitimate target. Kind of like how Knick fans had LeBron on their cross hairs.

I can go through this season and next knowing that the Thunder are going to throw the bank at Howard, if that's the plan. I can be patient. I don't mind watching the rest of the centers go to other teams if this team truly goes for broke.

But Jesus if he isn't a target and the Thunder don't find an legit option at center before the beginning of next season I will lose a lot of faith of what this franchise is about.

It's a fun concept, but how will it work? Russell Westbrook will recieve close, if not full, max extension that begins that offseason. Harden and Ibaka will be on their final option years (~8.5M combined). That's ~$36M for Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka, and Durant (depending on what Westbrook gets, that's the low end of estimates). I dunno. Miami made that kind of thing work by having them all hit FA at the same time. Doesn't work for OKC.

Guess it depends on what happens with the CBA, but it doesn't seem feasible unless Presti deliberately eschews adding salary this offseason (includes an extension to Green, or anyone to replace him). Seems like too much of a 'put all the eggs in one basket' move for Presti.

slick_watts wrote:It's a fun concept, but how will it work? Russell Westbrook will recieve close, if not full, max extension that begins that offseason. Harden and Ibaka will be on their final option years (~8.5M combined). That's ~$36M for Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka, and Durant (depending on what Westbrook gets, that's the low end of estimates). I dunno. Miami made that kind of thing work by having them all hit FA at the same time. Doesn't work for OKC.

Guess it depends on what happens with the CBA, but it doesn't seem feasible unless Presti deliberately eschews adding salary this offseason (includes an extension to Green, or anyone to replace him). Seems like too much of a 'put all the eggs in one basket' move for Presti.

Actually Dwight has a player option the same year OKC has a team option on both Ibaka and Harden. So in theory they could land Dwight and then give bird rights to Ibaka and Harden and go sky rocketing into the Luxury Tax where the real contenders hang out.

You know I'd be willing to sacrifice both Harden and Ibaka for Dwight. But they might be able to hang on to one.

Durant, Howard and Westbrook... lights out. Fill in the rest of the roster not to shabby.

I like the way our roster is built. But I don't like the Idea of Howard, Durant and Westbrook alone eating all OKC's cake. We're stealing Sefolosha and Collison, and I really prefer a not-so-good C plus Ibaka and Harder than have Howard and no bench and supporting cast.

bbms wrote:I like the way our roster is built. But I don't like the Idea of Howard, Durant and Westbrook alone eating all OKC's cake. We're stealing Sefolosha and Collison, and I really prefer a not-so-good C plus Ibaka and Harder than have Howard and no bench and supporting cast.

That's my thinking as well. I really like our supporting cast, and once Westbrook and Durant improve their weaknesses more and learn all the nuances of the game the supporting cast will look much better.

Franchise players: Durant/Westbrook
the rest of the core: Maynor/Sefolosha/Harden/Green/Ibaka/Collison

everyone complements each other very well. Aldrich is the missing piece IMO. Hopefully he is learning a lot down in the D-League, he had 7 and 8 blocks in 2 games last week.