2022-23 Season Discussion and Speculation 5 - The KD era begins

[Mulhollanddrive]

Let's remove sentiment: Anunoby, Huerter, 4 picks for Durant

Seems cheap if anything, I know there were a couple extra things but those are the ones people talk about.

[MrMiyagi]

Let's remove sentiment: Anunoby, Huerter, 4 picks for Durant

Seems cheap if anything, I know there were a couple extra things but those are the ones people talk about.

Let's remove sentiment: Harden, Kyrie, and KD on the same team.

Best team ever constructed.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Except for the team he won 2 championships on, how many had our roster won 0.

[MrMiyagi]

Except for the team he won 2 championships on, how many had our roster won 0.

Point is, human element matters a lot.

[bwgood77]

Let's remove sentiment: Anunoby, Huerter, 4 picks for Durant

Seems cheap if anything, I know there were a couple extra things but those are the ones people talk about.

Let's remove sentiment: Harden, Kyrie, and KD on the same team.

Best team ever constructed.

Just saying "Durant" sounds good. But 34 year old injured Durant (35 before next season) to add to soon to be 38 year old Paul who has been out most of the year, for a 2 way stud who just added another great layer to his game on offense (and was 2nd in DPOY ranking) along with another great 2 way player who is one of the best shooters in the game...along with 5 unprotected picks (1 of those an unprotected swap)..but 3 of those picks very far into the future when Paul and KD gone.

It's basically a lot like the Nets trade for KG and Pierce..to add to younger all stars Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez, along with Deron Williams (seems old but was in same draft class as CP3 and that seems like a LONG time ago). They were a decent playoff team for a couple years...but Boston got the better end of the deal and netted Tatum and Brown out of it, and continuing to be good the whole time they were getting the Nets picks.

A phenomenal team on paper doesn't always work out...ask Kawhi/George or LeBron/AD the last couple years.

There is obviously a decent chance it nets you a title, but if not this year the odds decrease each year going forward and the downside for the future could be very high.

[BobbieL]

Let's remove sentiment: Anunoby, Huerter, 4 picks for Durant

Seems cheap if anything, I know there were a couple extra things but those are the ones people talk about.

Let's remove sentiment: Harden, Kyrie, and KD on the same team.

Best team ever constructed.

Just saying "Durant" sounds good. But 34 year old injured Durant (35 before next season) to add to soon to be 38 year old Paul who has been out most of the year, for a 2 way stud who just added another great layer to his game on offense (and was 2nd in DPOY ranking) along with another great 2 way player who is one of the best shooters in the game...along with 5 unprotected picks (1 of those an unprotected swap)..but 3 of those picks very far into the future when Paul and KD gone.

It's basically a lot like the Nets trade for KG and Pierce..to add to younger all stars Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez, along with Deron Williams (seems old but was in same draft class as CP3 and that seems like a LONG time ago). They were a decent playoff team for a couple years...but Boston got the better end of the deal and netted Tatum and Brown out of it, and continuing to be good the whole time they were getting the Nets picks.

A phenomenal team on paper doesn't always work out...ask Kawhi/George or LeBron/AD the last couple years.

There is obviously a decent chance it nets you a title, but if not this year the odds decrease each year going forward and the downside for the future could be very high.

That’s the trade I thought of. Celtics win the deal

I just hope Durant stays healthy. Still wish the deal was never done. But hoping for best

[bwgood77]

Except for the team he won 2 championships on, how many had our roster won 0.

Point is, human element matters a lot.

Definitely. I mean trading Booker straight up for KD (if it was possible) would have increased our championship odds exponentially for the next couple years if KD stayed healthy, and from a championship goal perspective right now, you could call it a no brainer, but I'm sure a lot of people would have been pissed about that too even though our chances at a championship would have been a lot higher.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Spoiler:

I hear you on injury potential man. But wouldn't that have been a factor with this team regardless? As for Nurkic's defense, Isn't that mostly handled by having Grant at the 4? Lastly, I'd think the scraps perspective is overplayed a bit when you look at the big picture premise cumulatively here! IF it's truly CHAMPIONSHIP OR BUST this year with KD, then which lineup would you honestly rather have in the playoffs and finals competition for a title??

Paul/Book/Durant/CRAIG/ Ayton.

Or Paul/Book/ Durant/ JERAMI GRANT/ Nurkic. Overall positionally in terms of value, it comes down to would you rather have Craig or J Grant defending players like Ingram, Doncic, Kwahi/George, JJJ jr, Giannis, Bam, Tatum, etc? IF in the finals, against the majority of these teams, which frontcourt would you honestly give the edge too? Now I will say that clearly we're going to get to see a Durant/ Ayton lineup. And this was just a topic variance to get the subject off of the sadder topics we would be best served accepting and moving on from, as what's done is done and we need to be focusing on other things going forward. Also, anyone here who knows me, and can simply look at my avatar should easily know that I'm one of Ayton's biggest supporters and always will be! But this is just a hypothetical premise for an OBJECTIVE discussion to take the focus off the depressing recent loss of beloved players and to hopefully move thoughts forward onto other things with my typical outlier postulations. So please don't consider this personal interest or a promotion of wanting to see Ayton moved.

The objective discussion premise here is solely based upon the hypothetical premise that IF the front office's/ new ownerships intent is in fact to trade (move Ayton regardless of being a bad move or not) Ayton by the summer for a more cost effective value option, How could we reasonably extract value in a trade? The only way (to me personally) would be to clearly upgrade our defense in support of Durant/ Booker with Jerami Grant for this this season's all in championship run! Then this summer once Grant's 20 million comes off the books, and Nurkic's salary being only 16 million in contrast to Ayton's 32 million, and with Paul's partial 15 million buyout, we'd be able to cut around maybe close to 51 million from our books to give us a little bit more wiggle room to pivot and reload. I know it's not much, But at least that'd give us around 22 million to use to fill out the roster, And if you can dump Shamet's contract, then that becomes around 32 million for roster changes?

** Heck, Maybe.......just maybe you instead use Grant's bird rights to resign him, and then flip Jerami Grant and Paul to Brooklyn to get Bridges back? Then you go full "point Book" with:
Booker/Bridges/ FA / Durant/ Nurkic?

Sorry man, I'm taking DA over Jerami Grant and Nurkic all day. Grant isn't some super stellar defender, he's probably a couple notches below Bridges, and... he wants to get paid more than Bridges. Offensively I think Bridges is better too.

We also don't need to think about retooling by trying to cut cost, Ishbia has already decided to eat the luxury tax for now. Suns can cut cost when Shamet's contract isn't guaranteed after the following season, and then can restructure Paul's contract.

Suns won't have any kind of cap space too with Booker and Durant eating $100 million by themselves. Just have to maintain roster flexibility by using the MLE and signing guys to vet minimum contracts. It's a standard copy and paste recipe for success when you multiple stars on your team.

And Nets wouldn't take Grant and CP3 for Bridges, come on

No big deal man! Preferences and what not! FWIW, I would always prefer to keep DA if possible! This premise's basis entirely was the hypothetical consideration that THE SUN'S FRONT OFFICE and NEW OWNERSHIP had intent to move Ayton for a cheaper option! Not so much a determinate to how individual fans may value him because I think I've made my personal position on what I see his value being to this team fairly obvious in multiple posts. .....LOL

My initial premise PRIOR TO the deadline was to trade equitable salary and a (lottery protected) future first and two 2nds! Something like Crowder (due to previously stated interest from Portland)/ Saric (to give them a budget version of K Love whom they coveted for years in a floor spacing big) and a protected 1st and two 2nds. And I was certain they'd do this trade rather than lose Grant for nothing in unrestricted free agency as he obviously declined their extension offer! And again, this is a hypothetical premise on Ayton being moved for a cheaper option whilst trying to extract maximum value IF the intent is to trade him. So under this premise, the objective value is very decent due to our critical need to replace the defensive two way wing that we sent out in the Durant deal. So IF we're trading Ayton and trying to get back the best (realistic) value in a cheaper center option whilst ALSO trying to upgrade our starting defensive 3/4 option from Craig (whose clearly best as a bench level option), What better offers would you REALISTICALLY offer as alternative to this (under the given circumstances)???

** And the Nets truly may not prefer a combination of Paul and Grant to keeping Bridges, So then maybe you discuss what kind of assets they would consider palatable and go from there (IF you can)? But Paul's still a HOF guard, and Grant is still considered an all star level two way wing forward too. Bridges has three more years after this season and expires around the same time as Durant! So perhaps you utilize the Paul/ Grant package to start accumulating assets and young talent to make a move in two years to try and bring Bridges back home IF he's at all interested? In the meantime, Grant would've been a significant upgrade to Craig or Bazely in our starting lineup alongside of Durant! And he absolutely was ELITE defensively before he switched to focus on offense more as a two way primary option! in our lineup he wouldn't need to focus so heavily on offense with Durant, Booker, and Paul. Instead he could focus more on defense again and reclaim his elite defensive capabilities in interest of his first ring!!!! So we get our 1st championship this season, then look to move Grant/Paul for assets/ young talent to begin building our package to bring Bridges and maybe even Johnson home too in two more seasons? Or at the very least, Bring Bridges home!!!

[matt131]

not sure if this was already posted, but Book thinking the same way we all are:

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[Ghost of Kleine]

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[Fo-Real]

Will keep saying, I HATE LOSING THE TWINS!! That said, Durant us not only one of the best offensive players ever, but a dogged defender. Also I might get flamed BUT.... a healthy TJ Warren is a better more consistent scorer than Cam. I DID NOT say purer shooter, I'm talking being a bucket getter.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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How funny would it be If the Jazz didn't buy out Westbrick and then teams like the Clippers and the Heat didn't have him as an option anymore?

[Hitachi77]

The warriors had to give up key cogs in 2016 to make space for Durant. The result? The best team of all time who easily dispatched of the Cavs, another historically great team, in 5. We aren't as good as the Warriors, but you can see the Durant impact.

The way people talk about Bridges kind of reminds me of how Bulls fans considered Luol Deng untradeable, even for Kobe Bryant. You gotta ask what kind of team you want, a nice team to root for, or a team with real championship chances, possibly as outright favorites.

It's true that with the way the league is, every single team has major issues, and it looked like we had a decent chance even if we made no moves. But that game 7 loss to the Mavs was incredibly alarming, and the biggest factor wasn't what the Mavs did to us. If you listen to Bridges interview with JJ Redick, it was a complete mental breakdown. They buckled under pressure completely. Even though the league looks down overall, it's inevitable to have those high pressure moments.

Love the twins, everything about them, no nonsense play hard, great attitude guys, and it's weird not seeing them on the floor, but getting a talent like Durant is such a rare opportunity, and if it leads to a championship it's definitely worth 3-5 years of mediocrity, sometime in the future, in my view.

[matt131]

Dang Mavs killing the Kings even without Luka

[Ghost of Kleine]

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[Mulhollanddrive]

Buyout Market Offensive Rating:

Beverley 112
Ross 104
Jackson 103
Wall 102
Barton 101
Westbrook 101
Green 77

If we're not getting Beverley there's really no reliable player there, maybe could get Danny Green for defensive depth.

[Ghost of Kleine]

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Monty talks about Jalen Smith and how he acknowledges that he didn't give him a fair shake!

[Mulhollanddrive]

Paul, Booker, Craig, Durant, Ayton
Payne, Lee, Okogie, Warren, Biyombo
BUYOUT PG, Shamet, Bazley, Wainwright, Landale

Can't wait to see everyone healthy after the break