OT: Our Future, Kevin Durant

stretch · Post #1 » by **stretch** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 8:46 pm

Our future, after the next few title runs. We will go after this guy, and why wouldn't he want to come here to sustain the Celtic dynasty?

The franchise and its history, his relationship with the team already, his close friendship with DA, DA knowing his mom, etc.

If we could sign Durant in 2010, that would be something.

He is incredible. The perfect attitude. All about his teammates. As unselfish as KG. And he's carrying that team like Pierce. He's going to be one of the top defenders and a big time rebounder. And offensively, the guy is approaching borderline superstar.. give it around 18-24 months.

stretch · Post #2 » by **stretch** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 8:48 pm

of course, it's no coincidence that I wrote that after he went for 46 and 15
:lol:

But could you just imagine him under the tutorship of KG? He would become a superstar

jjwalker · Post #3 » by **jjwalker** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 9:02 pm

In theory Ray (09/10), Paul (10/11) and Kevin's (11/12) contract expire at the same time as: Dwayne Wade (09/10), Kevin Durant (10/11) and Chris Pauls (11/12). That would be a nice "New" big three.

Harison · Post #4 » by **Harison** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 9:17 pm

Durant would be amazing in Celtics, but there will be very high competition for him, so I'm not holding my breath.

SonicYouth34 · Post #5 » by **SonicYouth34** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 9:23 pm

I'm game. Rondo, Perk, Durant, Powe and Walker is a good core to build around.

CelticFaninLBC · Post #6 » by **CelticFaninLBC** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 9:24 pm

Need to save up for Durant.. Can't imagine him wanting to stay in OKC and New York will be spending like a fiend the year prior when LeBron, Wade, Amare and Bosh are free agents..

campybatman · Post #7 » by **campybatman** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 9:24 pm

I would guess that the national media will treat Durant's impending future like LeBron's. Will he go to a major market team? I'm uncertain if Boston will be that far under the salary cap to afford him. Because I expect Pierce to sign an extension. Garnett could as well. Both new deals will need to be far less than what each are earning now.

Celts09 · Post #8 » by **Celts09** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 9:57 pm

how manys years do u think ray pierce and garnett will ask for?
and how much money?

jjwalker · Post #9 » by **jjwalker** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 10:21 pm

let Ray go and sign Wade.

campybatman · Post #10 » by **campybatman** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 10:23 pm

Well, this would be Garnett's second extension with Boston. He'd signed one after he was traded here as part of a prior agreement. Pierce will likely retire a Celtic and hasn't seen a dramatic decline in his skills yet. Neither has... Only injuries could stifle them. And Pierce has said that he wouldn't mind playing overseas when his time is up but while he's still a capable player. With that said, like Nowitzki, Pierce could be open to the idea of opting out of his contract to sign a lesser deal to free up more salary in an effort to allow the team to sign another quality player. At the most, I see Pierce signing for three more seasons. Ditto for Garnett when it's his turn. As far as the dollar amounts. I'm unsure of what would satisfy both two players and Ainge. Perhaps, $8M a season. In doing so, the team might can afford one maximum deal and some decent reserves. For this reason, I don't see Ray Allen as part of the equation. That is, Ainge could move his contract before the deadline next season. Otherwise, what's the chances that you can convince all three All-Stars to take a significant pay cut in order to sign a high profiled player. Unlikely. Especially, when you consider that there's talk of a potential lockout with the current CBA set to expire soon. Teams will want to curtail their offers to high end free agents and their own players. Also, another team might overpay for Ray's services seeing him as a final piece to their puzzle to winning a championship.

Obviously, Pierce's situation varies somewhat as he has won a championship. Pierce's reasoning could be simply about having loyalty to the one NBA franchise he has ever known and to see the franchise have prolonged success.

Okay, I've an idea. What Ainge can do is say to Pierce that if he agrees to exercise his option after next season and sign a new deal for less. He could still recoup the total about of the salary in his final year. Currently, Pierce is due $19.7M next season and $21.5M the following year. Why not divide that last year's salary by three (as in a three-year season deal) and that will be his new salary. I think it comes to $7.1 or something. The problem is convincing Pierce that it's worth it to himself and the team. I mean this new deal is simply stretching out the current deal. I think they do this in the NFL when they restructure old deals of highly paid players.

The Dallas Morning News reported on Monday that the Mavericks star would consider taking less money in 2010 so Dallas could sign a free agent from what looks like a promising class.

"Every team is trying to be a player in 2010," Nowitzki said, according to the newspaper. "Every team is trying to clear money under the cap so they can make a move. I'm very fortunate that I've made a lot of money in this league, even though I've never really played for money. I love the sport. I love this organization. Obviously, I want to win. I won the MVP, and individually, there's nothing really left but winning a championship.

"If that means I have to play for less money, it's all possible. It's all open."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3788225

klemen4 · Post #11 » by **klemen4** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 11:04 pm

Well we have 2 options in 2010:
1)Trade Ray in next year deadline for star player with longer contract
2)Stay with ray till the end of year and than decide

I think we should finish this and next season with the team we have...than in 2010 resign Allen for somethink like 18 mio for 3 years(6 mio per) and we would still have room for one quality young free agent in 10 mio range.

TheOGJabroni · Post #12 » by **TheOGJabroni** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 11:30 pm

I have been a huge fan of Kevin Durant since seeing him in the McDonald's All Star game. I knew he'd be great. Followed every game of his at Texas and prayed we'd land a top 1 or 2 pick that year. Of course that didn't happen and it all worked out just fine. I hope like hell we could land him although very unlikely because everyone will want him and he has flat out said he loves OKC and has no desire to be anywhere else.

Dude's a monster and I firmly believe he will be a superstar in this league.

billfromBoston · Post #13 » by **billfromBoston** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 1:50 am

Durant isn't going anywhere - for one, he is a very loyal guy and i'm 100 percent sure he'll give OKC another 6 years to see what they can do...secondly, OKC has 3 solid players and is in a great position to add Blake Griffin - if they do that, this team is a legit playoff contender within 2-3 seasons...finally, they have cap space, so they'll be players on the FA market before their top rookies are up for renewal..

This thread should be about targetting Dwayne Wade - who is the most likely player the team will pursue...

J-Rich- · Post #14 » by **J-Rich-** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 3:24 am

thunder will match any offer anyways

Banks2Pierce · Post #15 » by **Banks2Pierce** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 4:37 am

billfromBoston wrote:Durant isn't going anywhere - for one, he is a very loyal guy and i'm 100 percent sure he'll give OKC another 6 years to see what they can do...secondly, OKC has 3 solid players and is in a great position to add Blake Griffin - if they do that, this team is a legit playoff contender within 2-3 seasons...finally, they have cap space, so they'll be players on the FA market before their top rookies are up for renewal..

This thread should be about targetting Dwayne Wade - who is the most likely player the team will pursue...

I don't know. This seems a bit wild to know something "100 percent" when you don't really know the guy. Durant could become disenfranchised with OKC. You mention Blake Griffin, but what if they get Thabeet or somebody with the 4th pick and he ends up being a bust and Durant has less wins in 3 seasons than his jersey number?

Durant would be a dream. He seems like a truly great kid and a great teammate. Kid comes through in the clutch, too. I think Danny would have nabbed him with the number 1 if he got it.

greenbeans · Post #16 » by **greenbeans** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 5:25 am

Bill=Buzz Kilington
Partake in the pipedream mannn

joescribe · Post #17 » by **joescribe** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 11:36 am

As a Celtic fan I'd love my favorite non-Celtic to don the Green, but I don't see it happening.

Anyone paying attention knows KD was really excited the franchise moved to the midwest, is really happy in Oklahoma City and will be there barring unforseen circumstances.

Collinto · Post #18 » by **Collinto** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 3:39 pm

billfromBoston wrote:Durant isn't going anywhere - for one, he is a very loyal guy and i'm 100 percent sure he'll give OKC another 6 years to see what they can do...secondly, OKC has 3 solid players and is in a great position to add Blake Griffin - if they do that, this team is a legit playoff contender within 2-3 seasons...finally, they have cap space, so they'll be players on the FA market before their top rookies are up for renewal..

This thread should be about targetting Dwayne Wade - who is the most likely player the team will pursue...

I just don't see Wade as a good fit for this team going into the future. He and Rondo both thrive off of penetration and neither can shoot. That worries me. I think if Rondo is here long term, a guy like Joe Johnson, although less spectacular, would be a much better back court running mate for Rondo. He is a terrific shooter who would thrive next to Rondo. Although he is not a super stud like, Wade.

If Wade is truly an option it would be hard to pass up his talent, but I think the team should look to trade Rondo for a young big (which matches the talent and potential of Rondo) and fill in the PG spot with a spot up shooter to play next to Wade.

chakdaddy · Post #19 » by **chakdaddy** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 6:49 pm

I was going to make a similar post titled "can we get our Len Bias in 2010".

If Ray expires, and we basically hang onto our core of Pierce/KG/Rondo/Perk...I think we have good cap room. Really depends on when Rondo's extension kicks in I think.

With so many FA's that year...a chance to join a team of Rondo/KG/Pierce would be awfully desirable. Even when LBJ/Wade/Bosh are off the board, there's still Amare Stoudemire and many others.

The beautiful thing is, we can just renounce Ray as-need when someone agrees to come as a FA. If we can't get anyone, we re-sign Ray as plan B. Even if we renounce Ray...maybe at that age he could come back for the veteran minimum to help the team.

Then, we continue to contend with these guys; Pierce/KG retire and we have a nucleus of Rondo plus whoever we signed - kind of like we should have had Bias and Lewis when the Big 3 retired. When Pierce/KG retire, then we open up cap space again, and maybe Durant or some other future star wants to join a contender.

I honestly think that this might be the best way to maintain a sustainable contender. The limit of course is whether you can actually get the FA's, but a contender with cap space is awfully desirable.

avi623 · Post #20 » by **avi623** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 9:14 pm

Wouldn't the size of Pierce, KG and Rondo's assumed extension put us over the cap anyway. Just because Ray comes off the books, doesn't mean we have cap room. Either way, I can't see OKC letting that happen. Not on his first contract. I could see him negotiating a contract like Wade, LeBron and those guys did, giving them a chance to be unrestricted while still in their primes. So maybe he would be a nice pickup in say 2015-16