OKC Thunder Offseason 2015

[Soonerule]

Sometimes i think some of you guys only want to see what you want. You focus too much on his defense and attempting to devalue him for us, that you fail to realize franchises drool for a guy who will put up 20-10 w/high percentages and in the post, in under 30min.

OHHHhh Myyyyy, alll those fancy stats about his defense against a 22 yr old kid who came into the League at 270 lbs manchild ,now listed at 245 lbs.A legit 20 pt /11 rebound center who loves playing in the paint.The West is about offense ,better have reliable offense.
I like Adams, but he doesn't have reliable hands or the footwork for Westbrooks passes on PNR. There is no 24 minutes/24 minutes split for Adams and Kanter. Or paying Kanter 17.5 million to come off the bench.
Kanter's stats like I said earlier are tossed out the window because he hasn't had a pre season to learn from one of the top defensive coaches in Adams.Team defense ,not one on one defense.
And don't come here saying their's not enough BB's to go around with Durant coming back ,Kanter avg 20 pts on 14 shots in the last 19 games when OKC was chasing the last playoff spot. And I've always seen Durant pass the ball and don't expect him to change ,Durant has seen Lebron make his team mates better...who wants to be a Carmelo ?

I know! I know! Kanter does! Do I get a gold star?

[Marcus50]

I don't know if paying means winning though, thats the issue.

be serious ,a team with a healthy Durant ,Westbrook ,Ibaka and Kanter starting ,not winning ,their probably going to be put up as one of the top 4 teams as favorites ...get real

The downside of this contract. OKC is all but forced to start a center who cant defend. There is no incentive in the contract around defensive improvement and it brings a price tag to the organization of close to $40 million. Lets hope he proves a lot of people wrong and at least tries to defend

[bondom34]

Alright, guess I gotta talk myself into this.

Kanter did still have a better on/off than Adams, and showed some willingness to pass. If he improves just a little defensively, maybe its OK.

[slick_watts]

Alright, guess I gotta talk myself into this.

Kanter did still have a better on/off than Adams, and showed some willingness to pass. If he improves just a little defensively, maybe its OK.

First instincts are usually correct. Kanter's a mess on defense. He's got a weird attitude. Thunder will be an elite team in the West whether he's here or not.

I'm going to throw my theory out there -- I don't think Presti intended on retaining Kanter since the first meeting. Re-signing Singler right after + not making much noise moving salary convinced me of this. If Presti was intent on keeping him, he'd surely been active in trying to move salary and I think he would have had second thoughts on locking Singler up. The Thunder payroll would balloon to $90mm+ if we kept Kanter -- too much for a small market.

I think the surprise for Presti right now is that Kanter signed an offer sheet, not giving him an opportunity to extract value in a s&t.

[spearsy23]

Alright, guess I gotta talk myself into this.

Kanter did still have a better on/off than Adams, and showed some willingness to pass. If he improves just a little defensively, maybe its OK.

Steven was in his second year and played during the parts of the season where we had nobody, plus missed some KD time. Just based on his skillet I've got a lot more faith that he helps a team play winning ball.

[bondom34]

Alright, guess I gotta talk myself into this.

Kanter did still have a better on/off than Adams, and showed some willingness to pass. If he improves just a little defensively, maybe its OK.

First instincts are usually correct. Kanter's a mess on defense. He's got a weird attitude. Thunder will be an elite team in the West whether he's here or not.

I'm going to throw my theory out there -- I don't think Presti intended on retaining Kanter since the first meeting. Re-signing Singler right after + not making much noise moving salary convinced me of this. If Presti was intent on keeping him, he'd surely been active in trying to move salary and I think he would have had second thoughts on locking Singler up. The Thunder payroll would balloon to $90mm+ if we kept Kanter -- too much for a small market.

I think the surprise for Presti right now is that Kanter signed an offer sheet, not giving him an opportunity to extract value in a s&t.

Honestly I don't want them to match, thought I take Presti for his word. I think we're stuck with him, but hope I'm wrong and they find a vet min guy to backup Adams. That said, either way the gen board will be more a **** show than it already is either way. I've decided next year I'm gonna need to step away from the internet for like the first week or so of July .

[Soonerule]

Alright, guess I gotta talk myself into this.

Kanter did still have a better on/off than Adams, and showed some willingness to pass. If he improves just a little defensively, maybe its OK.

If Presti matches the offer, and there is no reason at this point to think he won't, there is one dynamic that I do believe will change. Thunder pre-season practice sessions are notoriously rough, it will be interesting to see how the kids all get along in September.

[bondom34]

I know, I just am trying to talk myself into this. I think they're stuck w/ a terrible contract that may be near Perk level bad soon.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJUhlRoBL8M[/youtube]

[Kizz Fastfists]

It'll never be Perkins bad. Perkins' problem was he never really recovered from his knee injury. Kanter, at worst, is an offense force and rebounder who plays bad defense. If he plays just average defense he becomes LeMarcus Aldridge or Vucevic. Is he worth a max contract based on his past? No. Will he be worth a max contract going forward? It is possible. Since they traded for him they have to keep him. They knew there was a chance he'd get a max offer and they'd have to match it when they traded for him. Keep in mind that Kanter put up a massive .220 WS/48 during his time in OKC last year. That was a huge jump from anything in his past and is probably no sustainable. However, he put up a .145 in 2013-2014 so a .180 is possible given his improved efficiency in OKC and better defensive players around him. To put that in perspective Aldridge has never been over .169, is hitting the decline of his career and just got a max contract. Greg Monroe has never been over .161 and is two years older than Kanter and just got a max.

There is really just one question here. Is OKC better with Kanter or Dakari Johnson? If the answer is Kanter you sign him and deal with the tax this year. Given the massive increase coming they probably only have to pay the tax this year then even giving KD his new contract they are out of it next year unless they give Waiters a big deal, which he shouldn't get. Big men get drastically overpaid in the NBA so give Kanter his money and try to make a run next year. I'd really like to say to let Kanter walk and go with Ibaka, Adams, McGary, Johnson and Collison as the big men, but as we have seen the past few years you have to have depth.

[slick_watts]

Win Shares are derived from individual ORTG and DRTG -- Kanter excels in counting stats. The huge, enormous concern with him is something that would not show up in WS and that's the fact that lineups with him in there tend to be horrific on defense. It's why on things like RPM he's atrocious, bottom of the league on defense. You ask if OKC is better with Kanter or Dakari Johnson -- given Kanter's history on both teams, I'd have to believe it'd be Dakari. Kanter's history as a distraction when he doesn't get his way and having to deal with Max Ergul calling him a generational big is just the cherry on top.

[tleikheen]

There is really just one question here. Is OKC better with Kanter or Dakari Johnson?

this is getting ridiculously dumb here .....Kanter has nine 20 pt /15 rebound games in his career and many close games to that and just turned 23......Dakari Johnson has never played a NBA game yet ,LOL

[Zagor]

Well, as much as I hate to say, but Presti needs to match the offer.
And he also needs to revenge Portland for this. They don't want Kanter. They offered very good contract for him, but very bad for OKC/Portland.
3+1 with player option, then I heard that he can't be traded in his first year without permission.
So, match the offer and see what will happen in new season.

If he doesn't change and start whining if Adams wins place in starting five, then Presti should act.

[HeartSouloma]

OKC needs to match...

[Marcus50]

I'm don't in okc signing Kanter but the price is horrendous for a 1 way player. Adams will be gone at RFA as OKC cannot aford both.

[Podirk]

I'm don't in okc signing Kanter but the price is horrendous for a 1 way player. Adams will be gone at RFA as OKC cannot aford both.

Isn't Adams RFA 2 years away?

[Podirk]

I don't know if paying means winning though, thats the issue.

be serious ,a team with a healthy Durant ,Westbrook ,Ibaka and Kanter starting ,not winning ,their probably going to be put up as one of the top 4 teams as favorites ...get real

The downside of this contract. OKC is all but forced to start a center who cant defend. There is no incentive in the contract around defensive improvement and it brings a price tag to the organization of close to $40 million. Lets hope he proves a lot of people wrong and at least tries to defend

By that standard singles is your starting two guard and the bench is augustin morrow dion novak nick.

I'm gonna guess Thunder want to develop their lineups outside of highest to lowest salary.

[Hobes]

So is this going to cost us the same as Greg Monroe, provided we match? I think I would have preferred Moose to be honest...

[Envelopes]

I keep hearing we won't be paying tax in the future, with Kev Russ and serge getting maxs I thought it would be hard not to pay the repeater tax.

[Podirk]

I keep hearing we won't be paying tax in the future, with Kev Russ and serge getting maxs I thought it would be hard not to pay the repeater tax.

I think in 16/17 the team will have 10 players on contract around 55 mill ttl salary.
Durant and\ Waiters (PJ won't be here anymore) will be FAs.
Salary Cap is expected to be ~90 mill with tax being ~105 mill.

Thunder will have around 50 mill to resign KD and fill out the other 4 spots on the roster...with the rotation heavily in place.

In RW and SI contract years the salary is going to go up to ~108 with the tax being ~15 mill higher.

You might check my numbers...I'm in the middle of my first cup of coffee.

[Kizz Fastfists]

So is this going to cost us the same as Greg Monroe, provided we match? I think I would have preferred Moose to be honest...

They couldn't have signed Monroe. They have two options. 1) Sign Kanter 2) sign league minimum players. They are too far over the cap to do anything else. They only reason they can sign Kanter is because they have his bird rights.