Oklahoma City Thunder Regular Season '15-'16 Part III

[slick_watts]

i agree that kanter will be a tradeable asset in the summer, if sam presti is willing. rudy gay was traded twice.

[bondom34]

For what? Give me a realistic trade with a specific team.

Any team that gets no free agents this summer.

Every team in the NBA will have 20+ mil to spend. NBA GMs have never once shown that if they miss every free agent available they just let that money under the cap sit there with nothing tied up. So any team that doesn't get Durant, Horford, Conley, or Dwight has 20 mil sitting there with nothing to do. One of them will take him for cap space.

those teams under the cap will simply trade for a player with a shorter term contract (less than the 3 years remaining on Kanter's deal) or simply pay the salaries to their current players.

No one wants to tie up $18 million for the next 3 years on a Center who can't defend and can't stay on the court longer than 20 minutes per game. And no one will give anything of value.

Again tell me a specific team that would trade for Kanter.

I don't know who's going to end up with cap space. New Orleans maybe, Atlanta maybe, LA maybe, etc.

[kraytinprime]

i agree that kanter will be a tradeable asset in the summer, if sam presti is willing. rudy gay was traded twice.

Rudy Gay is an 18/6 guy who plays 36 minutes per game in his career. He is a good wing defender.

Kanter can barely stay on the floor for 20 minutes and is literally the worst big man defender in the league. Note that Rudy gay was traded for similiarly bad contracts. So in order to trade Kanter we would need to pick up someone elses horrible contract.

[bondom34]

Rudy Gay is a good wing defender what world is this?

[kraytinprime]

Any team that gets no free agents this summer.

Every team in the NBA will have 20+ mil to spend. NBA GMs have never once shown that if they miss every free agent available they just let that money under the cap sit there with nothing tied up. So any team that doesn't get Durant, Horford, Conley, or Dwight has 20 mil sitting there with nothing to do. One of them will take him for cap space.

those teams under the cap will simply trade for a player with a shorter term contract (less than the 3 years remaining on Kanter's deal) or simply pay the salaries to their current players.

No one wants to tie up $18 million for the next 3 years on a Center who can't defend and can't stay on the court longer than 20 minutes per game. And no one will give anything of value.

Again tell me a specific team that would trade for Kanter.

I don't know who's going to end up with cap space. New Orleans maybe, Atlanta maybe, LA maybe, etc.

New Orleans has $67 million tied up next year. Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson, and Cole are free agents. They would probably pay those guys first before Kanter. And I would not be surprised if a good free agent picks the Pels to play with Davis. And what the hell would we get back from the Pels? Tyreke Evans? Omer Asik?

Lakers do have a ton of cap room. But they have ZERO assets to give to us. Lou Williams? Nick Young? LOL.

Atlanta has $51 million tied up. But that will evaporate quickly cause they need to resign Horford who will command $20+ million and Bazemore who will be close to $20 million.

Bottom line is all the teams with significant cap room have zero assets to return to OKC in a trade.

The only way we get rid of Kanter is if the Lakers are desperate and we do a salary dump with them. We won't get anything back of value.

[kraytinprime]

Rudy Gay is a good wing defender what world is this?

He was when he was traded 4 years ago. Guy is 6'8" and very athletic when he was traded.

He plays 36 minutes per game through his career. Everywhere he went he got minutes. Kanter can't even get 20 minutes per game with OKC.

[bondom34]

those teams under the cap will simply trade for a player with a shorter term contract (less than the 3 years remaining on Kanter's deal) or simply pay the salaries to their current players.

No one wants to tie up $18 million for the next 3 years on a Center who can't defend and can't stay on the court longer than 20 minutes per game. And no one will give anything of value.

Again tell me a specific team that would trade for Kanter.

I don't know who's going to end up with cap space. New Orleans maybe, Atlanta maybe, LA maybe, etc.

New Orleans has $67 million tied up next year. Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson, and Cole are free agents. They would probably pay those guys first before Kanter. And I would not be surprised if a good free agent picks the Pels to play with Davis. And what the hell would we get back from the Pels? Tyreke Evans? Omer Asik?

Lakers do have a ton of cap room. But they have ZERO assets to give to us. Lou Williams? Nick Young? LOL.

Atlanta has $51 million tied up. But that will evaporate quickly cause they need to resign Horford who will command $20+ million and Bazemore who will be close to $20 million.

Bottom line is all the teams with significant cap room have zero assets to return to OKC in a trade.

The only way we get rid of Kanter is if the Lakers are desperate and we do a salary dump with them. We won't get anything back of value.

They don't need to give anything. Take him for cap space, not difficult. That creates cap space for OKC.

[bondom34]

Rudy Gay is a good wing defender what world is this?

He was when he was traded 4 years ago. Guy is 6'8" and very athletic when he was traded.

He plays 36 minutes per game through his career. Everywhere he went he got minutes. Kanter can't even get 20 minutes per game with OKC.

No he wasn't. I'm really assuming you don't watch any NBA and haven't in the past.

[slick_watts]

i agree that kanter will be a tradeable asset in the summer, if sam presti is willing. rudy gay was traded twice.

Rudy Gay is an 18/6 guy who plays 36 minutes per game in his career. He is a good wing defender.

Kanter can barely stay on the floor for 20 minutes and is literally the worst big man defender in the league. Note that Rudy gay was traded for similiarly bad contracts. So in order to trade Kanter we would need to pick up someone elses horrible contract.

okay. point is that players with bad contracts get traded often. kanter has impressive counting stats and numbers that teams may be interested in, especially since it appears that his attitude has improved.

feel free to ignore precedent if you want, that's your business.

[kraytinprime]

Rudy Gay is a good wing defender what world is this?

He was when he was traded 4 years ago. Guy is 6'8" and very athletic when he was traded.

He plays 36 minutes per game through his career. Everywhere he went he got minutes. Kanter can't even get 20 minutes per game with OKC.

No he wasn't. I'm really assuming you don't watch any NBA and haven't in the past.

He was good enough on defense to play 36 minutes per game.

Kanter can barely get 20 minutes per game.

[bondom34]

He was when he was traded 4 years ago. Guy is 6'8" and very athletic when he was traded.

He plays 36 minutes per game through his career. Everywhere he went he got minutes. Kanter can't even get 20 minutes per game with OKC.

No he wasn't. I'm really assuming you don't watch any NBA and haven't in the past.

He was good enough on defense to play 36 minutes per game.

Kanter can barely get 20 minutes per game.

On a lottery bound team.

And minutes per game really has no bearing on defensive ability, or Damian Lillard wouldn't see his minutes, nor would Harden, nor would guys like Gallinari. But again, ignore reality and history if you care to.

[kraytinprime]

i agree that kanter will be a tradeable asset in the summer, if sam presti is willing. rudy gay was traded twice.

Rudy Gay is an 18/6 guy who plays 36 minutes per game in his career. He is a good wing defender.

Kanter can barely stay on the floor for 20 minutes and is literally the worst big man defender in the league. Note that Rudy gay was traded for similiarly bad contracts. So in order to trade Kanter we would need to pick up someone elses horrible contract.

okay. point is that players with bad contracts get traded often. kanter has impressive counting stats and numbers that teams may be interested in, especially since it appears that his attitude has improved.

feel free to ignore precedent if you want, that's your business.

People said the same thing about Perkins contract.

We were only able to trade his contract when it was about to expire and we had to give up a 1st round pick and Reggie Jackson as part of the deal.

Rudy Gay was seen as a highly skilled and talented player. His contract signed in 2010 is not even close to being as bad as Kanter's.

[kraytinprime]

No he wasn't. I'm really assuming you don't watch any NBA and haven't in the past.

He was good enough on defense to play 36 minutes per game.

Kanter can barely get 20 minutes per game.

On a lottery bound team.

And minutes per game really has no bearing on defensive ability, or Damian Lillard wouldn't see his minutes, nor would Harden, nor would guys like Gallinari. But again, ignore reality and history if you care to.

Memphis was not a lottery bound team. Gay play 37 minutes per game on Memphis playoff teams.

And notice the teams that traded Gay got nothing good in return. Nothing.

We are significantly worse than GSW, Spurs, and Cavs. Giving up Kanter for crap is not going to help us win titles.

[bondom34]

He was good enough on defense to play 36 minutes per game.

Kanter can barely get 20 minutes per game.

On a lottery bound team.

And minutes per game really has no bearing on defensive ability, or Damian Lillard wouldn't see his minutes, nor would Harden, nor would guys like Gallinari. But again, ignore reality and history if you care to.

Memphis was not a lottery bound team. Gay play 37 minutes per game on Memphis playoff teams.

And notice the teams that traded Gay got nothing good in return. Nothing.

We are significantly worse than GSW, Spurs, and Cavs. Giving up Kanter for crap is not going to help us win titles.

And yet Memphis got the better of it.

So to refresh your memory, here's a review of that trade:

http://www.sbnation.com/2013/1/31/3935600/rudy-gay-trade-grizzlies-raptors-pistons

All in all, the Grizzlies accomplished all of their goals. They saved money. They got a battle-tested, role-playing small forward that can approximate a lot of Gay's skills and fit in with the team's post players. They got a promising young player that can be a key piece going forward. Given their goals, what's not to like?
GRADE: A

About the only good thing you can say about this deal from the Raptors' perspective is that they got the most well-known player. Gay has declined this year -- his scoring is down and his PER is just 14.3 -- but one would think his shooting numbers will bounce back a bit, making him slightly above-average rather than below-average. A change of scenery should bump Gay's numbers back up to where they used to be.

GRADE: C-

[slick_watts]

Rudy Gay is an 18/6 guy who plays 36 minutes per game in his career. He is a good wing defender.

Kanter can barely stay on the floor for 20 minutes and is literally the worst big man defender in the league. Note that Rudy gay was traded for similiarly bad contracts. So in order to trade Kanter we would need to pick up someone elses horrible contract.

okay. point is that players with bad contracts get traded often. kanter has impressive counting stats and numbers that teams may be interested in, especially since it appears that his attitude has improved.

feel free to ignore precedent if you want, that's your business.

People said the same thing about Perkins contract.

We were only able to trade his contract when it was about to expire and we had to give up a 1st round pick and Reggie Jackson as part of the deal.

Rudy Gay was seen as a highly skilled and talented player. His contract signed in 2010 is not even close to being as bad as Kanter's.

reggie jackson was not part of the kendrick perkins trade to utah. the only link utah had to that trade was detroit sending them a 2nd round pick instead of us, because we had already traded ours. they didn't want our 2019 2nd rounder (which detroit got).

sam presti could have traded kendrick perkins before he was expiring had he wanted to. he could have used the amnesty provision had he wanted to. it's clear that he believed perkins had value to the team, so he kept him. the lesson: not trading a player does not = the player is not tradeable. kevin durant has not been traded; does that mean teams have no interest?

you seem like like a sharp person, but many of your arguments contain fallacious reasoning.

[kraytinprime]

okay. point is that players with bad contracts get traded often. kanter has impressive counting stats and numbers that teams may be interested in, especially since it appears that his attitude has improved.

feel free to ignore precedent if you want, that's your business.

People said the same thing about Perkins contract.

We were only able to trade his contract when it was about to expire and we had to give up a 1st round pick and Reggie Jackson as part of the deal.

Rudy Gay was seen as a highly skilled and talented player. His contract signed in 2010 is not even close to being as bad as Kanter's.

reggie jackson was not part of the kendrick perkins trade to utah. the only link utah had to that trade was detroit sending them a 2nd round pick instead of us, because we had already traded ours. they didn't want our 2019 2nd rounder (which detroit got).

sam presti could have traded kendrick perkins before he was expiring had he wanted to. he could have used the amnesty provision had he wanted to. it's clear that he believed perkins had value to the team, so he kept him. the lesson: not trading a player does not = the player is not tradeable. kevin durant has not been traded; does that mean teams have no interest?

you seem like like a sharp person, but many of your arguments contain fallacious reasoning.

I meant trading Perkins for something of value.

people here thing we can actually trade Kanter for something of value this summer. Something that would make us jump above GSW. I say no way in hell. We won't get anything nearly good enough to be better than GSW trading Kanter. Thats my point.

[slick_watts]

People said the same thing about Perkins contract.

We were only able to trade his contract when it was about to expire and we had to give up a 1st round pick and Reggie Jackson as part of the deal.

Rudy Gay was seen as a highly skilled and talented player. His contract signed in 2010 is not even close to being as bad as Kanter's.

reggie jackson was not part of the kendrick perkins trade to utah. the only link utah had to that trade was detroit sending them a 2nd round pick instead of us, because we had already traded ours. they didn't want our 2019 2nd rounder (which detroit got).

sam presti could have traded kendrick perkins before he was expiring had he wanted to. he could have used the amnesty provision had he wanted to. it's clear that he believed perkins had value to the team, so he kept him. the lesson: not trading a player does not = the player is not tradeable. kevin durant has not been traded; does that mean teams have no interest?

you seem like like a sharp person, but many of your arguments contain fallacious reasoning.

I meant trading Perkins for something of value.

people here thing we can actually trade Kanter for something of value this summer. Something that would make us jump above GSW. I say no way in hell. We won't get anything nearly good enough to be better than GSW trading Kanter. Thats my point.

trading kanter for nothing could make us better. as part of a series of improvements, it could close the gap. there probably isn't anything the thunder can do to make our roster better than golden state's.

[kraytinprime]

On a lottery bound team.

And minutes per game really has no bearing on defensive ability, or Damian Lillard wouldn't see his minutes, nor would Harden, nor would guys like Gallinari. But again, ignore reality and history if you care to.

Memphis was not a lottery bound team. Gay play 37 minutes per game on Memphis playoff teams.

And notice the teams that traded Gay got nothing good in return. Nothing.

We are significantly worse than GSW, Spurs, and Cavs. Giving up Kanter for crap is not going to help us win titles.

And yet Memphis got the better of it.

So to refresh your memory, here's a review of that trade:

http://www.sbnation.com/2013/1/31/3935600/rudy-gay-trade-grizzlies-raptors-pistons

All in all, the Grizzlies accomplished all of their goals. They saved money. They got a battle-tested, role-playing small forward that can approximate a lot of Gay's skills and fit in with the team's post players. They got a promising young player that can be a key piece going forward. Given their goals, what's not to like?
GRADE: A

About the only good thing you can say about this deal from the Raptors' perspective is that they got the most well-known player. Gay has declined this year -- his scoring is down and his PER is just 14.3 -- but one would think his shooting numbers will bounce back a bit, making him slightly above-average rather than below-average. A change of scenery should bump Gay's numbers back up to where they used to be.

GRADE: C-

Wow. That Rudy Gay trade really propelled Memphis to a championship.

Oh wait...........

What has been Memphis weakness the last 3 years? Wing scoring.

Wow getting Tashawn Prince and Ed Davis really made Memphis a champion. LOL. This was mainly a move to save salaries and tax.

Memphis had two great big men, a good PG...................but ZERO wings that made a difference. With Rudy Gay they would probably have made it to the finals at least once the last 3 years.

[bondom34]

Memphis was not a lottery bound team. Gay play 37 minutes per game on Memphis playoff teams.

And notice the teams that traded Gay got nothing good in return. Nothing.

We are significantly worse than GSW, Spurs, and Cavs. Giving up Kanter for crap is not going to help us win titles.

And yet Memphis got the better of it.

So to refresh your memory, here's a review of that trade:

http://www.sbnation.com/2013/1/31/3935600/rudy-gay-trade-grizzlies-raptors-pistons

All in all, the Grizzlies accomplished all of their goals. They saved money. They got a battle-tested, role-playing small forward that can approximate a lot of Gay's skills and fit in with the team's post players. They got a promising young player that can be a key piece going forward. Given their goals, what's not to like?
GRADE: A

About the only good thing you can say about this deal from the Raptors' perspective is that they got the most well-known player. Gay has declined this year -- his scoring is down and his PER is just 14.3 -- but one would think his shooting numbers will bounce back a bit, making him slightly above-average rather than below-average. A change of scenery should bump Gay's numbers back up to where they used to be.

GRADE: C-

Wow. That Rudy Gay trade really propelled Memphis to a championship.

Oh wait...........

What has been Memphis weakness the last 3 years? Wing scoring.

Actually they just need a shooter, not Rudy Gay. And the trade also sent Toronto to the lottery multiple years.

Kanter can be traded for cap space, which can be used to obtain a free agent.

[kraytinprime]

And yet Memphis got the better of it.

So to refresh your memory, here's a review of that trade:

http://www.sbnation.com/2013/1/31/3935600/rudy-gay-trade-grizzlies-raptors-pistons

Wow. That Rudy Gay trade really propelled Memphis to a championship.

Oh wait...........

What has been Memphis weakness the last 3 years? Wing scoring.

Actually they just need a shooter, not Rudy Gay. And the trade also sent Toronto to the lottery multiple years.

Kanter can be traded for cap space, which can be used to obtain a free agent.

What free agents? Not much available.

Unrestricted Free Agents 2016:

Wade
Jamal Crawford
Courtney Lee
Eric Gordon
OJ Mayo
Batum
Deng
Evan Turner
Jeff Green

I don't see anyone on that list that will help us beat GSW.

We need to trade away one of our stars to really build something good enough to beat GSW.

I'm 100% okay with trading Ibaka for 2 wings. We have enough big men and Ibaka is going down hill fast.

I'm okay with trading away Westbrook if we get 3 quality guys in return. No team needs two guys scoring 27 points per game. And I honestly think KD plays passive not to get in Russ' way. KD will be even better if Russ is gone and we get a wing who can defend (putting less pressure on KD on defense) and a SG/PF who can consistenly hit 3's to give KD floor space.

Look back at how GREAT KD played when Russ was gone in his MVP season. KD was free and did not have to worry about deferring to Russ. That was peak KD.

This is very much like what GSW did when they traded away Monta Ellis and handed the franchise to Steph Curry. They got back a defensive presence. But more importantly it allowed Curry to grow.

There are MANY teams willing to give away 3 quality pieces to get Russ. We could get back a quality PG, quality SG, and quality SF.