Make your case - the Kevin Durant pursuit

[stitches]

Whether you think you have a real chance in getting him or not, please make your best case for Kevin Durant joining your team. I think it will be interesting to see what different teams think they can offer KD. We might make it a game and select the best pitches and vote on them. Hell we might make this a series with the major free agents this summer. My only rule would be - please refrain from **** on other teams pitches and focus on what your own team can offer.

I will be posting my own Jazz pitch later.

[Smitty731]

For the Celtics:

1. Cap space to add another max guy (whoever Durant tells them to pursue) without breaking up the core.

2. Ability to trade young pieces and picks to add an additional star player, while still maintaining some of the core.

3. Play on the Boston history and championship culture. If you win in Boston, it makes you almost immortal.

4. Play in the Eastern Conference with an easier path to at least the Conference Finals.

That is about the whole of it. They don't have much more to pitch. If that isn't enough, it isn't enough and Boston has to move on.

[Kizz Fastfists]

OKC:

We were a few missed shots from being in the Finals after being up 3-1 on the Warriors. As soon as you sign we'll have a better team today than we did then.

[Mamba4Goat]

LAL:
1. Strong young group that could be decent in a year or two.
2. Cap space and the crazy allure of playing in LA that makes getting FA's easy.
3. Kobe and Byron Scott are gone. (Cannot stress that last one enough.)
4. Amazing GM, and an owner who isn't cheap.
5. Team history.
6 LA is an awesome place to be/live.

[pelifan]

NOP

Play with the generations next great bigman where you are guaranteed to be the guy, as Davis makes the perfect fitting number two to Durant. The roster around you may be just as talented as the OKC one but offers better fits. You actually get to be the lone Alpha on the perimeter, which no on else is offering you. Around you you have Holiday the perfect complementary 2nd option on the perimeter, who can play offball as well as on and loves to defer to you. Hield who can be your knock down 45% shooter kick out option. And of course Davis. This team is only going to get stronger as it develops but unlike other young talented teams, you will get all the credit for taking the team to where it can go. You could easily go from 6th worst record to championship contender next year.

As far as improving the roster around you we have Evans and all of our picks to trade for whatever help you want. Be a part of something new, a similar environment as OKC, just a better fitting team that you can lead.

p.s. the Durant Davis pick and roll would be the most terrifying thing to defend in league history.

[SideSwipe]

PHX- .000001% chance of happening but here goes.

Defensive lead guard (Bledsoe), great up and coming wing player (Booker), firebrand heat-check guy to take off scoring pressure (Knight), a defensive center (Chandler), and a very strong glue guy(Tucker). PHX has good cheap up and coming scoring and defensive bigs (Warren, Chriss, Bender). All of that wrapped in a team that has a clear open gap at the three and the dollars to make it happen, and grab extra help for the bench.

In summary:
Near All-Star guard(when healthy)- check
Cheap, good prospects- check
Balanced roster-check
Capspace to improve-check
Market bigger than OKC-check.
A team that would clearly be his-check.

[AustinCarr61]

One of the five best players of all time is taking the min just because he thinks you're that good.

And your old team can't feel too bad as they'll get an All-NBA forward back to replace you (and Ibaka)

You get to be in "Chill Mode" the first 60 games as you play in the East

Plus you get to hang out with JR Smith at championship parades.

What more could you ask for?

[BuzzCity]

Hornets fan, while Durant is my favorite player...I wanna see him get a ring so bad. I was shocked when Ibaka was traded, but surprisingly wasn't upset for what OKC back. If he were were to leave OKC, my money is on San Antonio. Here's my pitch:

1) Be a part of a franchise that knows how to build championship teams. Aka, great front office who knows the recipe for success

2) Best coach in the NBA

3) Teaming up with Kawhi would make that wing combo one of the sickest ever

4) Play alongside one of the best offensive big men in the league (Lamarcus Aldridge)

5) While playing in the East would be easier, there's no team u could go to right now that would challenge the Cavs instantly

6) Tax breaks in state of Texas

7) Legacy would take a hit by going to the Warriors. Change of scenery might be what's needed right now. Westbrook is awesome, but maybe you both would be more successful as the top dogs on different teams. That's not a shot at either one of u. Just is what it is.

8) An added bonus for Longhorn nation to have you come back to Texas

[Crossy2008]

For the Celtics:

1. Cap space to add another max guy (whoever Durant tells them to pursue) without breaking up the core.

2. Ability to trade young pieces and picks to add an additional star player, while still maintaining some of the core.

3. Play on the Boston history and championship culture. If you win in Boston, it makes you almost immortal.

4. Play in the Eastern Conference with an easier path to at least the Conference Finals.

That is about the whole of it. They don't have much more to pitch. If that isn't enough, it isn't enough and Boston has to move on.

In addition:

Brand new training facility being built.

Boston is a pro-town, so he'll be throwing a first pitch at Fenway, and get to experience a very dedicated sports town.

Free crab legs for life from Legal Seafoods.

He'd be joining a great locker room with great young vets.

Celtics are in a position to add some great young talent over the next few years.

He would be part of building something with the Celtics. With the Spurs/Warrior/Clippers he would have to integrate into what they already have built.

[Crossy2008]

Hornets fan, while Durant is my favorite player...I wanna see him get a ring so bad. I was shocked when Ibaka was traded, but surprisingly wasn't upset for what OKC back. If he here were to leave OKC, my money is on San Antonio. Here's my pitch:

1) Be a part of a franchise that knows how to build championships team. Aka, great front office

2) Best coach in the NBA

3) Teaming up with Kawhi would make that wing combo one of the sickest ever

4) Play alongside one of the best offensive big men in the league (Lamarcus Aldridge)

5) While playing in the East would be easier, there's no team u could go to right now that would challenge the Cavs instantly

6) Tax breaks in state of Texas

7) Legacy would take a hit by going to the Warriors. Change of scenery might be what's needed right now. Westbrook is awesome, but maybe you both would be more successful as the top dogs on different teams. That's not a shot at either one of u. Just is what it is.

8) An added bonus for Longhorn nation to have you come back to Texas

I don't see a big role for KD in San Antonio. He would have to either play the Shooting guard position with Kawhi at SF and Aldridge at PF, or he would play SF and have Kawhi go to PF and Aldridge to C.

[loserX]

Knowing that GSW, OKC and the Spurs are in here made me want to post that gif of Grampa Simpson walking into the burlesque house and immediately walking out again, but I won't...

In the spirit of the thread:

- you came from OKC, and we can give you that vibe again. Sure, there are bright lights and big cities out there...or you can come here and play basketball for the love of basketball. The NBA is the only game in town and the fans here are unbelievable.

- this is a proud organization with a long history...but despite making the finals twice we've never won a championship. Look at what LeBron just did in breaking through for Cleveland. Want to be part of someone else's legend? Go to Boston, Golden State or the Spurs. Want to start one? Come to Utah.

- Look at this lineup. Size up front? Got that. Defence? Yup, among the best in the league. Playmaking? Our secondary playmaker is top-notch. This lineup is built to excel around the one thing we're missing: a #1 scorer. Round peg, round hole: Utah and Kevin Durant are the perfect fit for each other.

- our uniforms are sweet.

[franktony]

Hornets fan, while Durant is my favorite player...I wanna see him get a ring so bad. I was shocked when Ibaka was traded, but surprisingly wasn't upset for what OKC back. If he here were to leave OKC, my money is on San Antonio. Here's my pitch:

1) Be a part of a franchise that knows how to build championships team. Aka, great front office

2) Best coach in the NBA

3) Teaming up with Kawhi would make that wing combo one of the sickest ever

4) Play alongside one of the best offensive big men in the league (Lamarcus Aldridge)

5) While playing in the East would be easier, there's no team u could go to right now that would challenge the Cavs instantly

6) Tax breaks in state of Texas

7) Legacy would take a hit by going to the Warriors. Change of scenery might be what's needed right now. Westbrook is awesome, but maybe you both would be more successful as the top dogs on different teams. That's not a shot at either one of u. Just is what it is.

8) An added bonus for Longhorn nation to have you come back to Texas

I don't see a big role for KD in San Antonio. He would have to either play the Shooting guard position with Kawhi at SF and Aldridge at PF, or he would play SF and have Kawhi go to PF and Aldridge to C.

You're complicating what's simple. Green is the starting SG now. Leonard is better than him @ everything, offensively and defensively. Plug Leonard @ SG and let KD plays his natural position. Butler is similar to Leonard and he made the transition easily. There's nothing to stop Leonard to play as a SG. He can create his own shot, handle the ball, he can shoot and he can finish at the rim.

SA could either play big with a normal lineup : Parker / Leonard / KD / Aldridge / Duncan or play small-ball depending on the matchup with Leonard as a 3, KD as 4 and Aldridge as a 5. The rest depends on who they move to sign KD. Pretty simple tbh.

[franktony]

Hornets fan, while Durant is my favorite player...I wanna see him get a ring so bad. I was shocked when Ibaka was traded, but surprisingly wasn't upset for what OKC back. If he were were to leave OKC, my money is on San Antonio. Here's my pitch:

1) Be a part of a franchise that knows how to build championship teams. Aka, great front office who knows the recipe for success

2) Best coach in the NBA

3) Teaming up with Kawhi would make that wing combo one of the sickest ever

4) Play alongside one of the best offensive big men in the league (Lamarcus Aldridge)

5) While playing in the East would be easier, there's no team u could go to right now that would challenge the Cavs instantly

6) Tax breaks in state of Texas

7) Legacy would take a hit by going to the Warriors. Change of scenery might be what's needed right now. Westbrook is awesome, but maybe you both would be more successful as the top dogs on different teams. That's not a shot at either one of u. Just is what it is.

8) An added bonus for Longhorn nation to have you come back to Texas

Pretty good pitch. Agreed 100%.

[slc24]

Knowing that GSW, OKC and the Spurs are in here made me want to post that gif of Grampa Simpson walking into the burlesque house and immediately walking out again, but I won't...

In the spirit of the thread:

- you came from OKC, and we can give you that vibe again. Sure, there are bright lights and big cities out there...or you can come here and play basketball for the love of basketball. The NBA is the only game in town and the fans here are unbelievable.

- this is a proud organization with a long history...but despite making the finals twice we've never won a championship. Look at what LeBron just did in breaking through for Cleveland. Want to be part of someone else's legend? Go to Boston, Golden State or the Spurs. Want to start one? Come to Utah.

- Look at this lineup. Size up front? Got that. Defence? Yup, among the best in the league. Playmaking? Our secondary playmaker is top-notch. This lineup is built to excel around the one thing we're missing: a #1 scorer. Round peg, round hole: Utah and Kevin Durant are the perfect fit for each other.

- our uniforms are sweet.

Not to mention, there would be no doubt who the leader/star of the team is. Durant would get 99% of the glory, and NBA fans wouldn't crucify him because he went to a "big market" or teamed up with superstars. Utah would have the best defense in the league and add the #1 pure scorer in the league. One of the longest teams in the history of the NBA, and built perfectly to match up with GS. If this happened, we could probably make a decent pitch to Pau to be our 3rd big and make a legit championship push...

Length, shooting, defense, passing, no selfish players, great locker room, players coach, great fans and a town that has been starved of a championship.

Hill/Exum
Hayward/Burks
Durant/Hood
Favors/Lyles
Gobert/Gasol

[clippertown]

I'm not sure if the premise is that Durant needs to be traded or if he will come as a free agent, but here goes...

Either way, the Clippers are clearly the top contender for Durant. Why?

1. If Durant requires a trade (in order not to screw OKC), the Clippers have a native OKC superstar in Blake Griffin, who would form a lethally athletic base with Westbrook. I doubt any team can offer more than Blake Griffin in a simple exchange for Durant. Now Ibaka is gone, I wonder if this has already been decided.

2. If its cap space, the amazing Lucas Hann has proposed a way that the Clips can bring Durant in for pure cap space. It involves using lopsided S&T's for Jeff Green and Jamal Crawford, but it could also be facilitated with an S&T of Austin Rivers if needed, due to his extremely low salary and big pay raise. Durant would also have to take a pay cut of around $600K, but I doubt that's a deal breaker. It is, however, a huge amount of leverage to get OKC to play ball. Do they really want to lose Durant for nothing?

3. Can any team offer Durant a better starting squad than CP3, Redick, Griffin and Jordan? Three of those players are arguably the top player in their specific position, with Redick being top 5 for sure. Even without Griffin, the Clips would have an awesome starting lineup, clearly the best on paper. With Griffin, we would be heads and tails above the rest.

4. Durant ownes a home in Los Angeles in addition to having a greater profile. LA is the logical choice.

5. The Clippers have never won the Championship. Durant could be the legitimate #1 option on a stacked team.

There are more benefits, but I think the case has been made.

[Crossy2008]

I'm not sure if the premise is that Durant needs to be traded or if he will come as a free agent, but here goes...

Either way, the Clippers are clearly the top contender for Durant. Why?

1. If Durant requires a trade (in order not to screw OKC), the Clippers have a native OKC superstar in Blake Griffin, who would form a lethally athletic base with Westbrook. I doubt any team can offer more than Blake Griffin in a simple exchange for Durant. Now Ibaka is gone, I wonder if this has already been decided.

2. If its cap space, the amazing Lucas Hann has proposed a way that the Clips can bring Durant in for pure cap space. It involves using lopsided S&T's for Jeff Green and Jamal Crawford, but it could also be facilitated with an S&T of Austin Rivers if needed, due to his extremely low salary and big pay raise. Durant would also have to take a pay cut of around $600K, but I doubt that's a deal breaker. It is, however, a huge amount of leverage to get OKC to play ball. Do they really want to lose Durant for nothing?

3. Can any team offer Durant a better starting squad than CP3, Redick, Griffin and Jordan? Three of those players are arguably the top player in their specific position, with Redick being top 5 for sure. Even without Griffin, the Clips would have an awesome starting lineup, clearly the best on paper. With Griffin, we would be heads and tails above the rest.

4. Durant ownes a home in Los Angeles in addition to having a greater profile. LA is the logical choice.

5. The Clippers have never won the Championship. Durant could be the legitimate #1 option on a stacked team.

There are more benefits, but I think the case has been made.

I think it would be pretty stupid for LAC to do a sign and trade for KD because there is no added value for KD, but there is lost value for LAC. One of the arguments against KD signing with LAC is that there will be very little depth, and not a whole lot of roster flexibility. He would fit very nicely into that lineup though.

[AustinCarr61]

Knowing that GSW, OKC and the Spurs are in here made me want to post that gif of Grampa Simpson walking into the burlesque house and immediately walking out again, but I won't...

In the spirit of the thread:

- you came from OKC, and we can give you that vibe again. Sure, there are bright lights and big cities out there...or you can come here and play basketball for the love of basketball. The NBA is the only game in town and the fans here are unbelievable.

- this is a proud organization with a long history...but despite making the finals twice we've never won a championship. Look at what LeBron just did in breaking through for Cleveland. Want to be part of someone else's legend? Go to Boston, Golden State or the Spurs. Want to start one? Come to Utah.

- Look at this lineup. Size up front? Got that. Defence? Yup, among the best in the league. Playmaking? Our secondary playmaker is top-notch. This lineup is built to excel around the one thing we're missing: a #1 scorer. Round peg, round hole: Utah and Kevin Durant are the perfect fit for each other.

- our uniforms are sweet.

Not to mention, there would be no doubt who the leader/star of the team is. Durant would get 99% of the glory, and NBA fans wouldn't crucify him because he went to a "big market" or teamed up with superstars. Utah would have the best defense in the league and add the #1 pure scorer in the league. One of the longest teams in the history of the NBA, and built perfectly to match up with GS. If this happened, we could probably make a decent pitch to Pau to be our 3rd big and make a legit championship push...

Length, shooting, defense, passing, no selfish players, great locker room, players coach, great fans and a town that has been starved of a championship.

Hill/Exum
Hayward/Burks
Durant/Hood
Favors/Lyles
Gobert/Gasol

Does Utah seriously have a full max slot for Durant and space for a 3rd big? If so, that's a nice looking depth chart

I mean, he's going back to OKC, but still

[clippertown]

I think it would be pretty stupid for LAC to do a sign and trade for KD because there is no added value for KD, but there is lost value for LAC. One of the arguments against KD signing with LAC is that there will be very little depth, and not a whole lot of roster flexibility. He would fit very nicely into that lineup though.

I think we all saw that starting lineups win Championships. I don't think LeBron ever sat for more than 5 minutes per game.

The added value for LAC is that Durant is simply the better player. His game will likely flow better with DJ's game and we can get a veteran rebounding PF to complete the lineup, like David Lee.

[babyjax13]

Knowing that GSW, OKC and the Spurs are in here made me want to post that gif of Grampa Simpson walking into the burlesque house and immediately walking out again, but I won't...

In the spirit of the thread:

- you came from OKC, and we can give you that vibe again. Sure, there are bright lights and big cities out there...or you can come here and play basketball for the love of basketball. The NBA is the only game in town and the fans here are unbelievable.

- this is a proud organization with a long history...but despite making the finals twice we've never won a championship. Look at what LeBron just did in breaking through for Cleveland. Want to be part of someone else's legend? Go to Boston, Golden State or the Spurs. Want to start one? Come to Utah.

- Look at this lineup. Size up front? Got that. Defence? Yup, among the best in the league. Playmaking? Our secondary playmaker is top-notch. This lineup is built to excel around the one thing we're missing: a #1 scorer. Round peg, round hole: Utah and Kevin Durant are the perfect fit for each other.

- our uniforms are sweet.

Not to mention, there would be no doubt who the leader/star of the team is. Durant would get 99% of the glory, and NBA fans wouldn't crucify him because he went to a "big market" or teamed up with superstars. Utah would have the best defense in the league and add the #1 pure scorer in the league. One of the longest teams in the history of the NBA, and built perfectly to match up with GS. If this happened, we could probably make a decent pitch to Pau to be our 3rd big and make a legit championship push...

Length, shooting, defense, passing, no selfish players, great locker room, players coach, great fans and a town that has been starved of a championship.

Hill/Exum
Hayward/Burks
Durant/Hood
Favors/Lyles
Gobert/Gasol

Does Utah seriously have a full max slot for Durant and space for a 3rd big? If so, that's a nice looking depth chart

I mean, he's going back to OKC, but still

We have $25 million in cap space right now (including George Hill), and have another five million in ungaurenteed contracts. So really, we could just sign Durant at the max and then add another player with the room MLE after signing him. We could probably also pretty easily clear the salaries of Tibor Pleiss and Trey Burke pretty easily. So potentially we could have a total of $32 million in cap space. Durant will get $25 million starting next year, so we could potentially sign him, a rotation player with the $7 million remaining and then use the room MLE to fill out the depth chart. Obviously Durant isn't signing here, though.

[stitches]

Jazz going for Durant. Here it goes:

-Hello there, Kevin. It's the Jazz... Wait, wait, wait, WAIT! Don't hang up just yet, please! I know we have only a long shot at getting you, but we'd like you to hear us.

A lot of teams will be offering for you to be the first piece of many to be acquired. Others will offer you dynasties with teams that have already won it all. But listen to us. The Jazz come with a completely different pitch.

1. We already have the main pieces required for contention in place. Our roster has been expertly and patiently built. 2 through 9-10 are all set up and ready to go! We don't even need you to to go recruit other stars. Hayward and Favors have grown to be amazing two-way pieces for this team and we believe they can be even better feeding off the playmaker that you are. We believe that both of them can be all-stars in due time. Hayward for example is the only player in the league with his statistical profile in the last couple of years to not receive an all-star recognition. And both of them are very selfless and versatile players.

Spoiler:

Here are some stats from the lineups featuring our top 7-8 players:

starting lineup with Neto: +7.2 net rating
starting lineup with Mack: +10.2 net rating
Exum + starting lineup last year(with Exum and Hood being rookies): +10.8 net rating
Burks+starting lineup(triple wing): +11.3 net rating.
Lyles instead of Gobert + starting lineup(Neto lineup): +11.4 net rating.
Lyles instead of Favors + starting lineup(Neto lineup): +9.0 net rating
Lyles instead of Favors + starting lineup(Mack lineup): +19.9 net rating

Imagine you being added in the mix+George Hill + one or two end of bench high quality vets added in FA. This team will be unstoppable.

2. You will be the MAN! Even though we love Hayward and Favors and they can relieve the load off your shoulders, even though our offense relies heavily on ball movement to create good looks and mismatches, we believe you will be the clear cut go-to first option for our team. You will be the star. We've already been running our offense though the wings and what better wing to run our offense through than you.

3. Defense! This team will be the best defensive unit in basketball! The LENGTH! The defensive versatility! Hill/Exum-Hayward-Durant-Favors-Gobert!!! Who will score against this unit? The best defensive center in basketball. The best defensive bigs duo in basketball going forward! You wonder who will stop Klay and Steph and Kyrie? Fear not. We just acquired one of the better defensive combo guards in George Hill and we already have one of the best young defensive guard in the league in Exum. Switching defenses have been in fashion lately and we have one of the best pieces in the league to do that with extreme length all over the starting lineup and the backups.

4. No backlash! You know how the fans went berserk against LeBron when he left Cleveland to go to a big market. Well there is no danger of this happening here. Nobody can possibly find anything objectionable in you deciding to take your talents to one of the smallest market teams in the league. It would be seen as a revolution. The day the star chose the well-run small market team, over the glamour of Miami/LA/NY/The Bay.

5. The mountains! Ask Enes. Even he misses the mountains!

PG: George Hill, Dante Exum, Raul Neto
SG: Gordon Hayward, Alec Burks, Shelvin Mack
SF: Kevin Durant, Rodney Hood
PF: Derrick Favors, Trey Lyles
C: Rudy Gobert, Derrick Favors, Jeff Withey

Come on, KD! Do it for the underdog, for the little guy. Come to Utah!

KD: You guys are nuts.
Hangs up!