Knrstz wrote:sleestak33 wrote:hardenASG13 wrote:
The two all stars might help. Let's say a game goes like this:
Russ: 29pts
George: 24
kanter: 13
Adams: 10
Patterson: 7
Abrines: 7
Roberson:6
Grant: 6
McDermott: 5
That's very doable and is 107. Would be around an average game for everyone, as a few likely would be above their average and a few below in a given game. It doesn't account for Felton at all, and in my opinion it's likely having at least 1 of abrines, grant and McDermott taking a decent step up this year. The offense will be good, it's a shame they do play Roberson 30mpg because they could be great on that end.
Yes they'd take a step back on D, but it would make everyone else have to play harder on that end. George can do alot of the things roberson can at slightly lower levels, and replacing him with an improved abrines (if he can average 12ppg let's say) makes them a top 3-5 offense. Particularly in the playoffs, against golden State and houston, they will need to score more points if they actually want to win, because they aren't stopping them on D no matter what.
But to the original point, they are fine on offense. I agree they might struggle to score with GSW playing those guys and as you know I think it's necessary to replace roberson if they are serious about winning. That said, people are underestimating the effect having Paul George will have on this offense. He isn't a guy that occasionally goes off.....he averages over 20ppg, has done so as the lead guy, and won. Now he's a second option, and will be getting the best looks of his career. Makes offense alot easier when there are 2 guys who you can count on going for 20-40 each on a consistent basis. This roster is full of talent and has tons of interesting combinations on both ends, they need to be alot more flexible and use them appropriately and in the right situations against the right teams for once.
If they start Patterson and Roberson we are talking about 50 combined minutes per game and roughly 13 points plus all of the problems that come with Roberson's defender not guarding him for the 30 minutes he's out there with spacing, double teaming and clogging the lane. Roberson simply can't be in the game more than 14-16 minutes otherwise he really starts costing the team too many points offensively. Kanter literally averages more than twice as many points per minute as Patterson and is the clear choice to start at power forward and the Warriors and Rockets have absolutely nobody that can contend with his offensive game not to mention he would kill them on the offensive boards. If Abrines were given the starting role instead of Roberson and that 30 minutes he would average around 12-14 points and if Kanter was getting the 33-34 minutes he should be getting in the starting role he would easily average 20. That would be a colossal difference in offensive production and would give them a legitimate chance to compete. As we saw last year with Donovan trying to match lineups and play small ball OKC went 2-11 against those 2 teams and the closest game they even had with the Warriors was 16 points. They have absolutely no chance of competing with the Warriors with Roberson out there.
If Kanter is so great and everyone besides The thunder FO and certain fans realize this, why aren't teams trading for Kanter? I mean, if you're right then they would get an all star for only $17 million a year.
I'm sure there are many more teams that want Kanter than there are that wanted Roberson which was absolutely none. The most hilarious thing about Roberson is that he turned down a 12 million/year offer thinking he was going to get more money which is just ludicrous. Kanter is underpaid at 17 million. Like I've said many times he's one of only 5 bigs in the entire NBA capable of averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds and that is an elite group. There are D-League players that are better overall players than Roberson.
