David Selig Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 1 hour ago, Calibandar said: Couple of things: Is Durant really the guy that Golden State can just throw a ball to in the closing minutes and get buckets? It is that which he's had so much problems with at OKC, closing games out, being as good in crunch time as he was when it was easier earlier in the game. I actually think that if anyone is the sort of guy you just throw a ball to towards the end because he's such an awesome shooter..... it's Steph Curry. And he did that for them all season long, except against the Cavs, when Curry clearly was not at his best. Durant is not usually at his best towards the end, as I recall the many troubled OKC close outs. Durant has been a great closer his whole career. Last season was an aberration (and even during it he wasn't that bad). In the previous years he won numerous games for OKC despite their horrible sets late and the fact that teams left the likes of Roberson, Perkins and Sefolosha open and paid attention almost exclusively to him down the stretch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunderMifflin Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 So early projected starting lineup is Curry, Klay, Durant, Green, ???? Do they have any cap room for anything else? Not a lot of weakness there. Only things I can think of is there's only one ball, even if they play super unselfish, somebody's numbers are going down (Klay?) A lot of pressure on Draymon Green down low, maybe Durant starts playing more interior D to help??? Maybe they will be prone to being bullied by playoff brawl style basketball? It's all a stretch though this team looks amazing on paper, hard to find weakness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaime L Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 28 minutes ago, briantw said: Most would argue that the reason the Heat lost the '11 Finals was because LeBron started deferring to Wade, something he largely hadn't done all season. Wade decided he wanted the spotlight to the detriment of the team, and LeBron was too good of a friend to step in and take it from him. Once LeBron firmly took control of the team, they were much, much better. Well that and Wade had a ring that Lebron didn't. And they might've continued to have Alpha dog issues if Wade didn't start regressing. Peak Lebron was always better than peak Wade, but he went to Wade's team not vice versa. Hell Wade's usage rate in 2011 was a bit higher than Lebron's. The question had not been settled in their own minds. Lebron had to go out and prove it, which he did the way he came out in 2012 with a post game and an attitude. Feel like Durant's going to need a similar evolution. 10 minutes ago, DunderMifflin said: So early projected starting lineup is Curry, Klay, Durant, Green, ???? Do they have any cap room for anything else? Not a lot of weakness there. Only things I can think of is there's only one ball, even if they play super unselfish, somebody's numbers are going down (Klay?) A lot of pressure on Draymon Green down low, maybe Durant starts playing more interior D to help??? Maybe they will be prone to being bullied by playoff brawl style basketball? It's all a stretch though this team looks amazing on paper, hard to find weakness I assume Igoudala will be coming back now and will be their 5th guy in their crunch time lineup. If they can't make it work, finding the right 5th guy will be tricky. They need Iggy's toughness now more than ever. Regardless switching out Barnes for Durant is a coup on both ends of the floor and yeah I think Durant will help Green out with the rim protection. Finally a dude taller than 6'8" on the floor. But depth and having a playable actual center without Bogut are big questions. Bogut's presence let them play the lineup of death as much they did. Ezeli was truly terrible in the playoffs and maybe he's gone too. Teams will be incentivized to get physical with them more than ever so they could really use a veteran big man enforcer on a minimum contract who's along for a ring. Names aren't coming to mind though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunderMifflin Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 Brandon Jennings to the Knicks. I'm one good signing away from being on the Knicks bandwagon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fez Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 1 hour ago, DunderMifflin said: So early projected starting lineup is Curry, Klay, Durant, Green, ???? Do they have any cap room for anything else? Not a lot of weakness there. Only things I can think of is there's only one ball, even if they play super unselfish, somebody's numbers are going down (Klay?) A lot of pressure on Draymon Green down low, maybe Durant starts playing more interior D to help??? Maybe they will be prone to being bullied by playoff brawl style basketball? It's all a stretch though this team looks amazing on paper, hard to find weakness Those four, Igoudala, and their current bench guys under contract (Livingston, Looney, and McCaw) will add up to $89 million. So they'll still be $5 million under the cap and $24 million under the luxury tax if they get creative. And the cap's going up so much again next year that they very well might, but they need to make sure they keep the ability to finally give Curry a max next off-season. Also Durant's max will be higher next off-season too, though that jump won't be as big (and I don't think this'll be a one-year rental. KD did the 1+1 for the same financial reasons people thought he'd do a 1+1 in OKC; but he won't leave GSW after 1 year, even if they don't get a title. If he did, he'd become a Dwight Howard-like figure, and he doesn't want that). Far as playing goes, If I was Kerr, I wouldn't play all 5 of them at once all that much, at least not until the playoffs. Regular season, I'd play them in the first quarters and sometimes crunch time to give them a chance to jell. But beyond that, I'd take the season real easy. Take advantage of having so much talent by having each of them only play around 30 minutes a game, and just win the bare minimum necessary to get the #1 seed (and if the Spurs or whoever go on a tear, maybe settle for the #2 seed). ETA: Elias noted that this is the 3rd time a former MVP has joined the team that had the best record the previous season. Its not a comprehensive historical look, since that doesn't include very good non-MVPs joining best record teams or former MVPs joining very good teams that didn't have the best record, but it still helps show how astounding this is. Especially since those other two times were Shaq joining the Cavs in '09 and Walton joining the Celtics in '85. Shaq was completely washed up and while Walton was a valuable contributor to that team, he was not MVP-caliber anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 Greatest Heel Turn Evar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Selig Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 So GSW already got the good centre ring chaser for peanuts they needed in Zaza Pachulia. I expect a few other decent ring chasers to come too. They seem unbeatable honestly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaime L Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 6 minutes ago, David Selig said: So GSW already got the good centre ring chaser for peanuts they needed in Zaza Pachulia. I expect a few other decent ring chasers to come too. They seem unbeatable honestly. Wow, that's already a higher class of center than I thought they'd be able to get this offseason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 7 minutes ago, David Selig said: So GSW already got the good centre ring chaser for peanuts they needed in Zaza Pachulia. I expect a few other decent ring chasers to come too. They seem unbeatable honestly. Yeah, just caught that on the radio. They get him for the veteran's exception at 2.9 million. The NBC radio guy was questioning whether or not Mozgov was any better than Pachulia at 16 mill per. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Selig Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 I am not surprised, GSW right now are a ring chaser's dream. I wonder if David West will settle for a minimum two years in a row... Probably not, but if he's really desperate for a ring, this is the best possible chance for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 Any chance the league pulls the plug on this ala CP3 to the Lakers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 That was a trade by a team owned by the league wasn't it? How could they stop this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 12 minutes ago, SkynJay said: That was a trade by a team owned by the league wasn't it? How could they stop this? Ah, I didn't know that detail. The league owned the New Orleans franchise at the time? I thought it was Stern stating that it "was against the interest of the league" to have loaded teams or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabronius Maximus Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 No it was because they owned the team. They nixed the trade, and cited 'basketball reasons'. This is a UFA signing anyways, and the league doesn't own either team. That was a complete bs move at the time anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sperry Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 Going to Golden State never made sense, and I'm not sure it makes them a better team. What Kevin Durant brings doesn't feel like something they were lacking, and they just lost two very good centers. Bogut is a damn good player, and a hugely underrated cog in what they're doing. Ironically, with no Bogut and Ezeli, I think they match up extremely poorly against the Thunder, who should still be a high seed in the west. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manhole Eunuchsbane Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 Agreed on Bogut being underrated. I think had he been healthy they probably would've gotten by the Clips in the playoffs a few seasons back. And they definitely felt his absence in games 6 and 7 of the Finals this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 This article pretty much confirmed what I thought when I heard the news yesterday and heard what sort of a delegation Golden State had sent: http://theundefeated.com/features/strength-in-numbers-convinced-kevin-durant-to-join-warriors/ They came at him with Curry, Klay, Green, Iguodala, Kerr, the GM and the owner, and he looked at those guys and thought, there are so many fine players on that team, I just don't have that at OKC, I need to join them. It is perhaps more in his personality as well to be a cog in a whole, rather than a superstar who leads a team. He is not a dominant leader type like LeBron is. In other news, it is being reported that there is no chance Westbrook will now renegotiate or extend his contract with OKC. It's also said that this does not say anything about his decision next year, but it suggests to the Thunder that they may need to make a trade with Westbrook this season, or see him walk away for nothing as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Selig Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 5 hours ago, sperry said: Going to Golden State never made sense, and I'm not sure it makes them a better team. What Kevin Durant brings doesn't feel like something they were lacking, and they just lost two very good centers. Bogut is a damn good player, and a hugely underrated cog in what they're doing. I really don't get this kind of claims. Durant and Zaza are a huge upgrade over Bogut, Barnes and Ezeli. I like Bogut a lot, but he played 20 MPG in the regular season and 16 MPG in the playoffs and GSW didn't look any worse without him against most teams. And Ezeli is really mediocre. And let's not forget that having Durant on the roster means GSW will probably sign a few other quality ring chasers now that they seem like having the best roster ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 7 hours ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said: Any chance the league pulls the plug on this ala CP3 to the Lakers? I would love that. No chance, but that would be wondeful. Cite "general interest of the league and complete lack of competitiveness" as the reason 5 hours ago, sperry said: Going to Golden State never made sense, and I'm not sure it makes them a better team. What Kevin Durant brings doesn't feel like something they were lacking, and they just lost two very good centers. Bogut is a damn good player, and a hugely underrated cog in what they're doing. Ironically, with no Bogut and Ezeli, I think they match up extremely poorly against the Thunder, who should still be a high seed in the west. I think Bogut is an important part, and Pachulia surely isn't as good as he is ( or Mozgov, as someone asked). But all in all, he's the only worthwhile piece they lose and the question is how much that will hurt them. I'm not impressed with their acquisition of Pachulia, don't think that will be much help. Where I'm not with you is on how they matchup with the Thunder. The Thunder just gave up Ibaka, an important part in making things tough for Golden State. They do not even have a small forward and will need to acquire one. This is a huge hole in the Thunder roster and if they don't get a good replacement somehow for Durant, even if lower quality, it is the Thunder who match up poorly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Relic Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 What's the cap situation on GS looking like? Do they have room to sign anyone else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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