dont know what is more sad...The Warriors blitzing the Thunder 3 times this season...and even without Durant...it isnt a fair matchup. Yea I dont have respect for Durant at all...but the Thunder clearly are just an OK team even with WB heroics...
Dwight's been to the finals by himself, how's he a mental headcase when the guy has achieved success in his career? NBA finals as the only star on his team is a mental headcase? WCF in the West is a mental head case? Maybe you hate Dwight but the reality is different from your point of view. Dwight is a winner who has gotten results in both Orlando and Houston, LA is the only team he sucked in but that was also because he was injured. So what if Houston went from 8th seed to 3rd seed when he left? Dwight was also the guy responsible for the WCF appearance, which weighs more WCF or 3rd seed in the regular season? To act like he did nothing but drag the team down during his tenure on the Rockets is just dumb and plain wrong. And all you have to do is just take a quick look at Atlanta now to see Dwight isn't the problem, FYI he's making just 2M more than Ryan freaking Anderson. That's not exactly superstar money. What, not having a championship ring is a crime now? Then what about Steve Nash, Yao Ming, Kevin Durant, Elton Brand, CP3, etc. etc. etc. I guess all these guys are losers because they couldn't get it done multiple times, some of them haven't even reached the NBA finals like Dwight has. Kobe calls him soft but Kobe hasn't done jacksquat by himself. The only time he didn't have a HOF big man by his side he couldn't get past PHX and quit on his team. And that was with a team that included Caron Butler, Prime Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum when he wasn't a head case. Kobe is a good player but he is also extremely lucky to be drafted by the LA lakers when they had a great FO, they surrounded him with talent and the one time he didn't have a power team he cried and demanded a trade. Maybe you don't care what Morey promised him, but Dwight obviously cared because he was the one being promised to. If somebody told you to work for them and then when you left your job and went there the terms and conditions wasn't what you were promised I bet you wouldn't be so nonchalant about it.
No surprise here but... Kevin Durant said that he plans on re-signing with the Warriors this summer. "I haven't even thought about it that much, but I don't plan on going anywhere else," Durant said on a recent podcast. Four of Golden State's rotation players will hit free agency this summer: Durant, Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala, and Shaun Livingston. The Warriors will likely land in luxury tax territory by bringing back KD, Curry and Iggy. However, keeping the core together is obviously the plan. "I'm sure once the season is over with we can figure out that stuff, everybody, and I'm sure it will all work out for the best," said Durant.
Livingston will finally get his payday, elsewhere. If they don't win a championship, I doubt Iggy re-signs for cheap. Even if they do, he still might leave for the highest bidder.
Lmao. This dudes such a tool. He broke their hearts and ****ed over their team and now hes the victim?
Since Goldenstate doesn't have Durant's bird rights, you have to hope that they simply run out of money to resign their depth, in Livingston, Iggy, Zaza, Mcgee, etc. They have Green - 16.4 Klay - 17.8 Looney - 1.5m Jones - 1.3m McCaw - 1.3 JT - .9m That's 39.2m Cap Holds Stephs - 18.1m Livingston - 10.9m That's up to 68.2 Durant - 33m (new max contract - 10 year vet) That hits the cap at 101m They are already out of money and that doesn't include roster min charges, Zaza, Barnes, McGee, Iggy, West Hopefully bad teams with cap space throw big money at these depth players, to gut their team
The Warriors’ long-term Stephen Curry + Kevin Durant Plan So it’s no surprise that the Warriors’ three highest-profile pending 2017 free agents — Curry, Iguodala and Durant (who signed a two-year deal with the Warriors last July with an opt-out this July) — all recently suggested to me that they plan to re-sign with the franchise this July. ... The key mathematical part of this for the Warriors is Durant, who could seek the max of about $36 million for 2017-18. But the Warriors don’t have his Bird Rights, so they would have to shed a lot of money to create the cap space to fit such a salary, and that would include the renouncing of Iguodala and Shaun Livingston. But if Durant is willing to take strictly a 20 percent raise from this season’s salary of $26.5 million up to $31.8 million, the Warriors would not have to fit him into cap space and then could use Bird Rights to re-sign Iguodala and Livingston above and beyond the cap. “Haven’t even thought about it that much,” Durant said on the podcast. “But I don’t plan on going anywhere else.” ... Next step: Iguodala. If he and Myers can nail down the salary numbers and length, and if Durant’s deal means the Warriors can maintain Iguodala’s Bird Rights, then this is basically a done deal. In fact, an NBA source indicated recently that the only real open question now is the number of years. “The people that need to know, they know the situation, and there’s not going to be any issue,” Iguodala told me on my podcast earlier this month. So he’ll be back next season? “I didn’t say that,” Iguodala said. “But Bob and I have conversations all the time about different scenarios and different things, not just about me, but about the rest of the team.. “So I don’t see it being a big problem at all. And here right now will probably be the best place.”
He'll only re-sign if they win the championship. Otherwise, he'll just sign with whoever beat them in the playoffs (Rockets?)
I think he resigns with the Warriors regardless, but would Durant really take 5 mil less? Especially if they don't win the championship? Either way, it's good to know that they can't add anymore players(unless someone out there takes a drastic paycut). For better or worse, the current Warriors roster is likely the best team they can field over the next few years.
This is why I don't really get the "wait out GSW" strategy. I mean for teams like the Suns it doesn't matter anyway. But the Warriors are going to be a top team for the next 5+ years. KD is 28, Green is 26, Klay is 26, Steph is 28. Iggy is 33, but has only played 26 mpg the last 3 years, and wouldn't be asked to do more than that or what he's done for the next 3 years. (for random comparison purposes, Paul Pierce didn't play 26 mpg or less until he was 37 - not that Iggy is a Paul Pierce level player, just that he's been helped by the lower mpg earlier in his career). Put MLE, LLE and vet minimum players around that and its an odds on championship favorite for the next half decade. Injuries will be their only real bug a boo.
Durant's not going anywhere. He could take a pay cut and make it back with the extra business opportunities in Silicon Valley. This is going to become a trend as more and more players are getting smarter with their money. How Kevin Durant Became Silicon Valley’s Hottest Start-up Ashton Kutcher, Kevin Durant help San Francisco startup raise $30M
I wonder how many more good years Iggy has. Still looks really good out there but at 33 he's the old guy on that team and the next wave of stars like Giannis are here.
Have you seen Vince Carter play? He's still decent. Age is overrated. If Boston landed Durant, they'd be #1 in the East still and would still get a top draft pick. Crazy.