Well, I wanted to use imaginary numbers but that would blow the minds of too many people here. Yes, ZERO chance, it is all PR - it is like the Lakers getting a meeting with LaMarcus Aldridge, not ever going to happen. Durant will NEVER consider Houston - oh, he might take a meeting out of respect, but he is not coming here. DD
Why would Durant go to GSW? Go to the team that came back and beat him? Aside from a great organization, what do the Spurs have to offer? Their current superstars play his position and Parker will never be a top PG again. Wizards have been even more disappointing and underwhelming than the Rockets. Dallas? Lol. Houston is essentially OKC 2.0, Westbrook maybe better overall but Harden is a better fit.
Spurs are the best fit overall. Duncan and Ginobli most likely retire and Leonard can easily slide to the 2 guard. A line up featuring Leonard, Durant and Aldridge is likely better than anything Houston could field (i.e Harden, Durant and Howard/3rd max)
Agreed. A player of Durant's caliber will be looking for situations that offer him a chance to win it all. The Houston Rockets are not one of those teams nor will they be in the foreseeable future.
They'd offer a better chance than OKC would.... OKC is basically just Durant and Westbrook, in Houston it would be Durant and Harden which is a wash with Westbrook at a minimum and they'd have the money for an additional max FA plus they have better role players than OKC does. It's by no means a given, but Houston will have a strong offer that he'll consider.
I've heard people say a lot of things about the Rockets this season, but "better role players" is definitely a new one.
Was "we need" used? I'm wondering if Durant is out because of the 7 second offense. I feel like he's a player that does well in the half-court. That being said, he's played a lot of up tempo in OKC with Westbrook pushing. Who knows what he wants, but I'd be willing to bet he doesn't leak a bunch of his thoughts to Mark Stein.
Yeah pretty ridiculous. Steven Adams is better than Dwight Howard, there I said it. Houston has no chance. Harden might end up being the better player than Westbrook, but if I were to pick an ISOBallhog who chucks shots at the end of the game to play with, give me Westbrook any day of the week because at least he tries hard. Who do we have better than Kanter off the bench? What about Ibaka? Bev and Ariza are about on par with Dion Waiters. Beasley is a joke of a player basketball player. Boston is a better choice than Houston. But there's only 2 real choices better than going back to OKC. GS and SA.
Probably because a lot of people greatly overrate the Thunder role players. The team is essentially nothing but Westbrook and Durant. Ibaka is probably the best they have after those two and really all he brought to the team this season was blocks, he's not even an overall strong defender. While Adams is getting super overrated right now, he's nothing special. He's a tenacious defender which is nice, but he's got nothing for offense outside of the occasional garbage basket. Capela is a better player than either
Are you kidding? They just had the Warriors down 3-1 - and they only lost because they were not composed, remember when the Rockets finally got it and won it all, or the Bulls, or the Pistons? You have to climb that mountain and slide down a little before you reach the top. OKC is years ahead of the Rockets, and right now are the 2nd best team in the NBA - only by a whisker...and will only get better. Durant ain't going anywhere. DD
They also had Durant....Their 2 superstars is the entire team. What makes it worse is that the Thunder are tapped out when it comes to potential and they only have one more season before Westbrook leaves no matter what Durant does. Take Howard off the Rockets and add Durant and they are a better team than the Thunder were this year even without factoring in an additional max FA. Despite the hype, look at who showed up for the Thunder when their team needed them most. They had like 3 guys in double digits and only Durant over 20 points. That's pathetic.
Durant and Harden together immediately make the Rockets contenders to win the whole damn thing. Even with Sewer on the team.
Durant complains about the media in OKC all the time and he complained in the second half of the season about all the late game meltdowns. There are problems with OKC. That's not saying he's coming to Houston, but it's not all roses over there. And I've seen nothing from Durant about liking Donovan. It's all deflection of his relationship and defining what a coach is. That's not to say he dislikes him, but there's nothing earned going on between them. Together they lost in the WCF just like Harden and McHale did. "Durant ain't going anywhere." is a little over the top. He's got a lot going on over there, some of it's good, some of it's bad. Never forget that he picked Texas over Oklahoma when he had a choice. That's not to say he'll come to Houston, but he has reasons to leave. He's a Longhorn living in hostile territory.
Adams better than Dwight now? Lol...it's like saying Capela is better than Adams. Anyway you need to look at the big picture, if Durant comes here it would be with Horford (or Conley, but Horford makes a lot more sense), and that would already be better than what OKC has a core so yeah...the rest is basically the same, Kanter is a good scorer but also the WORST defender in the league, Beasley in fact is not that different, a bit worse (let's say less efficient) on offense but still better in defense. Ariza and Beverley are still better than Waiters though, he's just a chucker, other two guys are at least very good defenders and solid players (with cheap salaries), Waiters is going to get paid just to chuk up bad shots. And lol at Boston being better than Houston, as today this is just a ridiculous statement.
I don't know how easy it would be for Leonard to actually slide to the 2. While, the Spurs are a top organization, that's a lot of salary and cap space tied up to 3 non-primary ballhandlers. I'm sure the Spurs can make it work. A Harden, Durant, and Horford trio is pretty formidable, but the Spurs got a one star player lead on us currently. I guess you could make a case for Howard, but it simply didn't work and we need to part ways. I simply disagree with your scenario excludes the Rockets. Harden and Durant are like peanut and jelly, that's a good fit however unlikely it is.
Would saying that Capela looks like he'll end up being better than either mean anything to you? You've clearly stated that you'd like Capela on the Bucks, would you want Adams or Ibaka on the Bucks for the same price? Capela, to me, has better upside than either because he's a true center who can slash and do something with the ball when one-on-one in the post. I think his youth is not really being valued in your statement, however, I see what you mean if you are talking about right now. Another offseason, things will be different, let's just hope it's a step forward. I agree. That being said I'd add this, Danny Green's value is not being considered by most. He shoots the 3 at a very high clip and he's not paid very highly(.403 vs .380). The money that Kawhi, Tony, and LaMarcus receive is very substantial and the Spurs haven't been a team that tries to get players at a high market value. They build teams from the draft up. LaMarcus is the heir apparent to Duncan, but they don't get a bunch of guys that require max. It's not in their business model. They're getting 81% of what we do in ticket prices during the reg season. That leaves little to go over the cap with. The core is getting old, their coach's methods/strategies have been figured out (as seen via the playoffs), they are a regular season team with aging legacies. Harden is a top 2 offensive player. He's a top 5 player overall. The Warriors may be the easiest way to win a chip for Durant, but the Spurs are not at that level right now. They don't have a Duncan or Ginobili in their prime that just keeps making winning plays. They are starting all over in the legacy sense and Danny Green fits their model.
