Name one destination outside of Warriors, that is just as fantastic of a destination. You can't because there isn't, there is no team anywhere near those teams levels, there is no organization that the Spurs are second class to, no better coaching staff either. James/Bosh to Heat, sure the Heat weren't already a championship team, but by having Bosh and Lebron join Wade they where forming a title ready team, that was and would be much more upsetting then Durant to the Spurs. But just because a player joins a team that's better positioned to win a title doesn't mean they don't have pride. What does it matter if the team they join a team directly beats the free agent or not? Are you saying if only the seeding where different, and OKC got their asses handed to them by the Warriors instead, that the odds of Durant joining the Spurs would become MUCH more likely? That's silly. Durant wouldn't care about how successful the team he would join is, the opportunity to win multiple championships, how well positioned the team is for the future or even how the team has the best coaching staff and organization in the league...he just cares that they beat him, and will put him self in a worse position because of so. To hell with ethical career and life choices, the Spurs are beating OKC's ASS! He'll never join them, off to else where! IMO, If Durant leaves OKC, it should be to the Warriors or Spurs, anything else would just be a lateral move for his chances at a ring, and he'd be getting less money. So unless Durant REALLY cares about living in a cool city (Miami/NYK/LA) or REALLY wants to play with his BFF (is Harden even his best friend) then I see only see 2 routes 1 OKC - Money / Good team 2 Warriors or Spurs - Wining
I think Bev/goudlock? Harden/mcdaniels Durant/ariza Beasley/smith/Harrell Capella(dwights probably gone)/Dmo Is a pretty appealing roster. I think KD defenitly knows that JB was a piece of **** coach and couldn't do rotations to save his life. Nons of us know what exactly has been said behind closed doors and what's really going on. I'm sure harden has let KD know what the damn deal is and how JB and Brewer basically sabotage this great franchise
That is NOT a good roster at all. Sure, Harden and Durant alone can net you 50 wins if you have a competent coach and stay healthy, but you're not gonna get very far in the playoffs. Where the hell is the 3-point shooting gonna come from? What about rebounding? Do you have any playmakers outside of the dynamic duo? And while a good coach could implement a respectable team defense, individually you're lacking in that area. I just don't see the appeal of this roster or organization right now for a guy in Durant's position. Remember, whomever he signs with this summer, that's the team he's basically saying is best poised(or very close to it) to win it all over the next few seasons. Durant will be 28 this fall. He's had a serious foot injury already. He wants a ring. This could be the last big contract he signs and certainly will be the final one in the prime of his career. Why given all of that would he chose the Rockets over half a dozen other teams in the NBA, including his current one?
That's id worse I agree but they do have 20+ mil to spend with all that plus even more the following year when the cap booms again. I mean personally and I have made my self clear I think harden not only is the better player than Westbrook but he fits better with KD. Plus his game will last longer because he's the bigger more durable player and doesn't rely on Athletism. Not to mention he's far superior in shooting which in theory gives durant much more room to operate. With the right coaching having JH and KD allows us to run a more gokden state style offense. We would have two players who can create and shoot at a high clip from deep. Especailly seeing as they would have a lot of open looks. I think both guys can hit 40% on threes taking 8 a game each with the space they will have. KD is already there and harden has been 37% his whole career here while running the entire offense. I think we need more role players wround JH/KD rather than another max player. I'd rather try and sign cortney lee and a starting level Pf and backup center who can push Capela. That with what we already would have is a championship team imo if running the right system. Two elite players with good supporting cast is what's needed. The 3 Allstar is not anymore. Get the right fit around JH and KD and we can compete with anyone
Not sure if this has part of the discussion yet, but I said this early in the start of this thread and I'll say it again now. Unless the rockets sign a premier coach and sign a legit max player like horford that would fit harden + durant, KD there's no way KD even looks this direction. As is right now we're not a FA destination. No one should be expecting FA like KD to come here on the "potential" of signing a great coach and another max player. Rockets have a lot of work to do if they expect to be players for KD let alone someone like Horford.
This is a one big wetdream, guys. If you are Durant, why would you even come to Rockets? What makes Rox standout than the rest of the league. Every single team is going to want Durant and most if not all teams have and will make the room to get him at max. If Durant is looking for a championship team, he can join Cavs or the Warriors. If Durant wants to save money on taxes he got Mavs or Spurs. If he wants a great coach, he can join Spurs. Tell me why he would join us? He has westbrook so why he wants James? Not happening.
I guarantee Duncan will retire this year. if you watch enough of him playing in his career. he cant even straighten his legs no more. Additionally, they will beat the warriors. book it.
Exactly. We cannot hope to pull off a 2010 Miami Heat. That franchise had won a title a few seasons earlier. They had a great player in Dwayne Wade who'd carried that 2006 team to the championship. They had a legendary GM(and former coach) in Pat Riley. A respectable up-and-coming coach in Spoelstra. The appeal of playing in Miami. Oh, and LeBron, Wade, and Bosh had secretly been planning to join forces for at least a year. The Rockets have none of that right now. They have no coach. They have a GM who's hated by many around the league and is now being ridiculed on top of that. The organization has a reputation for treating its players like assets. They haven't won a title in 21 years and have only been to the Conference Finals twice since then. H-Town ain't exactly the most exciting city(although Texas does have no state income tax like Florida did for the Heat's Big Three). They're coming off a disastrous season where most of the players quit. And worst of all, there's no indication whatsoever that Harden and Durant have been planning anything behind the scenes, never mind Horford or anyone else.
For Spurs, they are going to sign a big FA whether that would be Durant or the little Gasol. Spura has the cap and coaching staff to transition them into a top contender team for years to come.
Exactly though, The Rockets have a lot of work to be done but it's not like they are not going to do it. No one should be expecting anything because no one knows what KD thinks or wants except for KD. I remember SAS calling out the Miami Heat thing and no one believed it. Everyone thought he wanted to go to a big market like New York or Chicago and Miami, why go there? Well we find out why he goes there because Wade was a friend. All of what you said about the Spurs and Warriors is true, it doesn't mean that Durant wants to piggy back on their success either. If he wants to be compared to all time greats that will be a knock on his name. It just will. If people think players never think about this then they have not paid attention to the careers of Pippen, Kobe, Shaq, etc. Some of these elite players have a pride and ego about them. They want a team to be built around them. The Rockets could provide that, a clean slate but also the promise of a strong core. You add Durant, Horford, and say hire Messina the top Spurs assistant than I Think you'd have enough to convince Durant. You also have two of his best friends on his teams, one who is looking for Career redemption and another who is a MVP caliber player. So wait, you think Dallas is a better destination than the Rockets? Really? Dallas has been big name chasing years now and how has that gone for them?
The thing to remember with Durant is that the original plan by Morey and Les I'm certain was to lure him to what they thought would be a team very similar to the 2014-15 group that made the WCF. That would've been a good pitch to any big name free agent. Even the team Dwight decided to join in 2013 despite losing in the first round was an up-and-coming group with Harden, Parsons, Lin, and Bev. No respectable free agent wants to join this mess. There's too much uncertainty. The Rockets will have to either pursue 2nd and 3rd tier free agents(and possibly overpay) or just bite the bullet and have a bad season, get a high draft pick(and DON'T BLOW IT!!!), and then go out and target free agents next summer.
That's wrong, no one respected Spoelstra until he actually won anything. Lebron almost had the guy fired apparently and if it weren't for Wade sticking up for him who knows what happens. That other stuff is just stuff. Durant isn't joining the Rockets because of what happened in the past but what can happen in the future. Well if Harden has been planning to join Durant secretly then there wouldn't be any indications right? You're going to have to explain why Durant always screams out "This is my city!" when playing in Houston
No FA is joining the 2015-16 Rockets, they are joining the 2016-17 Rockets. I don't understand how this is that hard to get? Boston sucked for years before their big 3. All the Rockets have to do is get Harden, Durant, and Horford in a room together and pitch to them that they could win a title. THEY have to believe it, not you or I, but them.
Boston traded for KG and Allen. That's a whole different ballgame. If the Rockets had tradeable assets, we'd be singing a different tune. Right now, all they have is capspace in a summer where every team will have capspace. As to your first point, who are the 2016-17 Rockets? We won't really know til sometime in July at the earliest. We'll have a coach soon, but after that, the roster is entirely up the air. We don't know what Dwight's gonna do til July(although I'm sure we'll have an inkling before then). We have no idea what kind of contract D-Mo will command. We don't know if Morey will have any takers for Brewer, Bev, or Ariza. And we certainly have no clue what kind of free agents we'll be able to sign in 2 months. There are simply too many question marks surrounding this organization. When you're the soon-to-be 28 Kevin Durant and soon-to-be 30 Al Horford, your next contract could be your last big one and whichever team you sign with has to be one you're confident will contend for a title immediately and for at least several years. No intellectually honest(or sane) NBA fan would ever put the Rockets in that category.
Yes, they traded for KG and Allen and already had Pierce. The Rockets already have Harden, a lot of these other teams don't. Mavs, Blazers, Utah, Magic, whoever. They don't have a player on Harden's level. Boston is the only real threat (Outside of GSW and SAS) because they have assets to trade for another player to pair with Durant. I'll continue to put it like this. - If Durant has pride and an ego then he's not going to GSW or SAS. You can cross them out right then and there. Like other prideful star players he's not interested in helping some other superstar add to their legacy, he's not interested in helping Curry become the best player ever, he's interested in doing that himself. - If Durant has tired of OKC then you can cross them off the list. If those 3 teams are off the list then I think it's really a two man race between Boston and Houston, Miami being a darkhorse. This all depends on Durant's feelings and thoughts, not ours. So all this talk about how the Spurs and Warriors are amazing and we should just give up and slow build our team for the next 5 years is a bit premature. Also saying that the Rockets can nevercontend for the title sounds a bit emo. Sure the Rockets can, if they get the talent and coaching then yes they can.
- we still went to the WCF a year ago, which means the core is not terrible - we have Harden, player's MVP last season -> Wade carried them WITH Shaq - Spoelstra was just a rookie at the time, a rookie who was also near to bet canned at one point - Houston is a better market than Miami...? (And same tax) - Not true. - What? Like the Celtics when they traded Pierce? Dwight didn't want to be traded to the Lakers but guess what...what about the Udrih buyout by Riley? This argument is old and wrong. The Warriors where ok in dumping Bogut to sign Dwight, the Spurs where ok in dumping Splitter to sign LMA, we did the same with Lin, it happens, in the nba every team treats players like assets. - True, that's why they're goin for a big change. - This we just don't know. Zach Lowe anyway said that Durant would really like to play with Horford, and i think he likes Harden too so yeah...we'll see.
