You say this based on what? Lawson was terrible with Harden, he was terrible with Harden on the bench and he was terrible in Indiana. All that proves is that Lawson was terrible last year. Lin had his best two full years of his career playing along side Harden. Lin posted usage of 20.8 and 20.4 in his two seasons in Houston. In comparision, Mike Conley has a career useage of 20.5 and last season his usage was 22.4. When Harden was in OKC Westbrook was better with Harden on the floor than when he was on the bench. Harden consumed 32.5% of our possessions last season. You don't think that the remaining 67.5% of our possessions is enough for another ball handler? There's plenty of possessions to go around, we just had the wrong guys consuming the non-Harden possessions. In 2011 teammates Lebron and Wade posted usages of 31.5 and 31.6 and the next season they had usages of 32.0 and 31.3. So if two high useage guys can play together then why can't we pair Harden with another ball handler?
Great post , some people just pay attention to narratives and will take anything a sportswriter says as gospel . However , if you look at numbers and watch the games the real conclusion about harden is easy to see . The Lin comparison is apt . So many people trash him on here , when in reality he was a solid if inconsistent player . I would've killed for Lin last year over Lawson and pedestrian Beverley.
Sam Amick: (Barnes) I'd be surprised if they felt comfortable giving him $25M and just saying let's get the band back together. I'm not seeing it. What he did in the playoffs + internal chemistry. Last October, when Harrison broke off talks on an extension before the season, they offered a deal that very deliberately was with the same annual salary of Draymond when he signed his contract. ($82M 5 yrs) That was not a mistake. They know Draymond would have a problem making less than Harrison. It'd be a weird mix to bring Harrison back with that kind of cash. They want to shock the world & sign Durant. Handicapping it, I don't think they will. From there, I'm interested to see where they look. I had one of their players float a name to me: Chandler Parsons. Harrison is the superior defender. That's a guy...who knows. Maybe you bring in fresh blood at the three. (Conley) I talked to someone earlier today hypothetically about SA. That's darn intriguing. ... I could easily see him fitting in. Knicks was always intriguing but Rose takes that off the table. Some chatter about Joerger/Sacramento. That would surprise me. He'll have some suitors. For a guy overlooked in his career, for his sake, because the FA class is down, he can stand out. Memphis thing is complicated. Conley last summer said to Gasol, "Don't leave me behind." They're close but he also has to look objectively. The core is on the downside. Gasol is coming off a down year. If you're Mike, a lot of reasons to look around. Amick: (Durant) 6 teams will get meetings. Who knows if that list gets any longer. ... I still do think, based on what I know now, OKC is the front-runner. Warriors are intriguing. From there, I'm not taking anyone seriously. We seem to have clarity on which teams don't appear to have a shot: LA & Washington, two teams who did a lot of planning with Durant in mind. Then you find out you won't get a meeting. Kevin seems to be overwhelmed by playing in his home area. Extended family around all the time. ... Wizards appear to be out. I was told they have no chance. The other is the Lakers. Unless things change, their intel was inaccurate. They seemed to think they had a real shot. They structured their contracts around his free agency. That was a real thing. To not get in the room is a disappointment. Durant is in a funny spot. The meetings will be in the NY area, unless things change. They don't want a media circus. Teams are coming to Kevin. He has a trip Europe on July 9. He'll make up his mind by then. Teams can sign players July 7th. (Horford) Al sticks around I think but he'll have suitors. Warriors will be one. Warriors would love Durant. Then look at the Horford's of the world. Howard has been discussed internally. Al, if you go back to all-star weekend, they made it clear they knew what he would cost in FA and they were okay with it. From the Hawks to the rest of the league, you'll see teams get stubborn on the length of the contract. Dwight, he could be looking at big time money on a one or two year deal. Portland could offer a one year max. With Al, we'll see how many years Atlanta offers. Like Durant, he'll look around. (DeRozan) They want DeMar around. Will they put a 5-year max on day one? That would keep him in Toronto. They want to keep Biyombo. He could be making $16M-$17M on the open market. How many guys are going to leave their "home town" team? You could easily see Durant stay in OKC, LeBron in Cleveland, Andre in Detroit, Al in Atlanta. Conley could stay but if I had to pick one guy who could skip town, it's Mike. I wish I could tell you his short list beyond the Grizzlies. There was speculation about the Knicks but the Rose trade takes them off the table. If you're sitting in Memphis, heart and soul of Grit'n'Grind but a tough year last year. Gasol fell off. Marc is his guy. If he doesn't like what he's seeing, in terms of the future, a lot of change there, ...Mike is a guy I could see leave but in general, most of these teams will hold onto their guys. (Batum) How about the Warriors? Again, they'll look at everything. Barnes is a RFA. He's coming off a tough playoffs. Giving him $25M is a tough pill to swallow for the Warriors. Golden State will look at guys like Batum(have to move Bogut or Iguodala), Chandler Parsons. Warriors trying to fill the three spot is another subplot. (Whiteside) Lakers will reportedly be coming hard. If I'm being honest, as an owner, my hand will shaking when I sign the check. It's a mystery to see how he handles off the floor success. He's a big, elite defender. Offense off the PnR has come along. Lakers or whoever, he's a good player. (Dwight Howard) It's relatively wide open. Knicks have made themselves relevant with the Rose trade. Rose-Melo-Porzingis has FAs paying attention. I'd be surprised if the Knicks don't get a Durant meeting. On Howard, he'd love to play in New York. Dwight, when with Orlando, gave the Magic a list of teams he'd play for. The Nets were #1. He liked the market. The NY appeal still applies. Playing in The Garden with that cast, it's a matter of where Howard fits on the Knicks list. They'll look at him & Noah. They want to add another piece. That's on the radar. I heard the other day Portland would be a smart option, if he wanted to go low key & focus on basketball. The Blazers did what they did last year without a big man with Dwight's type of skills. He could be good in that setting with Lillard, the way he wasn't with Harden. They could offer a short term deal with big money. That list is long. Charlotte. Atlanta. The Atlanta one is interesting. His home area & a guy in a different place in life. He had a brother pass away not too long ago and that hit him hard. He wasn't all that close with his brother and it struck him life is short. He's at that stage where you get more & more reflective. His parents still live out there. He has ties. Does he look at the hometown thing differently than he did a few years ago? He'll have offers. Teams don't want to give max money & not for a long time. He'll have to accept that he won't have the offers he was looking for. (Joakim Noah) It wouldn't surprise me if he says $12M is a lot, give me that, let's go have fun. Knicks have been on his radar for quite awhile. That's probably his dream scenario. He'd be a good fit there. (Dion Waiters) I don't know how to read that anymore with Oladipo coming to town. I don't know if there's a way to keep both on board.
It is really interesting that Houston isn't being mentioned in any FA scenarios whatsoever. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.
$15m isn't bad for a good defensive 4 who shot 40% from 3 (1.9 makes per game). I'd rather be paying Williams $15m and a minimum wage backup PG than paying Beverley and Brewski $15m
[Carl Herrera] Nets are going to Jack off. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sources: Brooklyn shopping Jarrett Jack w/ buyout date looming Thursday. Without trade, Nets plan to waive PG; would clear nearly $6M on cap</p>— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojVerticalNBA/status/747935502360322049">June 28, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Two max slots next to a star, no state income tax, playing in D'Antoni's system, etc.. Not exactly a terrible situation.
What are they shopping him for? Do they want the cap space or do they want an Ariza type so they improve, etc etc....or just what?
He's not very good in my opinion. One of the few players I hate watching simply because he's a ball hog.
He should sign with knicks and back up Drose. Or sign here to back up Bev. Also an out of the box scenario is if gsw lose livingston he loved his time on oakland
They are short on assets and would probably like something in return. But if they're just gonna waive him, how many teams are gonna give something? And he is coming off injury so... I guess sorta "We'll take something if you got it.", ha. NO, don't get any ideas anybody! They aren't taking back Corey Brewer.
