It only makes sense for him if he believes in the organization and has money as his priority. If they say get swept by the Warriors then why should he resign and waste another year of his career of coming 2nd to the warriors? I think the warriors dominance could help the Rockets out here. If it's clear that Durant-Westbrook isn't enough to beat the Warriors (and if he's not going to just bandwagon and join them) then Houston makes a lot of sense. Moreso than any other team. He'll get a new coach, he'll get another player that can be a top 5 player in the NBA and then another Max player to go along with that and an organization that he's already admired for being aggressive. I have a good feeling about this, just like I did with Dwight. If money is not his priority and winning is, the Rockets have set themselves up well.
I've never heard this in regards to Horford. What are his ties to the Latin community, and why does he want to play somewhere that has a large group of Latin fans?
Everything you say is very true. We have a chance. Definitely not as good as we should have had because of this terrible season we've had, but we have a shot. We'll see what happens. Hoping his relationship with Harden wins out.
Yeah, it would have been much better if we were competitive. All in all, no one knows what Durant will do but Durant. People saying we have 0 shot are just trying to temper their expectations. If Durant cares about money. He will re-sign with the Thunder. He'll go Melo route and just stick with the Thunder no matter what they do. If he values winning though...I think we will be right there. Hopefully Durant does what he did last time, make a quick decision and move on.
Check your post, man. You even said it. IMO You even said that Boston is yailoer made for a superstar to slide right in. But it's not KD?? On what? I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'm also not saying you're right. How do you know that KD would rule Boston out? Why? What indisputable truth do you hold or know that I don't know? Or the matter anyone else doesn't know? Are you personally friends who KD and he texted you that, "Nah, Boston is cool but I'm not going there. No chance." No way Horford doesn't come to Texas? There are three teams in Texas because he said he wants to play in a more Latin fan base? So only Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio have a latin fan base? They probably have more appealing teams than other places, but it's not exactly the only fan base that has a lot of latins in the NBA. Again, how do you know that we're going to even have Ariza or Beverley on the team after landing a potential Horford-KD combo? Deuce said that one of three of Ariza-Bev-Brew has to go. You're suspecting that teams would rather have Brew over the other two and there's no way to predict a future transaction like that. I can't answer you the question about which other team can offer Durant a team to play with another all star. There's only 5 players that can make 1st team NBA. Harden might not even make it this season. But again, that's the only way Durant decides to sign with a team? Only if they have Lebron, Howard, Bryant, Paul, Duncan, Noah, Harden, Gasol, Davis, or Curry? What's your info?
1. Boston is a very legitimate threat, especially if they can swing a deal for a Melo-type second star. They have a cohesive team, a great coach, a bunch of assets, and they play in the East. Very compelling combination if I'm Durant. This site breaks it down pretty well (http://www.celticslife.com/2016/02/celtics-sign-al-horford-kevin-durant.html) 2. Horford wants to play in a latin market, as per CBS sports (http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on...t-least-listen-to-trade-offers-for-al-horford). 3. If Durant wants to play with Horford, there are really only a few options for them to do that. Main ones I see are a big market like LA, but Durant seems more concerned with winning, Boston, which I went over in pt 1, and Houston. All three have good role players and are better "Latin" markets than ATL, but only one of these teams has a superstar in the prime of his career - Houston. 4. Deuce has gone over the cap gymnastics needed to pull this off, but if you can offload Brewer (cost of business may be KJ, Harrell, Dekker, or Capela) or Ariza, the money can work. If either Durant or Horford are willing to shave a million or so off of their deals, then that opens up even more options. Basically, we are hoping for Durant to pull a LeBron, joining a close friend in Harden and bringing along a big man for the ride. Except this time, the team he is joining has not won it all yet. So it's slightly less cheap ha. Regardless, Durant has to look at what he has in OKC and see that it is not enough to take on Golden State. He doesn't seem like a guy who wants to ride coattails to the finals, so I don't see GS pushing hard to get him (why break up something so great anyways?). I honestly think it's Boston or Houston. Both have innovative GMs. Boston has a stud in Brad Stevens, while Houston can offer Durant the choice of whatever coach he wants. Boston has young assets that they can cash in to get a star, while Houston already has that star. The Texas + BEasy connection is nice for Houston, but it is mighty tempting to go to the East and essentially guarantee yourself a conference finals trip every year for the next ten years. We just gotta hope that Harden (and Beasley to a lesser extent) are in his ear, telling him whatever needs to be said to get him in Rockets red
I think I said in another post in this thread that Houston has a small chance or it's not happening, but I feel like I didn't explain myself as good as I could have. I do think Houston, along with other teams, have all set themselves up as best as they could in order to sign a superstar like Kevin Durant. I also do believe some teams have a better chance at signing Durant compared to other teams. Like for example, the Thunder has an infinite higher chance of signing KD over the Brooklyn Nets. That said, I also believe that Houston is in the list of teams that could theoretically have a good reason to sign Durant, but it only makes more sense than other teams if Houston also signs Al Horford, correct? I see this talk about Al saying he wants to play in a more latin based market. I understand it, but I also realize that lots of players "want" things, but don't exactly do things. I'm not saying Horford is this type of player, but it would be optimistic to say that he would for sure choose to sign with Houston over Boston if given the chance to play with KD just because of the Houston having a bigger latin market than Boston. Carmelo once said he wants to win, and he had a chance to play in Chicago. Dwight once said he was going to opt out and test free agency in 2012, but instead he tested free agency in 2013. Lebron once said he wouldn't leave Cleveland until his won them a ring. He ended up getting 2 in Miami. Do you see the pattern? DeAndre Jordan said he would sign with the Mavericks. Do you follow? Players say these things.. and we trust them for their word But we have to understand that things can always change. A player can always change his mind or have a change of heart. I'm clearly not saying Horford is this type of player or person. All I'm saying is to not put too much hope into someone's word when it's mid-season or well before their time to actually make that choice. Earlier there was a report of Kevin saying he wanted to stay with the Thunder for his entire career. Now, we're all convinced he's leaving if they miss the Finals. See how quickly that changes? But then it goes into another thing. What if it didn't change and it is just media fabricated stuff? Or fan fabricated stuff? We all don't know. We all can say what's best for these players, but the truth is we don't hold any power so why do we pretend like we know how these players feel and what they want? Like, some of the things you say make sense, but it makes sense to you and I. Boston has a stud coach in Stevens, and in Houston he will be able to choose which coach he wants to play for. Did you ever think about the possibility that he would want to play for Stevens? What if that is the coach he'd like to play for? It's only Boston or Houston? What about the real chances of Golden State, OKC, Miami, Washington, or a completely random team that comes out of no where? Who expected Aldridge to sign with the Spurs? I also don't understand this notion of Golden State being crazy for breaking up that team. You don't see them realistically losing a few key players to score Durant? It's not like the Lakers did it twice in the past 5 seasons via 2 major trades. It's not like Dallas didn't do it immediately after winning a championship to chase a free agent. Golden State might do it or they might not. Who knows? Definitely not you or me though. Let us please get off that "we know what is best for so-and-so player and what he wants to do." That's not how the business of NBA works. By the way, where in that article did he say he wanted to go play in a bigger latin market?
You guys are forgetting the Pick a head coach factor. Morey has been buttering up Thibs for the last few weeks, and after the season in the olympics Thibs can see first hand how Harden and KD mesh on the court. A package deal with Thibbs, Horford and KD is the prize and it has a great chance of being pulled off. Cant wait
I don't see why they wouldn't. Houston. Boston. Chicago. What did all those teams that Thibs was a lead assistant/head coach for have in common? Absolutely stout defense - always near the best in the league. What was a leading factor in James Harden's MVP season last year? From the horses mouth himself? Thibs. Never seen anything bad said about him except from the Chicago fan boys. (not directed at who I quoted) Let me get this straight - would people be saying Thibs injures players if he didn't have an injury prone superstar in Rose? What an absolutely absurd narrative which I have NEVER bought. So every single head coach is ruining the careers of their superstars because they ALL play near the same minutes as Thibs played his players. I would love for Thibs to be here next season. Regardless of whether we get KD or any free agent - that addition alone makes us infinitely better than we are now. Boo hoo. A 26 year old might play 39 minutes under Thibs instead of 38 minutes and 42 seconds.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Durant on Boston: "It's a family atmosphere I feel when I walk around the city. So yeah, I like it a lot."</p>— Jay King (@ByJayKing) <a href="https://twitter.com/ByJayKing/status/710133787208777728">March 16, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
If Celtics get the #1 pick, Durant may very well go to Boston. Great young coach, Isaiah Thomas, Bradley, Turner off the bench, maybe Ben Simmons
There's no point in staying there if they can't even make the Finals, this means even if he stays nothing's gonna change they're never gonna beat GSW, Spurs or the Cavs. This is why its more important for the Rox to get to the playoffs than it is to get a low pick, if you get to the playoffs you have leverage to convince Dwight to stay and to get KD on board.
