That's like spite-watching a TV show. Or inviting a murderer into your home just because you know it'll piss off your spouse.
Sure he is. If the Thunder match, as they insist they will, then it's going to make a real difference in their roster by forcing them to dump other players to avoid a major luxury tax smack down. OTOH, if they don't match, the top team in our division suddenly is missing a big man in the middle. Either way, Kanter is clearly a difference maker. Oh, that's not what you meant? Kanter's offense always impressed me. He's a huge asset to a P&R offense, which Westbrook made the best use of last year. We haven't had that in our arsenal in like forever. Dame would love him. On the defensive end, I think he can get better, but he's never going to be good. That said, Aminu and Plumlee can help provide interior defense. I'm not totally sold on Kanter, but I'm not going to knee-jerk go into whine mode about him either. Some of you guys I can't remember being happy about any Blazers move, ever.
No, the point is: you are dazzled by the points and rebounds and ignoring the historically awful defense. It's kind of insulting to Kanter, actually: you refuse to acknowledge the feature that makes him stand out above all others. Many have had such an efficient offense. Many have rebounded like that. But hardly any have been that god-awful at defense.
Defense is a true team effort. I think this is the big difference from offense. You can compensate for one or maybe even two fairly inept offensive players (so long as they can set good picks or get you new possessions by rebounding). But one really bad defender ruins the whole defensive scheme. And it puts pressure on the others and tends to really make them resent you, especially if you're not a particularly pleasant individual, as Kanter gives every impression of being.
If he has the defense of a high schooler, then getting him to the defense of a college player will not be that hard.
Wow. Wes now gets 70/4 from Dallas. So, would you rather have a 23-year offensive-minded C or Wes at 28 coming off an Achilles rupture at the same price? (In the end, I believe we get neither, but thought I'd ask.)
Get use to the idea of us getting Kanter. Last time Neil was in contact with Indy. Indy let them know right away that they would match, and Neil backed off. That didn't happen this time suggesting that either OKC will not match or they're still thinking about it.
Whats the point of them waiting? It's not like they are reverse sticking it to us for making the offer. We are still far enough under the cap that we can still make offers or trades. And it sounds like we are content to just roll with what we have too. I think if anything them waiting hurts them more than us.
Honestly I don't care one way or the other. On one hand he is very good offensively and at rebounding. His defense is definitely not good. So I'll take the offense, but not sold on the contract size .... I'm fine either way.
It is usual for them to wait - it ties up our $$ while we wait. kind of an FU thing. It's a big disadvantage of RFA.
