They'll probably roll with Curry/Thompson/Iggy/Durant/Green A LOT. But other than that they drafted Damian Jones, are Speights and Varejao under contract still?
Tim Kawakami, a Bay Area beat writer, wrote that according to sources, the thinking in the Warriors' office was that if they signed Durant, they'd probably start the Curry/Thompson/Iguodala/Durant/Green lineup. So they're planning to go untraditional from the outset. I can't entirely blame them, considering how little they were getting offensively from Bogut and Ezeli. Green and Durant both provide rim protection (at least, Durant does when he's focused on defense, as he was in the playoffs), so that mitigates being "small" on the defensive end. They'll just have to figure out how to get rebounds.
Yeah, individual player contract caps are too damn low. Unlock that shit with a franchise player designation.
The "we don't need a center when our PF can kick people in the nuts at will" lineup is pretty amazing, gotta admit.
I think the Spurs and the Grizzlies can really make the Warriors pay with their size. The Grizzlies may match up the best with them... Conley/Allen/Parsons/ZBO/Gasol Will give them issues.
Exactly how is the system flawed ? How is Durant a front running butch? He gave OKC 9 years of dedication. He gave them his heart and soul. Eventually, he earns the right to dictate where he plays. He had Already signed an extension with OKC, why is he "required" to sign another?
There's an unwritten rule in sports, you don't join someone who barely beats you when the people around you already improved themselves.
why would the league want to abolish their profitable farm system? Everything's humming along perfectly STOMP
huh? I thought the saying went... if you can't beat beat them, join them isn't that how Andre Iguadala landed there? STOMP
so it's about some lack of genitalia not about players recognizing they need to go to the League's preferred teams/markets to win? Gosh I'm so confused... STOMP
SMH... If you believe this about the league manipulation so strongly, why do you watch? I seriously don't get it. There MUST be something better you can do with your time. And are you serious about an upgrade of KD over Barnes not making them better? Even worse, is that people gave your comment likes... ... ... :speechless:
everyone has an opinion. Like every player ever, KD wants to win titles. The League pretty much requires players migrate to their preferred markets if they want that shot. I don't blame the player here. STOMP
Are you kidding? KD left a GREAT situation to go to a team that HE choked against. To make it even worse the Thunder IMPROVED their roster during the draft.
One thing I find interesting is what fan-inspired "conventional wisdom" would be, about what pro atheletes should and shouldn't do, if true free agency had been the rule in major pro sports from the early days. I suspect we'd have seen a lot more players choose to play with other stars they like, in baseball, basketball and football. It's not terribly meaningful to say that, "Magic Johnson would never have done this," or "Oscar Robertson would never have done this," since they didn't have the control that players like LeBron James and Kevin Durant have, so we have no idea what they would or wouldn't have done (and Magic wouldn't have mostly because he was on a great team pretty much from the start, but that's neither here nor there). For example, in an alternate universe where the Bulls never quite get over the hump and the current incarnation of free agency existed in the 1990s, I could very easily see Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley choosing to get together on the same team. Neither would have considered it "ball-less desire to take the easy way out" and more "taking control of their own destinies because they could."
I don't think the owners care that much about competitive balance. It's a big deal for us fans, but for the owners it's pretty far down the list. I remember seeing this same suggestion on every message board I went to when Lebron went to Miami. But when the CBA was up and they went to the negotiating table the owners didn't bring it up. They care a lot more about money than they do restricting players' freedom to move.
the owners care about their bottom line and thats best served by big markets w/big stars + winning. The way the league is set up & run isn't some random accident. Sure people want to win too, but everyone in the game is on board. STOMP
A model that promotes parity is ultimately in the best interests of the league. When the cap jumps up $25 million in one offseason and the best team in the league is allowed to add a top 4 player on a "max" deal, you have a system and a league culture that essentially promotes a monopolization of talent. The league should do away with max contracts and add a hard cap at this point because it's becoming a joke. If a team like the Warriors is going to add another superstar player, the system should disincentivize that as much as possible and force the guy to take a truly massive pay-cut in order to join an already stacked payroll. As for Durant being a bitch, I think it speaks for itself. It's akin to a general leading his troops in a conflict, getting shellacked in a final battle on account of a bad order he gave (Durant in Games 5/6/7), and then finally defecting at the 11th hour and joining the other side as it becomes clear that they are best suited for winning the war. His decision feels especially callous because Durant's supporting cast was fine last year in the postseason and the ultimate blame for their collapse lies with his poor clutch performances in the WCF. He has himself to blame, and now he's taking the easy way out and joining a team he should be hyped up to beat. Total pussy.
