Aminu has a good contract and is a decent player but if we keep our FAs who are mostly forwards and considering we've added Turner we can afford letting him go. In that case, his good value contract makes him more appealing to other teams
But didn't Horford commit to Boston on Thursday or Friday? I recall that's when Boston jumped into the mix for Durant. They definitely already had Horford's commitment before Sunday. I still don't think the timing for this theory works.
It could have been that Horford couldn't get a commitment out of Durant, or that he didn't like how indecisive Durant was being.
Fun game to be sure. Although if I'm drinking while playing most of my answers end up being about a pygmy something or other.
That doesn't mean that Horford's agent didn't get a heads-up from Durant's agent that he was leaving OKC. Durant may not have decided by then exactly which of his suitors he was going to choose, but he may well have known that he wouldn't be back with the Thunder.
If Portland was interested in Kanter, the Thunder would gladly have swapped him into Portland's cap space a week ago, IMO, since Horford seemed interested in signing with the Thunder. And if Horford had committed to Oklahoma City, Durant almost certainly stays. A Thunder team with Horford in place of Kanter and Durant still in the fold would have been the clear-cut best team in the NBA. But the Thunder most likely couldn't find a taker for Kanter, because he's fatally flawed. He has a nice offensive game and clearly rebounds like a demon, but his defense is atrocious. It's exceedingly hard to build around a big man who's awful defensively and any player with a max contract, even a 2015 max, is someone you'd better be building around, at least in part. I don't know that all of the above is certainly how things would have played out (that Horford would have committed to Thunder if the Thunder had had space) but it seems pretty likely to me.
My wife is from the area by Avignon. She knows this saying. When I asked her if she knew it, she asked me if I was trying to get rid of her. Haha.
Reports going into Sunday night were that Durant was extremely conflicted between Golden State and Oklahoma City. Golden State themselves said that they felt their meeting went well, but Durant seemed loathe to sever his Oklahoma City connection. That could all be wrong, but I personally doubt that Durant had all but ruled out Oklahoma City that early.
No idea what the truth of the matter is, but I don't think it's out of the realm of the possible that Olshey had discussions with OKC about a deal for Kanter if OKC should be able to re-sign Durant and add Horford. I would expect that he's had discussions like that with most of the GMs in the league.
Me too. That being said, I am all but sure, knowing who told me this, that Horford probably had that Durant may leave. Boston probably said we need an answer now, and Horford took it. There is no doubt in my mind Horford wasn't close to 100% sure of what Durant would do, either way. I think Boston was high on his list and he went there thinking there was a decent chance Durant would leave
Neil was offering Gasol (who can barely move anymore) 20 million a year. What makes you think he wouldn't want Kanter? More likely scenario: Blazers wasted their time chasing other targets and the opportunity passed.
