Gasol still provides rim protection, even if he's poor at defending in space. Kanter doesn't even provide that.
Kanter is also superior on offense and rebounding. I'm just saying, given Neil's big man targets over the last few years: Spencer Hawes Chris Kaman Greg Monroe Enes Kanter Pau Gasol It's really not a stretch to say he would still value Kanter.
But if he did value Kanter, why would he have "let the opportunity pass?" It would have been equivalent to an instant free agent signing, he would just have had to give up cap space, not players. It's not like he was pursuing Durant or Horford.
Because he liked Chandler Parsons or Pau Gasol or whoever better, clearly. Or OKC wasn't willing to deal until they had confirmation that KD was going to resign. It's not a very Presti type move to pre-emptively move a player for nothing without the guarantee of KD coming back, especially if Horford's decision was tied to Durant. I don't agree with your statement here: Horford only says yes if Durant stays, not the other way around. For Durant, a supporting cast of Curry/Thompson/Green is still better than Westbrook/Horford/Oladipo.
It is, but this isn't a choice in a vacuum. He liked where he was and he liked Westbrook. With Horford and Durant, the Thunder would have been the best team in the NBA and he gets to remain in OKC. It was a tough choice for him without Horford. With Horford, I think it would have been a slam dunk to stay. Westbrook/Oldadipo/Durant/Horford/Adams would be the easy favorites.
I think Curry/Thompson/Green/Durant is better than that team, but regardless, neither of us is Durant, and he clearly favored the Warriors in the end.
I already agreed that it was, I was saying that Durant remaining on the Thunder, with Horford, would still be clearly the best team in the NBA (even if worse than the Warriors with Durant) and he gets to stay with "his team." He favored the Warriors in the end, but I think that if Oklahoma City had been able to dump Kanter and sign Horford, he wouldn't have switched teams. We'll never know.
