Your guess for who will be our starting center next year

1. I think the C Olshey wants most and would pay the max for is Whiteside
2. I think D Howard is 2nd choice if he accepts a 22-24 mil 3 yr or less contract
3. Dark horse Aminu/Davis type "value" contract is Cole Aldrich
4. Pot is legal on OR so we take a wild stab at Latty Sanders for some CHEAP bud

 

Great post BNM. Here's Billy being soft about it:

http://basketball.realgm.com/wireta...Thunder-Take-Out-Enes-Kanter#google_immersive

Russell Westbrook recommended the Oklahoma City Thunder take Enes Kanter out of the game midway through the second quarter of Game 4.

With Draymond Green shooting a pair of free throws, Westbrook walked over to the Oklahoma City bench. Westbrook first talked to Maurice Cheeks and then to Billy Donovan.

"Take him out," said Westbrook, referring to Kanter.

Donovan, after a brief consultation with Cheeks, went down the bench, called for Andre Roberson to come to the scorer’s table and removed Kanter from the game.

“I’ve tried to foster that kind of stuff because I think what happens a lot of times with players is a lot of times it may be, I don’t want them to feel like they can’t come to me,” Donovan said.

“I want Kevin and Russell and those guys that have been here and have invested so much to be able to communicate with me, and I want to be able to go to them.

“[One thing] I try to do is to get both parties to have ownership. You can sit here and say, ‘Do this, this and this,’ not explain it and say, ‘I’m the coach. It’s my way or the highway,’ and they’re not really bought into it and before you know it you’re never really maximizing what you can do together, so I try to create a situation where there’s accountability for both of us. We’re both on the hook.”

Kanter has been a liability for the Thunder on defense due to his inability to switch out on the Warriors' guards.

 

This last line is key for me. I don't care about the politics in OKC. The key is that one-way players hurt a team and I am happy BNB hammers away at that all the time--that we need 2-way players in free agency or in our case, at least defensively, because we have so many weak links defensively. I know that I and several others prayed that OKC would match the offer on Kanter.

 

I'd highly recommend Biyombo if protecting the paint is a high priority for the Blazers. He's like Ben Wallace but lacks the timing Ben had, Biyombo can come out of nowhere and react even when it looks too late.

 

The only downside to Biyombo is you need a scoring PF next to him because he makes Mason Plumlee look like Hakeem offensively.

 

Can't argue with that.

 

Called it. Coach Westbrook is the reason Kanter barely played tonight. In 10:38 he was 4-5 for 8 points and +15 and the ONLY OKC player with a positive +/1.

Hey Russ, instead of throwing your teammate under the bus, you might want to try passing him the ball a little more.

BNM

 

Yeah, poor Kanter has a thankless job in Oklahoma. He can't win with fans.

 

Yep, the guy is a very talented, very efficient scorer and the best offensive rebounder in the league, but Coach Russ benched him. Yeah, Kanter's defense sucks, but they need a reliable 3rd scorer to beat GSW and they have that in Kanter. I would think as the point guard and self-appointed team leader and associate head coach, it would be your job to figure out how to use Kanter's strengths while helping to minimize the impact of his weakness. Or, you could just throw an important teammate under the bus on national TV and blow a series you had well in hand.

BNM

 

They all think he reps ISIS

 

They were smart to match. He will bring them an asset this summer when they trade him. And they will trade him.

 

Wow, Russell Westbrook really is the most versatile talent in the entire league. He is the NBA's first Player-Coach-GM.

BNM

 

Say what you want about Kanter he's way better than Plumlee. It's not like Plumlee is some class defender. He sucks at D too. The Blazers would be MUCH better with Kanter.

The point is Russell Westbrook is a little punk for what he did and less of a leader than Dame will ever be.

 

Why are people in here talking about maxing Boyimbo when we can go after Larry Sanders for way cheaper?

BB is gonna be $15Mil per for what?

I hope we don't sign him... We need someone who can score inside too.

 

Sanders doesn't even like playing basketball.. Not sure I'd want someone like him.

 

Gotta keep up:

http://www.basketballinsiders.com/qa-larry-sanders-explains-break-from-nba/

http://www.rotoworld.com/recent/nba/1733/larry-sanders

 

I think we can all agree on that.

 

I'd still be worried about him feeling unfulfilled for some random reason and quitting again. If it's a cheap contract I wouldn't mind giving him a shot though.

 

We'll only know what his value is when he signs. Even then, we won't know if his value was boosted by the playoffs. The only thing we can know is that he boosted his value on Twitter. But the backlash has probably already begun: