bleedspeed177 wrote:Love the Westbrook is signing a 3 year with OKC. I hope he stays healthy and does his thing.
I thought there would be more defections East. Nope.
Seriously, how easy does Cleveland have it? They just proved that they can win a title by playing great ball for 3 games. That's it. They get another chance next season.
Yeah, I'm disappointed too. I have nothing against OKC the city, as it is refreshing to see smaller market teams in "flyover" country like Memphis and OKC have success, but dammit, why can't more of the elite talent go to places like Brooklyn, Boston, D.C., Philadelphia, etc.
As for Cleveland, is anyone surprised that Kevin Love hasn't been moved yet? I really thought they'd put him on the trade block after being able to win the Finals series without much contribution from him (although he did have a nice Game 7 and generally was effective throughout the other playoff series).
After winning the title... no. I'm not surprised. For the most part, the Love/Irving/James trio has stats off the charts collectively.
GSW was a bad matchup for Love.
That's not a guarantee that Love finishes the season there though... he'll always be the #1 scapegoat. And there are reasons why it might be justified.
longstrangetrip wrote:Monster and cool...I take it that you both would prefer Payne over Martin as our 15th man then? I'm not saying I disagree because I have not totally given up on AP, but I think I would favor Martin slightly just because you can never have enough shooting.
I don't even want to see a Kevin Martin low-light video, much less have him in uniform again. Just a few things I would rather do:
1) Get crushed by a rear end loader
2) Have my appendix taken out without anesthesia
3) Sit through the entire series of Medicine Woman
4) Mate with a 1500 pound farm animal
5) Sleep in a bunk bed under Oprah
You stole #5 from "Married with Children". Which is fine. I think the Tom Arnold joke he told right after that was funnier.
And now that I think about it, you stole #3 from "Talladega Nights"! And it's Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman! People fear me, I drive a Dodge Stratus!!!!!!!!!
longstrangetrip wrote:Monster and cool...I take it that you both would prefer Payne over Martin as our 15th man then? I'm not saying I disagree because I have not totally given up on AP, but I think I would favor Martin slightly just because you can never have enough shooting.
I don't even want to see a Kevin Martin low-light video, much less have him in uniform again. Just a few things I would rather do:
1) Get crushed by a rear end loader
2) Have my appendix taken out without anesthesia
3) Sit through the entire series of Medicine Woman
4) Mate with a 1500 pound farm animal
5) Sleep in a bunk bed under Oprah
You stole #5 from "Married with Children". Which is fine. I think the Tom Arnold joke he told right after that was funnier.
And now that I think about it, you stole #3 from "Talladega Nights"! And it's Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman! People fear me, I drive a Dodge Stratus!!!!!!!!!
You got me on #5 - MWC - it's long been my favorite show.
KD jumped at the easy road to a ring, Russ says f'that, lets build a champion here!! If OKC never wins a title with Westbrook and KD picks up a couple in GS, I'll go to my grave having the utmost respect for Russ, none for KD's ring(s).
KD jumped at the easy road to a ring, Russ says f'that, lets build a champion here!! If OKC never wins a title with Westbrook and KD picks up a couple in GS, I'll go to my grave having the utmost respect for Russ, none for KD's ring(s).
Agree. It's amazing how much perceptions can change (or be flat out wrong). There were rumours that KD left because Russ was non-committal and he didn't want to be stuck if OKC weren't contenders. KD always seemed the more loyal, down to earth guy. But that has done a complete 180.
KD jumped at the easy road to a ring, Russ says f'that, lets build a champion here!! If OKC never wins a title with Westbrook and KD picks up a couple in GS, I'll go to my grave having the utmost respect for Russ, none for KD's ring(s).
Agree. It's amazing how much perceptions can change (or be flat out wrong). There were rumours that KD left because Russ was non-committal and he didn't want to be stuck if OKC weren't contenders. KD always seemed the more loyal, down to earth guy. But that has done a complete 180.
It is quite the turn. I've been mulling this over a lot of today. Which is more surprising Durant leaving OKC or Westbrook staying?
Lots of media outlets are making a huge deal about this and I think it's a little overblown. I AM surprised by the move, but really all he did is guarantee he stays 2 more years instead of one. This isn't a lifetime contract he signed. He will soon get to decide again where he wants to continue his career. In fact the speculation will start after next years' finals.
CoolBreeze44 wrote:Lots of media outlets are making a huge deal about this and I think it's a little overblown. I AM surprised by the move, but really all he did is guarantee he stays 2 more years instead of one. This isn't a lifetime contract he signed. He will soon get to decide again where he wants to continue his career. In fact the speculation will start after next years' finals.
Yes, aware of that. And he gains an extra $8mill this year (I wasn't even aware you could renegotiate an existing year of a contract) that he wouldn't have been able to get anywhere else plus a max year again next year while still retaining the ability to explore the market and sing new max-max deals (if the cap goes up further) in two years. So perhaps it's purely a financial decision and it's a reasonable tradeoff to add $8mill this year in exchange for committing a further one year.
But it's still a significant move from "the Thunder have to trade him for something because he's outta here". And as noted above, I think the most interesting part is the perception of personalities behind it all.
