thejohnnygold

One question, how far down will Durant slide? I don't think he gets taken top 3.

 

It all depends on when I get to pick 

before the Lawson trade I would have agreed, but with him on board and playing his game this will become a strength. I also expect the 3 pt % to climb on most of our players simply because they will have better looks on their attempts. if there is a weakness on this team (and I have to look pretty hard to find one) it would have to be .................................................................we don't have a weakness IMO   WE ARE  ABOUT TO KICK SOME SERIOUS BUTT

 

Wait a minute....did you just say you think our coaching staff is a strength?!?!?     Is it because, once again, Coach McHale has proven to be the Yin to Morey's Yang?  Here is a recent quote from Ty:

 

 

“Kevin McHale, he’s a cool coach,” Lawson said in an interview with FOX 26 Sports. “I sat down and had dinner with him, probably like a week ago.

“He just keeps everything real. He’s played before, so he knows what we’re going through. He makes everything straight forward, no grey areas. It was fun. We talked about everything, not just basketball, just life. He even had some stories when he used to play. It was a fun dinner.”

So I’m excited to play for him.”

 

I'm just messin' with ya.   I know where you stand on coach.  

I'm probably going to be the Gloomy Gus of this topic.  While I won't rain on the "Durant to Houston" parade (yet), I will question the validity of Durant playing at power forward.

 

Using Draymond Green as an example of why it can work is good.  I will use that same example to explain why it won't.  Green, while 6' 7", comes with the Charles Barkley Memorial Rear End.  He is strong top to bottom, but particularly in his lower body.  Kevin Durant, on the other hand, is what happens when you genetically combine Ray Allen and Shawn Bradley.  Shooting, smarts, and length is great on offense.  On defense, there is no way he can flop enough times a game to prevent the burly power forwards of this league from crushing him in the post.

 

If I am an opposing coach and I see Durant at PF the first thing I do is post him up.  I don't stop doing this until Durant goes back to SF.

 

Not to turn this into an ESPN "Body" issue, but here is a recent photo of Durant's physique:

 

 

....and then we have the guys who are built to destroy him....

 

  

 

 

That's just a few.  Maybe you can get away with this novelty in the regular season, but in the playoffs Durant would be exploited for his lack of strength.  Unless he undergoes a Kevin Garnett type of growth he simply can't do it.

 

Rather than shipping out D-Mo/Jones to clear that slot for Durant I'd say we can use the $16M we have tied up in Brewer/Ariza plus the added cap room to get the job done.  Durant plays that position and will get the bulk of the minutes.  Then use the bird rights to re-sign Motie (maybe Jones) and be right back over the cap again!  Who cares?!?!  We're winning!

if Dwight wants to maximize his potential he will opt out and sign a 1 year with a 1 year player option like Lebron has been doing. Then trying for a max deal in 2017. I think, barring a major injury, Morey will sign that first deal but will NOT sign the 200 for 5 years deal that Howard will likely ask for. This is the number for the % of salary cap that pundits have been talking about with Lebron.

As for Center, I think that DMo will ultimately man that position for us in the future with Capela manning the PF spot (defensively at least).

The weakness of our team is SF again with Lawson's addition. But luckily we can move Harden to the 3 if we need to and pick up a young SG like Beal.

I just don't think our roster is set for next year. This year there probably won't be any big moves since we don't have the pieces to get Cousins.

 

That makes sense regarding Dwight's possible contract situation.  I also can see D-Mo taking over at center.

 

I disagree that SF is a weakness on our team.  Is it because we don't have a Paul George, Lebron, Kawhi, or Carmelo?  I like what we've got.  Ariza is an elite player in his own right--it's on defense.  His 3 pt% suffered last season due to playing too many minutes (injuries).  He shot 39% from deep after the all-star break.  His 3% increased with each extra day of rest he got.  With fewer back to backs this year we should see an uptick in his %'s plus Lawson will help set him up for better looks.  (Stats from basketball-reference.com)

 

Combined with Corey Brewer I think we're great at SF.  As you said, Harden can slide in there as well.  That's 3 starting caliber players at 1 position.  What's not to like?

 

I would argue our weakest position is PF....and I don't think we are weak at PF at all.

 

Next year will be interesting.  I have no doubt Morey would love to get Cousins, but it depends on a lot of things.  Too much to speculate on right now.  Besides, I want to see what happens this year before we start shuffling the roster for next year....getting ahead of ourselves a bit.

Update: Just saw Feigen's post that Rockets are also bringing in Denzel Livingston, Remi Yusuf, and Chris Walker.