Official 2016 Free Agency Thread

That's more or less my point.

 

The team that has his Bird Rights? Nobody cared about our wonderful young kids this summer. I'm not sure the attitude changes in just one season. I'm making perfectly fine sense, most people are just disagreeing with me.

edit- also I'm not gutting them. They'd still have Ingram, Clarkson, and Nance Jr. That's half our young lineup. I love Russell and Randle, but to act like it's not a conversation is just kind of crazy to me. I think it's something we should at least talk about before writing off completely. I've already said I wouldn't make that move until the All-Star break and we see where we're at, but to depend on FA to get Westbrook is just a glutton for punishment right now.

 

Wow, I really didn't think Durant would leave this offseason. Considering he had the Warriors on the ropes 3 to 1, I thought he would try one more time to go all the way with OKC. I thought they actually might have a great shot with the trade with the Magic and getting Oladipo.

I have to say I'm disappointed in Durant. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em . . . pretty weak, IMO. But it's his life and his career so . . .

The one thing I'm thrilled about is that it leaves the door open for us to chase Westbrook. If he and KD were winning rings together or at least making the Finals it would be out of the question. I want Westbrook now much more than I wanted KD. I think Westbrook would be a perfect fit for us. The one thing we are missing is an out of this world PG who is a competitor at the highest level like Kobe, Magic, et al.
We need to do everything we can to get him. It would be the one move that could catapult us back as a franchise.

 

Which team for the next 5-7 years is going to be better? OKC or the Lakers with Westbrook there?

Your argument is kind of floating around the idea we couldn't build around him and that he's Carmelo and we're NY. I don't see that as true. I understand wanting players around him, but that's what we'd do. We'd put players around him. We'd still have Ingram, we'd still have Larry Nance Jr. and Jordan Clarkson. We'd still have plenty of youth.

Next season I fully expect the Thunder to win 42-46 games, maybe even more with Russell having an MVP year. I think the Lakers are probably a 30-35 win team. Why leave OKC? If they're better now and are likely to be a bit better during his prime, why come to LA? There'll be other teams with a max slot again next season. Could be Miami, Boston, Detroit even if they take a big step forward. Could be San Antonio heck maybe even Minnesota if they take the next step (they're about a year ahead of us in rebuilding already as it is).

I just don't see how Russell looks at us as a potential landing spot unless we're better than OKC next season and are in the playoff hunt. That is a TALL order. I've also said I'm willing to take a look at this again in Feb. I'm in no rush. The truth is if we miss out on Westbrook, I'm more than happy to move forward with the Russell we already have even if it takes a few years. I'd rather it be sooner sure, but it is what it is. If by the All-Star break we're as good as OKC or better somehow, then no way am I trading anything for Westbrook. If we're still not close (like Minny last year wasn't really close), then I take a very long, serious look at this. It's unlikely he comes to a worse team as he enters his prime. Extremely unlikely now that he would likely make the jump by himself until/unless we could juggle players and get another spot open on the roster. After three straight years of being completely crapped on in FA I have no idea why any of us should be confident we'll be any different in a year. We couldn't even get meetings this summer with top FAs, let alone convince one to join us. That's all I'm saying.

I appreciate the argument by the way. I just think it's something worth discussing.