NBA 2015 | Offseason | 🏀🎪

By knux-future Go To PostBargs to the Kings….

By fertygo Go To Postthat bargs.gif on kwahi shot is very wtf

is this guy even had instinct?

like.. holy shit

By etiolation Go To PostKings gonna use science to merge Bargs and WCS into one player

By DY_nasty Go To PostEast gonna be good next year

By Moris Go To PostRelative to how it was last year?

By DY_nasty Go To Postlol

i don't see teams with a losing record in the playoffs this time around

By Moris Go To PostRelative to how it was last year?

Everyone seemed to be walking on eggshells around Deron, wondering "which Deron will show up," said the same insider. He noted the last three coaches used those very same words to describe their biggest problem. His attitude manifested itself in different ways, in the lack of relationships with teammates and coaches, in his lack of mentoring for younger players, in his on-court demeanor. If the team went down early, he often gave up.

Players who were teammates of his criticized him publicly, great players like Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant. Pierce was the most open in his comments, telling Jackie MacMullan of ESPN…

"Before I got there, I looked at Deron as an MVP candidate,'' Pierce said. "But I felt once we got there, that's not what he wanted to be. He just didn't want that.

"I think a lot of the pressure got to him sometimes. This was his first time in the national spotlight. The media in Utah is not the same as the media in New York, so that can wear on some people. I think it really affected him.''

Privately, Pierce could be just as devastating. According to more than one insider, Williams was complaining one day about his latest nagging injury when Pierce interrupted him. "What's the matter now, Deron? Your ____ hurt?" using a derogatory term for a woman's genitalia. He didn't hang around much with teammates, preferring the company of others on the staff. A friend of one player said of his pal, "He was pumped" at the news, ready for the season. Joe Johnson in particular wasn't a fan. There were reports that he had to be restrained from going after Lionel Hollins during a frank and brutal conversation around the All-Star Break.

By pilonv1 Go To PostLakers will still be 10-15 games out of the playoffs in the east breh

By Moris Go To PostLay down on the couch. Why did you feel the need to bring up a single western conference team when the discussion was about the eastern conference as a whole?

How is your relationship with your parents?

By Forever Go To PostPlayers who were teammates of his criticized him publicly, great players like Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant. Pierce was the most open in his comments, telling Jackie MacMullan of ESPN…

"Before I got there, I looked at Deron as an MVP candidate,'' Pierce said. "But I felt once we got there, that's not what he wanted to be. He just didn't want that.

According to more than one insider, Williams was complaining one day about his latest nagging injury when Pierce interrupted him. "What's the matter now, Deron? Your ____ hurt?" using a derogatory term for a woman's genitalia.

By Forever Go To PostHis controller is broken.

By knux-future Go To PostI don't know DY…The Pacers should be "better" as will the Heat (hopefully Bosh comes back strong)..but ehh..Boston could get hit with that second year after trying hard relapse, the Nets are an enigma., MCW's taint may be too stronk and the Hawks could be mindfucked and wrecked by the loss of Caroll. And someone always get hit with the injury bug and fall off more than expected. Add to that the really bad teams didnt really level up that much..hell we got worse somehow.

I hope you are right because goddam Bron is about to style on the conference hard

By psychintellect Go To PostMilwaukee may be a top4 seed.

By pilonv1 Go To PostSo did anyone sign Andrew Harrison? Can't remember which one was the shit one (probably both)

By Zeus Ex Machina Go To PostI really feel this is OKC's year if they can stay healthy. Brooks was such a shit coach outside of player development. They needed to stop thinking of themselves as a young team and a more a win now team and with KD being a FA this is the most win now situation the Thunder have been through yet.

By Colonel Nasty Go To PostCan't be worse than Jet on D and is pretty good from the corners. Plus it's for the minimum.

Bobby Marks @BobbyMarks42
Thornton will bring instant offense off the bench. Big reason why BKN beat TOR in game 7 in 2014. Younger version of Jason Terry.
11:17 AM - 12 Jul 2015

By IWMTB19 Go To PostOKC is going to match Kanter.

I mean, there's no reason why he should get more than 15-20 MPG next year because he's terrible and Durant, Ibaka, and Adams should take up most big man minutes so this is a pretty bad signing.

By SamuraiX- Go To PostTerry is a much smarter and more aware defender. Man-to-man limitations are similar though.

Please, PLEASE don't think this, Rox-S&LENT. It's particularly blasphemous and will set you up for heartbreak.

First, the NBA in 2012 was much different than it is in 2015. That was four offseasons ago. There was no $70 million salary cap. In 2012, it was $58 million. Just compare the contracts handed out in that free agency period to the ones in this one. There's a reason for that. And projections have the cap soaring to possibly as much as $100 million, or more, in 2017. Nobody knew that was happening when the Thunder were negotiating with Harden.

Second, the Thunder have always been operating within a specific plan, doing their best to stick to their defined "core values." Those include resisting the urge to overspend and compromise the future before the core members of the roster – Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka – reach the primes of their careers. The reason for that is following the new collective bargaining agreement that not only included a more punitive luxury tax, but an extremely threatening addendum to that called the "repeater tax." The Thunder didn't want to spend what was in the coffers before they needed to re-sign Durant in 2016, and Westbrook and Ibaka in 2017. You can look at the profits of the franchise from the last few years – and they've been impressive, no doubt – but those would be wiped out in two or three short seasons of paying the nasty repeater tax.

It's not that the Thunder are unique to it, either. Every team in the league is terrified of the repeater tax, even the big-market teams such as the Lakers, Nets, Bulls and Knicks, who are all maneuvering to avoid it. Nobody wants to pay that thing. Especially one that has to be as financially conscious as the Thunder.

They were, however, willing to deviate from those core values with Harden to a degree in offering him an extension totaling to close to $55 million ($5 million short of a max), which would have sent the Thunder well into the luxury tax. That extra $5 million in breathing room, though, was going to help in enabling them the following summer to get under the tax line – likely by exercising its amnesty clause on Kendrick Perkins – and reduce their chances of being a repeat tax offender three out of four years by the time 2016 rolled around. Instead, with Harden desperately wanting to leave anyway, the Thunder made their offer and held their ground.

So essentially, the Thunder gambled on differing title windows. They had a four-year look in re-signing Harden before they would've almost assuredly been forced to trade either Harden, Westbrook or Ibaka (again, keep in mind they didn't know in 2012 the cap was going to spike). Or they could try to maintain a championship-level contender built around three really good players – which they did. Remember, they were in the Western Conference finals two years ago, and are propping open another title window starting this season as they become a tax team. Which again conveniently aligns with Durant's free agency next summer, when he could re-sign for a max deal taking up 30 percent of the Thunder's salary cap.

It's a completely fair discussion to have if the Thunder picked the right window to make their move. Considering they haven't cashed in and won a championship yet, maybe not. But they also haven't been far off, and if not for a few untimely injuries, they might have pulled it off already. And now, the Thunder will have their deepest, most potent roster ever next season, with potentially 12 capable rotation players, all set up to be retained for the long-term. Durant's gotta like that.

What's not fair is comparing Kanter's max to the one the Thunder didn't give Harden. The Thunder have been planning for these seasons all along, trying to make sure their financial ducks were in a row to align with the primes of Durant and Westbrook. Their four-year window with Harden would've been starting with a core of 23-year-olds. Durant and Westbrook will both turn 27 this fall. History says that's when players start winning titles.

The Thunder paid a small snippet of the tax last season, putting one year on the tally. Two more in the next three years, and they're heading for the dreaded repeater. Re-signing Kanter virtually guarantees Year 2 of it. And if everything goes according to plan and Durant re-signs, it will require some salary cap gymnastics to get under it before Westbrook is due for his new contract in 2017. But it's going to be possible to do, because again, the salary cap is going to go bonkers.

So this is the important takeaway: Had the Thunder gone all-in in 2012, instead of adding pieces now, they would be looking to begin a tear down, which isn't what you want to be doing when you've got to re-sign Durant. That's why Kanter's max today isn't comparable to the one the Thunder wouldn't give Harden in 2012. It wasn't just four offseasons ago, it was four salary caps ago, too. That was then, this is now.

By Adam Blade Go To PostHas Dongo ever decried the Harden trade? I mean, there's denial, and then there's the mental gymnastics Gondo executed in its defense…

If he's secretly Royce Young, then there are no words.

By KingGondo Go To PostIt looks much worse in retrospect than it did at the time. Besides getting semi-useful players in Adams, McGary and (eventually Abrines), every other part has turned out as badly as possible. Only got one year out of Martin, Lamb is a disappointment, and Harden turned into an MVP-caliber player.

I don't agree with Royce that this is all part of the master plan. Presti and the front office miscalculated. With that said, I think there's a lot of truth to the idea that Harden wanted to be the man on his own team and nothing less than a max with a no-trade clause was gonna be the price of keeping him.

By Moris Go To PostHarden wanted so bad to stay in OKC and he deserved his payday, he was close to being worth the max at the time and only got better because he was already really good at 22 years old.

By KingGondo Go To PostAdd in guys like Adams (12th overall), McGary (22nd overall), Abrines (32nd overall) and Payne, and the future is still bright.