NFT: Windhorst, Perkins say Nets in the lead for Durant and Kyrie

In comment 14480816 JayBinQueens said:

Quote:

In comment 14480804 BigBlueShock said: Quote: In comment 14480634 PhiPsi125 said: Quote: Neither team is very good, lol. It’s like the contest to be the tallest midget. Personally, I’d love for them to get Kyrie. Seems like a great culture guy. I agree. But the issue is Nets fans constantly ripping on the Knicks and acting like the Nets have won back to back to back championships. The Nets just barely finished .500 and got curb stomped in the first round. The Nets are better than the Knicks right now. But I’ve never in my life seen a fanbase so ecstatic about utter mediocrity. Everyone on the team is awesome! Yet they barely managed to scrape out a playoff birth in the horrible East. I’m glad they’re satisfied with that. But please, get out of the first round before running your mouths. Not a nets fan but I think knick fans are more insufferable. Claiming to be the mecca of basketball and not even having a playoff birth since Ewing to hold their hat on. Neither team has been good but the nets have at least had some success the last 20 years

Knicks did go to the playoffs a few years ago for 3 straight years and won 54 games...

it is the players and you want to rip knicks fans for being insufferable, name another team that could withstand the amount of losing the knicks have had and still sell out their building every night?

What fan base still supports their team like knicks fans do? the place is rocking evwn when the knicks are 20 games under 500..

Calling knicks fans insufferable is a joke..

In comment 14480818 nygiants16 said:

Quote:

In comment 14480816 JayBinQueens said: Quote: In comment 14480804 BigBlueShock said: Quote: In comment 14480634 PhiPsi125 said: Quote: Neither team is very good, lol. It’s like the contest to be the tallest midget. Personally, I’d love for them to get Kyrie. Seems like a great culture guy. I agree. But the issue is Nets fans constantly ripping on the Knicks and acting like the Nets have won back to back to back championships. The Nets just barely finished .500 and got curb stomped in the first round. The Nets are better than the Knicks right now. But I’ve never in my life seen a fanbase so ecstatic about utter mediocrity. Everyone on the team is awesome! Yet they barely managed to scrape out a playoff birth in the horrible East. I’m glad they’re satisfied with that. But please, get out of the first round before running your mouths. Not a nets fan but I think knick fans are more insufferable. Claiming to be the mecca of basketball and not even having a playoff birth since Ewing to hold their hat on. Neither team has been good but the nets have at least had some success the last 20 years Knicks did go to the playoffs a few years ago for 3 straight years and won 54 games...

You're right. I blocked the melo years out of my mind. Winning a game vs the heat was a sad exit. Too lazy to look up the rest

In comment 14480804 BigBlueShock said:

Quote:

In comment 14480634 PhiPsi125 said: Quote: Neither team is very good, lol. It’s like the contest to be the tallest midget. Personally, I’d love for them to get Kyrie. Seems like a great culture guy. I agree. But the issue is Nets fans constantly ripping on the Knicks and acting like the Nets have won back to back to back championships. The Nets just barely finished .500 and got curb stomped in the first round. The Nets are better than the Knicks right now. But I’ve never in my life seen a fanbase so ecstatic about utter mediocrity. Everyone on the team is awesome! Yet they barely managed to scrape out a playoff birth in the horrible East. I’m glad they’re satisfied with that. But please, get out of the first round before running your mouths.

Lol what are you talking about?
The knicks should be like the Yankees and giants but the fans have a complex like the jets or mets.

The nets are irrelevant for near all of my fan hood and I could give 2 shits about it.

I’m at the point where I would go all in for kawhi and I know it’s not happening. I would reluctantly offer Durant the max because I am ok with the idea of another year of rebuild and lottery and at least we know Durant is there in a year. Then with $30 mil left I would try to get Randle on a 1 year deal with an overpay on the 1 year.

If Durant is out then I would give Russel the max 4years st $23 per. I am not that excited about this, but my thoughts are in a year or two from now he is a fairly valued all star Guard who can be traded In a trade for a bigger star if need be. I would then use the other $50 million to secure some solid vets on 1 year deals.

In comment 14480775 TommyWiseau said:

Quote:

In comment 14480739 christian said: Quote: The Nets should pursue Horford and Irving -- aside from the karmic value -- Horford is an absolute stabilizer on and off the court. He knows Irving good and bad, and worked well with him. And he's getting far enough below the max there is room for another rotational piece. Horford has what, one or two good seasons left? He apparently is looking for 4 years 112 million, that's not far below the max IMO. 28 mil a season. Only way I sign him is if I am a contender next season. By contender I mean a top 3 seed.

He's never claimed to be asking for 4/112, that was a rumor that Dallas had offered it, and Dallas is claiming they didn't.

I won't be surprised if he signs for 3/72. If the Nets add both, that's a top 3 seed in the making.

In comment 14480836 christian said:

Quote:

In comment 14480775 TommyWiseau said: Quote: In comment 14480739 christian said: Quote: The Nets should pursue Horford and Irving -- aside from the karmic value -- Horford is an absolute stabilizer on and off the court. He knows Irving good and bad, and worked well with him. And he's getting far enough below the max there is room for another rotational piece. Horford has what, one or two good seasons left? He apparently is looking for 4 years 112 million, that's not far below the max IMO. 28 mil a season. Only way I sign him is if I am a contender next season. By contender I mean a top 3 seed. He's never claimed to be asking for 4/112, that was a rumor that Dallas had offered it, and Dallas is claiming they didn't. I won't be surprised if he signs for 3/72. If the Nets add both, that's a top 3 seed in the making.

That's the exact type of deal I'm hoping he takes with the Nets. I think my ideal nets offseason would be Horford, Irving, and then trading Dinwiddie to keep DLo. If Horford's AAV is $24m and Kyrie is $32m, that adds up to $56m. The Nets have at least $46m free even with DLo's cap hold, so I think clearing Dinwiddie is all they'd need to do.

That would basically make them Blazers East, but that's not so bad.

blindly, he knows what he is getting on the open market and he is not taking a discount

In comment 14480868 nygiants16 said:

Quote:

blindly, he knows what he is getting on the open market and he is not taking a discount

Horford is looking for a longer term deal, that is why he opted out. If he had a nice but equal showing this year, at age 34 he's not crushing the bank next offseason.

I bet he goes to a contender (the C's are rebuilding) for less than the max on 3 years.

In comment 14480874 christian said:

Quote:

In comment 14480868 nygiants16 said: Quote: blindly, he knows what he is getting on the open market and he is not taking a discount Horford is looking for a longer term deal, that is why he opted out. If he had a nice but equal showing this year, at age 34 he's not crushing the bank next offseason. I bet he goes to a contender (the C's are rebuilding) for less than the max on 3 years.

all reports said he was talking to the celtics about a long term deal and he felt he could grt a better offer...

so onviously he is not taking that much of a discount

You're assuming the Celtics were offering anywhere the max or the number of years Horford was seeking.

but do the nets really want to become the Brooklyn Celtics? I get net fans think the world of Lavert, kurucs, and allen but are they really better then the celtics core of Tatum, Brown, smart, etc... I guess if they think they can get a third large piece with Kyrie and Horford then i can see it, but how much money would they really have left?

In comment 14480891 christian said:

Quote:

You're assuming the Celtics were offering anywhere the max or the number of years Horford was seeking.

You were right, but if it was anywhere close to what he thinks he can get they wouldnt of broken off talks..

They have an offer from another team to make him so confident

Is going to get paid. 4 years and north of 100million. There are a ton of teams with cap space who will be pushing to make themselves a contender. That is a recipe for guys to get overpaid.

In comment 14480891 christian said:

Quote:

You're assuming the Celtics were offering anywhere the max or the number of years Horford was seeking.

I want nothing to do with Horford on a long-term deal. Still a very good player, but he showed his cracks last year. Career low in games played and MPG. Not enough to say he's about to fall off a cliff, but enough to give pause.

Al Horford is not bringing the Nets a championship, so why do it? If they can't get an premier FA to come with Kyrie, I'd resign D-Lo, and make a run at Tobias Harris. Probably good enough for 3-seed in the east (assuming Kawhi moves west).

In comment 14480897 Italianju said:

Quote:

but do the nets really want to become the Brooklyn Celtics? I get net fans think the world of Lavert, kurucs, and allen but are they really better then the celtics core of Tatum, Brown, smart, etc... I guess if they think they can get a third large piece with Kyrie and Horford then i can see it, but how much money would they really have left?

Fans are split on Kyrie vs Dlo. It really all depends on who would be coming with Kyrie. I'd personally love something like retain Dlo and then sign Randle and another mid to high level guy.

In comment 14480897 Italianju said:

Quote:

but do the nets really want to become the Brooklyn Celtics? I get net fans think the world of Lavert, kurucs, and allen but are they really better then the celtics core of Tatum, Brown, smart, etc... I guess if they think they can get a third large piece with Kyrie and Horford then i can see it, but how much money would they really have left?

This is where I'm at with this as well. Like Kyrie is a heck of a player, but he was just the star of a team that won 49 games with a better supporting cast than the Nets have. And is he really that much better than Russell? If you swapped the 2 players this past season, how many more games do the Nets win, 3, maybe 4? Why does adding him suddenly make a mediocre Nets team a contender?

I also don't get the attitude that LaVert is some kind of lock for future All-Star games. Let's see him average 14 ppg or make a decent % from 3 before we anoint him.

Besides the age difference, I'll point out the fact that Kyrie has never played more than 70 games a season. He misses on average, 20 games. His durability is a huge question mark combined with previous injuries and age. I'd rather have the younger kid with better health.

In comment 14480897 Italianju said:

Quote:

but do the nets really want to become the Brooklyn Celtics? I get net fans think the world of Lavert, kurucs, and allen but are they really better then the celtics core of Tatum, Brown, smart, etc... I guess if they think they can get a third large piece with Kyrie and Horford then i can see it, but how much money would they really have left?

At this time last year everyone thought the Celtics were one of the best foundations in all NBA - so yes, I would be happy to be the Brooklyn Celtics, with the differences being Russell/Levert/Allen/Kurucs over the Celtics supporting cast. I have no idea what went wrong with the Celtics last season but the biggest underachiever on their roster by a healthy margin was Hayward - and he was also the biggest variable from their success in year 1 with Kyrie vs. year 2. So I'm inclined to believe that Stevens overplaying him may have been what disrupted their chemistry.

If the Nets got both Kyrie/Horford they'd be up against the cap but with so many young tradable pieces they would be in play for whatever came available on the trade market - as both they and Boston were for AD. Being 1 final piece away is better than being 2, 3, or 4 pieces away as long as you still have some assets you can trade. If they had to go to a 4th year for Horford that would be risky though.

the only way they 100% can't afford him is if they sign KD + a 2nd max. I suppose that's still a possibility, especially if Irving is the other max and they want to play together, but that's literally 1 possible scenario of numerous combinations of multiple acquisitions whether it's Kyrie + Harris, or Kyrie + Horford, or Horford + Harris, or Kyrie + Butler, or Butler + Horford, etc.

The nets would have about $60m to spend without renouncing Russell's bird rights just by trading Dinwiddie - whose game is stylistically a lot more redundant to Kyrie than Russell.

In comment 14481064 Eric on Li said:

Quote:

the only way they 100% can't afford him is if they sign KD + a 2nd max. I suppose that's still a possibility, especially if Irving is the other max and they want to play together, but that's literally 1 possible scenario of numerous combinations of multiple acquisitions whether it's Kyrie + Harris, or Kyrie + Horford, or Horford + Harris, or Kyrie + Butler, or Butler + Horford, etc. The nets would have about $60m to spend without renouncing Russell's bird rights just by trading Dinwiddie - whose game is stylistically a lot more redundant to Kyrie than Russell.

I would think that the Nets wouldn't want to be paying Russell, Kyrie and lets say Harris or Butler all max deals especially with LeVert eligible for an extension next year but who knows.

I know Kyrie is better and I think its more than the +4 games mentioned above, but Russell still has room to grow. Hopefully the guy is working on his right handed layups and floaters because he ALWAYS goes to his left no matter how difficult it makes the shot. That alone will vastly improve his game. I want Dlo back and I'd be okay with it being him, Kyrie, and someone like Harris if they could pull it off.

In comment 14481068 Strahan91 said:

Quote:

I would think that the Nets wouldn't want to be paying Russell, Kyrie and lets say Harris or Butler all max deals especially with LeVert eligible for an extension next year but who knows.

It's not ideal but better than losing him for nothing IMO. If they were adding Leonard or a healthy KD you can justify just about any tradeoff because you're adding one of the top players in the NBA and becoming an instant contender. With KD getting injured and Leonard unlikely, no matter what they do this offseason they are going to be at least 1 move away. Losing a 23 year old all star for nothing seems counter productive to me.