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Enes Kanter still unsigned

I'm pretty sure the defensive numbers with Kanter and Ibaka on the floor werent that bad last year. It was after Ibaka got hurt that the defense turned terrible.

With Kanter and Ibaka both on the floor, OKC's defensive rating was 105.0 - good for 25th in the NBA.
 
With Kanter and Ibaka both on the floor, OKC's defensive rating was 105.0 - good for 25th in the NBA.

Ssshhhhh!

Facts don't matter in this discussion!

Not to mention Westbrook is a ticking time bomb... OKC is going to be one fun dysfunctional team to watch as Westbrook, KD, and Kanter fight over one ball.

Have fun with that Billy D
 
Who on that team other than Westbrook or Ibaka plays any defense?

Challenge of the day, can anyone name their starting 5 without looking?

I don't know why everyone thinks that OKC is so good.

IMO, GS, SA, and LAC are clearly better right now. And it's a toss up to me between them and Houston. Then we figure into things as porty and Dallas are headed for tankalicious seasons

Roberson is elite perimeter defender in the league.
 
Defense isnt winning championships anymore

Objectively false.

Teams that have won a title being ranked 10th or worse on offense (since the NBA/ABA merger):

'10 Lakers (11th)
'08 Celtics (10th)
'04 Pistons (18th)
'99 Spurs (11th)
'94 Rockets (15th)
'90 Pistons (11th)
'79 Sonics (14th)
'78 Bullets (10th)

Teams that have won a title being ranked 10th or worse on defense (since the NBA/ABA merger):

'01 Lakers (21st)
'95 Rockets (12th)
'82 Lakers (10th)

Since 2003:

Average offensive ranking of NBA champion: 8.08
Average defensive ranking of NBA champion: 4.75

Draw your own conclusions.

San Antonio showed Miami's great defense and chased Lebron back to Cleveland ......

In 2014:

Heat #2 offense, #11 defense
Spurs #6 offense, #4 defense

And in desperation Golden State went super small ball sitting their top rated #1 defensive Center down the last 3 games

The Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers were consistently the two best defensive teams in the NBA throughout the playoffs. In addition to having LeBron James, the reason the Cavs were able to keep that series against GSW so competitive even with their injuries was because they played better defense on the Warriors than anybody else. Even so, the Warriors probably don't win that series without playing better defense on Cleveland than anybody else had thus far as well - Iguodala in particular played fantastic defense on LeBron.
 
Objectively false.

Teams that have won a title being ranked 10th or worse on offense (since the NBA/ABA merger):

'10 Lakers (11th)
'08 Celtics (10th)
'04 Pistons (18th)
'99 Spurs (11th)
'94 Rockets (15th)
'90 Pistons (11th)
'79 Sonics (14th)
'78 Bullets (10th)

Teams that have won a title being ranked 10th or worse on defense (since the NBA/ABA merger):

'01 Lakers (21st)
'95 Rockets (12th)
'82 Lakers (10th)

Since 2003:

Average offensive ranking of NBA champion: 8.08
Average defensive ranking of NBA champion: 4.75

Draw your own conclusions.



In 2014:

Heat #2 offense, #11 defense
Spurs #6 offense, #4 defense



The Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers were consistently the two best defensive teams in the NBA throughout the playoffs. In addition to having LeBron James, the reason the Cavs were able to keep that series against GSW so competitive even with their injuries was because they played better defense on the Warriors than anybody else. Even so, the Warriors probably don't win that series without playing better defense on Cleveland than anybody else had thus far as well - Iguodala in particular played fantastic defense on LeBron.

And that's the rub. Even if they are able to hide Kanter on Defense at times throughout the season, they won't be able to in the playoffs. That is what makes me so excited about the way the Jazz are building. It frustrated me to see other teams able to defensively adjust against the Williams/Boozer Jazz and eventually nullify their offense as the playoffs wore on. The Jazz are generally going to nullify your offense by default. Give them 6 or 7 games to figure you out, it will be really tough. With Kanter, you can just attack him on the pick and roll all day as long as he is in the game. He is never going to adjust. You can only remove him from the game which is a heck of a thing to do to the guy you are paying 17 million a year to.
 
Objectively false.

Teams that have won a title being ranked 10th or worse on offense (since the NBA/ABA merger):

'10 Lakers (11th)
'08 Celtics (10th)
'04 Pistons (18th)
'99 Spurs (11th)
'94 Rockets (15th)
'90 Pistons (11th)
'79 Sonics (14th)
'78 Bullets (10th)

Teams that have won a title being ranked 10th or worse on defense (since the NBA/ABA merger):

'01 Lakers (21st)
'95 Rockets (12th)
'82 Lakers (10th)

Since 2003:

Average offensive ranking of NBA champion: 8.08
Average defensive ranking of NBA champion: 4.75

Draw your own conclusions.



In 2014:

Heat #2 offense, #11 defense
Spurs #6 offense, #4 defense



The Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers were consistently the two best defensive teams in the NBA throughout the playoffs. In addition to having LeBron James, the reason the Cavs were able to keep that series against GSW so competitive even with their injuries was because they played better defense on the Warriors than anybody else. Even so, the Warriors probably don't win that series without playing better defense on Cleveland than anybody else had thus far as well - Iguodala in particular played fantastic defense on LeBron.

Thanks for posting this. I'm so tired of hearing the idea that defense doesn't win championships. It's been proven time and time again that you need a good defense to even get far in the playoffs.
 
To be honest, I think OKC is one of the best possible fits for Kanter, I hope it pans out well enough for him and the team, let's hope we get many nice playoffs series against them in the future !
 
Actually Kanter is a great fit for OKC, because now the team can always have 2 scorers on the floor, both of whom must be double-teamed.
Kanter's signing means some load off KD's and RW's shoulders too, so they will both be entering the playoffs relatively fresh this year. How about 28, 34 and 34 min.s respectively during the season?

Barring 2 or more injuries like last season, they will be extremely dangerous for whomever they play. That trio will find ways to score against anybody. And I'm not even mentioning Ibaka.
 
You people realize that Kanter is going to push them over the LT and he'll end up costing them an additional $25 million this year, right?

You do realize that they're the same franchise which traded Harden to avoid the LT, right?

So they traded Harden to avoid the LT and now just spent close to $100 million for Kanter.

And this is the franchise you want to emulate? The OKC Thunder officially signed their death certificate today. They began the process when they traded away a franchise player for peanuts. Now they're trying to make someone with peanuts for brains into a franchise player.

Sorry. But I agree with DL. sometimes, the best deals are the ones you don't make.
Totally different scenario with Harden. It's a one year tax situation with Kanter due to the cap jumping in 2016. That wasn't the case when Harden was traded; the cap wasn't going up $20M. And the tax hit isn't that bad. The threshold is around $85M. IINM, OKC can make a couple of moves and be just over.
 
Totally different scenario with Harden. It's a one year tax situation with Kanter due to the cap jumping in 2016. That wasn't the case when Harden was traded; the cap wasn't going up $20M. And the tax hit isn't that bad. The threshold is around $85M. IINM, OKC can make a couple of moves and be just over.

If they don't trade him or lose any of their key pieces they will be in tax the year after the jump and then again the year after. They need to give ~30M to Durant, about ~30 to Westbrook, 20-30?M to Ibaka... They are luxury tax bound unless they lose some of those.
 
No biggie, they'll just have to let Westbrook walk so that they can afford Kanter.
 
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