Monday Bolts – 7.13.15
Ben Golliver of SI.com: “There’s a disorienting feel to this agreement, in part because Presti has cultivated a reputation as a prudent, proactive and methodical executive. This deal goes against that reputation: it’s humongous and it was negotiated with the Thunder’s back against the wall. The good old days of Presti maximizing his leverage and the Thunder’s success to get someone like Ibaka to agree to a bargain early extension are in the past. The Durant clock is ticking ominously, a division rival smelled blood and made a well-timed poker play, and an agent wisely waited out the first week of free agency to maximize his client’s new deal. The result? An unsightly contract that Presti had to grin and bear.”
John Schuhmann of NBA.com: “And with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook doing the heavy lifting on offense, it’s fair to wonder if Kanter is worth anything near a max contract. But Durant’s pending free agency could certainly be a factor. Not matching the Kanter offer sheet could have been seen as the Thunder being unwilling to pay the price for competing in the Western Conference. On the other hand, matching could be seen as spending their money in the wrong place.”
Three things about the Kanter deal.
Berry Tramel: “Again, offensively, Kanter is a jewel. He ranked seventh among NBA centers in offensive real plus-minus, ahead of stars like Chris Bosh and Al Horford and Dwight Howard. So Kanter is the total package offensively. But that defense will kill you, as we learned down the stretch of the star-crossed season recently completed. That defense has to improve. Just has to. The Thunder can’t play Kanter against good teams, at least not against their starters in important games. His offense isn’t that spectacular.”
Matt Moore of CBSSports.com: “It should also be noted that the injury struggles they’ve had the past two seasons could be a blessing in disguise. Both Durant and Westbrook have seen what it’s like without the other one. Durant had to try and carry his team against the Grizzlies’ stifling defense in 2013, and learned how aggravating that can be. Westbrook put up astronomical numbers with Durant on the shelf last year, exhausting him and costing him wins, defensive energy, and the playoffs. The two probably have a greater understanding of the other’s value than they have ever shared, having had to carry the burden alone. Those things help with balancing chemistry.”
Moore on Kanter’s contract: “You know, like they didn’t with James Harden who became an MVP candidate and showed significantly better defensive principles with OKC than Kanter has, at a position that is less important defensively than Kanter is as a big man. If you consider post scoring to be vital to Oklahoma City’s success, for some reason, then the deal is fine, Kanter’s young, has upside, could theoretically improve defensively and they surrendered assets for him. If you think Kanter is a league-wide horrific defensive presence and that post scoring on the Thunder is like putting tinted windows and a spoiler on an F-22 Raptor stealth fighter, then this was a drastic overpay for a team that still has Steven Adams and Mitch McGary.”
Darnell Mayberry: “It’s possible, perhaps even probable, that the Thunder just awarded a maximum allowable contract to a player who will come off the bench. It would make Kanter the most grossly overpaid Thunder player since, well, Kendrick Perkins last season. But with Steven Adams in the mix there is no guarantee that Kanter will be a starter. There also is no guarantee Kanter will be closing lineups given the team’s depth and versatility and Kanter’s deficiencies. So where would that leave Kanter? It’ll be up to first-year coach Billy Donovan to sift through the options and figure it all out. But Kanter’s minutes next season and in subsequent seasons will be one of the most fascinating things to watch on this new deal.”
