This is cute, but also crazy.
Horford and Baynes were two of the best defensive bigs in the NBA the past couple of seasons. Both were also excellent catch and shoot guys who had range out to the three point line.
I like what Kanter brings, but he is no Horford replacement.
Kanter's Defensive RPM (-1.46) ranked 69/70 among NBA centers and 445/480 among
all NBA players:
http://www.espn.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/page/2/sort/DRPM/position/9http://www.espn.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/page/12/sort/DRPMHis Offensive RPM (-0.32, 17th among centers) was much better, but still a negative - with that offensive RPM putting him around guys like Clint Capella and Steven Adams, hardly elite offensive players.
His overall RPM (-1.78) ranks him 58th out of 70 NBA centers, which is not exactly encouraging. By comparison Al Horford overall RPM has ranked top 5 among all centers the past two seasons.
There is really no way to sugar coat this - going from Horford to Kanter is a massive, massive downgrade.
But I am OK with that, because I would rather have a 27 year old Kanter for 2 years / $9.7M and cop that downgrade rather then cripple the team by giving a 33 year old Al Horford 4 years / $109M. Considering the position Danny was put in, obtaining Kanter on the deal he got is about the best possible outcome that was available.
as for Marcus Morris was arguably our most consistent producer last year. He has his issues, but he consistently produced on both ends of the court last year, and I can't even imagine how much worse this team might have been if he wasn't on the roster. He put up good scoring numbers on efficient shooting, and also played solid defense. I like to show faith in our young guys as much as the next person, but Robert Williams has still got a hell of a lot to prove, and the other Williams has yet to play a single NBA game. So I think we should proceed with major caution before expecting either one of those guys to replace what Morris gave this team.
I'm OK with where we are for the short term given the circumstances, but I wouldn't expect that Danny is satisfied with the Roster as it is currently constructed. I expect he will be trying desperately to look for trade opportunities throughout the season to upgrade the front court, and if he fails at that then I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to utilise that Memphis pick to draft a talented young big man who can grow with Tatum and Brown moving forward.