Shams: Durant Traded To The Houston Rockets

[Celtics4ever]

MIA has garbage assets as I see it.    They never had a chance from the beginning for Durant and I love it.

[aefgogreen]

That's actually not bad at all for Houston unless you were super duper high on Jalen Green's ceiling. 5 second round picks but only one first rounder given up. Houston gets a lot better with a legit scoring option, and KD doesn't have to be a #1 or even a #2 there most nights.

If this isn't proof that the league should do away with the second round, I don't know what is.  People argue that they are assets to be added to a trade.  But if you have to give five of them to go along with an all star caliber player, a starter, and a lottery pick, it's not really much of an asset.  Thank you for coming to my Theodore talk.

[Vermont Green]

Durant will be 37 by the start of next season.  He has averaged 52 games over the last 6 seasons with a high of 75.  I don't think Durant holds up well enough to take a team through the playoffs.  I think time will favor PHX in this trade.

[JBcat]

Durant will be 37 by the start of next season.  He has averaged 52 games over the last 6 seasons with a high of 75.  I don't think Durant holds up well enough to take a team through the playoffs.  I think time will favor PHX in this trade.

Maybe, but Jalen Green is not a good player. His usage may go down with other shooting guards and better players Booker and Beal on the team, not to mention Dillion Brooks and Grayson Allen. I don?t know how they will make it all fit. The roster is really wonky now and they can?t really compete. There needs to be another shoe to drop with a trade for them.

[celticsclay]

That's actually not bad at all for Houston unless you were super duper high on Jalen Green's ceiling. 5 second round picks but only one first rounder given up. Houston gets a lot better with a legit scoring option, and KD doesn't have to be a #1 or even a #2 there most nights.

What two players could Durant be behind for scoring most nights? I feel like I am missing something. Outside of Green who is gone, their leading scorer was Sengun at 19. For him to be the third option he would be behind someone like Fred Van Fleet or Amen Thompson. Even if he has lost a step I don't really get how he would be behind those guys.

[celticsclay]

MIA has garbage assets as I see it.    They never had a chance from the beginning for Durant and I love it.

They reportedly just refused to include them including Jovic, Ware and JJ jr. They definitely had the assets to get him if they wanted to.

[Phantom255x]

That's actually not bad at all for Houston unless you were super duper high on Jalen Green's ceiling. 5 second round picks but only one first rounder given up. Houston gets a lot better with a legit scoring option, and KD doesn't have to be a #1 or even a #2 there most nights.

What two players could Durant be behind for scoring most nights? I feel like I am missing something. Outside of Green who is gone, their leading scorer was Sengun at 19. For him to be the third option he would be behind someone like Fred Van Fleet or Amen Thompson. Even if he has lost a step I don't really get how he would be behind those guys.

I meant more like during the regular season. Durant doesn't have to exert himself a ton and could have nights where he an put up 20 while someone like Sengun and/or Thompson puts up 20+. I personally think Sengun right now is better than KD when you factor in defense and age. If Thompson takes a step then he's in the conversation.

I'm mainly saying it based on Durant's recent impact with Phoenix (which wasn't there) and his age. Obviously if this were Durant from 5 years ago it's a completely different story.

[Moranis]

Kevin O'Connor says Cavs had Garland in trade offer for Durant. If that is true the Suns are complete and utter morons.

[Who]

Kevin O'Connor says Cavs had Garland in trade offer for Durant. If that is true the Suns are complete and utter morons.

That would have been huge for Cleveland.

G: D Mitchell, Ty Jerome
G: M Strus, S Merrill
F: K Durant, D Hunter
F: E Mobley, Dean Wade
C: Jarrett Allen

That team would have been a monster.

[Moranis]

Kevin O'Connor says Cavs had Garland in trade offer for Durant. If that is true the Suns are complete and utter morons.

That would have been huge for Cleveland.

G: D Mitchell, Ty Jerome
G: M Strus, S Merrill
F: K Durant, D Hunter
F: E Mobley, Dean Wade
C: Jarrett Allen

That team would have been a monster.

Yes. Pure win now trade for them and Garland is a mid 20's all star that plays PG, a position the Suns badly need.  Green + 10 is likely never going to be better than Garland.  If that was truly on the table, the Suns are even more idiotic than they appear.

[Who]

"I believe he wanted to have his young team grow, but something happened the last few weeks," said Brian Windhorst. "Ime Udoka, who had him in his Brooklyn -- Royal Ivey is on his staff -- he was his teammate at Texas. He wanted him. He went to ownership and front office and said 'Can we can get Kevin Durant? Get him.'"

So Ime had a big role in pushing for Durant. I did not remember Ime coaching (assistant coach) Durant in Brooklyn. So there is a pre-existing relationship there.

And a nice connection with Royal Ivey too. Rockets assistant coach and former teammate of Durant at OKC. I don't think they were teammates at college. Looks like Ivey graduated in 2004. Durant was there in 2007. Same school though. 

Two factors proved decisive in the Rockets' change of direction. First was Udoka's strong advocacy for the move. Second was the surprisingly reasonable asking price.

"Another thing was they also couldn't say no to the price. The price was just so low they just couldn't say no. It's meant to say look what they still have on their roster. So they now have optionality. They can say 'let's keep letting Amen Thompson develop. Let's keep letting Jabari Smith. By the way, they love Tari Eason there. He can be the guy that replaces Dillon Brooks as that key defender.

The trade allows Houston to pursue multiple paths simultaneously. They've added a proven superstar in Durant while retaining young talent that can either continue developing or be used in future transactions.

"Now they can get Kevin Durant and get themselves better," explained Windhorst. "And still have these pieces that they can keep or trade. The Rockets had this happen because Kevin Durant controlled this process."