Was the Durant hopes misguided?

[fairweatherfan]

The hopes WERE not misguided.

There are two fundamental flaws in the OPs argument:

1. As pointed out above, Turner would not have been resigned at the money he received from Portland. To connect his departure to the Durant sweepstakes simply isn't true.

2. Losing "a lot of talent:" In actuality, the OP doesn't list that much. What has Rozier done?  Aced Summer League? So what. Crowder is a nice role player. So is Bradley. Amir? We can easily replace him. And it's pretty clear from trade talks that other GMs aren't falling all over themselves to deal for that "lot of talent." Simply not true.

A year ago I may have agreed with parts of your assessments. Now, with the new CBA these types of players are commanding big money. A promising player like Rozier on the cheap is a GM's dream. Crowder at $8 million is an outstanding value, Bradley, he may command close to Turner's numbers when you consider someone like Rivers making $35 million for 3 years. What constitutes value is beyond normal reasoning.

Yeah, but again, what does any of that have to do with pursuing Durant?  Going after Durant did not cause us to try and trade for elite players, we would be doing this no matter what happened.

[kozlodoev]

The hopes WERE not misguided.

There are two fundamental flaws in the OPs argument:

1. As pointed out above, Turner would not have been resigned at the money he received from Portland. To connect his departure to the Durant sweepstakes simply isn't true.

2. Losing "a lot of talent:" In actuality, the OP doesn't list that much. What has Rozier done?  Aced Summer League? So what. Crowder is a nice role player. So is Bradley. Amir? We can easily replace him. And it's pretty clear from trade talks that other GMs aren't falling all over themselves to deal for that "lot of talent." Simply not true.

A year ago I may have agreed with parts of your assessments. Now, with the new CBA these types of players are commanding big money. A promising player like Rozier on the cheap is a GM's dream. Crowder at $8 million is an outstanding value, Bradley, he may command close to Turner's numbers when you consider someone like Rivers making $35 million for 3 years. What constitutes value is beyond normal reasoning.

Every promising player is cheap on their rookie contract. The new cap hasn't changed this (much).

[CoachBo]

The hopes WERE not misguided.

There are two fundamental flaws in the OPs argument:

1. As pointed out above, Turner would not have been resigned at the money he received from Portland. To connect his departure to the Durant sweepstakes simply isn't true.

2. Losing "a lot of talent:" In actuality, the OP doesn't list that much. What has Rozier done?  Aced Summer League? So what. Crowder is a nice role player. So is Bradley. Amir? We can easily replace him. And it's pretty clear from trade talks that other GMs aren't falling all over themselves to deal for that "lot of talent." Simply not true.

A year ago I may have agreed with parts of your assessments. Now, with the new CBA these types of players are commanding big money. A promising player like Rozier on the cheap is a GM's dream. Crowder at $8 million is an outstanding value, Bradley, he may command close to Turner's numbers when you consider someone like Rivers making $35 million for 3 years. What constitutes value is beyond normal reasoning.

Every promising player is cheap on their rookie contract. The new cap hasn't changed this (much).

Indeed.

So what exactly has changed?  People are wetting their pants over Rozier in the summer league, which is a meaningless exercise. We already know what Bradley and Crowder are. Amir is a few boards on the floor and matching money if Ainge ever decides to make an actual trade that benefits both clubs.

And reality is this: GMs aren't beating Ainge's door down for our players.

What all this has to do with pursuing Kevin Durant absolutely escapes me. There is no relation.

[incoherent]

There is no gamble or risk going for KD.

[chiken Green]

Personally I think we were very fortunate not to land the Glorified mental Role Player known as Kevin Durant..
The guy at one point had Wess, Ibaka and Harden on one roster and couldn't win a chip..
Their team last year had the kind of star power that we Celtic fans are fantasizing over and they did not get it done..

Could it be possible that HE is just not the guy to lead a team to a championship.. And who cares about his talent or how much YOU believe he can do it.. HE doesn't believe he can which is proven by his decision.

We dodged a bullet in my opinion.. That Cat is not a winner. 

The only reason he was worth the chase is because it Cost us nothing to do it..

 

[Alleyoopster]

Personally I think we were very fortunate not to land the Glorified mental Role Player known as Kevin Durant..
The guy at one point had Wess, Ibaka and Harden on one roster and couldn't win a chip..
Their team last year had the kind of star power that we Celtic fans are fantasizing over and they did not get it done..

Could it be possible that HE is just not the guy to lead a team to a championship.. And who cares about his talent or how much YOU believe he can do it.. HE doesn't believe he can which is proven by his decision.

We dodged a bullet in my opinion.. That Cat is not a winner. 

The only reason he was worth the chase is because it Cost us nothing to do it..

TP for the guts to say this. I thought of this and I'm sure it's been on the back of the minds of many CBers. Of all the posts I've read no one has alluded to this. Then again maybe it has been discussed.   

[Ilikesports17]

Its hard to tell exactly what we missed out on due to our KD pursuit. I think he forced us to stash Yabusele and Zizic and trade 31 and 35. He kept us from making mini-moves like trading 16 for Thad Young and stuff like that. however, ultimately when you have a chance to get a top 5 player who can immediately vault you into title contention Im more than willing to sacrifice a chance at a couple Thad Youngs even when the odds are slim.