Last time Durant was out for any extended period of time, they missed the playoffs by just a hair. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them miss the playoffs once again considering the emergent field in the Western Conference. Of last year's playoff teams, none are projected to fall off while UTH and MIN will be better than .500 teams this season. Needless to say, the competition will be stiff...and Westbrook is always combustible....
That being said, how likely is it that we can package players to OKC to get their first round pick from them? Though they may be wounded, I doubt that Presti stands pat especially if Westbrook gives him any indication that he would like to stick around. I wonder how far does a Lance Thomas (and/or Derrick Williams) sign and trade gets us for a pick swap in 2017 or 2018.
OKC just unloaded Ibaka for a nice package of youngins and lost KD in free agency. I don't think they're going to let anyone near those draft picks. I'd be more curious if we can put together a deal for Westbrook around the deadline to get the upper hand next summer.
I suppose that the Westbrook market is handicapped by virtue of him being an impending free agent. But I still think we can't return anything of value the Thunder other than KP, which would be the dumbest decision Phil has made (and he's accrued a pretty impressive list of them since being here). I just don't see any iteration where we could field a competitive offer for Westbrook, nor would I want to. People complain about players putting up empty numbers but conveniently omit a guy like Westbrook because he played next to a HOF. Without Durant, I suspect that Westbrook will get badly exposed as such and I wouldn't want that type of cancer around a guy like KP.
NardDogNation wrote:I suppose that the Westbrook market is handicapped by virtue of him being an impending free agent. But I still think we can't return anything of value the Thunder other than KP, which would be the dumbest decision Phil has made (and he's accrued a pretty impressive list of them since being here). I just don't see any iteration where we could field a competitive offer for Westbrook, nor would I want to. People complain about players putting up empty numbers but conveniently omit a guy like Westbrook because he played next to a HOF. Without Durant, I suspect that Westbrook will get badly exposed as such and I wouldn't want that type of cancer around a guy like KP.
...What? Is this Westbrook the same triple double machine who wants to tear off the rim every chance he can? There isn't a single team that wouldn't want Westbrook on their team.
