NBA Free Agency 🏀
...is finally here and the first big deals have been struck! Along with a few notable contract extensions (Stephen Curry 5 years, $201 M / Blake Griffin 5 years, $173 M) the biggest splash has been made by the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Situation in OKC
Being accustomed to having 2 stars in town over the last couple of years, OKC's front office is desperately trying to bring back the feeling of being relevant. Westbrook was left by Durant who wanted to play team oriented basketball, thus moving to the Golden State Warriors. Many have criticised this move, but you can't blame him after having played with Westbrook the past 7 years. While Westbrook is a deserving MVP, there is a reason KD left and decided to take his talents elsewhere- he didn't believe he could win a ring in OKC, despite having RW by his side. There is a clear reason for this: Westbrook took too many shots that KD didn't:
Over the past 4 seasons, Westbrook has taking 5.125 3 point attempts per game, connecting on 31% of his shots. Over the same timespan Durant has been wavering 5.9 3 pointers per game, hitting 39% of his attempts. This highlights the problem with Westbrook. Since the emergence of the Golden State Warriors, the NBA has turned into a 3 ball centric league. There is no way to justify Westbrook taking this many 3's despite not being a great 3 point shooter.
Can OKC win with George ?
If Westbrook and Durant couldn't bring a NBA title to OKC, what makes you think him and Paul George will be able to ?
Trading Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonic to Indiana, for a one year rental of Paul George definitely makes OKC a better team, but they have no chance of competing for a title in the star studded western conference- especially since the Houston Rockets have made the move to acquire Chris Paul from the Clippers. OKC's problem is that they don't have any excellent 3 point shooters. PG, with a 37% career 3 point average will the teams best 3 point shooter on a team that has a lot of it's cap space allocated to players who aren't great 3 point shooter by today's NBA standards. (Kanter $17M, Westbrook $26M, Gibson $9M)
What does this mean for PG13's future ?
Among other teams, the Boston Celtics were reportedly in the running to trade for Paul George, but ultimately couldn't strike a deal. Why not ? Boston's general manager Danny Ainge wasn't willing to give up any valuable assets for 1-year rental. He was only willing to make trade if George could be signed past the 2017-18 season. This suggests that George will become a free agent in 2018 and is most likely to join the Los Angeles Lakers, as he has expressed a desire to do so. LA is George's hometown and teaming up with Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Brook Lopez and perhaps Lebron James in 2018 seems like a good option.
What does this mean for the NBA ?
This trade proves a trend we have been witnessing over last 4-5 years: The Western Conference in becoming more and more dominant. This trend continues as the Eastern Conference lost 2 more stars this offseason: Jimmy Butler going from the Bulls to the Timberwolves and PG13. If there was an All-Star game today, what would the rosters potentially look like ?
East:
Kyle Lowry, Demar De Rozan, Carmelo Anthony, Kristaps Porzingis, Bradley Beal, John Wall, Isiah Thomas, Al Horford, Lebron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, Paul Millsap, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Hassan Whiteside.
While this list doesn't look too bad, the Western Conference All-Star team wouldn't have enough spots to fit every player on it:
West:
Stephen Curry, Raymond Green, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Chris Paul, James Harden, Blake Griffin, Deandre Jordan, Gordon Hayward, Rudy Gobert, Russel Westbrook, Paul George, Mike Conley, DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, Marc Gasol, Damian Lillard, Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns, Devin Booker, (Lonzo Ball).
As you can see, the weight of the conferences is tilted in the West's favour. This will make the Western Conference playoffs really competitive, the east will belong to Lebron James and Kyrie Irving. This leaves NBA commissioner Adam Silver with the question: Would it make sense to change the entire playoff format ?
In my opinion it would be a good idea to eliminate the conference system overall, and have the 16 teams with the best record enter the playoffs. This would eliminate the lopsidedness at the moment and would make the playoffs much more exciting for all NBA fans.
As for George:
I'm sorry to burst your bubble OKC fans, but this one year PG13 rental is nothing more than temporary excitement and will mean nothing if OKC's front office can't hire anymore effective 3 point shooting this offseason.
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As always,
Keep Calm and Steem On,
Chris!
P.S. Im always really interested to hear other peoples opinions coming from different fan bases!
So: Please let me know what you think!!! Comment and I'll definitely up vote 👍