NBA Playoffs 2012

[ceagle]

Bunniesman in this thread

 

[BunniesMan]

ceagle do you know anything about the luxury tax? Thanks to the lockout the luxury tax has got much harsher. They'll keep Durant and Westbrook but it'll be tough to keep Harden. Some team will throw silly money at him. The new CBA was designed to stop superteams.

They won't be able to keep this team together, trust me.

 

[Ridders]

Given that Harden is going to be a RFA at the end of next season, they shouldn't have any problems keeping him, if they really want to. Harden will probably get close to the max for a player coming off the rookie scale.

Ibaka is probably the one they'll let go of imo. I can just see him getting overpaid by someone.

 

[ceagle]

ceagle do you know anything about the luxury tax? Thanks to the lockout the luxury tax has got much harsher. They'll keep Durant and Westbrook but it'll be tough to keep Harden. Some team will throw silly money at him. The new CBA was designed to stop superteams.

They won't be able to keep this team together, trust me.

Thunder aren't even paying tax yet, they still have 3 mill cap space left for next season, whilst the Heat are paying 20mill in luxury tax. Sam Presti is the best GM in the NBA and has handled the Thunder's salary perfectly, and we can always amnesty Perkins if for some reason not everything goes to plan. Teams will throw silly money at him? There is a limit teams can offer Harden which is only 15 mill since he has played under 4 years. Doubt Harden leaves a dynasty at OKC to play for some bottom feeder.

Get used to it Bunniesderp, the Thunder dynasty is here for many years to come.

 

[ceagle]

Given that Harden is going to be a RFA at the end of next season, they shouldn't have any problems keeping him, if they really want to. Harden will probably get close to the max for a player coming off the rookie scale.

Ibaka is probably the one they'll let go of imo. I can just see him getting overpaid by someone.

I see the group staying together, I reckon Presti re-signs both Ibaka and Harden before the free agency, Westbrook could of gotten 18 mill if he went to the free agency but he re-signed for 15 mill this season because they are trying to keep this team together.

 

[Ridders]

I see the group staying together, I reckon Presti re-signs both Ibaka and Harden before the free agency, Westbrook could of gotten 18 mill if he went to the free agency but he re-signed for 15 mill this season because they are trying to keep this team together.

Harden I can definitely see, Ibaka I'm not sure about. It really depends on how much Ibaka's agent feels he could get in the open market.

No doubt OKC will offer Harden close to the max (if not the max) so there isn't much of a difference to how much he'd make on the open market.

But how much would OKC be willing to offer Ibaka? I doubt they could afford to have 4 max/near max players on their roster. Plus there is always the issue of big men (especially shot blocking big men) getting overpaid. If his agent feels there is a big disparity between what OKC would offer him, and what he'd potentially command on in free agency, then I could definitely see him going down that path.

I'd definitely like to see them keep the band together, as I love how they've built this team.

 

[ceagle]

Ibaka ideally shouldn't be on anymore then 9 mill comparing to other players contracts. I look at Westbrook's and Love's contract extensions this season and am optimistic Harden and Ibaka wont take OKC to the bank.

 

[Ridders]

Ibaka ideally shouldn't be on anymore then 9 mill comparing to other players contracts.

The DeAndre Jordan extension is what scares me.

4 years/$43 million for a limited big man who's main quality is being a great shot blocker.

I get the feeling that Ibaka's agent is going to use that as the basement for his expectations. It helps that Ibaka is becoming a much more heralded player (First team all defense, 2nd in DPOTY).

 

[BunniesMan]

Durant, Westbrook and Harden alone will take up 50+ million. Throw in Perkins' near 10 million. They're not keeping Ibaka and Sefolosha.

Harden staying there long term is far from certain too.

 

[Big Mick]

They'll offload Perkins before Ibaka

 

[andrew057]

They'll offload Perkins before Ibaka

Spot on.

Durant, Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka will be the core for years to come. Scary for the rest of the NBA

 

[Tiger Hawk]

LOL @ BunniesMan talking like he has any idea. Harden and Ibaka are both due for extensions this summer. Assume Harden is extended for the max and Ibaka isn't - they can still sign and trade him next year or extend him next year - or offer a qualifying offer and then match any other teams' offer, and delay a long term commitment til the 2014 summer. Plus they can amnesty any of their existing players with Perkins being most likely. Then they have other players that are expendable - Sefolosha, Maynor, Aldrich etc. The next TV contract kicks in 2015 (I think), so they may also roll the dice and hope the salary cap / luxury tax line are increased as a result. In short, they have plenty of options but this group is into the Finals this year and will be back next year no matter what.

And don't forget, guys like Sefolosha and Collison have been treated very well by the Thunder with getting a lot of money up front in previous contract extensions - these are also guys that realise their limitations and just want to win. Wouldn't be surprised if they accept minimum (or near minimum) level contracts to stay a part of the group, if the Thunder do keep their four core players together.

 

[betcats]

Spot on.

Durant, Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka will be the core for years to come. Scary for the rest of the NBA

Disagree, its more then likely they will lose one of Ibaka or Harden.

Edit: This is assuming the owner doesn't want to pay the luxury tax.

 

[betcats]

Ibaka ideally shouldn't be on anymore then 9 mill comparing to other players contracts. I look at Westbrook's and Love's contract extensions this season and am optimistic Harden and Ibaka wont take OKC to the bank.

Harden will get a Max deal or very close to it from someone imo.

 

[Valheru]

ceagle do you know anything about the luxury tax? Thanks to the lockout the luxury tax has got much harsher. They'll keep Durant and Westbrook but it'll be tough to keep Harden. Some team will throw silly money at him. The new CBA was designed to stop superteams.

They won't be able to keep this team together, trust me.

I am hearing that if push comes to shove they will get rid of Westbrook rather than harden.

Massive game today with pressure pressure pressure on the Heat. One would think the Celts will win at home but they seem to like to make life hard and I can see a game 7 occurring. A massive lol if the Heat doesn’t get past the Celts. This team was built to get past Boston because LeBron knows he can’t do it himself. They did it last year only to lose in the finals, I can’t wait for the meltdown if they fail to reach the finals this year.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

Heat lead 14-12, but f**k they look ordinary still. Making some horrible shots and getting killed in transition.

 

[ByRd]

Heat have just been hitting their outside shots early on and lead by 8 near the end of the first, they won't keep this up all game. Like you said they have to get back in transition earlier

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

They led 8-4 by using good ball movement to create open shots and then they attempted (mainly Wade) 3-4 horrible shots that the Celtics took advantage of in transition.

That's been the problem with the Heat all series. They build some momentum and do some good things, but then when it starts to turn they make it worse by trying to come up with miracle shots to get that momentum back.

 

[ByRd]

Lebron has had a great start and the only reason why the heat are in front, Wade especially has to pick it up cause you know Boston will come fighting back and this game will go down to the wire

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

Lebron 10/11 shooting, but still can't hit his free throws.