The potential price to buy Kevin Durant is not what the Raptors should care about most, argues Scott Stinson of The National Post, who says determining whether Durant would really be motivated and invested in playing in Toronto should be the most important factor. for key team decision makers.
As Stinson writes, Durant’s motivation to ask for a change in Brooklyn is still a bit nebulous, mostly because he just signed a four-year extension last August. That should worry vice president and president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri, because dealing with a superstar who might not be committed or be on the same page as the club could be disastrous, according to Stinson.
Making parallels between the change of Ujiri for Kawhi Leonard in the low season of 2018 with the draw for Durant now makes no sense, according to Stinson, because the situations are not similar.
Leonard was coming off an injury that caused him to miss most of the 2017/18 season, had an expiring contract and the Raptors teams led by Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan had had enough time to advance to the East, but they were able to “Not to beat LeBron James. The Raptors finished second in the East in the two years after Leonard left Toronto, so obviously the team remained competitive and did not mortgage their future to acquire him. writes Stinson.
During, however, he has four years of business left, so it will obviously cost a lot more to land him, plus the current version of the Raptors is up, with Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes, Gary Trent Jr. and Precious Achiuwa among the new additions who made major contributions to a team that improved their total wins from 27 to 48. Getting rid of an emerging core just so Durant would resist the idea of staying could put Toronto in a hole that would be hard to get out of, Stinson says.
Here are more things about the Atlantic:
- Could a minor role in the Celtics benefit Malcolm Brogdon from a health perspective? “The blow he got out of college is that he had terrible knees,” a rival CEO told Heavy.com’s Steve Bulpett. “I mean, some of the exams were really suspicious in terms of how long your lower body could withstand NBA beatings. That’s why it ended up going into the second round, because it was close to the red flag. So that the fact is that it’s probably better to get off the bench with limited minutes, trying to be impactful at 18 instead of trying to play 30 and always be injured. The question is how will he accept that. ” Boston considers Brogdon as a sixth man, and shortly after the deal was announced he said he is motivated to win a championship and is willing to sacrifice his individual stats to improve the team.
- De’Anthony Melton believes he’s a “perfect” for the Sixers, writes Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscriber link). “Once I saw the team, I said,‘ Okay, this is a great place, ’” Melton told The Inquirer by phone last week. “That suits me really well.… I understand what this team needs. I understand what this team is trying to do. I’m ready for the job I have. I’m ready for whatever comes.” Melton was acquired by the Grizzlies in exchange for No. 23 pick (David Roddy) and Danny Green in a draft day exchange.
- The signing of free agent Jalen Brunson was a solid move for the Knicks, but they still look like a play team on paper, says Ian O’Connor of The New York Post. According to O’Connor, while Brunson is a good player and the best base the Knicks will hire in years to come, neither he nor RJ Barrett nor Julius Randle are capable of being the best – or second best – players in a league caliber. . team, and unless something drastic changes, New York will start in 2022/23 as “another irrelevant club.”