All Things Ayton

[Kryptonic]

I don’t think Monty failed with DA from a basketball perspective but it sure seems like he did on a personal level. He did not get DA to put his feelings aside and give max effort this year. DA was obviously salty about how the RFA process played out, despite the outcome, and the whole management team failed in smoothing that over. Not absolving DA. Dude got a max contract and loafed through the year, which is inexcusable.

Interesting that 40% of our starting lineup from our finals team is going to leave on really bad terms with Monty.

Totally agree on that... Kinda wonder if it was something that just kinda got pushed aside because we were going through ownership change; which I'm sure didn't help contract negotiations.

[JeremyG]

I don’t think Sarver thought he was going to have to sell the team until the negotiations with Cam Johnson.

[Drewsprocket]

I think Monty was part of what drew KD to us. I would not f with that formula but agree that he needs some support with x’s and o’s. I hope we fix the roster over the summer and give Monty time to grow here. It’s not like Spo or Lue are going to be available to us.

[Flagrant Fowl]

Firing Monty without a plan in place is the single dumbest move Ishbia could make this summer. I don't want to be in a situation competing for a head coach against the Bucks and Raptors.

They need to re-work the roster without Paul (and maybe Ayton) and evaluate the results.

[Charlie Smithy!]

And (admittedly arguably), a dumb move has already been made by Ishbia.

[Flagrant Fowl]

The draft picks are tough to swallow (fuck you, Danny Ainge), but this team would be in the exact same position or worse if they didn't make the trade for KD.

[Charlie Smithy!]

Out of curiosity, and I don't mean this loaded, but what does the compare and contrast look like for you in regards to present-day Mikal Bridges vis a vis Kevin Durant, at his age?

[Mori Chu]

Out of curiosity, and I don't mean this loaded, but what does the compare and contrast look like for you in regards to present-day Mikal Bridges vis a vis Kevin Durant, at his age?

I love Mikal Bridges, but Kevin Durant was a way, way better shooter and scorer from the moment he began his NBA career. Maybe if you just look at Mikal's Nets PPG vs Durant's Suns PPG they'd be similar, but that is a facile comparison that doesn't match the eye test.

I do understand and sympathize with the idea that the present-day version of Mikal, plus the expectation of how well he'll play for the next 5-10 years, may exceed the total value KD will bring to us in the next few years before he fades.

[Split T]

The draft picks are tough to swallow (fuck you, Danny Ainge), but this team would be in the exact same position or worse if they didn't make the trade for KD.

We’d still need to make a move and the only thing we might have is more leverage if Mikal continued his upward trajectory.

Basically we could tell Brooklyn to take Mikal, CamJ and 1 1st…or something like that.

[Flagrant Fowl]

Out of curiosity, and I don't mean this loaded, but what does the compare and contrast look like for you in regards to present-day Mikal Bridges vis a vis Kevin Durant, at his age?

I love Mikal Bridges, but Kevin Durant was a way, way better shooter and scorer from the moment he began his NBA career. Maybe if you just look at Mikal's Nets PPG vs Durant's Suns PPG they'd be similar, but that is a facile comparison that doesn't match the eye test.

I do understand and sympathize with the idea that the present-day version of Mikal, plus the expectation of how well he'll play for the next 5-10 years, may exceed the total value KD will bring to us in the next few years before he fades.

Agreed with all of this, and for some more context, Durant won the MVP in his age 24 season. Mikal is 26 now and will be lucky to get All-NBA consideration at any point in his career.

[JeremyG]

The draft picks are tough to swallow (fuck you, Danny Ainge), but this team would be in the exact same position or worse if they didn't make the trade for KD.

We’d still need to make a move and the only thing we might have is more leverage if Mikal continued his upward trajectory.

Basically we could tell Brooklyn to take Mikal, CamJ and 1 1st…or something like that.

We had some great assets (picks, expirings) to make a move or two at the deadline without giving up any rotation players. So it didn’t have to be either Durant or the team we had.

[JeremyG]

I think Monty was part of what drew KD to us. I would not f with that formula but agree that he needs some support with x’s and o’s. I hope we fix the roster over the summer and give Monty time to grow here. It’s not like Spo or Lue are going to be available to us.

He also wanted Steve Nash as his coach at one point.

[Flagrant Fowl]

Ehh.. the picks aren't that great unless there's an injury disaster or something. Sarver is gone and he was probably the biggest roadblock to sustained competitiveness.

I'm always going to be onboard with acquiring an All-NBA player, so unless there was another deal out there (doesn't seem like it), shuffling around role players wasn't going to change the outcome this season.

[Flagrant Fowl]

I think Monty was part of what drew KD to us. I would not f with that formula but agree that he needs some support with x’s and o’s. I hope we fix the roster over the summer and give Monty time to grow here. It’s not like Spo or Lue are going to be available to us.

He also wanted Steve Nash as his coach at one point.

I don't know how far I'd go with that. Sean Marks and Nash are best buds, I think KD just wants to be around basketball junkies, and Nash is one of the smartest players of his generation. There were obviously some flaws in Nets approach, but I'm not subscribing to KD mistakenly picking bad coaches or something.

[Split T]

The draft picks are tough to swallow (fuck you, Danny Ainge), but this team would be in the exact same position or worse if they didn't make the trade for KD.

We’d still need to make a move and the only thing we might have is more leverage if Mikal continued his upward trajectory.

Basically we could tell Brooklyn to take Mikal, CamJ and 1 1st…or something like that.

We had some great assets (picks, expirings) to make a move or two at the deadline without giving up any rotation players. So it didn’t have to be either Durant or the team we had.

Ya we could’ve done something else…I don’t think it could’ve raised the ceiling of the team like a Durant trade though.

[JeremyG]

I think Monty was part of what drew KD to us. I would not f with that formula but agree that he needs some support with x’s and o’s. I hope we fix the roster over the summer and give Monty time to grow here. It’s not like Spo or Lue are going to be available to us.

He also wanted Steve Nash as his coach at one point.

I don't know how far I'd go with that. Sean Marks and Nash are best buds, I think KD just wants to be around basketball junkies, and Nash is one of the smartest players of his generation. There were obviously some flaws in Nets approach, but I'm not subscribing to KD mistakenly picking bad coaches or something.

That wasn’t the point I was trying to make. I just meant that KD might be ok with moving on from a coach he liked.

[Flagrant Fowl]

I think Monty was part of what drew KD to us. I would not f with that formula but agree that he needs some support with x’s and o’s. I hope we fix the roster over the summer and give Monty time to grow here. It’s not like Spo or Lue are going to be available to us.

He also wanted Steve Nash as his coach at one point.

I don't know how far I'd go with that. Sean Marks and Nash are best buds, I think KD just wants to be around basketball junkies, and Nash is one of the smartest players of his generation. There were obviously some flaws in Nets approach, but I'm not subscribing to KD mistakenly picking bad coaches or something.

That wasn’t the point I was trying to make. I just meant that KD might be ok with moving on from a coach he liked.

Got it.

[virtual9mm]

I'm done with Ayton, I'm done with CP3, I could be done with KD. Just rebuild a team around Booker/Jordan.

[virtual9mm]

Oh, I'm done with Monty as well.

[Split T]

I'm done with Ayton, I'm done with CP3, I could be done with KD. Just rebuild a team around Booker/Jordan.

Michael?