Hard to say since Ryno would still have 2 years left and Melo only 1, however they can't just trade Melo anywhere. He has the no trade clause and I would think Melo would have a pretty small list of who he'd want to get traded to. It'd be pretty interesting, but since both teams are over the cap, I don't think we can take Melo's salary without dumping another contract, that would have to go to a 3rd team since obviously it wouldn't make sense for them to take in more salary besides Ryno. And who would we want to throw into the deal to make the salary work? It would have to be like a Tucker or Ariza which obviously we're not doing. I would have to say it won't happen, and it was easier for the NY trade since they had the salary cap to absorb the salaries, which OKC doesn't.
Not sure, the only thing i would definitely entertain with them at this point is a swap for George, not for Melo, he can stay there and enjoy his money. At this point, after this season Ryan will have two years left on his contract and he'll be a decent contract to move for an eventual big trade, which is the only thing we can do to get another big player apparently.
Due to trade matching rules, I believe Ryno's cap hit is enough to match Melo's salary. Would you do the deal if no other major pieces were involved? With the cap stagnating relative to 2016, cap space is at a premium. I don't see a point in time where Ryno's contract will be a positive asset, especially since he's been relegated to a situational player with us. As for getting a "big player", PJ, Gordon, plus our ancillary pieces (Onuaku, Nash, Qi) is enough to allow us to get back $30 MM in a trade. Plus, all of these players are neutral to positive assets, unlike Ryno.
@joshuaao well, i didn't mean Ryan's contract is a good asset obviously, just a good contract to move for a big salary, sure, you can move EG and PJ, but that doesn't necessarily upgrade your roster unless you get back Lebron or Kawhi. I would obviously love to get the best player available, but this might not be possible, if that's going to be the case, i would be ok if we can still get a very good player to upgrade the roster without losing guys like Gordon and PJ.
but apparently the thunder have some type of switch that will make them unstoppable in the playoffs, i hope all these media members eat crow when the thunder get bounced in the first round
Westbrook honestly reminds me of Iversom back in the day in the way that both players function better as a one man wrecking crew than with players who can help him with the offensive load. The Thunder just needs to build an elite defense around Russ and roll with that because no current All Star in his right mind would want to come to OKC to be sucked into that black hole
The Thunder could have easily beat the Spurs using the PnR with Adams. When Gasol and LMA (with a bum knee) is on the floor and you don't deliberately and maliciously try to get them to switch is just dumb. All these systems, with the elaborate motions, and back picks, trying to get people open shots, and the best play is a simple PnR. Media looking at the Rockets "system" like it is revolutionary stuff. It's like 3 plays and Harden, CP and EG going to work against mismatches.
Something that a lot of people (especially the media) have yet to address is Westbrook's usage rate in the playoffs. For the past few years Durant always had a lower usage rate than Westbrook, even though Durant is a significantly bigger threat on the offense. Even in terms of overall FGA, Westbrook practically takes the same amount of shots as Durant. PG has somewhat of a consistent reputation of stepping up in the playoffs, but if Westbrook continues his current style of play, PG will end up getting underutilized in the post season. Even if OKC has a "switch" they can turn on, it won't matter if Westbrook takes 25 shots whilst PG is standing around giving you an efficient but underutilized 8-12 shooting performance.
Sad part is also that this guy will probably end up in the hall of fame just because of the triple double season lol
Let's rest our guys and play them against OKC. If we beat OKC next week, we can stick it to Melo and Russ and knock them out of the 8th seat.
Russ took 32 shots to score 33 points while PG took 12 shots in a little over 41 minutes in yet another OKC L man, if I were a star, there’s no way in hell I’d want to play with Westbrook...I’d be pissed if I only got 12 shots while our “PG” missed 20
