Yeah, a “mixed return” is a bit generous. The KD/Kyrie/Harden trio got to the ECF and close, then imploded. Lakers won one and were back in the WCF last season, but Ainge let them our of jail by taking Russ and helping facilitate them collecting some help.
And I think alot more care went into crafting the Heatles - they had Ray Allen, and solid vets like Battier, Mike Miller, Rashard Lewis, etc. GSW was already a great team on home grown talent before adding KD.
I think these older stars no longer see it as punching a ticket to a ring and are less inclined to do the whole “I made my money, time to sign on for a minimum deal to get my ring”
I’m not sold on the Suns. They will be in the mix and win alot of games but there is alot of risk involved and if 35yo KD goes down or Book gets hurt (highly plausible occurances given history and/or age) they are fucked.
Still, they have acquired more decent players that it looked like they would be able to back when Beal was first brought on. They won’t be the Lakers catastrophe from 21-22, I don’t think, but will it be enough to win it all? I don’t think so.
Yeah, a “mixed return” is a bit generous. The KD/Kyrie/Harden trio got to the ECF and close, then imploded. Lakers won one and were back in the WCF last season, but Ainge let them our of jail by taking Russ and helping facilitate them collecting some help.
And I think alot more care went into crafting the Heatles - they had Ray Allen, and solid vets like Battier, Mike Miller, Rashard Lewis, etc. GSW was already a great team on home grown talent before adding KD.
I think these older stars no longer see it as punching a ticket to a ring and are less inclined to do the whole “I made my money, time to sign on for a minimum deal to get my ring”
I’m not sold on the Suns. They will be in the mix and win alot of games but there is alot of risk involved and if 35yo KD goes down or Book gets hurt (highly plausible occurances given history and/or age) they are fucked.
Still, they have acquired more decent players that it looked like they would be able to back when Beal was first brought on. They won’t be the Lakers catastrophe from 21-22, I don’t think, but will it be enough to win it all? I don’t think so.
The Nets did not go to the ECF. The Lakers had zero success with their big 3, all their success came when they were built around 2