Harden trade was bad (for Thunder), but how about?

Hey @BigO

 

Took a gamble...if he stays, well worth it

 

Dipo and Sabonis wouldn’t have been ballin in OKC like they are in Indy

Dipo was seen as a bad contract, and Sabonis seen as a low upside rookie

I would still rather have Paul George than either of those 2, but if PG leaves then yeah, it will be a bad trade

the Harden trade is 1 of the worst of all time, very few trades can compare to it...praise be to Presti for gifting us an MVP

 

We'll see how the PG thing will end, personally, i don't think Presti has been as good of a gm as a lot of people think, especially in terms of trades, the only good one/s he did was with the Bulls but the Bulls are a laughable organization so...

 

Its up there with the kobe trade and the dirk trade. Thing is that those were draft day trades. Okc had harden for 3 years so they shouldve known

 

But do you remember how they got them in the first place?

Serge Ibaka with expiring contract. Magic's executives are much worse, remind me of them letting Shaq walk, and sending TMAC to us almost for free(Stevie and Mobley weren't even near TMAC's level before the trade).

Overall Sam Presti has been good, but one big mistake cost them a dynasty.

 

Presti mostly lucked into striking gold with his draft picks. Most of his other moves have been shaky.

Drafted Durant, Ibaka, Westbrook, Harden, Jeff Green, Reggie Jackson. Keep that group together for 5-10 years and you are probably going to win a championship at some point through sheer talent alone.

Somehow he couldn’t leave well enough alone. Kendrick Perkins? Really?

 

and they let Harden go for such a small amount of money...they could’ve kept all 3 of them together

only a championship could make me get over that trade if I were an OKC fan...we had never seen anything like them...3 guys drafted in succession that were running the West and making the finals in their early 20’s...they were so exciting to watch back then, now all they have is Russ

 

ownership forced him to trade Harden. Harden wanted $60 million, owner didn't want to pay luxury tax and most they want to offer was $56 million.

All for $4 million was a different between the greatest dynasty EVER to 7th place every year and the highest pay roll next year(if they sign PG13)

 

Speaking of worst trades(best trade on the other side):

1. 1975 Lakers got Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, second best player all-time at his prime, with 3 scrubs and an all-star.
2. 1976 Lakers got two 1st round pick(including one that became Magic later) with a 1st and 2nd round pick(both turns out to be scrubs).
3. 1980 Lakers got Cavs 1982 1st round pick(which became James Worthy) with two scrubs and a 1st round pick
4. 1968 Lakers got 31-year-old Wilt Champlain with two all stars
5. 1996 Lakers signed Shaquille Oneil as an FA because Magic doesn't want to pay him
6. 1996 Lakers traded Divac for Kobe

As a summary, Lakers used 3 low-level all-star and a bunch of scrubs and got Magic, Kareem, Champlain, Shaq, Kobe and Worthy in return.

 

1

Who is Wilt Champlain? Can he play?

 

What’s funny is at the time of the trade it wasn’t seen as a bad deal at all. It was a fair trade for both with Houston seen as taking a “risk” on a young player. (Never was there real risk). Turned into one of the most lopsided trades ever.

The PG13 trade looked like a frickin steal and complete underpayment. Indiana was laughed at.

Turns out Indiana could end up being the runaway victors here.

Crazy circumstances really.

 

Presti always gets destroyed in trades, the only reason he's seen as a competent GM by some is that he did a good job drafting when his team was tanking providing him with really high draft picks year after year.

As of now, the Thunder are screwed, they are stuck with Westbrick long term and no one will want to go there to play primarily because Westbrick is a terrible teammate that ends up making everyone around him worse, but also due to OKC being in the middle of nowhere.

 

KD and Westbrook wanted Harden to continue to be a top scorer coming off the bench. They/organization wanted to keep him down - know your place.

Notice that most OKC players find more success post-thunder. The organization is not run right.

 

I don't see this as evidence that Presti is a bad GM or anything, to expand on @James.B.H's point,

Serge Ibaka to Orlando for Sabonis and Oladipo
Oladipo and Sabonis to Indiana for PG

He basically turned 40 cents into a dollar, and then turned that dollar into 80 cents. Ibaka for PG is a pretty damn good swap.

Presti also drafted Adams with our 1st back in 2013, yes Giannis was available, but Adams is arguably the second best player from that draft class. He also picked up Roberson with the 23rd pick that year. If Bannon wasn't so cheap then OKC easily had a dynasty on their hands instead of having to go all in for one year to win 48 games and lose in the second round.

Imagine if Balmer bought the Sonics instead of Bannon, we would have a Sonics dynasty on our hands.

Or maybe Harden was the worst player of the three at the time because he was a year younger and less experienced than KD and Russ.

 

Presti can't find a competent coach yet

 

I think he can find another duo or trio of stars but they prolly won't win it all. Given time.

 

Kind of tired of the Westbrook hate. I know he isn't our guy, but good lord at least he isn't a cupcake like Kevin Durant.

And let's be honest, as painful as it is to hear, In SAS game 6 I sure wish JH13 had a little bit more Westbrook in him. The media has largely driven and manipulated all Clutchfans into hating Westbrook, but man what an unbelievable talent to watch. He and Durant were soooooo close to taking out the 73 win Warriors and I'd love to see OKC/GSW in the 1st or 2nd round.

 

I was one of those who was laughing at Indy and thought they got fleeced, I thought they were fools to not wait and see what Boston was going to offer after signing Hayward

you’re right about the Harden trade not being seen as terrible right when it happened, but the minute Harden touched down in Houston and dropped 37 and 45 in his 1st 2 games people looked at Presti like