Will this be the year the Harden trade pays dividends for OKC? Tonight's Stats vs Dallas: Jeremy Lamb 19 pts, 11 rbs, 4 ast, 3 st, 1 bl Steven Adams 19 pts, 5 rbs, 4 st , 3 bl (8-9 shots, 3-3 fts)
Until I see Lamb or Adamns on an all-star roster, I'm going to say we made out like bandits in this trade. Whether either player can become competent rotation or even starter really doesn't matter to me. For OKC they matter. But for the Rockets, Harden is a 1st team All-NBA locked into a deal that will soon make him underpaid even by max-money standpoint.
Rockets won this trade hands down. However, if OKC wins a championship this year, they can make the same claim.
Would OKC have won a championship by now if they kept harden? How close would the rockets be to a championship if they kept lamb and that pick?
Nobody knows, but after watching Harden blow up in Houston, it's obvious they should have kept him and amnestied Perkins. If Presti had a do over, he would have given Harden the $58 million instead of digging in at $52 or 54 million. No Harden, no Howard, no improvement. On the upside, McHale probably would have been fired by now.
If Lamb can put up all star numbers later in his career hes gonna show the world hes on a young tracy mcgrady level
No way is that worth it for okc. We made out like bandits robbing a bank litterally. Lamb has given them nothing more than garbage minutes and Stevens at best is a robin Lopez type center. Anytime u get a guy who makes first team all NBA at age 24 and hasn't hit his prime yet, you've won. Let alone getting that for spare parts. James harden is a legit top 10 player in the league so unless we traded Lebron or KD for him we won the trade by a land slide. Plus harden attracted howard to our team. Kevin Martin lamb and Stevens doesn't even attract allstar talent let alone hof talent.
Not really sure why someone has to "win" the trade, why can't they both win? Harden wasn't recognized as a superstar when the Rox traded him for him, at the time some people viewed him the same way we viewed Parsons. Sure it is awesome now but thing is the Rox had to take a risk on that deal, if you recall OKC tried to trade Harden for Beal and the Wiz didn't want to take that risk. At the same time though it's not fair to say OKC would've won a ring with Harden because they already tried that against the Heat and they got spanked so I don't get it why A3po acts like Presti just pissed away a chance at a dynasty. The package the Rox gave them is actually at superstar value already, just look at what established superstars like KG, Pau Gasol, Shaq and Dwight Howard traded for. Obv in retrospect OKC wants Harden back instead of Steven Adams and Jeremy Lamb, but they didn't have to take a 15M per/5 year gamble like what the Rox did. More risk, more reward but it doesn't mean OKC got robbed, IMHO it was a good trade for both teams.
Hell no, Harden was already seen as a top3 SG with huge upside and a core piece for OKC, many people wanted him over Westbrook. No comparison to Parsons at all.
If he was already seen as a top 3 SG: 1) Why would OKC give him the max? 2) Why would Wiz decline to get him for Beal? To be honest if Harden was already seen as a top 3 SG there was no way he was even being traded, as Ap30 already said they could've just amnestied Perkins and kept the entire team under the tax. This is really just revisionist history on your end, he's definitely seen as a core piece but at the time I don't think there were a lot of people saying he's better than Westbrook.
Not saying he was seen as better than Westbrook, but he was considered a better piece for that team, as Westbrook and Durant don't seem to mesh too well together as a duo. Remember nearly everyone shook their heads after the trade was made official.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/V0tfBuCno_w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Lamb.
You've lost your mind. Were you even a Rockets fan when the trade was made? Harden two years was way beyond Parsons. No comparison. I also never said OKC would have won a ring or that "Presti pissed away a chance at a dynasty". Don't make stuff up out of thin air. That's a bad habit.
Actually, a "chance" at a dynasty would be a true statement. Regardless, it was a major blown call by Presti.