Harden did play at SF for the Thunder a lot, especially when Green was traded. He basically got Green's SF off the bench minutes. Also, Durant got most of Green's PF minutes, which opened up even more room at SF. But one thing has to be said there: it's pretty obvious that OKC cooled down on Green and valued Harden higher at the time. The original Perkins trade was supposed to be for Harden, but OKC backed out. I think if Green doesn't get traded, Harden takes many of his minutes anyway. I agree with the statement that the trade sucked for both teams, btw. Especially the part where they rushed and signed Perkins to a big deal. Though I'd say it's all part of a bigger screw up that started with the Tyson Chandler (non)trade, then went to Aldrich lottery pick and ended up with overpaying Perkins. Just one big fustercluck.
Maybe it is rocket science to you. Ask any OKC follower at the time. Just like with Perkins now, everybody blasted Coach Bonehead for overusing Jeff Green. It was ridiculous. It was long past time to start Ibaka and bring Green off the bench. But his precious pet player had to be protected. Regarding Harden, position had nothing to do with it and playing time only slightly. Jeff Green was the "go to" guy on the 2nd unit. It all revolved around him. When Green was gone, Harden took over as the lead dog on the 2nd unit and the rest is history. Another thing: Green had flatlined/declined his 3rd year. People wondered if his horrible showing against the Lakers in the playoffs was a fluke. It wasn't. He was a huge disappointment in year 3. WB blew past Green and left him in the dust to become OKC's 2nd best player. Green was a liability on the floor. This is context of the trade. You post proves you are making a lot of assumptions based on knowing nothing about their team.
the only hope is that we trade some combination of Green, Sullinger, Lee, Melo, Barbosa, pu pu platter for Demarcus Cousins, then Bradley comes back and it's beast mode.
This is what happens when you lose key pieces (Perkins, Allen) who made major contributions. Same thing happened to Lakers after they lost Odom and Fisher.
It's amazing how bad the East conference is. Even the worst teams in the West blow out the East playoffs teams.
Should've kept BB Davis, Perkins, Tony Allen. But Ainge had to get greedy and trade for a fail Jeff Green.
So... anyone else thinks that Kevin McHale is lobbying Les and Morey to buy himself a Garnett from the potential Boston firesale?
I hate it how when teams like the Celtics are struggling, they would make an excuse for it and when Avery Bradley first game back, they believe he would be the answer to all of their problems.
That he could waive. Certainly beats getting Gasol for 2 years. Rockets would immediately leap into contention, and still be in play for Love/Aldridge free agency.
