- Do they get stronger this year with the acquisition of Martin and Lamb? - Do they get weaker this year and hence fall behind the Lakers? Short term loser but long term winner? Or does it depend on what they do at the 2013 trade deadline with Martin's contract + Toronto pick?
Lakers will be the better team the next 2 years. Heat v. Lakers for the next 2 years. Stern is leaving with a BANG.
The Thunder have to re-evaluate how to use their lineup/rotations now. Harden was a HUGE part of that team. Now he is gone and more play-making and distributing falls on Westbrook. Can he handle it? His assist numbers and playmaking for teammates fell off dramatically last year. Harden took over part of that role, and he is gone. Martin does not fill that playmaker role. He is a scorer, and scorer only. It will be interesting to see how it works. I thought the Thunder were the team to beat out West but the Lakers just got closer in that mix. They both are now going to learn on the fly about chemistry and make up of the team.
Martin is going to be great for them this year. They can let his contract expire, too, and focus on developing Lamb next year.
Thunder, considering Harden was not their best player (or second best) will still be a contender. But think about this: They, no matter how well they play, will have some options with the lotto picks, Lamb, PJIII, Ibaka, Durant, Westbrook. That is a solid team now and an even better team in the future. They have to TRY HARD to mess that up. They are contenders for the next 10 years, IMO. Although, they lost an edge losing Harden (because Harden > Kmart). They have picked up some NICE pieces.
pretty much nothing this year. we will see next year depending if lamb will turn out great or if raptors will give okc the lottery pick
If only there was a player that had commercials and earned a max contract coming off the bench that Presti could use as an example....
Agree with you, but the trade makes them weaker this season. I'm not totally sold on the Lakers makes the Finals yet if they don't improve their bench some. Next year, they could be worse.
I think it hurts OKC more then it hurts the Rockets OKC are contenders and lose that chemistry of Harden/Westbrook/Durant and Martin dont play D and Lamb is a wait and see still ..gotta alot of picks though
Artest does a pretty decent job of keeping him in check. He uses his strength to push him out of his spots. It was Harden that Lakers had the most problem with last year, if I recall correctly.
True 2 years ago, but not so much last year. Durant improved his driving ability so Artest was too slow last year. And Harden was a little disappointing in that series.
Martin's defense and liabilities will be exposed come playoff time. The post-season and 7 game series does on thing, it exposes players weaknesses even great players like Durant and Westbrook. It really depends on Lamb, Ibaka and maybe PJ3 and how good they can be when it comes to future. As for the draft picks, we'll see...those are big ifs at this moment and nothing to depend on. They could get it unprotected in 2018 and any thing could have happened by then.
Actually KD destroyed the Lakers in the playoffs. Unlike a couple of years ago, Artest can't really guard him anymore. WB was stellar and completely embarrassed Ramon Sessions. Harden struggled and didn't play well.
The trade hurts them. I always thought Harden was the best creator on offense for them. Westbrook and Durant are scorers first. Harden was a creator. He might been the sixth man but he had no problem closing games for them. He was their Manu.
