We got Lowry for Alston and then turned Lowry into a lottery pick which turned into Harden..... That is impressive. Concerning the Raps pick being dealt for Harden, we gave up a SG no one wanted at the trade deadline last year (Martin) and a kid lottery pick, we had to throw in the lottery pick to really interest OKC at all. Furthermore I would not be surprised if the Toronto pick does not vest this season and ends up in the 8-12 range.
I think OKC could use a stretch 4..... sort of in the mold of a cough, cough.... Marcus Morris or Patrick Patterson. That way they could trade/amnesty K. Perkins and move Ibaka to the 5 which is something that has been inevitable for the longest time now.
Haha! Well...they are both...basketball players I guess. To be fair to Stevenson, he was one of those high-school guys. Those guys usually get some pretty high ceilings because you never know what you could expect from them. Either way, this does look like a weak draft. I also think the Raptors are going to give the Thunder the 8th-12th pick or something. Raps will turn it around.
Thunder won the trade, because of that pick. They would have never been able use Harden to full potencial anyway...if they use that pick to trade for Varejao or Noah they are by far best team in the NBA. If not, even in a weak draft like 2010 you still got Favors and Cousins in 3-6 range.
Maybe... The Rocket won the trade too though. It's possible this is one of the rare cases that both teams 'win' BUUUUUT.... If Martin proves that he's really not clutch, the Thunder are not making the finals. Mark my words. It took a lot (and a beard) to get past the Spurs last year...the Grizzlies, Clippers should not be slept on...the Lakers are the Lakers. I think the Thunder are a lock with Harden. They had three players that were top 5 at their position...just like the Heat. They aren't replacing Harden. Martin will play the role but I'm expecting him to get 'exposed' in the playoffs. A guy who can fill it up, but you won't want him playing at the end of games... Which means IMO the only way the Thunder win this trade is if Lamb reaches his potential or if the Toronto pick does get them something really good. Houston has already won the trade. They got a all-star caliber player and they just didn't have much to lose. Thunder had everything to lose.
Good question. I think OKC assumed we would be a lot better with Harden, so they asked for the Raps pick
I don't think we could trade our pick since it's conditionally owed already. So - interesting discussion to have in fantasyland I guess, but since it wasn't available there's no real answer!
trading it was limited and conditional, but possible as long as you kept the Toronto pick. Basically, it would've had to be a "you get our 1-14 pick (or 3-14 pick), as long as we get the Toronto pick that same year".
can never look back at whether trading a pick was smart or not if it even remotely made sense at the time. It just doesn't make sense given the type of trade it is...it's made given a set of unknowns. Why people choose to change some of the unknowns to knowns and the re-evaluate and question is beyond me
That's the whole point! They took a chance on Lamb reach potential or a high value pick reaching potential. And you ignored the luxury tax implications they dealt with by making the deal. That saved headaches/complaints now and in the upcoming years and gave them flexibility to add *something* at least later
No **** sherlock. But DH is worth more than Aaron Aflalo+LOTTERY PROTECTED picks. That trade wasn't done with Orlando's best interest in mind. I'm not sure why you would make that rape trade as a good comparison, it was clearly not on the level.
Why does someone have to win and someone have to lose? Why can't people see both teams won that trade? If we didn't include the Raptors pick then no way does OKC trade Harden for expiring Kmart (downgrade) and Lamb (potential but still just the 14th pick). OKC maximized Harden's value+they saved $$$. We got our superstar/core player. No one "won" that trade because no one "lost", simply because both teams would still do the same deal again. There's value of assets and there's value because of rarity. We don't mind giving multiple assets because we're getting something extremely rare, OKC already has two of these "rare" players so they need more assets. Simple as that.
because it's the most recent blockbuster trade with a player of allstar caliber ...prick. Teams never get equal value when they trade away a star. no one is debating that orlando got rapped in a that deal. Was merely pointing out that our deal was about as close as OKC could get to equal value for their player. Chill the F out!
If the Thunder don't win a title then they lost the trade, period. You can't break up a core of guys all under the age of 24 who were that successful. We will see if Lamb or the pick turn into a player as good as Harden, who is proving himself to be one of the best in basketball at the tender age of 23.
We lost the trade, no doubt. I mean, any time you lose Kevin Martin and Jeremy Lamb you should at least get Durant in return. Lamb has already been sent to the D-League to beat those D-Leaguers into dust.
I never realized this before, but that's pretty much exactly what happened. The Rockets basically turned Rafer Alston into James Harden. Wow. Yeah, no regrets. lol, no regrets
No, I did not ignore it. If I were them I would have kept Harden to give it another shot at the Finals and thus a championship. I take that every time. One shot in the finals, I'd take that every time. Instead...they are relying on unknown factors to get there again.
