I still don't blame Presti for the trade. Point some fingers at gms around the league for not offering more - looking at gs and bullets in particular. compared to dwight and melo I would take the okc haul every time (Would take the deron williams/net trade over it though...) and why does no one remember what was in the trade? required matching salary dump this year of pu-pu platter players + harden for lamb, k-mart, charlotte 2nd, dallas protected 1st, and toronto lottery. As was said during the trade, at least we still get to watch him in Houston. the trade was about the future salary cap limitations. presti is not trying to replicate the heat or lakers, he is trying to replicate san antonio. undo the trade and have okc face miami in the finals and i'm putting money on the heat. Now feel free to pile on Presti for re-signing Brooks. Yes, harden had become a better player than Westbrook. but get out of here with the Stevie talk, Bob. Franchise's numbers were inflated by playing 40+ minutes a night. The year you grabbed was the year he started breaking down physically and he was never as physically gifted as Russell. Plus, WB takes waaaayyy too many PEDs for that to be a concern yet.
Harden has been playing better defense this year than he did with the Thunder. He still makes too many mistakes, but he's shown the potential to become a solid defender if he works at it. For example, this play at the end of the game against OKC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ai7X6FndF6E&t=5m55s
He talking about Franchise/WB comparison. But, even last year Harden showed the capability to defend (admirable job on Kobe when matched up). But capability and desire are two different beasts.
But you're still putting money on the heat with the trade, I suspect... maybe even moreso now. I would be. In a comparison of Ibaka vs. Harden I can certainly understand what Presti did and appreciate the return he got. But for this thread, and reality, the question is did it make more sense to trade Westbrook and keep Harden? In retrospect, I think the answer is yes. Retrospect is always easy, but let's say they made that decision earlier. Could they have traded Westbrook to Philadelphia for some combination of Holiday, Vucevic, Iguodala (before the Bynum trade)? Probably. Or any number of other trades that would have netted a more than competent PG they could have kept at a much lower salary along with other assets. Ty Lawson + package. Kemba Walker + package. Then insert Harden into the starting lineup. With what we know of Harden now, I think Durant+Harden is about as close as you can get ever to Lebron+Wade (and some might argue fairly equal). Is Harden too ball dominant to play with Durant? Not any more than Westbrook. Was it too much of a gamble that James wouldn't be that second superstar? Probably... certainly for other teams, which is why GS, Washington didn't pull the trigger even though in retrospect they clearly should have. But if any team should have known how good Harden was/could be, it should have been OKC - who got to see him every day, and had a similarly competent GM (and Daryl certainly expected him to be that foundational player). I don't fault Presti a ton. But hindsight is hingsight, and in hindsight I think he probably would have had a better shot of becoming a championship team by trading Westbrook and keeping Harden
Absolutely correct to assume I'd be willing to put more money on heat if okc managed to get to the finals with the current team than pre-trade. Judging the trade using hindsight is a tricky thing, considering OKC traded to stay away from heavy taxes and for future pieces which haven't been recouped yet. If they end up with a couple Cole Aldriches and BJ Mullens with the picks? ...I just got a little depressed thinking about that... But a couple Ibakas? /shrug
That's true, but out of curiosity do you think the Rockets make a similar trade for Westbrook? I do. Replace Martin with Lin - if it was possible, OKC would do it, salaries matched, whatever. I think DM makes the exact same trade. Is OKC better off? I'm arguing yes.
Harden can play with anyone, in that sense the trade makes no sense. he doesn't need to take any shots from durant to be effective. but, durant is not clutch, not all the time. i would much rather have harden closing games, for any team in the league. the only person you would waste his talent next to is chris paul and i'd rather have harden over paul because harden can drop fifty. so harden could score fifteen points and be the closer. that's the type of player he is.
Great post. If you want to harp on Presti, get on him for signing WB to a max deal instead of Harden. Outside of that choice though, he can't be blamed for not keeping Harden. As good as Harden is, OKC can't play all 3 of them together like the Heat plays LBJ/Bosh/Wade, so it doesn't make sense to keep 4 guys making max/near max and have almost no bench. As a 6th man Harden would be wasted on OKC, look at KM's stats and see that he's giving comparable production to 6th man Harden at half of Harden's max salary.
He could have traded Westbrook. He may ultimately need to anyway. i think a dominant SG/SF combo has proved it can work in this league, no?
Exactly, way too dynamic and difficult for the defense to focus on the player. Besides, 2s like Wade and Harden can pretty much play the 1 as effectively as Westbrook.
Presti failed miserably compared to Spurs FO. Look, Pop cut down Parker and Ginobili's minutes and production. Spurs were able to not use a max contract on either one of them to keep them in San Antonio.
I'm honestly surprised at how short people's memories are. Good lord do people not remember how Harden and Westbrook were perceived at the beginning of the seson? Westbrook: top 10 player. One of the best young players in the game. TWO TIME 2nd-team All-NBA Harden: 6th man. Failed against Miami in the finals. Was he worth a max contract? Was he a product of playing alongside Durant and Westbrook? Is he a selfish person for not taking OKC's less-than-max? Would he succeed as a starter? Seriously, if anyone actually believes that Harden and Westbrook could bring back similar talent in a trade, you are absolutely delusional. Westbrook trade would give OKC the greatest set of prospects/picks you can possibly imagine. Think DWill trade(#3 pick of last draft, future unprotected #1 of a horrible team) and add another top prospect/pick and that's Westbrook. What did Harden get OKC? KMart on an expiring, 12th pick of a good draft. Limited upside lottery pick(top-3 protected) of a horrible draft. And 2 more picks in the 20s and 30s. By trading Westbrook, OKC could've staggered their money to not go over the tax.. They simply give Harden the max, find their next star with one of likely at least lottery picks(say Lillard in the past draft). And when said player, let's assume Lillard, is about to be paid, they simply trade now-considered-superstar-Harden away for a King's ransom yet again and get their next star with a top-5 pick. Instead, Presti now has to rely on Lamb/Toronto's top-3 protected pick to be that next star on rookie money.
He was stronger and definitely a better leaper. Westbrook is a lot quicker laterally. As an athletic specimen, Steve was kind of like Vince Carter in a smaller package.
