you can be both in a transition year and make a run for a championship. Presti new when he let harden go that the team would suffer in the short run but he was willing to let that happen so that he would benefit in the long run. You don't think he knew he was giving up a great player in harden when he made that deal? Also, martin was NEVER harden's permanent replacement, anyone that believes that doesn't understand the deal that was made. if presti had decided to keep haden and let ibaka go, he would have had nobody in the front court besides an aging collison and perkinds. He HAD to keep ibaka. Getting Lamb in the deal WILL pay off. Plus reggie evans is looking really good as a player as well, and lets not forget the raptors pick. no sam presti is NOT overrated.
I am looking at the big picture. They could have traded him this summer and kept their entire core together to make another Finals run. And actually, the big picture when you wind up with 3 Dream Teamers under the age of 25, that love playing together and just went to the Finals, should be to foot the bill. The last time a team had 3 young superstars at the same time was the 80's Celtics.
Harden trade has been an embarrassment but other than that what has he done wrong? Drafted WAY above average and as for the Perkins trade, who at the time would not of given up a disappointing Jeff Green for him. All the talk out of Boston was he was the glue and was a great defensive center. Sucks he fell apart ins OKC but the man has built a contending team for years. I think its hilarious if you arent 100% on everything you do as a GM people think you are worthless.
The draft is a bit of a crapshoot, he wanted Oden, he got Durant. Minnesota and Memphis dicked around with the the whole Mayo/Love thing, he got Westbrook. Harden wrote him a damned letter about how he'd work with those two, lol
The scope of a big picture point of view goes beyond one year and it factors in things like salary caps and luxury taxes... If Harden had stayed with the Thunder, do you really think he'd be the same player he is today? His growth would've been stunted from playing behind Durant/Westbrook. It's easy to say the Thunder should "foot the bill", but you have to remember that basketball is a business, and the luxury tax really discourages overspending. Had the Thunder kept Harden, they would've had almost $70mm tied up in Durant/Westbrook/Harden/Ibaka/Perkins next year. I think for this year, teams start paying luxury tax when their payroll exceeds ~$70.3mm.
One thing's for sure, Clay Bennett is a cheap skate, after he moved the team out of a medium to large market into a small market, still turns over profits of about $50m a year but is unwilling to pay the luxury tax and cries "small market poor".
None of that was a problem this season. And if the cap goes up as folks expect, and have expected since last year, then it may not be as big of a problem going forward. Yes, he would be the same player. He wouldn't have as much opportunity but he would be just as skilled. Harden didn't do anything differently for us than he did in OKC. The only difference is he got more minutes and more defensive attention. But his game is practically the same. Having a core of young studs that we haven't seen assembled since the 80's (talent and youth) is worth a tax bill. Dynasties help you make money.
It has been broken down by many that the Thunder could've easily been able to avoid the tax while still retaining Ibaka/Harden/Durant/Westbrook core. And fill out the rest of his roster with players like Parsons, Beverley, Anderson, etc. who make next to nothing. But Presti didn't want to 4 players taking up all that cap space. Presti chose flexibility(the word he used) over retaining everyone. He also chose to trade the player likely with the least trade value relative to his actual worth. The one star on his team that wasn't being treated like a star by other teams. And received a package with likely no one capable of being Harden's level.
Yep, they could've made a run at the championship this year, but they probably would've faced a Heat team that's improved since beating OKC in 5 games last year. Ok, his game is practically the same. Nevertheless, there's no way he would rise to "superstar" status when he's coming off the bench and sharing the backcourt with Durant or Westbrook. Was Ginobili ever considered a "superstar"? Is Bosh anywhere close to being considered a "superstar" right now? Had the Thunder kept Harden, do you think they would've ever been favorites against the Heat? I don't think so. The Heat match up very well against the Thunder, and the Thunder lack the personnel to exploit Miami's weakness. In any case, I think you're underestimating the impact of this new tiered luxury tax system. You may think think that keeping the core players is worth the tax bill, but the people in charge of the money obviously disagree with you.
What Presti did was like ****ing a horse, it doesn't matter how much good stuff you've done or continue to do, you'll always be remembered as the horse ****er.
They would've had to amnesty Perkins, and if they did, who could they have gotten to shore up their front court? Keep in mind that at the beginning of the season, it looked like the road to the finals was going through either Memphis (Gasol/Randolph) or LAL (Howard/Gasol). Also, finding guys like Parsons and Beverley aren't as easy as you think. For every success story, how many failures have there been? There's a reason Morey has been heralded for those signings. What're you talking about? Harden had great trade value. Whichever team acquired Harden would get 1 year on his rookie deal before paying the max. If anything, Westbrook had the least trade value. He has the reputation of being a hot-headed volume shooter and is getting paid close to the max.
With Wade's knee being as questionable as it is, and Ibaka's jump shot improvement (for the most part, lol), that the three main guys have improved every year, yeah, figuring Westbrook doesn't meet Beverly in round 1, the Thunder had a shot.
So if you were the Thunder opponent with a lot of big man. Do you fear Perkins? Or do you fear Harden? And these failures are cut the moment they start sucking. If Presti is as much of a genius as he's suppose to be, then he'd find them. Westbrook was 2x 2nd All-NBA. Harden was a 0 time all star whom the Wizards would not trade Bradley Beal for, nor GSW trade Klay Thompson for. Surely you're not ****ing kidding me?
If I'm Memphis or LAL, I'd prefer the Thunder to keep Harden and amnesty Perkins. I'd rather have some scrub center guarding M.Gasol/Z.Randolph/P.Gasol/D.Howard than Kendrick Perkins. FYI, look at Nick Collison. In the last 3 playoff games against Memphis, he's averaging 6 fouls in 17 minutes. First of all, that's a disingenuous argument. Secondly, failures aren't cut as soon as they start sucking. They typically finish their first year and then get cut....so the Thunder would've still had to pay them. No, I'm quite serious. The difference is that I'm considering the salary cap while you're ignoring it. It was common knowledge that Harden was going to get a big contract. Look at things from GSW and Washington's POV. GSW already has $75mm committed next season, and that doesn't include Jarrett Jack. If they traded Klay for Harden straight up, their payroll would've been $85mm. They did want Harden, but they wanted OKC to take back salary. They offered Klay Thompson and either Richard Jefferson or Biedrins for Harden. OKC refused. In retrospect, Washington should've traded Beal for Harden straight up, but given their circumstances at the time, I can understand why they didn't. They have a lot of money tied up in Nene and are about to give a max contract to John Wall. As I understand it (and correct me if I'm wrong), these max contracts entitle players to 25% of the team's salary cap. So if the Wizards also acquired Harden at the max, then Wall & Harden would comprise 50% of the salary cap. And then add Nene's $13mm to the mix...
I think he is overrated. He saw harden his entire career, not just in the finals. Maybe he thought he was selling high on him since they could not afford to keep the core but you do whatever you can to keep them. Amnesty perkins or trade him for an expiring, but you dont trade harden for a bunch of question marks. To all of you saying he is an excellent drafter, i disagree. Morey is an excellent drafter. Presti is just better than those perennial loser teams that dont strike gold and draft lebron. Their teams are so mismanaged they draft guys like bargnani over aldridge. He was lucky he drafted second in 07 because he would have taken oden. I remember arguing vigorously that it would be a huge blunder, not a colossal one. Ten he drafted green over noah. In 2008 he drafted westbroook with love, lopez, gordon, hibbert. Thats how stacked that draft was and it still had several good players left. He did a good job drafting ibaka, but the teams that look over him and drafted scrubs are severely mismanaged. Finally, the 2009 draft. He got lucky again, he drafted harden with rubio, curry, lawson, and holdiay still on the board. Something tells me he wanted a sg and he would have drafted evans or derozen if the grizzlies drafted harden. Hell they might have even went with thabeet. Anyways, i think he drafts for needs, and he got lucky his team sucked during the right time.
Last I checked he made arguably the 3 best consecutive draft picks to assemble a championship roster on a team that had to be uprooted from its city? If anything Morey is overrated.
When was the last time morey had a top 10 pick or a kevin durant on the board? The biggest mistake morey has ever made is patterson over fareid. Thats not huge when you consider how much fareid will get paid and how limited he is on offense.
