He couldn't afford to keep all three. Maybe he could have got more or maybe harden would have left for nothing.
Unless Lamb becomes a hoss, soon, yeah, Presti looks pretty dumb. It's true as Sam Fisher says that he could have kept Harden and most likely... what... made it to the finals and lost to the Heat in five games.
Maybe he could have gotten to the Finals this year...and now it's gone Windows in the NBA open up very quickly. They also shut even faster.
Epilogue: They also shut even faster when you enable your competitors to go from perennial lotto mediocrity to superstar-fueled snowball revitalization in a 9 month span - as a consequence of your mistakes. But at least they got joey Lauren Adams!
C'mon Sam, let's give Presti props for doing something no GM has ever done before: Build two contenders at the same time.
Sam Presti is overrated. A lot of smart people constantly make excuses for his poor performance. He had three top 5 picks and did make one very good late first round pick (Ibaka). He has done a piss poor job in surrounding his core with good pieces and the Harden trade was a travesty.
Yep, year couldn't have gone worse. Give away Harden for a mediocre pick, a prospect that will take a long time to pay off, and a rental on KMart. Harden then leads that team to the 8th seed, where some punk Daryl Morey brought in for scraps gives your second star a season-ending injury. Then Howard comes over and you have yet another powerhouse that could get in the Thunder's way in the West for the next several years.
LOL. Presti may have just killed any chance OKC had of winning a championship. You figure that the Heat will be better than OKC for at least two years. But then you take into account that in two years, Harden will just be entering his prime and Howard will still be relatively young. Plus, the Clippers are still really damn good. This is the ultimate revenge for leaving. Seattle probably could have supported a team with 3 all stars. OKC obviously can't. Yeah, Durant more or less fell into his lap. Ibaka was a good pick, but he loses credit for Harden (since in the end he left) and Jeff Green. Aldrich wasn't that great of a pick, and except for Thabo and Collison (who he inheirited) he hasn't brought in any phenomenal role players. When you have as good picks as Presti's had; there's no reason you shouldn't be a contender.
He could have or he could've just let Perkins go who does absolutely nothing. Too bad because with this he blew the Durant era and is now in danger of losing him when the time comes.
I think a lot of the move has to do with opportunity and fit. While everyone in OKC knew how good Harden was, I don't think he would have maximized his talents in OKC, there just was too much perimeter talent on that team already with KD and WB. Harden was getting marginalized because OKC can't play the 3 of them together, and OKC couldn't justify paying the max for a 6th man. In retrospect Presti should've gotten rid of Perkins or traded WB, but if he's committed to KD and WB duo then it was the best move they could've done. If you look at the package we gave them, it's miles better than what Orlando got for DH, a guy a lot of people thought was so much better than Harden at the time.
They couldn't have kept the core together, but they could have gotten better than a year of Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, and Steven Adams. If I were Presti, I would have traded Westbrook for Paul right after the veto. Then Harden, Perkins, and a pick or two for Dwight last offseason. Ibaka, Dwight, Paul, Durant, and Thabo is a much better team than Miami. And wouldn't have been that much more expensive than what they have now.
You didn't watch OKC much the 2nd half of last season and in the playoffs. Harden wasn't marginalized at all. It took that long for Coach Bonehead to finally figure out Harden was the best closer on the team in certain situations. If he had returned, his scoring average and utilization would have gone up again just like it had every year. IMO, there isn't much doubt what Presti should have done: Amnestied Perkins this summer. Rumor is the reason Harden didn't sign is because he wanted a no-trade clause and Presti refused. It wasn't even a matter of salary.
