Trading Gay didn't come back to bite us. Battier was what we wanted at the time, and he did what we needed him to do. I think Lamb has the potential to become a star player, but the Rockets want a star player now, and that's what Harden is for the Rockets. I think the trade can turn out really good for both the Thunder and the Rockets. There doesn't have to be a winner and loser.
my point regarding battier was, looking back, i dont think this team makes that trade. yes, battier was a great defensive player but i think the rockets would rather have gay in hindsight.
...and signed sealed and ready to deliver. JH added legitimacy to this organization. That is priceless.
I think Lamb can be a great scorer, but I don't think he has Harden's skillset, such as passing the rock. Lamb also isn't fond of making contact and taking it to the rack. As he was during the preseason, he's gonna need plenty of development. He was pretty invisible and just played passively, and his defense just wasn't good considering his physical tools.
Lamb averaged 6.2 points and 3.5 rebounds on 38% shooting in the preseason. You have an interesting definition of great.
And the star we wanted now is only 3 years older than Lamb, yet already has a terrific resume under his belt and tons of room to grow. Lamb has a long long way to go if he wants to catch up to Harden. 3 years time to go 17/4/4.
You cannot critic a decision based on what happened. You can only critic the reason/s as to why that decision was made. That is why you don't use hindsight to double guess your past decisions.
I like Lamb but thought the Harden trade was great move on Morey's part. Lamb = potential whereas Harden = proven. Besides, Lamb's defense looks a tad shaky in the preseason. Also, I read in one of the ESPN articles (no link, sorry; read too many over the past few days) that OKC originally wanted Chandler Parsons. Between Parsons and Lamb, I'd give up Lamb and keep Parsons (as Morey did).
That's the nature of the business. Smart money says you make moves for the sure things. It's not like acquiring potential-laden guys has been paying off so well for us in the past few years. (See: Thabeet, T-Will, etc.)
Lamb has a 6'11 wingspan. Look at draftexpress measurements. I wonder who else has that wingspan and similar height? Oh yea, that one guy Harden. Except he is not afraid to drive, can muscle through much more contact, and shoots better. Potential is great to have, and Lamb has potential, but Harden is the real deal.
Lamb = Unknown Harden = Proven Lamb could be great or he could be a bust. No one knows at this point. Harden, on the other hand, you know what you're getting and what you're getting is really good. You do that trade in a second and don't look back. I think Morey has been putting this team in position to make more of these types of moves - feast off of those teams that can't afford to keep their high-ceiling players due to salary cap issues.
You take the star player over the unproven prospect every day of the week. You think the Lakers regret trading for Pau Gasol now that Marc Gasol turned out to be one heck of a big man? No. You can't do that. You take the proven talent every time. Marc Gasol turned out to be a player, but there was still a great chance he would be a bust or just a borderline rotation player. With Pau, they knew EXACTLY what they had at the time, and they still would have done that trade everyday of the week, and twice on Sunday. And this is a rare example of a situation like this where the unproven talent actually turned into an all-star player. There can't be any regrets in the Harden trade unless Harden just completely declines from the player he has been in the past 24 months.
Injury would probably be the only reason Harden isn't the best player in that trade every year for basically the next 10 years.
