It's not that hard, Presti drafted at a time when the draft was deep. Maybe Morey wouldn't have picked WB and Harden (doubtful, dude was a lock at number 3), but other players like Joakim Noah and Steph Curry were available at that spot as well.
Harden was far from a lock at number 3. Most people thought the Thunder would take Rubio if he was on the board and would move WB to the 2. Go look at the James Harden draft video and you will see the cameras cut to Rubio right after the show Harden. Word is that Morey was really high on Rubio and he probably would have taken him at 3 if we could have moved up to get that pick.
Well Rubio didn't exactly become a bust lol. Maybe if WB was forced to become an SG he would have learned to play off the ball and would have learned to fix his broken J by now.
I realize Rubio isn't a bust but you have to give Presti credit as a drafter for making the best possible pick at 3. It wasn't an obvious pick like Durant.
I'm not advocating either side on the Presti debate but this is flawed logic. GMs around the league make stupid mistakes almost annually with high picks. Michael Olowakandi - 1 Shawn Bradley - 2 Kwami Brown - 1 Greg Oden - 1 Derrick Williams - 2 Wesley Johnson - 4 Hasheem Thabeet - 2 Michael Beasly - 2 Andreas Bargniani - 1 Marvin Williams - 2 Darco Milicic - 2 Some of those guys were picked by what was considered good GMs ahead of multiple great players. Milicic over Melo, Bosch and Wade! Really? Williams over CP3 and Deron Williams? Bargniani over LMA. Part of being a good or great GM is avoiding those mistakes. Most people thought KD was a better player than Greg Oden with a much more polished game but he wasn't 7 feet so Portland made a mistake. Remember Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan? MJ should have been the no brainer but the Portland GM over thought the process. It's possible that Presti caught fire in a bottle for a few years and he may never be able to duplicate it again. Having said that, he proved proficient enough to grab cornerstone pieces throughout different places in the 1st round. Sefolosha and Ibalka are proof of his abilty to find legit talant outside of a top pick. If Presti was not going to be allowed to spend max dollars on resigning Harden then I think he made the right decision last summer. He has Jeremy Lamb, Steve Adams and another pick from Dallas that could turn into a very high lottery pick. Short of getting Bradley Beal from the Wizards he could not have gotten a better deal for Harden than the one Daryl Morey gave him. Presti still has the Thunder operating from a position of strength - They are one of the youngest teams in the NBA, - they are title contenders, - they have a manageable cap under the LT, - they have there own draft picks plus a potentially very high pick from Dallas via Houston - They have young assets Jeremy Lamb, Steve Adams and Reggie Jackson - they have a large expiring (10 million) contract from Kendrick Perkins Regardless of how they got there, Presti has them in a damn good position today and for the foreseeable future.
Nice list of top 5 busts - now put it next to the list of successful players picked in the top 5 in the last 18 years.(really you went back to Shawn Bradley?...)
True. Which is why Presti is not a bad GM. He's a good one. He's just not a great one and overrated. At least he was before the Harden trade.
Severely overrated. Seems like everyone loved that he built through the draft. But everyone hates how he cant manage his team or keep the right players. Jeff Green, James Harden.
Shawn Bradley was just one of the very first ones that came to my mind. And Penny Hardaway was drafted right after Shawn Bradley. At the time a lot of people were calling Penny the next Magic. Penny was the no brainer selection that was passed over for Shawn Bradley.
I also remember Harden at 3 being seen as a reach for OKC. I believe most saw the Beard going between 5 and 8 or so.
