If you say so. Perkins isn't really the problem, it's Bonehead giving him way too much playing time and too big of a role. Up to this year, Perkins was an elite post defender and he filled a gaping hole for OKC. But Bonehead has refused to do the correct thing and use him more as a situational player. He also needs to firmly tell Perkins to play within his limitations never shoot the ball unless it's any easy dunk. Those idiotic post-ups are wasted possessions.
Presti is a great GM. If he had the benefit of being in a situation where he didn't have to worry as much about the luxury tax they would probably be on their way to the finals. People talk about him being in the top 5 so often but Durant was the only obvious choice. Plus he grabbed Ibaka at 24. All of his moves haven't been great but I don't think anybody could have done a better job rebuilding the Thunder/Sonics.
He's either lucky or good....either way he gets the credit. That said, if OKC never wins a title he will always be remembered for the Harden trade, especially if Harden is able to win one in Houston.
Perkins brought much needed toughness and experience, plus the makeup of the NBA, specifically the west was different. You had to go through Gasol/Bynum to win a title. You needed a tough, physical presence. Can you really blame the GM for making that move? At the time the Thunder were considered big winners by most. Things around the league did change quick, but I'm also not certain Brooks is getting the most out of Perkins.
The Thunder have been leading the league in isos for a while now, and isos are bad mmmkayy. The only reason his system seems to work is because of the talent on that squad, but he had the most talented foursome in the league last season (a top 10 player, two top 20 players, and a big man who finished second in DPoY votes), and despite all that talent he only managed to win one game in the finals. His system reminds me of the system Spoelstra was running the year the Heat lost to the Mavericks in the finals, but since then Spoelstra's system has evolved a great deal as Zach Lowe noted in this very insightful article: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id...-historic-winning-streak-came-dominate-league Presti's system on the other hand is the same old same old--space the floor and iso till you drop. Another flaw of Presti I've noticed is his failure to recognize how important Nick Collison is to the team, while also failing to recognize how much Perkins sucks, often opting for a Perkins-Ibaka line-up over an Ibaka-Collison line-up (until game 4 of the second round yesterday--if he realized this sooner maybe his team wouldn't be down 3-1 against a team that doesn't have a top 10 player). He was once a promising young coach, and now he's just a coach who takes way too long to figure things out.
They got a decent package for Harden IMO, especially considering what his perceived market value was. Only the Rockets valued Harden that highly and OKC basically had to trade him at some point. It's like you're saying, man, this Presti guy sucks because he drafted a team so talented that he can't afford to pay one of the guys... what an idiot! I mean, who drafts that good? Why didn't he just draft someone who sucked instead of Harden, that way he wouldn't have to pay him? That Presti man, what a dunce - lulz on him!!! You judge a GM based on his body of work. Presti put together a masterpiece, you can't really scar it in such a small window.
I distilled your solid post into one sentence that is the bottom line. Dead on. On your other post, it isn't really a matter of what they got for Harden, it's the decision to trade him over (allegedly) a $6 million difference over 4 years. One very bad decision can ruin years of very good work.
Sorry, but only delusional people who never even glanced at advanced metrics thought that the Harden trade package was decent. This board overrated the **** out of Lamb and the Toronto pick.
The package for Harden is mediocre at best. A top 10 player (if anybody was in position to realize his value, it's OKC...) for Kevin Martin/his contract, Lamb whos star has faded since summer league, and a mediocre pick this year IMO doesn't equate to effectively forfeiting what would have been an easy return to the Finals (even with a Westbrook injury) in favor of a much riskier course. (remember "when Yao and Tracy are healthy....?" how much better would that era have been if it were Yao, Tracy + 3rd star (pre-injury Brandon Roy or Amar'e or whoever...). Durant was a no brainer, Westbrook I thought wasn't too tough a pick,, with Harden being the true gem, and Ibaka being the "good role player find" that you like to see. He had a potentially great squad, partly though luck and partly through acumen, - so did Ray Patterson in 1986 based on coinflips , then it was all gone and squandered on Joe Barry Carroll etc within a few years. Look, Presti made some sweet moves in the back half of last decade, with Harden being the jewel in the crown, and then he lost him. It's going to be 2014 soon. How long does he have to go before the bloom is off the rose? The Harden squandering is sticking out like a sore thumb espeically right now.
Good role players have the most blocks for each of the last 3 seasons at age 23. Another first and Charlotte 2nd, it ended up being a terrible trade by OKC once Toronto traded for Gay. You don't need to make a turd look even worse.
His body of work is pretty good, but the Harden trade is a serious blight on his record. It's a mistake to say he couldn't afford Harden. They could have and should have cut other people so they could keep Harden. And I don't think you can hide him behind the owner either; he should be telling the owner the right thing to do. Maybe before the trade you could wonder whether Harden was legit or fool's gold, but with the benefit of hindsight I think it's indisputable now that he's legit. The package was okay, but there is no way to get proper compensation for someone like Harden. He should never have been traded. Instead, you amnesty Perkins and pay Harden the max and take the salary expense hit. Perhaps he thought he could capture most of the value he could use in Harden in a trade package and not have to lose anyone for nothing -- if so, he underestimated Harden's worth. That's a pretty egregious mistake, and undoes a lot of the good things he did. With Lamb not playing and Martin's playoff performance up-and-down and Westbrook's injury leaving them with a star-deficit that Harden could have covered, every bad thing that could result from the trade did happen. That can't be discounted.
y'all need to calm down and stop living in the moment. this thread would not be made if westbrook didn't get hurt. it's easy to make this thread when the #1 seed in the west is about to lose in the second round. presti still made a great trade by getting rid of harden instead westbrook. without westbrook, okc is a good team but not great. without harden, okc is still an elite team. the playoffs this year has really shown us how overrated harden is and how underrated westbrook is. and FYI, don't get it twisted. harden is good; just not as good as we thought, yet...
They didn't have to worry about the lux tax. Harden agreed to what they offered him as long as they gave him a trade kicker. And lux tax fears didn't mean they had to trade him this year. They could have waited, putt he best team on the floor this season and gotten the same type of deal for Harden this summer.
They were definitely worried about the luxury tax. A team like the Lakers, Knicks, Mavs would never have thought about trading Harden because of money.
Also, sometimes it's better to make the move early before the player's contract is up. Putting the best team on the floor for one year can hurt you in the long run.
....and in this case it wasn't, and it backfired badly after Westbrook went down. This isn't keep an overpriced veteran role palyer to make a title run, this is having 3 top 10 player/dream teamers on your roster- an incredible chance that OKC/Presti will probably never have again. ooops! Hopefully one of Jeremy Lamb or Michael Carter-Williams is hte next Harden.
I'm arguing his achievements are limited to tanking for multiple top 5 picks and drafting extremely well. Which is a significant achievement. But what else has he done that makes him a good GM? What if he just has a great scouting dept?
Sometimes analytic guys like Presti and Morey can overthink the situation and make what they think is the 'smart' move which can backfire. They're not omniscient. That's how Morey almost ruined the chemistry of our squad with the PPat trade. Good thing that Garcia saved the day in the playoff season. He got lucky there. In contrast, Presti got unlucky with WB's injury. Chemistry issues, injuries--unforeseeable. The ability to take risks though is what separate Presti, Morey etc from the ordinary GM. That said, I would say that OKC has enough talent to compete. This really exposes the lack of creativity and maturity of Scott Brooks. Weren't critics already decrying OKC's late game breakdowns during the reg season? Too much one-on-one in the endgame. Brooks need to get more from Ibaka, Collison, Brewer. This is more Brooks than Presti.
