The true superstars are James, Durant, Wade and Kobe. Then you have an endless list of All-stars like CP3, Rose, Melo, Westbrook, Curry, Rondo, George and Harden for example. If Harden wants to be a superstar he needs to play better defense. I'd say CP3 and Rose (when healthy) are closest to rounding out that group of Superstars.
That and he probably thought OKC would have had to have gone through Dwight and the Lakers to make it out of the West and get to the finals again.
Given that Houston gave Harden a 5 year, $80M extension right after the trade, I am pretty sure the Rockets front office knew Harden would be "this good"-- as in "worth a max contract good." Harden's performance in OKC also suggested that he's be "max contract good"-- at age 22, with a 22% usage rate, plus a 21% AST%, Harden had huge efficiency numbers of .660 TS% and 125 ORtg. Only 49.5% of his baskets in OKC last year were assisted (so he was creating a high # of his own shots) and he was going to the line 6 times a game while playing 31 mpg and attempting 10 FG per game. Given these numbers, his 2012-13 performance was not surprising-- He took on a higher load on offense and became somewhat less efficient (but still way above average in terms of TS% and ORtg)-- about what you'd expect when a player go from medium usage guy on a top team to a high usage guy on a good-but-not-great team.
Well first of all you have the lakers angle all wrong. They didnt trade howard because they can offer him the most guaranteed money, and kobe/gasol's cntracts expire in two years. Why trade DH? Secondly, what do you mean Presti should've stayed pat? Harden's only making 6M prior to his extension. There is no "capspace" waiting for Okc if Harden left in FA. If all you wanted is capspace then OKc got more capspace with the trade, KM has 10m expiring+hey got two lottery picks out of it.
That certainly changes at the deadline when other teams start to go after him. Again for Presti to not get much for Harden at the deadline it would mean only one team is after him and that team could say "Well you're going to lose him any ways so take what we have or take nothing." When another team gets involved then Presti can respond. "Well, we're about to trade him for Jefferson. Call us back if you change your mind." All of this is hypothetical...but I'm pretty sure that more than one team would have been going for Harden at the deadline. As others point out, it wasn't this big secret that he was a great player. In fact even then people called him a top 5 SG coming off the bench. Perkins sucks though. Fisher actually hits big shots, make plays on defense, and flops all around the court. Perkins just runs his mouth, gets abused by Asik among other bigs. Championship experience...kinda like Trevor Ariza. Perk is still living off the deal of his glory days in Boston. Howard would have been resigned though if getting the most money was what he wanted, they kept Howard past the deadline despite knowing that he may go. Well they still don't have this so called cap relief even with Martin expiring thanks to Ibaka new deal coming into play and others contracts rising so again..plus some think Martin is so good that they should just resign him...I don't see the cap relief angle. More like avoid as much luxury tax as possible...all the Thunder got back was Jeremy Lamb who could be the next Reggie Miller...or just another solid guy who can come in and make some shots. Although I like Lamb and always have so we'll see.
Pretty successful, meaning getting decent NBA players in draft positions where you generally end up with nothing. See e.g. Prestis last few drafts.
In that case he's even stupider than we thought. Paying Perkins 10mm or whatever for this experience might be better spent opening up an Herbalife franchise or on a diamond studded Jamarcus Russell figurine
You really don't get it, do you? All this talk about "for Presti to not get much for Harden at the deadline it would mean only one team is after him" is simply wrong. Are you aware that when we got Harden, we weren't the only suitors? GSW and Washington were also talking with OKC, but Washington didn't want to give up Beal, and OKC didn't want to take back a lot of salary (GSW wanted to move Klay Thompson + either Biedrins/Jefferson). We offered them best package (a viable 6th man, salary relief, and draft picks). So given that there were already multiple suitors for Harden, what do you think would've happened to the trade offers as the Feb 2013 trade deadline approached and everyone knew that Presti would either have to trade Harden or lose him for nothing? You really think that Presti would've had the leverage in that scenario? Seriously?
In such a scenario yes Presti has all the leverage. Because it will be assumed that whatever team trades for Harden is the team that will resign him. that creates a bidding war. Therefore any team that thinks they have leverage because Harden will hit the open market would be foolish because he'd resign with the team that traded for him.
Absolutely wrong. For future reference, regarding any situation in life, when inaction results in you losing an asset for nothing, that means you don't have leverage in that situation.
The scenario presented where say 2-4 teams are after Harden Presti has the leverage. I don't know about any other situation in life...but in a situation as this one the guy who is selling sets the price if the object is in demand. How is he losing an asset for nothing if 2 or more teams are trying to trade for his player? The moment a team bluffs that he'll just lose the player for nothing he'd just turn around and say "Well I'm trading Harden for Martin and some picks. Peace out." This is the same exact reason we see so many bogus rumors around the deadline. We see false rumors of a team being interested in so and so merely to make it seem like someone has leverage. The more teams interested in a player the more leverage the team that owns that player has obviously. It's just like the Dwight situation. When the Rockets were after him around draft time we kept hearing another random team come into the fray. Why? Because Orlando was trying to bleed Morey dry for a possible rental and we know some of those teams weren't after Howard. They were telling Morey "Well if you don't give us what we want we'll just trade him elsewhere." which they did. So again. In that situation where 2 or more teams are after Harden Presti can play them against each other to get a better deal. There is no "Losing him for nothing." at that point because he has deals on the table.
The GM that had Harden on the roster for 3 seasons is one of the few people who should have known he was this good.
You are assuming teams with good young players and picks are the ones that would panic. The Thunder have no interest in older guys with expiring contracts. They wanted guys like Thompson, Beal etc. Teams normally don't panic and trade off their young high upside players unless you are the Maloofs. What Presti was looking for was not likely to be found by a deadline panic team because the teams with the good young talent are normally at the bottom of the league and aren't worried about winning. If the Thunder can get good production out of PJ3 and/or Lamb next year they will be just fine and won't be in a cap situation that keeps them from making moves going forward. Durant and Westbrook still have 6-10 good years left so there was no reason for Presti to look only at the short term.
You have to look at the big picture. If they kept Harden, they would've had to amnesty Perkins, and even though they would've matched up well against Miami, they would've been crushed by Memphis or a healthy Lakers team. A front court of Collison/Ibaka simply can't compete against Gasol/Randolph or Gasol/Howard. In these last 3 playoff games against Memphis, Nick Collison is averaging 6 fouls in 17 minutes.
LOLOL. Yeah, what a scrub that Cousins is.... Way to buy into the idiotic criticisms that plague clutchfans. John Wall SUCKS, Cousins SUCKS, Josh Smith is overrated, WestBRICK..... You can't really be that naive, RIGHT?!?
it really depends on jermey lamb. I for one am still a fan. Also with those first round draft picks, presti has well positioned his team for the future. this year was really a transition year as much as people want to criticize him, because Martin was never in OKC's plans, plus westbrook went down. people need to remember that before westbrook went down, okc had the best record in the west. but losing westbook and hadern and only having martin to fall back on was a death sentence. in another words, okc still has the top young team going forward.
Presti could have gone after Asik and let Perkins walk. Or scoured the rest of the nba for alternative center options that would fit their salary cap with harden. The point is you don't choose marginal players over elite players just because of position needs.
