Kendrick Perkins Explains Why the Early 2010s Thunder Fell Short

Good **** and it explains a lot.

 

They fell short because he was making 10 million a year and averaged 3 points.

 

I've always thought that they didn't want to pay Harden because they wanted to keep Perk.

 

the lost when they traded ibaka for perk lmao

 

This interview answered exactly this question: front office didn't have to trade him yet, but these are young guys with egos and the issue was already too apparent by that point. They couldn't contain Harden as a happy man at that point.

 

I've always wondered what would happened if they traded Westbrook instead of Harden.

First Westbrook had a much higher trade value at that time. What more could they had gotten?

Second, Harden as an elite playmaker would fit better with Durant. But would the personalities fit?

 

This version of Perkins is the best. Must be the cursing that makes him more honest and himself.

 

With hindsight, we know Harden and Durant is a much better fit and Harden > Westbrook.

But at the time, Westbrook was coming off 2 consecutive seasons making All-NBA 2nd team and no one thought Harden was going to be an all-nba level let alone MVP level player.

They would've gotten a ton for a 23 year old Westbrook who most viewed as a top 10 NBA player.

As for the Perkins comments, they verify a lot of the reports/rumors/opinions shared by many that Harden wanted his own team and a bigger role at the time.

The difference between what OKC offered and Harden's max was only about 5 million total. That said, OKC was stupid to make that trade and nearly everyone criticized it endlessly (esp Bill SImmons), since they could've just put off the decision for another year.

 

2011-2012 James Harden stats

Reg season: 16.8 ppg, 49% FG, 39% 3pt

WCF: 18.5 ppg, 49% FG, 61% 3pt

Finals: 12.4 ppg, 37% FG, 31% 3pt

 

Uh Perk.. They fell short because you didn't even provide the 1 thing folks claimed you were good at... Toughness and hard fouls! Let alone offense production

 

I always thought they ahould have traded Russ for Chris Paul and Harden/Perk for Dwigjht