....green turning down fifty mil to in turn grant a trade for Perkins was and will solidify them until his legs r gone. They have plenty of O so Perkins just rebound and bang the paint. It was an epic move. Durant needed it for spacing ....anyways durant ain't picked y'all aren't lickin on Presti.
Give Maurrey a superstar to build around like durant plus 2 top 5 picks back to back and he will easily come up with a comparible team...
Exactly what I thought to ask when I read the first post. It's not like he's playing for the Thunder. He's the GM ... he's supposed to be there.
HE got lucky with the Durant pick but NOBODY thought Harden and Westbrook would be this good. NOBODY And the Suns are dumb for trading 2 1strounders to Seattle which OKC used to draft Serge Ibaka. Props to Presti and props to Clay Bennet for being BFFs with Stern and twisting the salary cap rules that favor OKC moving forward during the lockout
To deny Presti has done an awesome job is silly. OKC wouldn't be where they are without him. He got lucky with KD, but the other draft picks (Westbrook, Harden & Ibaka) required legit decisions. He stole Eric Maynor from the Jazz for nothing more than absorbing Matt Harpring's expiring contract for half a year. He extended Collison with a frontloaded contract to maximize future flexibility. Extended Thabo three years ago at a bargain rate. Turned Jeff Green into Kendrick Perkins. OKC moved up in the 2010 draft by taking Daequan Cook off Miami's hands. Presti was only 30 years-old when he became GM of the Sonics. He hasn't been perfect 5 years, just awesome. GreatOne1978, how do the new cap rules favor OKC?
The picks were not given. The superstar was not given by anyone else. They earned them by being bad, homeless, no attendance. Morey did not give himself a chance.
<br> While Presti has done an amazing job, what you seem to be glossing over continuously is that their franchise had four top 5 picks in the span of three years. Every piece of their puzzle is a lottery pick (Durant, Westbrook, Harden, hell even Collison is) or a direct result of a trade that involved a lottery pick they had (Perkins through Green, Sefolasha through a lottery pick). I do agree that Ibaka was a great draft choice for them with a later pick and Eric Maynor was a steal. I do also think that it was a shrewd GM play to nab Perkins for Green. But again, if they never had that Green Pick (though one could say it was smart to trade Ray Allen for the 5th pick) they would never have gotten Perkins. In the end though I think the only real blame you can place on the Rockets since this is what the discussion seems to be about is that the organization has not decided to fully rebuild. Fully rebuilding leads to a situation like the Thunder or Bulls. But I think the blame for that rests more on owner direction rather than GM decision making. You can definitely pin part of it on management though and rightly so as I'm not entirely sure what the Rockets' directional course is atm. I am sure though that it's not working.
Lets judge him by looking at his peers. Some other repeat drafters around the same time in the high lottery. Timberwolves 07-7th: Corey Brewer 08-3rd: Kevin Love (part of trade - initially OJ Mayo) 09-5th: Ricky Rubio // 6th: Jonny Flynn 10-4th: Wesley Johnson 11-2nd: Derrick Williams Memphis 06-8th: Rudy Gay (No derail intended - a year earlier, but worth including) 07-4th: Conley 08-5th: OJ Mayo (part of trade - initially Kevin Love) 09-2nd: Thabust Atlanta (going back before he started) 04-6th: Josh Childress 05-2nd: Marvin Williams 06-5th: Shelden Williams 07-3rd: Al Horford So, obviously any franchise with a few high lottery picks in a row is a lock for the NBA finals... just ask the Bulls! Da Bulls 99-1st 00-4th // 7th 01-4th 02-2nd 03-7th 04-3rd 06-2nd 07-9th 08-1st
The post above ^^^ is devastating. Is some of the resistance to giving Presti credit based on fear of making Morey look bad? I think Morey is pretty good and believe Les is tying his hands, which is why the Rockets are mired in mediocrity. Giving Presti credit doesn't reflect on Morey at all.
Look I have no problem giving Presti credit. Like I said he has done an amazing job. All I am saying is that he has had the help of having a lot of very high draft picks. On the topic of those stats posted: Memphis has been successful lately. Sure it has not been NBA finals worthy, but they were a dominating team for a while. That being said, I absolutely agree that they did not use their picks well (Mayo, Conley are nowhere near the level of Westbrook and Harden). So for argument's sake we'll say they busted and were poorly managed. The Jury is still out on Minnesota. This is a topic worth revisiting a few years from now. Love and Rubio have only had one season to play together and not even a full one at that and Derrick Williams was in his rookie season. Give them a few years and I think those high draft picks will start shining and Minnesota will be in the serious contender picture. As for Chicago, they had one bad period with high draft picks between 99-04. Though one could argue luck had something to do with it considering the Jay Williams motorcycle accident. Also, those Chicago teams of the mid 00's with Hinrich, Duhon, Gordon, Sefolasha etc.. were not bad at all and made some noise for a while. A lot of people considered them future contenders, but we know how that turned out. However, recently 07-12 Chicago has had high draft picks and used them well. Rose, Noah, Gibson, etc.. have turned them back into contenders once again. They were in the eastern conference finals last year and it could very well be argued were the best team in the East this year before Rose's injury. They could very likely be in the same position as the Thunder had Rose not gone down in the first round. Could the Heat sans Bosh beat the Bulls this year? I think not. <br> <br> Anyways, once again my point is simple. Presti has done an amazing job, but it really helps being dealt a strong hand.
Memphis never dominated. Period. Regarding Minnesota, Love is a grand slam and the trade with Memphis was pure theft. Prison-worthy. Corey Brewer, Jonny Flynn & Wes Johnson are strikeouts. The jury is still out on Rubio and Derrick Williams. For Minny to be a championship contender, one of those two has to be a top-level stud and the other needs to be at least a borderline stud. Then they have to put players around them, which is easier said than done. Building a team is more than just drafting high picks. The Bulls would indeed be in the NBA Finals if Rose hadn't gone down. A terrible shame.
<br> Dominate was probably a strong choice of words. They were at least relevant in the big picture. Taking OKC to 7 games in the conference semifinals is no small accomplishment. Like I said, it's way too early to judge Minnesota right now though they seem to have a bright future ahead with Love, Rubio (not overly impressive thus far) and possibly Williams. We'll see what happens. Regardless though, looking at the current state of Minnesota does not prove the point that "having high draft picks means little" because it's clearly obvious where they would be without Love/Rubio. I don't think anyone in their right mind would argue that building a team is just about high draft picks. Good GM work, managing salary cap situation, making good trades/FA signings, etc.. all play a huge part. Though again, having high draft picks is a huge boost especially when they are top 5 picks for multiple years.
Since you brought those bulls teams making noise in the playoffs. Deng making most of that noise behind solid PG play and D....they could have got Kobe the following summer I think 2005 or 2006 summer and....the bulls denied the trade. Bc they saw too much potential in Deng!
