For rejecting the Pau Gasol deal and that stopping us from signing Nene to a horrific contract. And as we all know, that wouldve stopped us from ever getting Harden. I guess everything happens for a reason. Maybe the basketball gods are finally looking down on Maurie and The Rockets post Yao era. Its a great time. One more thing...I think D-Mo's passion and fire on the court is going to translate for him. Obviously hes got the talent. Like many European players do, but most are intimidated. He is not, and I believe he will flourish in the starting role, starting tonight. Just wanted to point this out, seems like no one has really stopped and thought how close we were to being in mediocrity another 3-4 years. Close call....
Haha there actually have been tons of people who have stopped and thought about how close we were to mediocrity for 3-4 years. However...I endorse the thread, because that move was a true franchise changer for us, little did we know.
Im on here all the time. Never seen anyone really bring it up... Its just crazy to think how pissed we all were when he rejected the deal. And it obviously ended up being for the best.
It would not have been one of Morey's best moves. It smacked of desperation. Perhaps Les was leaning on him hard?
I have to disagree somewhat because if the trade had gone through there was a pretty good chance that the Rockets last year could have gotten a top 4 seed in the West. But I will admit that it has turned out way better.
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Lowry-Gasol-Nene (max-cap?) vs. Lin-Harden-Parsons-Asik (max-cap) or: Lin-Harden-Gasol-Nene (think this was attainable)
Even though this topic has been discussed... I'm more grateful to have been able to watch the Lakers crumble after failing to land Chris Paul who would be doing wonders for that team as opposed to aqcuiring an aging Steve Nash and a crippled Dwight Howard. I'm glad to see everything came together for us and not for them.
The other day on 790, Morey answered this question. He mentioned it's still a good move at that time. And he'd be able to find a way and trade for Harden afterwards. Remember we were sending out Scola(amnested)+Martin(piece to OKC)+Gragic(walked away)+NY pick for Gasol. Gasol will be back healthy again, and the price we paid is very low from today's perspective. Minnesota in the summer was trying to trade for Gasol with Derrick Williams and picks.
Yeah I'm in the camp that thinks this is better. I'm certainly not unhappy with our current position in any way, but that team would ball hard.
A mediocre move that would have locked us into mediocrity. The same kind of mediocre move as when fans think we should go for Millsap or Jefferson.. or Granger or Smith
As a poster noted above, Morey specifically said they still could have made the Harden deal if that trade would have gone through, meaning the key piece was the Toronto draft pick and not Martin. Of course people will ignore that and still post stupid crap such as thanking David Stern. We could have had Harden Parsons Nene Gasol and been a contender right now.
Yeah, even though Kevin Martin was the most prominent asset they received, I agree he's wasn't the real target. We'll see how much the Thunder actually values Martin with the contract they offer him this offseason.
I in particular hated the trade, and knew damn well what was coming. I couldnt believe how many people were upset about not getting gasol and nene. I was on the vocal minority at the time, but this board and Rox fans seemed to be more upset that at the time, the team looked like a roster full of bench players, with no A-Grade star. People were just hungry to have any star on this team, even if it was an old soft gasol.
I'll give you a dark horse candidate to outbid OKC for Kevin Martin's services(and give him a starting role).... The Clippers. They have great cap flexibility this Summer to both resign Chris Paul to the max, and still have roughly 10 to 13 million in cap space to play with assuming the cap is set at 60/70. They could probably bring back almost exactly the same team next year, and offer Martin a very nice contract. The Thunder already have 66 million committed next season. I think Kevin Martin is worth more than what they are going to offer him... which will probably be low MLE type of money. I think Martin would be smart to see what the Clippers have to offer in free agency next Summer even though Im sure he can't complain too much about competing for a title for years in OKC. I think Martin still is an elite score in the NBA, and isn't being fully utilized with the Thunder. However, he still fits in that role very nicely.
