What if the Thunder would've kept Harden and allowed him to enter free agency?

We'd probably be pitching ourselves as a empty shell for a new Superfriends team with Harden/Howard or Paul/Howard or somesuch. We'd have a ton of cap space. Maybe enough for 3 stars by trading Lin/Asik. But, I'd say our chances of getting any of them would be lower.

 

I've talked about this scenario to some of my friends before. As much as I hate to say it, I think he would have rather signed with Phoenix (mother lives there, fan favorite from his college days), or Dallas to play with Dirk while he still has some good years left and an owner willing to cut blank checks to make sure his team is competitive.

I am really glad we got him via trade, instead of being on a level playing field with PHX, DAL, & CLE.

 

no.

he most likely would've gone somewhere else. it was a great move by morey because left to his own device Harden wouldn't have come here. He wasn't happy at all to be traded to Houston. I think he likes it here now and doesn't regret what happened but hindsight is 20/20 and if you had asked him a year ago if Houston is a place where he'd like to go as a free agent, he'd probably say no.

what would he be coming into? without him this is a team that missed the playoffs, considering that we barely made it with him. we needed EVERYBODY to contribute to even make the playoffs.

 

Pointless discussion. They would have matched a max offer or traded him, no matter what. They would not have let him expire if they didn't plan to pay him the max. Plain and simple.

 

We'd be picking the #5 pick this year. The chance of any significant FA coming to Houston is exactly 0.

 

He'd be going to LA. Not sure which team.

 

it would depend on his role with the thunder

 

Indeed. Harden isn't eligible for FA, only RESTRICTED FA. And players like Hibbert, Lopez and Gordon gets max. You think OKC wouldn't have matched Harden?

Of course, they would've still traded him afterwards if they fear the tax. But then it no longer becomes a question of where Harden wants to go to.

 

We wouldn't of signed him. He would've gone to Phoenix.

 

He was RFA so they would just match offer and resign him and maybe look to trade him after that since they'd have 4 players making over 60M per year.

Presti hasn't let a single player on a rookie contract hit free agency though.

 

Where did you get he wasn't happy to come to Houston?

 

Well by all accounts he was sad to be traded to houston. Would he have been just as sad to be traded to another team? Probably but he def was sad to be traded to houston.

 

He was just sad to be traded, especially after he reportedly only had about an hour to decide whether he was going to take the lesser deal to stay with OKC. Surely he wasn't happy at the time, but he obviously wasn't sad about being traded to Houston.

 

The Harden trade validated Morey in so many ways. Proved he could snag the big fish.

Without it, Morey is just another nerd dreaming about dating a supermodel someday; but instead of just dating a supermodel, he married one. Now all of the other supermodels are going to notice him.

It's the same way with blockbuster trades and free agency now. These 'big fish' are going to want to play for a GM that can make big things happen.

So to answer the question of whether or not I think Morey could have landed Harden in free agency without a marquee acquisition under his belt, I don't know. But my confidence in his ability to make such an acquisition was definitely boosted by landing Harden. I think others now share that sentiment too.

 

We'd be picking #14 again.

 

We would be having threads about rumors of Milsap or Big Al coming here and how the pick and roll with he and Lin would be deadly.

We'd also have a thread about how Daniel Gibson is better than Clutchfans thinks.

 

I tend to think not. Once a player is here and bonds with the team and the city and the fans, they're more likely to be attached and stay. The city itself, unfortunately, doesn't have the same allure to active players as LA, NY, Miami unless we have an established contending core. The same could be said for most NBA cities though. Players seem to enjoy living here in the off-season and post-retirement, for all the well-known reasons, but we're not in that top tier of destinations.