Seems to me like both sides lost. OKC is much less formidable, and Houston is just bad enough to miss the playoffs but too good to get a decent lottery pick. The Lakers come out the best in this deal. They are now the favorites in the West.
Indeed this move it takes them out of the championship window, however the offensive potential of PJ3 and Lamb developing alongside/with Durant is scary. Definitely a long-run move. Houston on the other hand, not sure what to say. Seems like they threw the baby out with the bathwater giving up all their draft picks.
I think you're underestimating Harden and overestimating the picks. Houston has enough good young players to develop, there's not room for any more. Also, they have cap room to sign another max player next summer, and will look pretty attractive.
Any if/when either of them gets good they will be traded for young prospects because OKC is too cheap to resign talent behind RW/KD. This is a vicious cycle for them.
This, and the Ibaka overpayment, ruin Presti's wonderboy reputation. When the team moved, Sonic fans saved face by acting confident that Thunder owners and Presti would self-destruct in the small OKC market. Sonic fans have been humbled for a couple of years, but today is the seed of the Sonic Evil Eye hex taking effect. They have patiently stuck pins in dolls of Clay Bennett and finally the curse has come true.
With KM you get a decent replacement 6th man who's going to be able to make up for the scoring, the FTs, and the 3 pt shooting. However OKC loses debatably its best floor general. Often times that offense looks like shit with Westbrook at the helm before Harden comes in and everything starts flowing. That aspect is the biggest blow for them IMO. They have some tools to add another stud via trade now, but it seems like they did just miss out on a lot of stars getting moved around. Could have used Harden to go after Howard or Bynum. As far as some saying Harden is greedy/stupid, I get where he's coming from. He's a 23 year old elite SG but gets the short end of the stick in OKC. Hes considered the least of the big 3, hes the one relegated to the bench, hes the one who's expected to give the hometown discount while the other two get legit max deals. Yes, he may be walking away from multiple rings, but IMO as a 23 year old with elite talent its legitimate to want to go somewhere where you can be the man instead of being 3rd banana and a career 6th man, albeit on some great teams. In his head hes probably thinking that if he was a starter and a franchise guy then he could prove hes the best SG in the league, and I'm sure he thinks he can go somewhere else and be the focal point on a contender. Its easy to sit here and say hes a greedy bastard who threw away rings over "only" 4 million dollars. But as others have mentioned, that money means even less to the rich owners (though the luxury tax is inhibitive). Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka didn't volunteer to each take a million or two less to make sure they kept that core 4 together even though everyone saw the paydays coming for these guys well in advance.
nah. just took a minute to look that one up because it seemed crazy that any team would dump an entire roster.
Thanks for posting that. I found it a really enjoyable read. I loved his point about LeBron basically having a mobile dynastic franchise. Wherever LeBron goes, the dynasty follows. I can definitely see him leaving Miami, and I will LMAO. If I were an OKC fan I'd be steamed right about now.
I like this trade for OKC. They're going to need to play a committee of guys on rookie scale contracts to survive, especially with the CBA.
Presumably solely as a business move. Which I don't get. How do fans convince themselves to care about the business of sports? And that's a reason to "like" this "for OKC"? Sounds like a reason to despair for all small market teams.
I imagine Kevin Martin and Westbrook will be stealing shots from each other. OKC=better version of last year's Portland squad. Lamb is good for the future but they got worse for the short term. I can't imagine Durant wanting to stay in OKC after his contract goes up. I wonder if he goes to LA?
