Anytime you feel bad about Grizzlies GM blunders think about OKC. The team was lucky enough to hit grand slams on 3 different occasions and will never recover from mismanagement. Idk if KD would've left if they had kept Westbrook & Harden...but it would've been a lot harder IMO.

This is what the Thunder got for dealing James Harden in favor of keeping Serge Ibaka, who they later also traded away.

1) Kevin Martin (played 1 season in OKC, averaged 14 ppg. No longer in the NBA)
2) Jeremy Lamb (traded to Charlotte for Luke Ridnour - waived - and the draft rights to Tomislov Zubcic - not in the NBA)
3) Steven Adams (really solid role player)
4) Mitch McGary (injury prone, career average of 4 ppg & 4 rpg)
5) Alex Abrines ( below average to average - at best - role player)

By choosing Ibaka over Harden, you also have to take into account what OKC eventually got in return for Ibaka once they traded him (which is an indictment in itself).

1) Victor Oladipo (solid starting 2)
2) Ersan Ilyasova (traded to 76ers for Jerami Grant - a rotation guy)
3) Domantis Sabonis (has some upside - but less than stellar rookie season so far)


So, essentially....

2 guys that are not currently in the NBA.
1 really solid role player
1 injury prone big who they may not even re-sign
2 deep rotation players
A solid starting SG
A rookie PF who may or may not develop into something useful



Yikes. Dealt a Top 5 player/MVP candidate for a few role guys at best.

Tell me all about how Presti is a genius again...

(02-13-2017 02:41 PM)HometownTiger Wrote:  Anytime you feel bad about Grizzlies GM blunders think about OKC. The team was lucky enough to hit grand slams on 3 different occasions and will never recover from mismanagement. Idk if KD would've left if they had kept Westbrook & Harden...but it would've been a lot harder IMO.

This is what the Thunder got for dealing James Harden in favor of keeping Serge Ibaka, who they later also traded away.

1) Kevin Martin (played 1 season in OKC, averaged 14 ppg. No longer in the NBA)
2) Jeremy Lamb (traded to Charlotte for Luke Ridnour - waived - and the draft rights to Tomislov Zubcic - not in the NBA)
3) Steven Adams (really solid role player)
4) Mitch McGary (injury prone, career average of 4 ppg & 4 rpg)
5) Alex Abrines ( below average to average - at best - role player)

By choosing Ibaka over Harden, you also have to take into account what OKC eventually got in return for Ibaka once they traded him (which is an indictment in itself).

1) Victor Oladipo (solid starting 2)
2) Ersan Ilyasova (traded to 76ers for Jerami Grant - a rotation guy)
3) Domantis Sabonis (has some upside - but less than stellar rookie season so far)


So, essentially....

2 guys that are not currently in the NBA.
1 really solid role player
1 injury prone big who they may not even re-sign
2 deep rotation players
A solid starting SG
A rookie PF who may or may not develop into something useful



Yikes. Dealt a Top 5 player/MVP candidate for a few role guys at best.

Tell me all about how Presti is a genius again...

But they weren't going to be able to max out Harden, along with Durant and Westbrook.

OKC never was going to have an issue scoring and Harden is one of the worst defenders in the NBA.

This is a good example of why the NBA sucks though.

OKC should have Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka and Harden on their roster.

They'd be the best in the NBA.

But, small market and salary caps and whatnot.

They did it the right way and still got screwed for the most part.

Hindsight is 20/20. They couldn't afford all of them at the time and when you have Westbrook and Durant, keeping Ibaka over Harden makes more sense from a roster standpoint.

Yep big blunder by the thunder. I'm sure one of KD, Westbrook, or even Harden would have taken less than the max to make a championship happen. Oh well, at least we don't have to deal with annoying OKC fans anymore.

(02-13-2017 10:02 PM)salukiblue Wrote:  

(02-13-2017 02:41 PM)HometownTiger Wrote:  Anytime you feel bad about Grizzlies GM blunders think about OKC. The team was lucky enough to hit grand slams on 3 different occasions and will never recover from mismanagement. Idk if KD would've left if they had kept Westbrook & Harden...but it would've been a lot harder IMO.

This is what the Thunder got for dealing James Harden in favor of keeping Serge Ibaka, who they later also traded away.

1) Kevin Martin (played 1 season in OKC, averaged 14 ppg. No longer in the NBA)
2) Jeremy Lamb (traded to Charlotte for Luke Ridnour - waived - and the draft rights to Tomislov Zubcic - not in the NBA)
3) Steven Adams (really solid role player)
4) Mitch McGary (injury prone, career average of 4 ppg & 4 rpg)
5) Alex Abrines ( below average to average - at best - role player)

By choosing Ibaka over Harden, you also have to take into account what OKC eventually got in return for Ibaka once they traded him (which is an indictment in itself).

1) Victor Oladipo (solid starting 2)
2) Ersan Ilyasova (traded to 76ers for Jerami Grant - a rotation guy)
3) Domantis Sabonis (has some upside - but less than stellar rookie season so far)


So, essentially....

2 guys that are not currently in the NBA.
1 really solid role player
1 injury prone big who they may not even re-sign
2 deep rotation players
A solid starting SG
A rookie PF who may or may not develop into something useful



Yikes. Dealt a Top 5 player/MVP candidate for a few role guys at best.

Tell me all about how Presti is a genius again...

But they weren't going to be able to max out Harden, along with Durant and Westbrook.

OKC never was going to have an issue scoring and Harden is one of the worst defenders in the NBA.

A) The salary cap increase would've helped.
B) They could've taken less money to compete for championships.
C) If you're going to trade him...get more than that.

Harden refused to take less money though. OKC offered 65 mil but Harden wanted 80

(02-15-2017 03:54 PM)HometownTiger Wrote:  

(02-13-2017 10:02 PM)salukiblue Wrote:  

(02-13-2017 02:41 PM)HometownTiger Wrote:  Anytime you feel bad about Grizzlies GM blunders think about OKC. The team was lucky enough to hit grand slams on 3 different occasions and will never recover from mismanagement. Idk if KD would've left if they had kept Westbrook & Harden...but it would've been a lot harder IMO.

This is what the Thunder got for dealing James Harden in favor of keeping Serge Ibaka, who they later also traded away.

1) Kevin Martin (played 1 season in OKC, averaged 14 ppg. No longer in the NBA)
2) Jeremy Lamb (traded to Charlotte for Luke Ridnour - waived - and the draft rights to Tomislov Zubcic - not in the NBA)
3) Steven Adams (really solid role player)
4) Mitch McGary (injury prone, career average of 4 ppg & 4 rpg)
5) Alex Abrines ( below average to average - at best - role player)

By choosing Ibaka over Harden, you also have to take into account what OKC eventually got in return for Ibaka once they traded him (which is an indictment in itself).

1) Victor Oladipo (solid starting 2)
2) Ersan Ilyasova (traded to 76ers for Jerami Grant - a rotation guy)
3) Domantis Sabonis (has some upside - but less than stellar rookie season so far)


So, essentially....

2 guys that are not currently in the NBA.
1 really solid role player
1 injury prone big who they may not even re-sign
2 deep rotation players
A solid starting SG
A rookie PF who may or may not develop into something useful



Yikes. Dealt a Top 5 player/MVP candidate for a few role guys at best.

Tell me all about how Presti is a genius again...

But they weren't going to be able to max out Harden, along with Durant and Westbrook.

OKC never was going to have an issue scoring and Harden is one of the worst defenders in the NBA.

A) The salary cap increase would've helped.
B) They could've taken less money to compete for championships.
C) If you're going to trade him...get more than that.

In retrospect, sure, but in his 3 years at OKC he only started 7 games and was averaging 13 ppg.

Martin had averaged 24, 25, 21, and 24 ppg the previous four years. He was 29 years old.

Now I do wonder WHY they traded Martin after 1 year.

Atleast they didn't draft Thabeet.....

(02-18-2017 12:00 AM)T.I.G.E.R.S Wrote:  Atleast they didn't draft Thabeet.....

Over James Harden, Stephen Curry and Demar Derozon

Conley
Harden
TA
Zbo
Gasol

There would probably be a banner hanging in the forum

(02-18-2017 12:14 AM)Dynamos Wrote:  

(02-18-2017 12:00 AM)T.I.G.E.R.S Wrote:  Atleast they didn't draft Thabeet.....

Over James Harden, Stephen Curry and Demar Derozon

Conley
Harden
TA
Zbo
Gasol

There would probably be a banner hanging in the forum

People make a big deal about this - as they should.

But passing on Draymond is worse IMO. It was a chance to make everything right. He would've been a perfect fit here. Much more so than Harden IMO.