RealGM

Love instead of Westbrook in 2008? How would the Thunder fare? Would they still have gone with Harden?

If you are implying they should have picked a PG over Harden, then I say they still go with Harden. Harden had the playmaking and vision of a PG before he even entered the league. Had they went with Love in 2008, I think they win it all last year, and probably even make it to the finals the year before that.

Could've drafted Tyreke and he'd probably be doing better in OKC than in Sac right now..

Would they have gone with Harden as their starting PG then? A lineup of Harden-Sefolosha-Durant-Love-Ibaka would be scary. Balanced scoring, rebounding, and even some defense.

Of course, the wrinkle with OKC choosing Love would that they wouldn't likely have gone with Ibaka later in the draft.

Wouldn't have gotten ibaka, would have no interior defense, thabo and Durant would be the only positive defenders on the team. Would grab more Rebs, have more guys around the 3pt line but no Westbrook to put pressure on defenses. The team would be significantly worse.

spearsy23 wrote:Wouldn't have gotten ibaka, would have no interior defense, thabo and Durant would be the only positive defenders on the team. Would grab more Rebs, have more guys around the 3pt line but no Westbrook to put pressure on defenses. The team would be significantly worse.

They could still have gotten Ibaka. Could being the primary operator.

Some would say picking two bigs close together in drafts or even in the same draft is foolish but OKC did just pick three perimeter players as their projected core.

I think Ibaka could have still been in the mix. The plan might have been to play Love at the 5 with Ibaka at the 4. Harden-Durant-Ibaka-Love would be an elite team better than what they have now.

They would be worse off. Ibaka is not a C and Love is not exactly as great of a fit as people would think.
WB is a bit underestimated here imo.

I think if they picked Love, they would've picked Rubio next year. They were rumored to be picking between Rubio and Harden during that draft.

Ibaka wasn't projected as 100% starting PF in this league, otherwise he wouldn't have gone at the bottom of the draft (#24).

OKC still drafts Ibaka as a backup to Love IMO.

Ibaka wasn't projected as 100% starting PF in this league, otherwise he wouldn't have gone at the bottom of the draft (#24).

OKC still drafts Ibaka as a backup to Love IMO.

naw that was just a very talented draft Batum was taken right after Serge was.

If they draft Love and Ibaka, does that mean they don't do the Green-Perkins trade?

I will take Westbrook + Ibaka over Love + whoever

Westbrook > Love in term of impact

hokageinfamus wrote:

Ibaka wasn't projected as 100% starting PF in this league, otherwise he wouldn't have gone at the bottom of the draft (#24).

OKC still drafts Ibaka as a backup to Love IMO.

naw that was just a very talented draft Batum was taken right after Serge was.

Though that draft was talented, Ibaka was a big project coming into the draft. He was still very raw despite displaying some skills. He played more as a face up guy, and wasn't really an elite shooter, and had a slow shot. Batum went so low because he really wasn't that great of a ball handler, lacked assertiveness, and was inconsistant as a shooter.

They were more than likely first round picks because of their size, athleticism, and upside. Hindsight, they would go a lot higher, but before the draft, I wouldn't have picked neither before Ajinca, who flat out failed in the NBA.

An even better what-if: What if they drafted Durant and Joakim Noah instead of Durant and Green in '07? Still draft Westbrook and Ibaka in '08, and draft Rubio instead of Harden and slide Westbrook over to SG in '09. Assuming Rubio's injury was a freak incident and not fate, that would give a lineup of:

Rubio
Westbrook
Durant
Ibaka
Noah

Personally, I like that lineup a whole lot better than shoe-horning Love in there.

MagicTownBaller wrote:I think if they picked Love, they would've picked Rubio next year. They were rumored to be picking between Rubio and Harden during that draft.

I don't think that they were seriously considering Rubio with Westbrook - they needed a complementary guard with more range than Rubio (making Harden the obvious choice form Rubio/Harden/Evans).

With Love in place of Westbrook then they likely take Rubio (who was generally considered ahead of Harden/Evans at the time).

They also probably still take Ibaka even with Love. It wasn't clear at the time what position Ibaka would become (PF or C) or how good he'd be (could easily just have been a backup).

With Durant and Love at SF/PF they're probably trying to move Green for a SG or C even before the eventual Perkins deal.

TwentyOne920 wrote:Would they have gone with Harden as their starting PG then? A lineup of Harden-Sefolosha-Durant-Love-Ibaka would be scary. Balanced scoring, rebounding, and even some defense.

Of course, the wrinkle with OKC choosing Love would that they wouldn't likely have gone with Ibaka later in the draft.

Harden's not an NBA PG anymore than OJ Mayo is. And before Harden became a revelation one of the bigger concerns about his game coming into the draft (just like it was for Mayo) was his actual ball handling (not passing) ability. And while you can make due with a guy that isn't a particularly good dribbler in college at point, it's very difficult to do so in the NBA. So, no, I don't see that the Thunder would have drafted Harden thinking he'd be the PG. Doesn't mean that they wouldn't have still drafted him (they apparently were very high on him as a SG) but I doubt reason in that scenario of yours would have been to make him the PG.

Stolen Team Fan wrote:An even better what-if: What if they drafted Durant and Joakim Noah instead of Durant and Green in '07? Still draft Westbrook and Ibaka in '08, and draft Rubio instead of Harden and slide Westbrook over to SG in '09. Assuming Rubio's injury was a freak incident and not fate, that would give a lineup of:

Rubio
Westbrook
Durant
Ibaka
Noah

Personally, I like that lineup a whole lot better than shoe-horning Love in there.

Hell, just draft Noah instead of Green and go into the Lux Tax. With a starting five of Westbrook - Harden - Durant - Ibaka - Noah, you could just have ring chasers.

Stolen Team Fan wrote:An even better what-if: What if they drafted Durant and Joakim Noah instead of Durant and Green in '07? Still draft Westbrook and Ibaka in '08, and draft Rubio instead of Harden and slide Westbrook over to SG in '09. Assuming Rubio's injury was a freak incident and not fate, that would give a lineup of:

Rubio
Westbrook
Durant
Ibaka
Noah

Personally, I like that lineup a whole lot better than shoe-horning Love in there.

I Never liked that Jeff Green pick for Seattle/OKC. They got two guys that play the same position in the same draft with their two lotto picks.

Quinarvy wrote:

Stolen Team Fan wrote:An even better what-if: What if they drafted Durant and Joakim Noah instead of Durant and Green in '07? Still draft Westbrook and Ibaka in '08, and draft Rubio instead of Harden and slide Westbrook over to SG in '09. Assuming Rubio's injury was a freak incident and not fate, that would give a lineup of:

Rubio
Westbrook
Durant
Ibaka
Noah

Personally, I like that lineup a whole lot better than shoe-horning Love in there.

Hell, just draft Noah instead of Green and go into the Lux Tax. With a starting five of Westbrook - Harden - Durant - Ibaka - Noah, you could just have ring chasers.

So basically it comes down to personal tastes as to whether one would want Westbrook & Harden, or Rubio & Westbrook.
And to anyone complaining that WB isn't a SG, remember that he played SG in college. The position isn't foreign to him. He did wonderfully the times he played off the ball with Harden running the point. I think he would remain doing well if he only had to worry about improving his shooting / defense as opposed to improving his PG skills. Could you imagine him being set up beautifully by a PG like Rubio? Shivers, man. Shivers.