RealGM

Waiters was already 6th man in college, and OKC being a team that already uses advanced stats in their own drafting, most likely values Waiters... they wanted Beal, why not Waiters? We could've done Waiters+future 1st rounder for Harden.

That's MUCH better than kmart, lamb, and raptors first anyway...

I believe they did call us. They wanted Waiters/AV from what I heard and we turned them down

I question the sanity of the front office if they turned it down.

in retrospect, sure...

Exactly. Lets not all pretend we knew Harden would blow up. He was coming off a terrible finals performance. He started just 2 games last year and averaged 16ppg on a team with 2 major superstars. The year before that......5 starts and 12ppg.

Niko23 wrote:Exactly. Lets not all pretend we knew Harden would blow up. He was coming off a terrible finals performance. He started just 2 games last year and averaged 16ppg on a team with 2 major superstars. The year before that......5 starts and 12ppg.

Eh, i think it was a clear lack of opportunity in okc. He broke out in the playoffs the season before and then was amazing all last season including the playoffs until the finals. I was always pretty high on his offensive game though. Shame we didnt get him.

if you looked at his advanced stats for last year he had an unbelievable efficiency and numbers.

I'm honestly not surprised with his output this year at all. I said last year i believe hes a 25-5-5 guy and even though hes surpassed that it doesnt shock me.

IMO, it's problematic trading for a player like Harden when you only have one piece in place. I liked the idea of making Batum an offer, though, because we'd then have 3 pieces ... plus his contract would have come off the books the off-season when Dion would need to be extended.

Batum is exactly that type of player that would round out our young core. Athletic, quality defender, great length, good shooter...

imo i didnt know harden was going to be this good if harden was traded over here i think we would be playing for the 8th seed right now haha