RealGM

Just spitballin' here...

OKC Trades
Harden
Aldrich

MIN Trades
Williams
Johnson

Minnesota
Darko - Aldrich
Love - Tolliver
Beasley - Webster - Tolliver
Harden - Lee
Rubio - Barea

OKC
Perkins - Ibaka - Collison
Williams - Ibaka
Durant - Johnson
Sefolosha - Cook
Westbrook - Maynor

Make sure to extend Love and role with a Rubio/Harden/Love combo going forward. Cole is a nice addition. OKC does this to add a scoring PF who will be dangerous next to Durant and compliments Perkins/Ibaka as well. However, they will probably have to chose between Ibaka / Williams eventually.

As discussed in other threads, zero chance the Thunder trade Harden this year. Maybe as they get closer to his extension but this year keeping him is their best chance for a championship.

And I know Bucher mentioned something like this in his chat but I think his answer was referring to us bidding when he became a FA, not now (although I think the question was in reference to what we'd have to trade).

Yeah, that comment was sort of the impetus of my trade idea.

So basically, rather than trade, we try to clear as much salary of the books so we can make a very large offer which OKC will find difficult to match.

I think the only way we get Harden would be to find a 3rd team that would trade a good win now player for Williams, picks, and cap relief(Webster and Miller).

I think there is no way we get Harden unless Rubio or Love is on the table.

B Calrissian wrote:I think the only way we get Harden would be to find a 3rd team that would trade a good win now player for Williams, picks, and cap relief(Webster and Miller).

Hmm, this got me thinking. Do you think Phoenix would give up Nash for a package like that? I really think the Thunder need a pure point, and they need to move Westbrook to the 2. Nash would be perfect for them. He is the epitome of a win-now player. It would make the Thunder instant favorites, so I think they might be willing to give up Harden for that opportunity. Hmmm....

LOBO 7 wrote:

B Calrissian wrote:I think the only way we get Harden would be to find a 3rd team that would trade a good win now player for Williams, picks, and cap relief(Webster and Miller).

Hmm, this got me thinking. Do you think Phoenix would give up Nash for a package like that? I really think the Thunder need a pure point, and they need to move Westbrook to the 2. Nash would be perfect for them. He is the epitome of a win-now player. It would make the Thunder instant favorites, so I think they might be willing to give up Harden for that opportunity. Hmmm....

I don't think a one year rental of Nash is worth Williams or Harden. Nash+Gortat is good value but at that point the incoming salary for OKC is quite a bit. Maybe we could help them upgrade Perkins but no one wants to trade guys like Noah.

LOBO 7 wrote:

B Calrissian wrote:I think the only way we get Harden would be to find a 3rd team that would trade a good win now player for Williams, picks, and cap relief(Webster and Miller).

Hmm, this got me thinking. Do you think Phoenix would give up Nash for a package like that? I really think the Thunder need a pure point, and they need to move Westbrook to the 2. Nash would be perfect for them. He is the epitome of a win-now player. It would make the Thunder instant favorites, so I think they might be willing to give up Harden for that opportunity. Hmmm....

The more I think about that the more perfect it sounds. Am I crazy to think that all 3 teams might be interested in that?

Something structured around Nash to OKC, Harden to MIN, Williams to PHX? Obviously other pieces would be needed to match salaries, Nash is at like $11 million and Harden is at like $4.5 million. I'm no salary guru, maybe shrink or one of our other trade gurus could throw some numbers around and find something that works. I would also be willing to give up any other pieces basically besides Love and Rubio to make this happen. Am I crazy to think it would interest all 3 teams?

B Calrissian wrote:

LOBO 7 wrote:

B Calrissian wrote:I think the only way we get Harden would be to find a 3rd team that would trade a good win now player for Williams, picks, and cap relief(Webster and Miller).

Hmm, this got me thinking. Do you think Phoenix would give up Nash for a package like that? I really think the Thunder need a pure point, and they need to move Westbrook to the 2. Nash would be perfect for them. He is the epitome of a win-now player. It would make the Thunder instant favorites, so I think they might be willing to give up Harden for that opportunity. Hmmm....

I don't think a one year rental of Nash is worth Williams or Harden. Nash+Gortat is good value but at that point the incoming salary for OKC is quite a bit. Maybe we could help them upgrade Perkins but no one wants to trade guys like Noah.

But why would it just be a one year rental of Nash? You don't think he would want to stay in OKC as long as his legs last, trying to get a ring? I know he's getting long in the tooth, but I think he's got enough left in the tank to get that team a ring. Nash wouldn't have to play big minutes, just the important minutes when the Thunder struggle at times without a true facilitator. I don't know, I'm probably reaching but I would love Harden on this team so much, and this just seems like a possible way to get that done.

I was wrongfully assuming this might be his last year but people have probably been saying that for awhile about him. I still don't think Nash alone would be able to get Harden so that is where the problem begins. I hope I am wrong about that because it would make a trade much easier.

We can't add more value without adding more salary (OKC won't want picks) and they don't have many dead weight contracts to throw in. Harden/Nazr/Aldrich is enough salary to take on Nash but I don't think that is fair value for OKC. After that the only guys they have making over 2mil are Durant, Westbrook, Perkins, Thabo, and Collison. They could part with Thabo if Westbrook is going to play more SG with Nash on the team.

That puts their outgoing salary at 13.9 and Nash alone costs 11.7 so there is not much room to make up the discrepancy in value. I would like to be able to squeeze Beasley in there. He is Durant's friend and could take over the role of 6th man. The problem with that is Phoenix needs to add value in somewhere. The obvious answer would be Williams plus a not so good contract for Nash but neither OKC or us have a contract like that. Upgrading Perkins to Gortat could do the trick to add value for OKC and make the trade work on the money side.


Wolves - Williams/Beasley/Ridnour for Harden/Thabo/Nazr
Suns - Nash/Gortat for Williams/Perkins/Ridnour/Aldrich
Thunder - Harden/Perkins/Thabo/Aldrich/Nazr for Nash/Gortat/Beasley

Just looking at that outline it seems like far too big of an overhaul for OKC to go through during the season. Not to mention Williams can't be traded for awhile because he was recently signed.

MIN OUT: Williams,Pekovic
MIN IN: B.Lopez, Brooks

I like that... would probably have to include Johnson and a pick... but still fine with me.

Lopez = Williams/Pek/Memphis 1st..
Brooks = Johnson


Lopez - Darko
Love - Tolliver
Beasley - Webster
Brooks - Lee
Rubio - Barea

I think in general, if we are willing to put a Williams/Johnson combo on the table we can probably find our SG. Would we do that package for Kevin Martin and Jordan Hill perhaps..

I don't think there's anyway OKC makes a major trade with us. Harden would be amazing though.

B Calrissian wrote:I think the only way we get Harden would be to find a 3rd team that would trade a good win now player for Williams, picks, and cap relief(Webster and Miller).

+1