RealGM

Keeping Harden was not going to work out, as most think it should have .....

http://basketball.realgm.com/analysis/236243/Cutting-Up-The-Revisionist-History-Of-The-James-Harden-Trade

I think they would have kept them if they would have known that the Lux tax would have been $76 million this season and $71 last season.

But, also remember that the Thunder added two young big men with this trade in Adams and McGary. Those two, Lamb, Abrines, and lets not forget Kevin Martin (this allowed the Thunder to continue to be a contender), is a pretty decent haul for a 6th man who was averaging 16 a game. If the Thunder still had Harden we might be looking @ PJ3 as the starting Center.

Balkman32 wrote:I think they would have kept them if they would have known that the Lux tax would have been $76 million this season and $71 last season.

But, also remember that the Thunder added two young big men with this trade in Adams and McGary. Those two, Lamb, Abrines, and lets not forget Kevin Martin (this allowed the Thunder to continue to be a contender), is a pretty decent haul for a 6th man who was averaging 16 a game. If the Thunder still had Harden we might be looking @ PJ3 as the starting Center.

I'm sure we would have pursued Pleiss more heavily if we didn't have Adams.

spearsy23 wrote:

Balkman32 wrote:I think they would have kept them if they would have known that the Lux tax would have been $76 million this season and $71 last season.

But, also remember that the Thunder added two young big men with this trade in Adams and McGary. Those two, Lamb, Abrines, and lets not forget Kevin Martin (this allowed the Thunder to continue to be a contender), is a pretty decent haul for a 6th man who was averaging 16 a game. If the Thunder still had Harden we might be looking @ PJ3 as the starting Center.

I'm sure we would have pursued Pleiss more heavily if we didn't have Adams.

True - but not much of a big body.

What happened to Harden is happening to Reggie Jackson and it will ultimately happen to Waiters too. Young players don’t want to play on the bench their entire careers - it doesn’t make them bad people.

This is the only part i disagree with when speaking about Waiters.
Waiters seems to be a pretty high IQ player for as young as he is, obviously he is still making some young player mistakes and that will shore up over time. But he seems to also play within himself and understand who he is as a player. As he himself has said he embarrasses and desires the role of the sixth man. We cant say he will want this position forever, but i do think its safe to say that it wont come as quickly for him as it did Harden and Jackson. We can probably get away with signing him for a second contract and it becoming a thing maybe at midpoint or end of that.

Bravenewworld wrote:

What happened to Harden is happening to Reggie Jackson and it will ultimately happen to Waiters too. Young players don’t want to play on the bench their entire careers - it doesn’t make them bad people.

This is the only part i disagree with when speaking about Waiters.
Waiters seems to be a pretty high IQ player for as young as he is, obviously he is still making some young player mistakes and that will shore up over time. But he seems to also play within himself and understand who he is as a player. As he himself has said he embarrasses and desires the role of the sixth man. We cant say he will want this position forever, but i do think its safe to say that it wont come as quickly for him as it did Harden and Jackson. We can probably get away with signing him for a second contract and it becoming a thing maybe at midpoint or end of that.

I can only assume you're living in some alternate reality and your internet connection breaks through time and space into ours. http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/24641644/cavs-dion-waiters-i-want-to-start-and-i-believe-that-i-should

spearsy23 wrote:I can only assume you're living in some alternate reality and your internet connection breaks through time and space into ours. http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/24641644/cavs-dion-waiters-i-want-to-start-and-i-believe-that-i-should

Why can you open up a new tab, do a search for this article and then copy and paste it here with a wonderful comment.
But for some reason, you cant take the extra twenty seconds(?) To check to see if what was said is being made up out of thin air or if its actually based on something.... something more recent i might add. My internet is not magical, i just actually know how to use it.

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf ... _in_c.html

There is also a video of the interview where he goes further in depth on the subject, im not sure if its on that cavs site or on youtube or what, but im pretty sure it was linked in that very article on the front page of realgm too....sooooo......ya.
That alternate reality is called November and that fracture of time and space was a young basketball player being taught a role, understanding that role and then embracing that role.

They should've traded Westbrook instead. That's pretty obvious, imo.

OlDirtMcBert wrote:They should've traded Westbrook instead. That's pretty obvious, imo.

That would have been a terrible decision. Pretty obvious, imo.

OlDirtMcBert wrote:They should've traded Westbrook instead. That's pretty obvious, imo.

Again with this trading Westbrook business. If OKC wanted to trade WB don't you think OKC would've trade WB already?