James Harden traded to the Rockets

[NiqtheAntiq]

Lol at OKC fans trying to defend this move.

While I think Lamb or those draft picks will turn out fine for them in future years, they definitely take a step back at least next year. Kevin Martin is definite downgrade from Harden no matter what stats you want to spin. And who knows what will happen in the future. When you got Durant and Westbrook, you try to win now, not look to the future.

I think Presti did well under the circumstance, under the pressure of his owner I am pretty sure. At least he's not the Bulls or Knicks GM who lost their assets for nothing. He had the courage to pull off a deal and get a great deal at that. You guys are lucky to have this guy.

But OKC fans should still be pissed, not at their GM, not at Harden, but at their owner. Because you guys downgraded for the only matter - money, the pockets of your owner, not because of talent, not flexibilty. No matter what media "small market" spin the owner wanted to put out, at the end of the day, it came down to his balance sheet and his bottom line. The guy is billionaire. Look at how much money he made off the Thunder in these few years. Are you telling me he couldn't afford those tax bills? Are you kidding? Other owners, big market, small market paid tax for lottery teams or 1st round teams, and your owner broke up a 23 year old Finals team, all over the reason of his bottom line. You guys should be pissed, not defending it.

would you give Toni Kukoc the max to be the 6th man on the 72 win bulls team though?

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I bet Laker fans are celebrating right now. Shame Harden decided to ruin a potential dynasty for some measly 5 mil. OKC is a small market team they can't afford that many max players so don't give me that crap that they were cheap.

Playing devils advocate, I ask what if Harden saw it as a business move? I saw what happened to Marcus Lattimore today. No athlete can be sure about their next paycheck. Gilbert Arenas opted out after his knee injuries began, and was lucky to sign a huge deal. You say it is a measly 5 million?

If I were in Harden's shoes I would say I would have an extra $5M to donate to my favorite charity. I could tithe an extra $500k. Or, I could put at least $4M in the bank and save it. What if some day I'm disabled and my kids need money? Nice little nest egg … Maybe I would buy land for future development. Or a condo and rent to people at very reasonable prices. I've never had that kind of money but I know if I were Harden I would go for a max contract. I would accept my full market value from the highest bidder.

I don't blame any athlete for making a business decision. The owner clearly did in choosing to trade a valuable member of his team. My only question is if they made it clear to James Harden he take the deal or they would trade him ASAP.

[misterrunon]

Lol at OKC fans trying to defend this move.

While I think Lamb or those draft picks will turn out fine for them in future years, they definitely take a step back at least next year. Kevin Martin is definite downgrade from Harden no matter what stats you want to spin. And who knows what will happen in the future. When you got Durant and Westbrook, you try to win now, not look to the future.

I think Presti did well under the circumstance, under the pressure of his owner I am pretty sure. At least he's not the Bulls or Knicks GM who lost their assets for nothing. He had the courage to pull off a deal and get a great deal at that. You guys are lucky to have this guy.

But OKC fans should still be pissed, not at their GM, not at Harden, but at their owner. Because you guys downgraded for the only matter - money, the pockets of your owner, not because of talent, not flexibilty. No matter what media "small market" spin the owner wanted to put out, at the end of the day, it came down to his balance sheet and his bottom line. The guy is billionaire. Look at how much money he made off the Thunder in these few years. Are you telling me he couldn't afford those tax bills? Are you kidding? Other owners, big market, small market paid tax for lottery teams or 1st round teams, and your owner broke up a 23 year old Finals team, all over the reason of his bottom line. You guys should be pissed, not defending it.

the NBA is a business. if you are an owner, it's hard to demand an owner to put out $400 million and expect him to not make money (possibly losing some) off of that.

and since when is being worth 400 million = billionaire? you sound trollish, that or myopic.

[Hodges4Three]

Its completely ridiculous to judge harden based solely on that miami series.

Nah it ain't. All it took was 1 Miami game to supposedly "expose" Lin as a scrub "backup-at-best" player.

[SCourGe OF GoD]

One upside of this trade, I won't have to defend Harden's flopping anymore

You just traded the student for the grandmaster of flopping my friend.

This is funny.

[crazytown]

Bill Simmons ‏@sportsguy33

PS: Harden didn't ask for a trade. He just turned down a subpar offer from a team crying poverty that made 30-35 million PROFIT last season.

Did OKC really make that much last year?

if that's the case then screw OKC. Just another cheap team. Not surprising seeing as who the owner is.

I hope this move backfires on them just because of what Bennett did to the Seattle. Hope KD and RW bolt for greater pastures.

Karma is a bitch.

[StitchJones]

Lol at OKC fans trying to defend this move.

While I think Lamb or those draft picks will turn out fine for them in future years, they definitely take a step back at least next year. Kevin Martin is definite downgrade from Harden no matter what stats you want to spin. And who knows what will happen in the future. When you got Durant and Westbrook, you try to win now, not look to the future.

I think Presti did well under the circumstance, under the pressure of his owner I am pretty sure. At least he's not the Bulls or Knicks GM who lost their assets for nothing. He had the courage to pull off a deal and get a great deal at that. You guys are lucky to have this guy.

But OKC fans should still be pissed, not at their GM, not at Harden, but at their owner. Because you guys downgraded for the only matter - money, the pockets of your owner, not because of talent, not flexibilty. No matter what media "small market" spin the owner wanted to put out, at the end of the day, it came down to his balance sheet and his bottom line. The guy is billionaire. Look at how much money he made off the Thunder in these few years. Are you telling me he couldn't afford those tax bills? Are you kidding? Other owners, big market, small market paid tax for lottery teams or 1st round teams, and your owner broke up a 23 year old Finals team, all over the reason of his bottom line. You guys should be pissed, not defending it.

would you give Toni Kukoc the max to be the 6th man on the 72 win bulls team though?

First: Harden is MUCH better than Kukoc.

Second: Kukoc would not command a max contract as a free agent, Harden absolutely will, whether you believe he is worth it or not.

Third: Harden was the best SG on the Thunder yet sacrificed his game coming off the bench. Kukoc was not better than Pippen so he should have come off the bench.

[Guy986]

All I know is that Durant is going to be pissed at the way Kevin Martin will become a massive black hole on offense, and suck everything in his path in. All OKC's shots are belong to him now.

Westbrook might have words for him and probably more shots for himself 4 seconds in to the shot clock..

Martin is not a blackhole. His shot attempt isnt that high even in his prime years.

[fallacy]

Harden is getting a potential 26 million dollars more by going to the Rockets. Him lying to OKC fan's faces or not, can't hate on him for that. I'd break up with my fiance right now if someone offered by 26 million

[noto12ious]

if that's the case then screw OKC. Just another cheap team. Not surprising seeing as who the owner is.

I hope this move backfires on them just because of what Bennett did to the Seattle. Hope KD and RW bolt for greater pastures.

Karma is a bitch.

indeed.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

At risk of looking like a douche, here's what i posted before the 2011 season when the rule change was announced. viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1141059

Kevin Martin went from a FT line champ and a shooter to just a shooter overnight.

I remember you posting this. Not only that but it was obvious from the first week of the season that he wouldn't get the calls he used to get. Matt Bullard complained about it all the time last season. It weird seeing posters defend a version of Kevin Martin that doesn't exist.

But remember, playoff team calls are different.

Now that Martin is with the Thunder, he will get calls he didn't get last season on a lowly Rocket team. At least until he meets the Lakers, where he will get ZERO against Kobe. The one thing the Thunder did lose was a player who could take it right at Kobe and score, calls or none. Martin can't do that

I suspect Kevin Martin will have a serious bounce back year, and he'll get more than his share of FTs this season, at least until the Western Conference Finals, if the two teams I think will meet do meet

[Bandwagon1]

Dude chokes in the finals and wanted a max? Cmon SON!

[SCourGe OF GoD]

The weird thing to this for me is I have followed the NBA since 96 almost religiously and I was thinking today around like 5pm out of the blue about Harden's contract situation and how in my mind he doesn't deserve the max as he doesn't give off the vibe of being a longterm superstar one day. Maybe Presti felt my psychic link and pulled the deal an hour or so later lol

Harden could have easily been an albatross contract on OKC's books. I can see him as the kind of player who gets a max deal, gets injured and becomes a Gilbert Arenas type player when its all said and done. He will have 3-4 star seasons with Houston then disappear.I promise you he won't have the ethic Grant Hill did to come back from a major injury and still be 6th man worthy.He also looks like he could be lazy under the right circumstances(Having a max contract).I dont see that with Durant or Westbrook.

Martin will be flipped by the deadline in an even better deal so don't worry about him in all this.

They need his expiring contract to come off the books or else what was the point...

[NiqtheAntiq]

Lol at OKC fans trying to defend this move.

While I think Lamb or those draft picks will turn out fine for them in future years, they definitely take a step back at least next year. Kevin Martin is definite downgrade from Harden no matter what stats you want to spin. And who knows what will happen in the future. When you got Durant and Westbrook, you try to win now, not look to the future.

I think Presti did well under the circumstance, under the pressure of his owner I am pretty sure. At least he's not the Bulls or Knicks GM who lost their assets for nothing. He had the courage to pull off a deal and get a great deal at that. You guys are lucky to have this guy.

But OKC fans should still be pissed, not at their GM, not at Harden, but at their owner. Because you guys downgraded for the only matter - money, the pockets of your owner, not because of talent, not flexibilty. No matter what media "small market" spin the owner wanted to put out, at the end of the day, it came down to his balance sheet and his bottom line. The guy is billionaire. Look at how much money he made off the Thunder in these few years. Are you telling me he couldn't afford those tax bills? Are you kidding? Other owners, big market, small market paid tax for lottery teams or 1st round teams, and your owner broke up a 23 year old Finals team, all over the reason of his bottom line. You guys should be pissed, not defending it.

would you give Toni Kukoc the max to be the 6th man on the 72 win bulls team though?

First: Harden is MUCH better than Kukoc.

Second: Kukoc would not command a max contract as a free agent, Harden absolutely will, whether you believe he is worth it or not.

Third: Harden was the best SG on the Thunder yet sacrificed his game coming off the bench. Kukoc was not better than Pippen so he should have come off the bench.

having Kukoc around extended Pippen's career. Without Pippen I dont know if the Bulls could have even beaten that Seattle team in 96. Jordan isn't a one man army, look at his stint with the Wizards. He can only do so much even though he is the GOAT prime or not.

Kukoc isn't the max, but if he asked for it coming off a 72 win season Bulls fans would say "The end is near" if they traded him.

[wfiles]

Harden is getting a potential 26 million dollars more by going to the Rockets. Him lying to OKC fan's faces or not, can't hate on him for that. I'd break up with my fiance right now if someone offered by 26 million

wow..you'd break up with your fiancee for money? i feel sorry for your fiancee for marrying a scumbag like you.

[SCourGe OF GoD]

Harden is getting a potential 26 million dollars more by going to the Rockets. Him lying to OKC fan's faces or not, can't hate on him for that. I'd break up with my fiance right now if someone offered by 26 million

[kodo]

First: Harden is MUCH better than Kukoc.

96 Kukoc per 36: 18 ppg 5.5 rpg 4.9 apg 49% FG 40% 3P
12 Harden per 36: 19.3 ppg 4.7 rpg 4.1 apg 49% FG 39% 3P

Seems similar to me.

[Yuri Vaultin]

Harden is getting a potential 26 million dollars more by going to the Rockets. Him lying to OKC fan's faces or not, can't hate on him for that. I'd break up with my fiance right now if someone offered by 26 million

wow..you'd break up with your fiancee for money? i feel sorry for your fiancee for marrying a scumbag like you.

$26 mil can buy a lot of happiness despite what they say in movies.

[Detective]

All I know is that Durant is going to be pissed at the way Kevin Martin will become a massive black hole on offense, and suck everything in his path in. All OKC's shots are belong to him now.

Westbrook might have words for him and probably more shots for himself 4 seconds in to the shot clock..

It only just dawned on me now, but Calderon and Westbrook are like the opposite of each other or anti-thesis' on offense. One holds the ball for 23 seconds and the other shoots a second into the clock.

If we ever landed Westbrook, and ran a 2 headed PG combo again, it would cause the most confusion on the scouting report, in the history of the NBA.

In other news, Lamb and PJIII if they both pan out, will be absolute gems for the Thunder. But it's all hypothetical now. However I can guarantee lulz when Martin starts looking off or freezing out Durant for an open look, while Westbrook does the same, only unconsciously, to be more competitive as the Alpha Chucker on the team.

[slick_watts]

Look, I know OKC fans want to make sense of this, but the bottom line is that the Thunder got worse. James Harden was integral to the Thunder offense. The Thunder got worse offensively swapping him for Martin and defensively since Martin is worse than Harden there, also. Martin is going to be 30 and has missed 116 games in the last five seasons - his next contract will be in a weird grey area where I don't think it makes sense to re-sign him. OKC is not going to contend this year, and Martin will be gone. So what did the Thunder do, essentially? Trade Harden for the 12th pick in the 2012 draft, and a couple other first rounders. I wouldn't call that a big haul.

All to what, save money? If Martin expires and they don't use that cash they're just spinning their tires. For all this to work out Presti has to hope his draft picks (and Lamb) work out, and he just traded a former #11 pick as cap filler. I hate this move because the Thunder just ended a season where they had HCA in the Finals. Just retain Harden or let him play out the year without an extension, and you can win a title! How hard is that? Presti has a history of acting soon. He extended Perkins before he played a game. Spent cap space extending Collison before free agency even began. Extended Ibaka before the situation with Harden was taken care of. And now he traded Harden for a fistful of lottery tickets before he had to. Don't like this move at all, and like it least of all because it smells like ownership drew a number in the sand that Presti could not exceed.