James Harden traded to the Rockets

[Debaser]

Why do people say OKC get more than Orlando?

Affalo and Harrington vs Martin
Harkless and Vucevic vs Lamb

Orlando got the following draft picks plus a $17.8 million trade exception and got rid of Richardson and Duhon's contract.

The Magic will get a second-round draft pick from Denver next year, a first-round pick from either Denver or New York in 2014, a conditional first-round pick from Philadelphia and a conditional second-round pick from the Lakers in 2015, and a conditional first-round pick from the Lakers in 2017.

[deNIEd]

Perhaps Presti is being realistic and acknowledges the fact that even if OKC made the finals this year, they won't beat Lebron and the Heat. Same thing with next year.

However, he feels with the additional youth and draft picks and cap flexibility, it would give him enough time to readjust the roster to peak 2-3 years from now, where Wade should regress quick a bit and the Heat start sliding down.

[TONY_YAYO]

OKC got more for Harden than Magic got for Dwight SMH

even if thats the case, it shouldn't surprise anyone. harden is a young, healthy, premiere shooting guard in the league who as long as u want to pay him, will be locked up for yrs. howard was a one yr rental who was open about not wanting to stay anywhere but his hand picked destinations.

But yea this is almost the same type of deal Houston was offering the Magic with the exception of one more player with the draft picks. Houston was convinced they could get Howard to stay. It would have been better than Afflalo and picks

[Ditchweed]

It's all about money. Harden wanted too much, so trade him to spend less money. That's it, that's all.

[Golabki]

Why do people say OKC get more than Orlando?

Affalo and Harrington vs Martin
Harkless and Vucevic vs Lamb

Orlando got the following draft picks plus a $17.8 million trade exception and got rid of Richardson and Duhon's contract.

The Magic will get a second-round draft pick from Denver next year, a first-round pick from either Denver or New York in 2014, a conditional first-round pick from Philadelphia and a conditional second-round pick from the Lakers in 2015, and a conditional first-round pick from the Lakers in 2017.

Martin is as good as Affalo and he is an expiring
Lamb >/= Vuceviv and Harkless
But the Toronto pick is the most valuable piece in either deal.

OKC got more for Harden than Orlando got for Howard.

[TheToothFairy]

Getting an injury prone one dimensional player who is a horrible defender and probably won't be around in a year.

A late lottery rookie.

2 first rounders of questionable value that may pay off down the road, except the team wants to win now

A high 2nd round pick.

Sounds like he traded away the third best player on a Finals team for prospects that may work out 4 years from now, and if they do, they might be 70% the player Harden is.

Ibaka was a non lotto rookie.

OKC has Martin , Lamb and 3 first rd picks to flip into another player they want as well

[dockingsched]

oh c'mon, martin is nowhere near as good as afflalo. lamb is not better than vucevic and harkless combined. harkless (#15) was barely drafted 3 spots behind lamb (#12) and vucevic was the #16 pick himself the yr before.

[BrooklynBulls]

oh c'mon, martin is nowhere near as good as afflalo. lamb is not better than vucevic and harkless combined. harkless (#15) was barely drafted 3 spots behind lamb (#12) and vucevic was the #16 pick himself the yr before.

Martin's definitely as good as Afflalo, if not better. He's just always hurt.

[Jazzfan12]

Getting an injury prone one dimensional player who is a horrible defender and probably won't be around in a year.

A late lottery rookie.

2 first rounders of questionable value that may pay off down the road, except the team wants to win now

A high 2nd round pick.

Sounds like he traded away the third best player on a Finals team for prospects that may work out 4 years from now, and if they do, they might be 70% the player Harden is.

Ibaka was a non lotto rookie.

OKC has Martin , Lamb and 3 first rd picks to flip into another player they want as well

Cole Aldrich was also was picked around where the Toronto pick will be.

[Apollo64]

Assuming OKC doesn't resign KMart, who should they be after?

[Bodhi]

Assuming OKC doesn't resign KMart, who should they be after?

Guys willing to sign for the minimum and teams selling late first rounders

Once the Ibaka and Westbrook extensions kick in, OKC loses all their flexibility

[RatherUnique]

It's all about money. Harden wanted too much, so trade him to spend less money. That's it, that's all.

And if Lamb follows the same career arc that Harden had, then OKC will be in the same boat 3 years from now.

[TheToothFairy]

Getting an injury prone one dimensional player who is a horrible defender and probably won't be around in a year.

A late lottery rookie.

2 first rounders of questionable value that may pay off down the road, except the team wants to win now

A high 2nd round pick.

Sounds like he traded away the third best player on a Finals team for prospects that may work out 4 years from now, and if they do, they might be 70% the player Harden is.

Ibaka was a non lotto rookie.

OKC has Martin , Lamb and 3 first rd picks to flip into another player they want as well

Cole Aldrich was also was picked around where the Toronto pick will be.

We don't know where the pick will be

And OKC has THREE FIRST RD PICKS

[The J Rocka]

It's all about money. Harden wanted too much, so trade him to spend less money. That's it, that's all.

And if Lamb follows the same career arc that Harden had, then OKC will be in the same boat 3 years from now.

Then, they can trade Lamb for another young SG with potential.

I'm certain they want to find their scoring big to put next to Ibaka. Getting that big + Lamb on rookie contract off the bench isn't too shabby. They could flip those picks + PJIII if they wanted.

[huskerdu]

If you replace Harden with Martin in last year's WCF the Spurs win that series in 6.

Puts Lakers and Spurs at the top this season going into it.

[black bart]

This reminds me of the jeremy lin and how he was greedy for wanting more money. This is all on okc owner for not wanting to pay for him. I know I would have done the exact same as harden. And Rockets have 15 million to sign al jefferson, josh smith, paul millsap, or derrick favors if terrence jones or donatas doesn't turn out well. They also have trade assets to obtain a good PF. Terrence Jones + Donatas + 1st round pick for someone like LMA if he doesn't want to sign in portland. The rockets could easily turn into a top 5 team in the west. Morey hasn't done an awful move and is setting himself up well with contracts
Harden
Asik
Parsons
Lin

[dockingsched]

oh c'mon, martin is nowhere near as good as afflalo. lamb is not better than vucevic and harkless combined. harkless (#15) was barely drafted 3 spots behind lamb (#12) and vucevic was the #16 pick himself the yr before.

Martin's definitely as good as Afflalo, if not better. He's just always hurt.

won't get too into it and steer this trade away from OKC/HOU talk, but i honestly don't think its even arguable. an elite permeter defender with elite shooting, martin can't compete with that. too many holes in his game.

[desertlakerfan]

It looks like Harden is one of the more polarizing players on here.

The people saying the Thunder won the deal or got a good deal are the ones who don't think too highly of Harden such as myself.

The people saying the Thunder lost the deal and are no longer contenders are the ones that think Harden is a superstar, future superstar, or as good as Durant.

A poll would be good right now.

Re: Harden Wants 4 Year $60 Million Extension

postby slick_watts on Sat Oct 27, 2012 6:18 pm

REGULAR SEASON
OKC offense w/James Harden: 114.96 points per 100 possessions
OKC offense w/o James Harden: 100.84 points per 100 possessions

PLAYOFFS

OKC offense w/James Harden: 115.13 points per 100 possessions
OKC offense w/o James Harden: 102.46 points per 100 possessions

League average offense: 104.6 points per 100 possessions
Leauge best offense: 110.9 points per 100 possesions

Say what you want about James Harden, his presence in the lineup turns the OKC offense from well below average / bad into by far the best in the league. Westbrook / Durant / Harden virtually assures the Thunder of a Top 3 offense for as long as they are together.

Slick is one of the most well respected OKC fans that post here, from stats alone(ignoring the eye test), Harden had a huge impact on OKC's success. Martin can score, but he's no where near the overall player Harden is regardless of whether you think Harden is a superstar or not.

[Dr Aki]

damn houston is setting themselves as diamonds waiting to be put over the top in free agency 2013/14

[RatherUnique]

It's all about money. Harden wanted too much, so trade him to spend less money. That's it, that's all.

And if Lamb follows the same career arc that Harden had, then OKC will be in the same boat 3 years from now.

Then, they can trade Lamb for another young SG with potential.

Then, they'll take another step back until that SG pans out just like they're doing now.