It looks stupid now but when the lakers were the 2 time champs with their twin towers size was really important.
A guy like Ibaka is R-A-R-E in the NBA. 6-10, immensly strong, athletic, great shot blocker, and not only is he not an offensive liability, but he's actually a pretty good offensive weapon. Individually, is Harden a better player than Ibaka? Of course. I get why they wanted Ibaka. Now Perkins is another story. There's also a great argument for those who say OKC shoulda traded Westbrook and kept Harden.
All of the Lakers big men had more skill and ability than Perkins. The NBA is moving in such a perimeter oriented small ball direction that Perkins is getting more useless every year.
What I especially don't get is that they could have amnestied Perkins to keep KD, Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka. I still agree with the Thunder fans that keeping Ibaka was really important and losing him would have made OKC simply too dependent on their perimeter. Ibaka still has some room to grow and if Chimpbrook wasn't a ball hog and could run actual plays, I bet Ibaka is averaging 17 PPG or so.
we might finally have an intelligent Thuner fan on this site. I agree with everything here. Once they signed Westbrook to an extension and committed as much money to two perimeter players as they did to Durant and Westbrook, it wasn't much of a choice between Harden and Ibaka.
If amnestying Perkins would have enabled them to keep both though then that's what they should have done.
You know actually Westbrook has been fairly brilliant for stretches this season. He really has. His assists are up from 5 something last year to over 8 this season. He's not there yet though. His FG% is too low because he makes too many boneheaded shot decisions. He still seems to find it to be a good idea to chuck up 3 pointers with 18 seconds on the shot clock when the team is down 15 points to Miami, even though he's a career 30% shooter. OKC winning a le really is up to him. Still though, the thought of having Harden over him is still pretty appealing, espcially since Jackson is coming on really strong backing up Westbrook at PG.
it's just thunderup rebooting himself on this site. no problems there, just as long as he doesn't revert to his old self.
Westbrook averaged 8 assists per game in 2010 and 2011, last year happened to be a down year for him with assists but him averaging 8 assists doesn't tell me much.
It goes beyond Westbrook though and it's more about what's winning in the NBA. Teams that aren't relying on great offensive production from their point guard always do better in the playoffs, and the team that's going to be in OKC's way has proven the NBA is controlled by elite wing players right now. I'll take a dominant tandem at SF and SG over a dominant tandem at SF or SG and PG every time.
The way the shooting guard position has gotten smaller across the NBA is another factor. Most of the other big shooting guards (Kobe, Joe Johnson, etc.) are old and past their prime. When they're gone and Harden's compe ion is Bradley Beal, Monte Ellis, Eric Gordon, etc., he's going to completely own the position and be a mismatch on any given night. It would have only been a matter of time before Harden was gonna be able to get whatever he wants iso'd against Wade. Westbrook isn't ever gonna have that kind of advantage against Miami.
The Thunder were gonna win 57+ games regardless of who they kept between Westbrook and Harden, the difference is which one makes them a better playoff team. A shooting guard with a high bball IQ who's clutch as outside of a bad finals performance is much easier to have as a key ingredient on a championship team than a volatile scoring point guard.
I don't disagree that OKC would be better with Harden on the roster and Jackson running the show at PG. Jackson is looking really good right now. He runs things pretty well out there. Jackson is nearly Westbrook's equal athletically, but he is a pass first PG. Honestly, if OKC were to get to MIami again, their best chance is to sit Perk's ass on the bench. Like..why does he even play against Miami? Your crunch time lineup is Jackson, Westbrook, Martin, KD, and Ibaka. Swap Thabo and Martin some and Ibaka and Collison. Can that lineup beat Miami? I don't know, but it's their best bet.
Great post I would add to your proposition about the wing tandem that you can get a SG like Wade to play PG at any time. Guys like him and Harden (now) have great court vision and can really effective at PG when other guys are on. Their ability to switch between the 1 and 2 really helps out. Westbrook is one of the most athletic PGs I have ever seen, but he is almost always just a shooting point guard. He has great court vision but doesn't seem to use it, he needs to get his head straight. I don't think it was that bad of a trade for OKC, they could still win a championship which will quell all criticism, but they would have been scary as in the playoffs had they kept Harden.
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