James Harden traded to Rockets

[racm]

Don't necessarily disagree, but Durant is only getting better too, which is a scary thought, tbh

KD's good but he can only carry OKC so far. Getting into Westbrook's head and forcing him to hero ball makes them lose, and seeing as they lose a valuable pressure valve in Harden they'll be pretty meh this season.

[ElNono]

It should also be scary for Durant because now OKC's fourth quarter point guard plays for the Rockets. Having to rely on Westbrook to make the right plays in money time (AKA pass it to Durant) won't be fun.

But, like always, at the end of the day this helps the Lakers the most. (As if they needed more help after the summer they had ) They are now the heavy favorite in the West. I really do think this knocks the Thunder down from the top with the Lakers to on the same pedestal with a completely healthy Spurs team.

I'll tell you what I think about the Lakeshow by the ASG, tbh... I know on paper everything looks glorious, but I won't be betting the farm on them yet... It's not Howard the concern, it's the rest of the aging cast and the bench.

While I agree about Westchuck, he also didn't get in the way for them to get to the Finals. Sefolosha is a good defender, and they have all young bodies in OKC that can play 40+ mins if needed be (exception being perhaps Perkins).

Frankly, Durant and Lebron are, IMO, the top 2 players in the league right now by a wide margin.

[TDMVPDPOY]

this didnt do besides makn the path for the lakers easier in the playoffs, let alone the ty clippers

[racm]

I'll tell you what I think about the Lakeshow by the ASG, tbh... I know on paper everything looks glorious, but I won't be betting the farm on them yet... It's not Howard the concern, it's the rest of the aging cast and the bench.

While I agree about Westchuck, he also didn't get in the way for them to get to the Finals. Sefolosha is a good defender, and they have all young bodies in OKC that can play 40+ mins if needed be (exception being perhaps Perkins).

Frankly, Durant and Lebron are, IMO, the top 2 players in the league right now by a wide margin.

Perkins is their weak link, tbh. No reason to keep him long term because KD's still a mismatch at the 4 and Ibaka can play the 5.

And I agree the Lakers will start slow. Even the Heatles started out 9-8 (and lost at home to the Utah Jazz and Paul Millsap)

[Libri]

The question now is, does this motivate Pop to make a move or will he be even more reluctant, knowing that OKC might have weakend themselves?

[ElNono]

Perkins is their weak link, tbh. No reason to keep him long term because KD's still a mismatch at the 4 and Ibaka can play the 5.

And I agree the Lakers will start slow. Even the Heatles started out 9-8 (and lost at home to the Utah Jazz and Paul Millsap)

Perkins has his role on defense. Instead of wearing out KD guarding bigs (ie: Gasol, Griffin, etc), they can keep him fresh on offense. Plus Ibaka is much more useful as a help defender than a low-block defender.

What happens now though, is that OKC used to have the luxury of playing Ibaka, Perk and Sefolosha because they had enough offense with Harden, KD and Westbrook. Now 16 ppg are gone, and I don't think Martin gives them the same two way player Harden was. So it's going to be interesting how that plays out.

[timvp]

As for the Rockets, this is a very Rocket-esque move. Harden will be good enough to keep them from properly tanking but not good enough to actually contend. It looked like they were finally were going to get out of that 9th seed loop ... but there right back there.

Saving up assets to land a big fish and ending up with Harden is pretty funny. I mean, there's like a 1% chance he ends up being a superstar ... but that's about it. Maxed out, he's probably a third banana on a championship team. I don't even see him making the leap to No. 2.

That said, the contract they are giving him is far. He's worth $60M.

[BatManu20]

Good news for the Spurs. Unfortunately, it's even better news for the Lakers. Barring an injury, the Lakers are cruising through the West. The Spurs, especially without a Center, don't stand a chance. Hopefully we'll get the #2 seed at least though.

[HI-FI]

this move by Presti is what i hoped out of the new CBA, and if we had a hardcap we'd see more crazy stuff like this, which would add a lot of excitement and unpredictability to the league. but as it stands, Lakers can still open their pocketbook like Elliott Spitzer with an escort service, so it's hard to get too excited.

still, as some of have already said, I don't want to anoint the Lakers yet, i'll wait til the ASB to see how i feel. those nigs have more mileage than we do.

[justinandimcool]

Spurs big 3 lasts a decade, OKC can't make it over 3 years


#thankful

[timtonymanu]

Spurs big 3 lasts a decade, OKC can't make it over 3 years


#thankful

Yep, be thankful that our Big 3 is willing to sign for fair contracts. Otherwise they probably wouldn't even be around anymore.

[racm]

Good news for the Spurs. Unfortunately, it's even better news for the Lakers. Barring an injury, the Lakers are cruising through the West. The Spurs, especially without a Center, don't stand a chance. Hopefully we'll get the #2 seed at least though.

Lakers will start out slow, tbh.

[racm]

Spurs big 3 lasts a decade, OKC can't make it over 3 years


#thankful

To be fair, Tony and Manu weren't lottery picks and teams overvalue players taken with high lottery picks.

And PATFO got them reasonable deals because 1. they weren't too concerned with the cash and 2. they snap up the players they have as early as possible.

[loveforthegame]

Damn. I didn't see that one coming.

[TDMVPDPOY]

new cba in affect, only hurts small market teams stacked with talent

[racm]

It's all Holt's master plan to make sure no other small market team is as compe ive tbh

[TDMVPDPOY]

didnt okc had a good draft? dont think it will hurt them much

[racm]

didnt okc had a good draft? dont think it will hurt them much

Considering they'll be drafting into the 20s for as long as Durant is there they won't be lucky to have a PJ3 fall into their laps again.

[DPG21920]

Have to agree with most - while I understand why OKC did the trade, Harden is underrated and KMart is overrated. This could be a pretty big blow to the ceiling of that OKC team and that is a good thing for SA. Fully understand the financial spot OKC is in and this was a tough call, but they moved decisively.

I get why HOU would do this - it's not a rebuild like you tradionally do, however, it's tough to get what looks to be champinoship caliber players on your roster (even if they aren't a number one option). You need guys like Harden if you want to build and they just got him earlier and are paying for it. They have potential to still move the needle in the next few years and if you get a chance to get a young talented player, you probably have to do it.

[TDMVPDPOY]

Have to agree with most - while I understand why OKC did the trade, Harden is underrated and KMart is overrated. This could be a pretty big blow to the ceiling of that OKC team and that is a good thing for SA. Fully understand the financial spot OKC is in and this was a tough call, but they moved decisively.

I get why HOU would do this - it's not a rebuild like you tradionally do, however, it's tough to get what looks to be champinoship caliber players on your roster (even if they aren't a number one option). You need guys like Harden if you want to build and they just got him earlier and are paying for it. They have potential to still move the needle in the next few years and if you get a chance to get a young talented player, you probably have to do it.

both are scrubs, kmart is injury prone, but both only play one side of the court only which is mainly offense....this trade doesnt hurt OKC, they are bankn on lamb to being something and that raptors pick in the mid teens looks good if it falls into their lap

[DPG21920]

Plus by acting on this early vs dragging this out, OKC maximizes the time the new team has together. That part of it is smart to me.

But if reports by Woj are true and OKC offered 54M vs 60M I cannot believe it came to this. That is a difference of only 1.5M per year over 4 years (before factoring in luxury tax). That is a more than fair contract offer from OKC - especially considering their financial situation as a small market.

[Juggity]

Yep, be thankful that our Big 3 is willing to sign for fair contracts. Otherwise they probably wouldn't even be around anymore.

Yeah, that is a good point. If there's one thing Presti did right in this trade (short term) it's getting rid of an egotistical jackass like Harden who asks for big money at the expense of his team signing more talent, but fails spectacularly on the biggest stage of all, quite feasibly costing his team a trophy.

[Russo21]

Interesting move. Kevin Martin is a great scorer but doesn't do much else. Haven't notcied much of his defence or play making skills over the years. Do they need another good scorer instead of an all aorund player like Harden. Maybe the Thunder just got weaker. As someone said before, we beat the Thunder in 2012 if they had Martin instead of Harden. But still

Perkins
Ibaka
Durant
Martin
Westbrook

Pretty en good starting 5. 2 really good defensive bigs on the inside and 3 scoring machines on the outside. Yuck

[SpurPadre]

both are scrubs, kmart is injury prone, but both only play one side of the court only which is mainly offense....this trade doesnt hurt OKC, they are bankn on lamb to being something and that raptors pick in the mid teens looks good if it falls into their lap

Get real, Harden is NOT a scrub. He's an AS caliber-player who isn't even in his prime yet. It's a blow to OKC for the short-term, though. I do agree that Martin is injury-prone but he always seems to hurt us head to head. I'd rather face a team that has Martin over Harden, though, that's for sure. A part of me wanted us to get revenge on OKC with Harden there but oh well. The happiest team in the league right now is the Lakers, tbh. That said, they're still paper champs with the worst defensive player in the league as their PG, who's also an old fart.

[SpurPadre]

Interesting move. Kevin Martin is a great scorer but doesn't do much else. Haven't notcied much of his defence or play making skills over the years. Do they need another good scorer instead of an all aorund player like Harden. Maybe the Thunder just got weaker. As someone said before, we beat the Thunder in 2012 if they had Martin instead of Harden. But still

Perkins
Ibaka
Durant
Martin
Westbrook

Pretty en good starting 5. 2 really good defensive bigs on the inside and 3 scoring machines on the outside. Yuck

Uh, Sefolosha started over Harden so he'll start over Martin, too.