A bit surprised they moved him so quickly but the Thunder landed Martin, Lamb and other "assets" in the deal

I'm interested to see just how good Harden will be as the #1 option... dude could put up monster numbers

My boy Cole Aldrich goin to Houston, too.

Good move for OKC... it's all about keeping salary reasonable for the future... they had to make a cap move.

Some organisations talk about a youth movement... The Thunder fucking do it:

Ibaka, Jones, Durant, Lamb, Westbrook with a Raptors Lotto pick thrown in for good measure!

And let's not forget the Mavs pick included in the deal...

Sam Presti I salute you

Every lottery team talks about a youth movement. The thunder were fortunate enough to have a hall of fame talent fall into their laps in the draft.

Yes they hit home runs on three other picks, but it's not like their commitment to the draft is anything original.

Their commitment to the Draft might not be original but Presti has been hitting home runs regularly for a while now.

Yes it's easier when you have Durant and Westbrook on board but the OKC front office still have to do their jobs and make the right picks, trades, hires etc

I look at the Thunder and hope we can duplicate their success. Joe's done it before... some people seem to forget we had a damn near dominant decade!

BTW, after reading around and taking some time this deal might not be that great for the Thunder. Martin is an expiring - and they likely let him walk to reduce the payroll burden. That means they traded Harden for Lamb, the Raps Lotto pick and the Mavs pick

Was that the best they could do for Harden?

Houston did what any mediocre team tries to do: take a few assets and consolidate them into a "star" player. Can't fault Morley on the trade from that POV and considering the "prospects" Houston already have combining a few assets and landing Harden is an obvious choice

Houston overpaid. I like harden but that was the same package they offered for Howard and gasol and harden is neither of those guys.

Not to mention, you now have two guards that dribble the shit out if the ball. Not a good pairing.

I predict that James Harden won't be taking Houston to the next level.

I agree Lin + Harden is not a good fit but that's for Fantasy leagues and the Rockets' front office to work out :

And yeah they overpaid but that's not new

Asik and Lin got huge contracts, Harden will get the MAX but apparently the Rockets will have enough space to offer someone else the MAX next off-season!

Asik + Lin + Harden + ???.... they better be good or Houston will be stuck in mediocreville for a while

Good read:
http://m.espn.go.com/nba/story?storyId=8563645

You'll like this, P.

Another good one, from Woj.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--inside-look-at-james-harden-s-trade-to-rockets-28301609.html

Presti= balls of steel, damn this guy is good...they got good value for Harden but its a risky move imo, i would have kept Harden for one more run, the Thunder came really close to win the chip last year, great chemistry, now they broke up their core too early.

Yeah but he wouldn't have gotten the same value for harden next summer. He may have lost him for nothing at all.

Good read:
http://m.espn.go.com/nba/story?storyId=8563645

You'll like this, P.

Thank You GD for posting that!

I LOVE Sam Presti, I LOVE the Thunder players, I LOVE the sacrifices...

but most of all I LOVE the fact that a front office chose to go that way, got the players to buy into it, got it done quite a few times and that when the odd player chooses to buck the system he is cast out of their organisation.

The trades of Jeff Green and James Harden demonstrate to every player in the NBA that there is "No I in Team" IF you want to play for the Thunder

It's one thing to know the path... it's quite different if you have to actually walk it. Twice players and agents have played tried to stare down the Thunder office. Both times it's failed. I LOVE THAT!

It would have been oh so fucking easy to bow down to Harden and his agent. "It's only $5 million! We went to the Finals! He's part of our core!" Instead they held firm....

and now they can explain to Durant, Perkins, Westbrook, Collison and Ibaka that Harden had to go because he wasn't willing to sacrifice like his team mates!

This is a winning culture! Thanks GD....

LOVE the fact you posted that link :)

So if, or should I say, when Greg Monroe demands a maximum contract extension next summer, you think we should trade him, because he's not willing to sacrifice for the team. And if he continues at this level of play, Monroe WILL get a maximum offer from someone, even though he's not a max player.

This is the better article on the Harden situation: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8573213/the-harden-disaster. As Simmons explains, Harden sacrificed minutes, shots, and numbers for 2 seasons. He also agreed to come off the bench. All James Harden did for two years was sacrifice. And NOW, the Thunder also wanted him to take a below market offer as well. That's selfish and petty of them IMO. The Pistons would have offered the max to Harden in a heartbeat.

Also, the Thunder got worse, and there's no guarantee they'll be better. They destroyed a guaranteed finals contender for the next 4 to 5 seasons. Seems like a big risk to take for $1.25 million a year.

Monroe may well turn out to be a max player by the end of this year.

I'm with Shags, you don't trade elite talent for draft picks. Especially not over $1.5M bucks. Stupid.

I dunno Harden seems like a sixth man on a really good team to me. No way he's worth the max, IMO.

Green font?

I can handle losing to Houston IF Delfino wasn't on the team.

I can handle losing to Houston IF Delfino wasn't on the team.
Are you sure?

37 points on 14 of 24 shooting, 12 assists, 6 rebounds, 4 steals. Fuck you, Sam Presti.

Where did I say Monroe should sacrifice money?

It's a completely different situation! Did Stuckey take less? Did Prince take less? Did Rip sign a cheap extension? Did Nova and BG sign here for less? If anything Joe has a history of overpaying players so Monroe should expect HUGE money... and yes that is likely to be the Maximum

The Thunder didn't ask Harden to sacrifice salary because he wasn't worth the money. They asked him to take less because several other players took less for the betterment of the entire team. They started the trend years ago and expect their other players to fall in line! No one from OKC will say that Harden wasn't worth the extra coin. No one will blast him for not taking less. But they have set a standard within their franchise that they expect to be met and they make choices because of that standard

I would LOVE it if Monroe and Knight started the trend here... but I doubt that happens.

tldr: I think it's fucking awesome several Thunder players have either taken less money or have contracts structured to help the franchise... it speaks to the culture within the playing group and within the organisation

BUT I don't expect players to take less money to benefit the franchise.

damn Harden would have been such a great addition to this team, love the way this guy plays, oldschool... if this teams wants to go anywhere we need a serious upgrade in the backcourt over Stuckey/Knight...

FUCKING CRAPFINO!!!!!

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/11/01/michael-jordan-called-the-thunder-about-trading-for-james-harden-and-other-interesting-tales/

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/11/01/michael-jordan-called-the-thunder-about-trading-for-james-harden-and-other-interesting-tales/

Would Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and the Pistons pick for Harden been better than what OKC got from Houston?