Harden to Houston

[Glenn]

Another good one, from Woj.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--in...-28301609.html

[Joe Asberry]

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.

[Kstat]

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

[Pharaoh]

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

[shags]

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/...arden-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.

[Uncle Mxy]

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

[Vinny]

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

[Glenn]

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

[Vinny]

Green font?

[Tahoe]

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