James Harden TRADED to Rockets

[rocketeer]

Originally Posted by Dre

I don't want to come off like a James Harden hater based on the past couple months either because I was a huge fan of his game all the way back to Arizona State moreso than a lot of people, no lie. I just get extremely disappointed at a guy when he doesn't show up come Spring....I talked the same shit about LeBron last year and he proved me wrong.

why does the "spring" only count the finals? harden had played pretty well in the playoffs up until that point.

[Dre]

Damn y'all are nitpicking out here. If he played well until the finals you can answer your question about what I meant yourself

[Bogg]

Originally Posted by E.H. Munro

OKC was gambling that Perkins would get healthy by the playoffs so that they could get by LA. It didn't work out for them.

This part, at least, is incorrect. Having Perk to get past the Lakers worked just fine last spring. Additionally, Perk actually played pretty solid post defense in the 2011 playoffs, but they didn't count on Dirk catching fire and eliminating the Lakers(and everyone else, as it turned out). However, Perk's a DH of sorts, only really good for slowing down post-up threats. That was all well and good when the Finals were going through Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, Kevin Garnett, and Dwight Howard, but it's also why he had little positive impact against Dirk's Mavs or last year's Heat. Dwight switching conferences is likely the exact reason OKC didn't amnesty him.

[E.H. Munro]

Originally Posted by Bogg

This part, at least, is incorrect. Having Perk to get past the Lakers worked just fine last spring. Additionally, Perk actually played pretty solid post defense in the 2011 playoffs, but they didn't count on Dirk catching fire and eliminating the Lakers(and everyone else, as it turned out). However, Perk's a DH of sorts, only really good for slowing down post-up threats. That was all well and good when the Finals were going through Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, Kevin Garnett, and Dwight Howard, but it's also why he had little positive impact against Dirk's Mavs or last year's Heat. Dwight switching conferences is likely the exact reason OKC didn't amnesty him.

I'm aware of all this. But the trade didn't work out for OKC when it was made and now they're locked into paying huge money for a guy they only need for a handful of games in any given season. Boston is essentially paying less than half that for two guys to fill that role.

[R-Star]

We're doing the EH hates Perkins argument again?


Really?


Great.....

[E.H. Munro]

I hate Perkins? It's news to me.

[R-Star]

Cool.

[Bogg]

Originally Posted by E.H. Munro

I'm aware of all this. But the trade didn't work out for OKC when it was made and now they're locked into paying huge money for a guy they only need for a handful of games in any given season. Boston is essentially paying less than half that for two guys to fill that role.

No, it worked out fine the last two seasons for what it was. The Thunder weren't getting past the 2011 Mavs regardless of whether they made the trade or not, and likely wouldn't have gotten through the Grizzlies with a Green-Krstic frontcourt. The problems they had that led to them losing in the Finals last year weren't anything that you'd expect Perkins to solve. If Presti badly wanted to get rid of him he had a few avenues to do so, but the handful of games that they actually need Perk going forward are known as "The 2013-2015 Western Conference Finals". Collins and Darko aren't making a difference against the Lakers.

[E.H. Munro]

Honestly I hate the crappy Collins twin that Boston signed. But at least he's appropriately priced. Post knee injuries Perkins is the same sort of player. But making $9 million a year.

[E.H. Munro]

Originally Posted by Bogg

The Thunder weren't getting past the 2011 Mavs regardless of whether they made the trade or not.

But that's the point. They made the trade specifically to get past LA and gave Perkins a contract that cost them Harden. It's been a real loser of a deal for them because, post knee injuries, Perkins isn't of much use against perimeter oriented teams. So they need him for less than 20 games a year. Boston got Darko and a crappy Collins twin for $2-$3 million a year to fill the same role.

[Bogg]

OKC decided that keeping Perkins, in order to deal with the Lakers' frontcourt, and cashing out on Harden for other perimeter scorers was their best course of action. Now, you can feel like they made the wrong decision, but they're not sitting around lamenting the Perkins trade and the extension they gave him, because they could shed his salary any time they want. As I said, those handful of games they need him in are against their primary conference competition - it's the exact same reason that Boston just gave Jeff Green $40 million and let Ray Allen walk. Saying they need him for less than 20 games a year brushes off the fact that they badly need him in the Conference Finals.

[MemphisX]

NBA took a week to reel in Harden?

[R-Star]

Originally Posted by MemphisX

NBA took a week to reel in Harden?

I think we all saw it coming. He'll still have nights where he goes off, but he is not a top scorer in this league.

[Bogg]

He might make a nice sidekick. Stick him on a team with Dwight Howard and a third guy who's able to take over on offense for stretches as well(like the '08 C's) and you might have a legitimate contender.

[RollWithEm]

Don't overreact to outlier games. Of course he went off against Rodney Stuckey/Kyle Singler and Devin Harris/Kyle Korver. Of course he was less effective against Nic Batum and Andre Iguodala. His median production will likely be around what his per 36 minutes averages are now - 26/5/5 with high turnovers and low 3P%. Those are all-star on a middle-of-the-pack team numbers.