Wow, Presti offered 52 Million to Harden, James declines.

[nostar]

Martin is a poor defender, he's fragile, and he's soft.  He's excellent at getting to the line -- he's perhaps the best in the NBA at using free throws to his advantage -- and very good overall offensively.  However, he's almost non-existent on the other end of the floor, largely offsetting what he does well offensively.

That is a big reason I think that Martin will get a less lucrative deal when his contract is up this season.

I think people are forgetting that OKC got Jermey Lamb (a very highly rated SG) and 2 first round picks and a 2nd rounder  from a rebuilding team.

OKC made out in this deal. Flipping Harden for Martin, who can score and is on an expiring deal was a genius move. Getting Lamb, two 1sts and a 2nd was robbery. Houston is giving away the farm this season.

The one thing I'll say is that Harden was probably the best playmaker the Thunder had and they will miss that. Martin can't pass like Harden could and it's as quick. Westbrook might have to add a couple of things to his game to make up for that this season. With that said I think Presti made a very good move and continues to be the best GM in basketball.

[Fafnir]

So I've heard a lot about Martin being an awful defender (haven't watched him much), but I read on ESPN the other day that he held opposing SGs to a 12.6 PER and 47% eFG last year.  That seems pretty good, actually.  Is there a statistical case for him being really bad?

According to Synergy Sports, he ranked 387th in the league in terms of points allowed per possession.  He allowed a very poor 0.94 points per possession.

Martin is a poor defender, he's fragile, and he's soft.  He's excellent at getting to the line -- he's perhaps the best in the NBA at using free throws to his advantage -- and very good overall offensively.  However, he's almost non-existent on the other end of the floor, largely offsetting what he does well offensively.

Interesting - knew there had to be something to it.  But those individual figures seem even stranger now.  I wonder if the discrepancy between those stats means Martin's a horrible team defender but closer to mediocre individually.

Synergy results are still entangled in team defense (see Ray Allen's excellent numbers for years).

However Houston was essentially league average defensively, so I don't think we can give Martin the benefit of the doubt there.

[blake]

Martin is far too close to the dreaded volume shooter designation on a team that doesn't have a lot of shots to go around already, who doesn't help OKC a whit defensively, as a - to put it charitably - ambivalent defender.

Martin shot 13.4 shots a game last year in 31 minutes.

Harden shot 10.1 in the same amount of time. 

I don't think there will be much of a difference.

[blake]

The one thing I'll say is that Harden was probably the best playmaker the Thunder had and they will miss that. Martin can't pass like Harden could and it's as quick. Westbrook might have to add a couple of things to his game to make up for that this season.

He was a much better playmaker than Martin, but he kind of had to be a playmaker without a real backup PG.  Now Maynor is back and should relieve that pressure

[Chris]

The more I think about this deal, the more it reminds me of the Perk deal for the C's.

You are the odds on favorite to come out of your conference to the finals, but trade away a key piece, based on longterm contract concerns, for a package that is a very stong haul...but still might make you a worse team for the championship run this year.

Of course, the difference is that this is being done much earlier in the year.  But it is the same philosophy.  Presti knows that Harden will be gone after the season, and he found a team willing to pay a premium for him.  So, he is going to hope that he wasn't THAT important to the teams chances this year, and take the value for the future.

[scaryjerry]

James harden was virtually the perfect fit on and off the court for the thunder and even though he had a bad finals he was a huge reason they made it through the west and won 4 straight against the spurs... its laughable to me to think Kevin Martin and lambs production will come even close to what harden brought them chemistry wise efficiency wise and playmaking wise...that is LAUGHABLE

[pearljammer10]

Martin is a poor defender, he's fragile, and he's soft.  He's excellent at getting to the line -- he's perhaps the best in the NBA at using free throws to his advantage -- and very good overall offensively.  However, he's almost non-existent on the other end of the floor, largely offsetting what he does well offensively.

That is a big reason I think that Martin will get a less lucrative deal when his contract is up this season.

I think people are forgetting that OKC got Jermey Lamb (a very highly rated SG) and 2 first round picks and a 2nd rounder  from a rebuilding team.

OKC made out in this deal. Flipping Harden for Martin, who can score and is on an expiring deal was a genius move. Getting Lamb, two 1sts and a 2nd was robbery. Houston is giving away the farm this season.

The one thing I'll say is that Harden was probably the best playmaker the Thunder had and they will miss that. Martin can't pass like Harden could and it's as quick. Westbrook might have to add a couple of things to his game to make up for that this season. With that said I think Presti made a very good move and continues to be the best GM in basketball.

These draft picks will be more useful for the Thunder than they would have been for the Rockets...Yes they are rebuilding but the picks arent theirs... One is the pick they received for Kyle Lowry which is lottery protected, (someone could correct me here, one site says lottery protcted other sites say top four protected) they also get a first round pick from dallas which will probably be in the mid twenties, and a nice second rounder from the Bobcats which will basically act as a late first round pick. Houston has enough youth and young talent anyway. The Thunder will be able to follow their get better through the draft philosophy or use these picks along with Martin's expiring at the deadline to acquire something better.

DO the Rockets have any other picks in the draft at this point?

Could Martin, Perk and two picks be enough to get a Josh Smith. Probably but the Thunder might not go for it,  considering the Thunders cap restrictions. However, Durant, Westbrook, Smith, Ibaka would be a deadly run and gun team with incredible defense on the other end.

[SHAQATTACK]

I predicting a letdown of sorts , he is not Kobe , Durrant , LBJ , or even Wade . 

HAve to see what happens when he doesn't have Durrant to draw attention and is double teamed.  Is he a team captain , leader , motivator , person to lead the team ?? 

I can think of several other players I'd soon have had for that money.

If Jeff Green plays to his potiental , he could be more valuable.

[Moranis]

The more I think about this deal, the more it reminds me of the Perk deal for the C's.

You are the odds on favorite to come out of your conference to the finals, but trade away a key piece, based on longterm contract concerns, for a package that is a very stong haul...but still might make you a worse team for the championship run this year.

Of course, the difference is that this is being done much earlier in the year.  But it is the same philosophy.  Presti knows that Harden will be gone after the season, and he found a team willing to pay a premium for him.  So, he is going to hope that he wasn't THAT important to the teams chances this year, and take the value for the future.

The Thunder are also much younger than the Celtics were, so a long play makes a lot more sense for them.  If they ride out a season or two the Lakers won't be a real threat to them any more so if just two of Lamb, Jones, and the four relatively high picks pan out, they will form some nice depth with Durant, Westbrook, and Ibaka and keep OKC as a real legit contender for a very long time.

[Finkelskyhook]

The more I think about this deal, the more it reminds me of the Perk deal for the C's.

I was thinking the same thing.  They got an awful lot for Harden when they could've got nothing.