And, even if a team gets what it wants (to be bad during a rebuilding mode), I still think it's fair to evaluate trades and grade GMs on the value of the pieces who were involved....In this case I'd give Danny the A and the Seattle/Thunder GM a "not taking class for credit".....
I think that's a bit of homerism coming into effect here. When we made that deal, Ray Allen had two bad ankles and NOBODY -- not even Jesus Shuttlesworth himself -- knew how he was going to come back from that. Now, Ainge took a huge risk, and it paid off in Allen recovering and in convincing KG to come. And, I mean, I'm psyched that it did. But let's not make Ainge into some guy fleecing the Sonics, especially since at the time the best player when looking at health AND talent was arguably West.
BBD better than Green? I love Davis, but he's not going to be better than Green over the course of his career. I thought Green was picked too high at first, but if you put their stats per 48 minutes, the only things BBD matches or eclipses Green on is steals per game and 3PT%. Plus, BBD is inconsistent; he could go for 15 and 10 one night, and foul out with out a single other stat the next.
Say what you will about the Sonics/Thunder, but Sam Presti came into a TERRIBLE situation there and has them maybe a piece or two away from making the playoffs in the West. He has, what? 5 first round picks in the next two years? And but for a failed physical, he'd have had a starting 5 of Westbrook-(Random SG)-Durant-Green-Chandler, in which the oldest player would have been Chandler at 26 years old. Even without that, and even if they don't get Griffin, they are still in position to nab Ricky Rubio, Jeff Teague, James Harden . . . the list goes on. PLUS, they're going to have great cap room in a year or two, so who's to say they won't steal away a veteran FA like Joe Johnson or Amare Stoudemire in 2010? So, I mean, suggesting that Presti isn't doing a good job is a bit silly.