Danny really is a snake oil salesman - Sometimes

[blceltsfan]

From the main page:

The Celtics began talks with the Thunder not for Jeff Green, but for James Harden. You know, the James Harden that has been en fuego since the trade deadline and has become a legitimate third playmaker for the Thunder and a nightmare for opponents? That James Harden?

Getting past how incredible it is that Presti continues to make the right move no matter what the evidence tells him to (and the evidence would have told him Harden was an acceptable price for Perkins prior to the trade deadline), we’ve got an interesting What If question here. How would Harden have impacted the Celtics?

Well, for one, it would have given them another distributor and playmaker who could drive, lessening the impact of Rajon Rondo‘s injury. It would have provided a younger defender to sick on Dwyane Wade who did the most damage. And it would have given them a versatile building block who could have really learned behind Ray Allen and Paul Pierce while being the young cornerstone they need without the inconsistencies and dreaded “tweener” label Jeff Green comes with. In short, it would have been better all around. It may not have made the difference in a Celtics win or loss against the Heat, but you have to think Harden would have given them more than Green, who didn’t seem to adjust to life in the Celtics’ locker room after years in the warm bosom of the OKC locker room.

Green would still be with the Thunder, likely being criticized as fans called for Ibaka to get more playing time (one of the best results of the trade for Perkins, along with moving Ibaka to PF next to Perk), knocking down the occasional three and getting bowled over by Zach Randolph.

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Interesting....Jeff Green wasn't even our first choice.

Yeah, I think Matt Moore overrates the current James Harden right now, but he's shown lots of sustained flashes, and unlike Green, actually does have loads of potential.  There's a reason Presti saw Green as expendable, but not Harden.

Basically, Presti got Perk without giving up any pieces of his core.  The only piece the Thunder gave up that they seemed interested in keeping was the Clippers pick.

If Danny had landed Harden, I would have been disappointed to see Perk go and to seemingly be punting on the season (or at least weakening our short term chances), but would have been very happy to get a player of Harden's quality and potential.

Just for the record, Presti is the same genious that traded R ALlen and Baby to Danny for  Wally, West and GREEN.

It's hard to evaluate if Harden would have been any more effective than Green in becoming comfortable in the new system behind our starters. I'm willing to wait and see how this next year goes before I make any judgements about Green.

[zerophase]

It's hard to say whether Harden would have fit this team better and adapted quicker than Green but I must say that I really like Harden as a player and I think he has the potential to be a true all-star post big three. I think Green's potential at most is a solid role player. Green was playing out of position in OKC anyways so I don't feel that OKC felt he was integral to their team's success. In my opinion we definitely lost that trade. I guess we're even with OKC now for the Ray Allen deal.

[winsomme]

The thing is, no matter what Danny says, there will be a large number of people who agree with him, simply because he brought us a title.

I liked Danny as a player, and I like him as a GM.  He's not infallible, though; since the summer of 2008, he's made plenty of mistakes.

I am definitely a Danny fan. I love how aggressive he is. At the same time, I hated the Perk trade. and have really not liked other decisions (like not bringing in a SF/PF to replace Posey)  So I'm not sure where that puts me in the Danny landscape...

anyway, the thing I like the most about Danny is his ability to recognize mistakes and aggressively move to correct them.

That's why I have high hopes for this off season. I think he wasted a year of the Big 3 who were actually VERY healthy. The moves he made really dashed the chances we could win a Title. But I am equally hopeful that with another healthy season of the Big 3, Danny will get the cogs to make our systems work....

We know the types of players we need but getting them is extremely difficult. especially when we really only have one more year left for this crew.

[tenn_smoothie]

I wonder if Perk for Harden was the earlier deal that Doc deemed unacceptable.

i still can't believe that Doc signed off on trading Perk at all - much less for two weak-minded finesse players that never came close to fitting in with his team.