Hollinger - Perkins' Extension was Presti's One Mistake

[RJ87]

As I said in another thread, I don't believe OKC is completely out of the title hunt THIS YEAR. Kevin Martin is a 18ppg scorer over his career, and will fill the scoring shoes of Harden nicely. Both Harden and KMart are below average defenders, so no real loss there, the biggest issue is Harden's ability to create offense - but with Maynor returning from injury this season, I don't think it'll be a back breaking issue for them.

When you factor in OKC's superior bench: Nick Collison, Thabo Sefolosha, Maynor, PJIII, and the potential in Jeremy Lamb, I think they match up well with the Lakers or any other Western Conference contender.

[coco]

In my opninion:

1. Easier to find a sixth man than a Center

2.  With DHoward being a Laker, OKC is probably very happy they kept KPerkins

3. OKC came on top on that trade - hands down, if you asked me.

[billysan]

Hard to completely evaluate with the unknowns.

Will Kevin Martin accept a sixth man role? Does OKC even consider it? Will he resign with them cheaper than Harden with a deep playoff run? (something he hasnt experienced)

Was Harden seeking a starting role? Will he resign with Houston?

Perk is Perk and grossly overpaid. That doesnt mean the Thunder doesnt need him IMHO.

This could also be a 'fit issue with Perkins the better teammmate.

Who knows? I bet Hollinger doesnt either.

[indeedproceed]

Hard to completely evaluate with the unknowns.

Will Kevin Martin accept a sixth man role? Does OKC even consider it? Will he resign with them cheaper than Harden with a deep playoff run? (something he hasnt experienced)

Was Harden seeking a starting role? Will he resign with Houston?

Perk is Perk and grossly overpaid. That doesnt mean the Thunder doesnt need him IMHO.

This could also be a 'fit issue with Perkins the better teammmate.

Who knows? I bet Hollinger doesnt either.

Right now all parties are saying he'll sign by Wednesday, likely a max deal.

[MBunge]

It's hard to take this analysis seriously, since it completely ignores Perk's value as a defender in a conference where Howard and Pau are now a tandem.  I'm not saying that Perk over Harden is the obvious or even the easy choice, but Hollinger is crazy if he thinks amnestying Perk AND GETTING NOTHING FOR HIM wouldn't leave OKC in an even worse spot than they are swapping Harden for Martin.

Mike

Nope. Perk isn't half the player that people made him out to be when he was still here. He's a nice little player but Presti giving him that money has now forced them to lose an ACTUAL valuable piece to their team. Kendrick Perkins is worth like 3-4 Million Dollars a year and is criminally overpaid right now. This may have broken up a potentially great team.

You're missing the point.

Losing Perk for nothing would have been worse than swapping Martin for Harden.  Perk and Nick Collison are a nice duo at center.  Collison and Hasheem Thabeet...not so much.

Now again, maybe OKC should have worked harder at not giving Perk that contract, but to amnesty him now would be a bigger blow to their current title hopes than trading Harden for a guy who's got a career 18.4 pts a game average.

Mike

[TripleOT]

I don't like the trade, but Presti had to bite the bullet, and he ended up with a very good return for Harden, especially if the Toronto pick is in the 4-8 range. 

Lamb could turn out to be a lockdown defender who can provide more outside punch, and Martin is a proven scorer, although mostly for losing teams so far in his career. 

I would have just maxed out Harden and paid the tax, but I'm not ownership.  One of the Thunder owners, Aubrey McClendon is extremely leveraged in debt.