What if....OKC Thunder didnt trade anyone

[Birdman]

To me, the OKC Thunder really blew it with trading their young core..I be surprise if they ever win a championship now..if they keep their team, it would look like this

Kevin Durant
Jeff Green
James Harden
Russell Westbrook

That team would won some, plus they could got a decent Center in FA...if Im a Thunder fan, I be mad for years to come lol

[wdleehi]

Jeff Green was not working for them at PF and there was no where else to put him.


They are not missing Green.


Harden on the other hand, well, NBA economics decided his fate.

[Who]

It's a shame they pulled the plug on that Tyson Chandler trade. Just imagine Tyson alongside Ibaka with Harden, Durant and Westbrook on the perimeter. Wow.

[Fafnir]

It's a shame they pulled the plug on that Tyson Chandler trade. Just imagine Tyson alongside Ibaka with Harden, Durant and Westbrook on the perimeter. Wow.

For a season or two yes it'd have been amazing, of course Tyson's contract would have forced them to trade maybe Ibaka earlier? Not sure how the timing would have worked.

[Fan from VT]

Their error was not in dumping green, but rather in taking bakc long term money for him. Green would be the least valuable and least productive of harden, westbrook, durant, ibaka (op forgot ibaka?), so they couldnt have kept all 5 anyway for the prices they all are getting now. Without the perk salary they could have kept durant, harden, westbrook, and ibaka together and just plugged the center spot with vets/insane small ball.

[Snakehead]

I would have just rolled the dice and saw what happened with Harden.  They were a legit contender with him.

Right now... their return is pretty poor looking.  It'd suck to watch him walk, but trading him away didn't seem worth it.

And for me, I'd rather have Harden/Durant than Westbrook/Durant anyways.

[D.o.s.]

As a Sonics fan when I was younger, I'm enjoying the schadenfreude.

You know what would make it easier to go into the luxury tax and avoid having to dismantle your team?

Playing somewhere where you could get a sweet local television deal. A massive city obsessed with sports, perhaps.

via Imgflip Meme Maker

[More Banners]

As a Sonics fan when I was younger, I'm enjoying the schadenfreude.

You know what would make it easier to go into the luxury tax and avoid having to dismantle your team?

Playing somewhere where you could get a sweet local television deal. A massive city obsessed with sports, perhaps.

via Imgflip Meme Maker

True.

In retrospect, they should've kept Ray Allen, too, and started winning right away with Allen/Durant starting together on the wing and that other guy at PF that went to ORL to play with DH.

[KGs Knee]

Well, Green needed to be traded, he didn't fit.

Harden, on the other hand, that was an epic blunder.  I don't care whether or not it was financially motivated, you are a bad owner if you make moves like that.  Either spend the money to put the best possible roster on the court, or sell the team.

Basically, as far as I am concerned, OKC's owner sucks and should bow out in favor of someone who is willing to take a couple seasons of financial "loses".  It's not as if a couple seasons of financial "losses" devalues the team.  Even the stink-bag Kings sold for an at-the-time record value.

[More Banners]

Well, Green needed to be traded, he didn't fit.

Harden, on the other hand, that was an epic blunder.  I don't care whether or not it was financially motivated, you are a bad owner if you make moves like that.  Either spend the money to put the best possible roster on the court, or sell the team.

Basically, as far as I am concerned, OKC's owner sucks and should bow out in favor of someone who is willing to take a couple seasons of financial "loses".  It's not as if a couple seasons of financial "losses" devalues the team.  Even the stink-bag Kings sold for an at-the-time record value.

Definitely had the pieces to go quite far, and traded them.

Coach didn't put his best players on the floor at the same time.  What's up with that?  Should've been replaced with a better coach.  Imagine the firepower working together.  I mean, it's not like a Westbrook/Harden/Durant/Green/Ibaka lineup couldn't play 38 minutes/night.  They never put in an offense that took best advantage of their talent, IMO.  Never really got them to ALL play together.

[aporel#18]

Their mistake was giving Perk all that money, but I'm glad they did because I love Perk. He's obviously not worth all that money, but he's a great guy to have on your team on the right money.
Their other mistake was not flipping Westchuck for an All Star center and a decent starting PG when he was at his highest value. Instead, they traded Harden for Kevin Martin and change...

PG/Harden/Durant/Ibaka/AllStar C is a championship team in today's NBA.

OKC should get a better center. If OKC is trying to get Gortat or Asik, I hope the Cs can help them, taking Perk's contract and sending Bass+Crawesome to the Rockets/Suns. OKC would have to give us the Dallas 2014 first rounder (top-20 protected until 2018, then unprotected), and maybe a young reclamation project (PJ3, Orton). It would suck to overpay Perk, but the Dallas pick could be useful, and the SG/PF logjam would be eased once Rondo is back and we don't need Crawesome as our PG. Perk's contract, as terrible as it is, expires in the summer of 2015, becoming a useful piece to trade or to let expire.

[pearljammer10]

If the Thunder didnt trade Green or Harden they wouldnt have gotten any value in return for them because they wouldn't have been able to sign them anyway.

[ddb]

To me, the OKC Thunder really blew it with trading their young core..I be surprise if they ever win a championship now..if they keep their team, it would look like this

Kevin Durant
Jeff Green
James Harden
Russell Westbrook

That team would won some, plus they could got a decent Center in FA...if Im a Thunder fan, I be mad for years to come lol

it would never work.  where are these shots coming from?  where is the money to pay all these guys coming from?  O, and you forgot Ibaka.  Bottom line, ADDITION BY SUBTRACTION.   At least with the Green deal, that made Durant and Westbrook the undisputed go-to guys which was very good for the balance of the team.

The Harden trade was a mistake.  They should have kept him and addressed it via free agency (S/T) because Harden would have been a RFA.  worst case is you cannot afford to keep him so you deal him via S/T.  But then again, we never really know until the guys like Lamb, Jones and Adams develop.  in a few years we could be looking at this as a good trade

[guava_wrench]

They would go bankrupt.

[Greenback]

The Celtics should take a look at Daniel Orton who was waived...Celtics need a big and Brad Stevens is good with kids...