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OKC Trade is a glimpse into our future

I almost feel sorry for ya..

Harden, against NBA defenses last year .. 49% FG, 39% from 3, 85% FT.
Lamb, aginst college defenses last year .. 47% FG, 33% from 3, 81% FT.

I've made no decisions, but glad to see you're so confident .. based on???

Keep it up. The Lamb homers here are just crazy.
 
Here are his U-19 numbers

Games(9) FG M/A/%(59/140/42.1) 2pt M/A/%(49/106/46.2) 3pt M/A/%(10/34/29.4) FT M/A/%(18/23/78.3)
 
It sounds like Harden was a greedy ****. The thunder offered him $55.5 over 4 years, 4.5 less than what Houston will give him. Not many players ever get the opportunity to play on a championship quality team. Ask Malone and Stockton how much they would pay for that opportunity. Now he's in Houston playing on an abysmal team that will not make the Playoffs. I understand it's 4.5 million dollars, but when you've already got $55.5, why not take the better working conditions unless you don't care?

Been thinking about how you've put this across multiple threads. How much do you suppose endorsements in a large market vs. one of the smallest has come into play? $1.25mm per is not worth the championship tradeoff. There has to be more dollars coming or something regarding league respect.
 
Been thinking about how you've put this across multiple threads. How much do you suppose endorsements in a large market vs. one of the smallest has come into play? $1.25mm per is not worth the championship tradeoff. There has to be more dollars coming or something regarding league respect.

There's no question that money was the driving factor here. If he's the man in Houston, he'll definitely get more in local endorsements. If he's incredible, the money could be many times better with Houston mainly because he is the main guy. One thing is for certain, if you are an elite NBA player, it makes not difference where you're playing; you'll rake in the cash and endorsements. It's also how you're branding yourself as well. Take a look at the top commercial teams and players. I think local market makes a bigger difference for second tier players. https://hoopshype.com/commercials.htm

Note that OKC and San Antonio are 3 and 4 respectively. Also, Houston has only 4 commercials (below Utah). Harden is already in 4 commercials (as many as the entire Rockets team so far).
 
So let's get back to the real issue. Is this good or bad for my fantasy team? (I have Harden)

I'd have to say its good. He is going to get more Run, More shots, and put up better stats. His percentages might go down a little but everything else should increase
 
There is no downside to having 'too many' good players.

So its great that the Jazz have 4 good bigs and therefore some will not get enough court time and that the youngins won't get as much time as they need and deserve? You CAN have too many at one position.
 
So its great that the Jazz have 4 good bigs and therefore some will not get enough court time and that the youngins won't get as much time as they need and deserve? You CAN have too many at one position.
Only if you don't have the nuts to make a trade.
 
Ugh no **** there's no downside to having good players on the basketball court. But this OKC situation is a parable as to what may happen just in case you're, say, attached to our core four. Say what you want about "market value" but OKC and it's fans would have rather have kept Harden. Are you going to disagree with that? They took a step backwards. Whether or not it was 'market value' there are still numerous intangible things (familiarity, chemistry, off court chemistry) in addition to known-value things (how well Harden plays) lost from a team that just made the finals and wasn't too far off. If things were better managed it would not have come to that, spare me your Perkins love but the guy is obscenely overpaid. Furthermore even if we don't sign bad contracts there is a chance one of our guys gets to greedy and out prices himself from us, and we may have to make a similar move. Hence the Harden trade is a GLIMPSE INTO OUR FUTURE. Christ.

My Perkins love? Nice scarecrow. And how is the Harden trade a GLIMPSE INTO OUR FUTURE? We have some players that might end up being real good, and none that currently are. For the millionth time, if the Jazz have an MVP candidate they have to pay, a DPOY candidate they have to pay, one of the most explosive scorers in the league they have to pay, and the most efficient scorer in basketball they have to pay, that's good news. I'm sorry you think there's a downside to having to possibly trade a guy to get a haul in return.

Getting back to the Perkins thing, they want to keep him. They could've found a team that wanted him, and they could've amnestied him. They think it's more important to keep him for his salary than Harden at $15 million per year because they think they can fill the role he plays easier. I wouldn't have made the move they did, but they're the ones that did too good of a job building a team.

One last thing - and this is more general than simply a response to the post above - a guy wanting to get paid his market value is not villainous and it's offensive that people think it is. Like a guy is just supposed to be stoked to leave $6 million on the table that he'll never get back. None of you would do that if the situation was there. Absolutely none of you.
 
OKC simply decided that Harden wasn't worth near-max money. The deal sets them back until Lamb fills the void (if he ever does). Kevin Martin is pretty one-dimensional. If a few of our young players decide they want more money than our FO wants to pay, or if any of them want to play in a bigger market, or be "the man" on another team, the Jazz will have to make a move. Every team faces this. We're in that situation with Millsap right now, fwiw. That's why there's always got to be a back-up plan for any/every player who's becoming a FA.
Should have been Jae Crowder.
 
My Perkins love? Nice scarecrow. And how is the Harden trade a GLIMPSE INTO OUR FUTURE? We have some players that might end up being real good, and none that currently are. For the millionth time, if the Jazz have an MVP candidate they have to pay, a DPOY candidate they have to pay, one of the most explosive scorers in the league they have to pay, and the most efficient scorer in basketball they have to pay, that's good news. I'm sorry you think there's a downside to having to possibly trade a guy to get a haul in return.

Getting back to the Perkins thing, they want to keep him. They could've found a team that wanted him, and they could've amnestied him. They think it's more important to keep him for his salary than Harden at $15 million per year because they think they can fill the role he plays easier. I wouldn't have made the move they did, but they're the ones that did too good of a job building a team.

One last thing - and this is more general than simply a response to the post above - a guy wanting to get paid his market value is not villainous and it's offensive that people think it is. Like a guy is just supposed to be stoked to leave $6 million on the table that he'll never get back. None of you would do that if the situation was there. Absolutely none of you.

Ugh. You love to argue and are thick as a brick. The potential for an analogous situation is perfectly clear. So it may not be a point for point identical comparison but it doesn't need to be.
 
Did I say anything about whether it would be bad that we would have to trade one of our guys? No. All I said was that we may be in a similar situation if the chips fall. Did I every say where it would leave us as a franchise? No. I have merely only suggested that this has the potential to show us what could happen down the road, and that the implications may be worrisome to a fan who is particularly attached to the four players we currently have. Is someone who isn't too partial to Burks or Favors (or at least indifference) as long as the team is fine going to be worried by this? Clearly not, and I guess you fall into that category. But that doesn't mean it "****ing stupid" or however you described or even a reach to suggest that there are lessons to be learned from this. David Locke wrote out huge salary projections for the next 5 ****ing years because he had the exact same thought I did, i.e., how what happened here could be useful in forecasting and building our team moving forward.

Even further my Perkins comment was just an embellished throw-away line. Forget I exaggerated and called it "Perkins love" and try and attack the argument on its actual veracity rather than pounce upon what was clear hyperbole and acting as if you've punched a hole through the whole thing.
 
Keep it up. The Lamb homers here are just crazy.

I'm definitely not a lamb homer. Guy played with a horrible ball iq last season. What comparing percentages will not tell, but watching them play will is that lamb makes open jumpers better than harden. Never did I say he was better, never did I say he was smarter, never did I say he will be better. I said he has more potential, and is better at hitting open jumpers. Lamb took way too many retarded shots last year for his percentages to reflect his pure shooting ability. So Dwight Howard is one of the best shooters in the NBA because he's usually near the top of field goal percentage?
 
You must have missed last season for Lamb or when Lamb was playing for the national team.

The problem was lamb taking dumb shots. He has horrible bball iq. Give them each an open shot and lamb will make it more than harden, he just might not take the shot, and instead force up some garbage shot.

Calm the f down I realize harden is far superior to lamb as a player
 
Only if you don't have the nuts to make a trade.

Agreed. Do the Jazz have them? Got a new guy on the trigger, will be interesting to watch. For my take, they cannot get rid of Big Al soon enough. Quit worrying about his overall value and getting the same in return. The addition by subtraction factor will make up for just about any apparent lowball trade situation.
 
My thoughts on the trade:

1. From Harden's side, it wasn't just about money. As Eenie-meenie mentioned, I think ultimately Harden didn't want to continue in his role of 6th man and be in the shadows of Westbrook and Durant. Could that have cost Harden a shot at a championship? Maybe, but it's hard to say with how strong the Lakers could be. I don't fault Harden for having that position.

2. This will be good for Harden from an individual standpoint. He'll get what he wants in a starring role and max money with the Rockets and even if the Rockets don't become contenders, Harden will still have time to look for a winning situation when he contract with the Rockets runs out.

3. This trade will be bad for the Thunder this year. As has been discussed, Kevin Martin can score, but Harden is clearly better in Martin in many areas, such as rebounding, passing, getting to the FT line, and defense. I don't know much about Lamb as I follow very little college bball, but regardless of potential, is he likely to be better than Harden this year? Also, they traded away Cole Aldrich now that he finally appears ready to contribute, after developing him for a couple of years.

4. The trade can be good for the Thunder long-term. They get a guy with big potential in Lamb, plus what could turn out be lottery picks from the Mavs and Raptors. I hate that this trade makes me feel to compelled to care about the Raptors btw. Payroll flexibility is a big positive as well.

5. The trade is good for the Rockets this year. They now have a big name to put alongside Jeremy Lin and they've given their fans a reason to be excited for this season.

6. It's really hard to say how well this will work in the long-term for the Rockets having not seen Harden in the role of being expected to be his team's best player. The fact that Lin and Asik have back-loaded contracts could put the Rockets in salary-cap hell in a few years.
 
Also, the trade is good for the Jazz this year as it slightly weakens the Thunder. Granted I still don't see the Jazz winning the division, but it's always good to see a division rival weakened. Also, as Ben10 mentioned, it will be interesting to see who ends up on the Rockets' roster. I belive today is the deadline for opening day rosters to be submitted.
 
Anybody else curious how the Rocket's offense is going to look this season? Lin & Harden both seem to excel in initiating the PnR. Will they take turns?
This would be an awesome strategy against big al.
 
So its great that the Jazz have 4 good bigs and therefore some will not get enough court time and that the youngins won't get as much time as they need and deserve? You CAN have too many at one position.
Until an injury occurs. Then the Jazz have three big guys to divide up those 96 minutes. Otherwise we're left with signing a guy like Elson or Collins to bring off the bench. No thanks!
The Jazz are facing a bit of a dilemma with BOTH Al and Paul in contract years. To maintain their front court strength, Utah really needs to re-sign one of them. But I doubt KOC/Lindsey have definitely decided on which and even if/when they do, it's not a lock they can re-sign that player for a reasonable amount.

I'm also as thrilled as anyone that Kanter has put up solid numbers in meaningless pre-season games against primarily subs and scrubs. Let's see if he can maintain that performance against the better bigs in the league on a nightly basis when the games count. Then we can crown him King of the Jazz.

I'm all for improving the team. But the deal has to be a great one for the Jazz. OKC got a fortune for Harden. And Houston now has two borderline all-stars making max or near max (Harden + Lin in the bump year of his contract). So add 1 more and that's their big 3? I can't stop laughing at the foolishness of the Rockettes.
 
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