OKC Trade is a glimpse into our future

[Sneakers]

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.

 

[8]

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?

 

[8]

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

 

[zman1527]

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.

 

[nightmare3983]

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.

 

[nightmare3983]

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.

 

[8]

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.

 

[Stifle Tower]

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.

 

[spycam1]

https://bleacherreport.com/tb/d8P9r?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=nba

Has this been posted yet? (yes, it's br, but it's just them linking another site, so get over it). Apparently the Jazz were one of the teams OKC was having "semi-serious" trade talks with. It says OKC wanted a sure fire talent still in the beginning of their rookie deal, and understandably so. It suggests they may have asked about Favors and Kanter. If so, I'm glad we turned them down. Good to see the FO has a lot of faith in our young core.

 

[nightmare3983]

Next summer will be interesting between extension talks with Favors and Hayward and the free agency of Millsap and Jefferson.

 

[spycam1]

Next summer will be interesting between extension talks with Favors and Hayward and the free agency of Millsap and Jefferson.

Don't forget we have two 1st round picks.

 

[nightmare3983]

Don't forget we have two 1st round picks.

Good point. Plus Mo, Earl, Tinsley, Carroll, and Foye will be FAs, with Marvin being able to opt out if he wants. So maybe interesting isn't such a good choice of words. How about crazy?