So what have the rest of the Thunder team said about this trade?

[Marv_Albert]

Ain't heard from Durant/Westbrook/Thabo/Ibaka and co. surely this would have been a pretty emotional parting for James Harden. :confusedshrug:

[brandonislegend]

Kevin Durant posted "wow." on twitter when it happened, nothing else.

[Batz]

Kevin Durant ‏@KDTrey5

Wow

Kevin Durant ‏@KDTrey5

I'm gonna miss my brothers @DC4Three , @colea45 , Lazar and @JHarden13..I wish u guys good luck and we gonna remain friends for life!

Kevin Durant ‏@KDTrey5

In life you move forward so we welcome in Kevin Martin and @jlamb to the family!

Russell Westbrook ‏@russwest44

Mannnnnn

iunno.

[PyrrhusX]

Durant copying CP3

[Kiddlovesnets]

They apparently aint happy about this, but act quite professionally anyway.

[All Net]

Tell Westbrook isn't too pleased...

[ThunderKat]

They aren't going to jump for joy that one of their teammates and best buds got traded. Harden is a talent and a good friend to these guys.The reality is no one is to blame but James Harden. If he wanted to stay in OKC he could have taken the $55 million and the ton of endorsements he would have received. It's not exactly like the guy would have been starving.. instead he opted for more cash. Durant and the fellas know he took money over them and it's on Harden's shoulders. It was a business decision by Harden and there's no more to it than that.

[Kobe681]

They aren't going to jump for joy that one of their teammates and best buds got traded. Harden is a talent and a good friend to these guys.The reality is no one is to blame but James Harden. If he wanted to stay in OKC he could have taken the $55 million and the ton of endorsements he would have received. It's not exactly like the guy would have been starving.. instead he opted for more cash. Durant and the fellas know he took money over them and it's on Harden's shoulders. It was a business decision by Harden and there's no more to it than that.

The reality is no one is to blame but the Thunder. If they wanted him to stay in OKC they would have offered him the extra $4 million. It's not exactly like the organization would have been starving.. instead they opted for more cash. It was a business decision by the Thunder and there's no more to it than that.

[r15mohd]

i find this to be a good move...as much as Harden a great player/asset to OKC, they know they wouldnt be able to keep him and a front court to match out west. They had no choice but to get what they coudl as a replacement, Martin is a descent filler for sure, and then be able to retain guys like Ibaka to compete with Durant/Westbrook through their contract end-dates.

Might look dishonoring from the OKC side in not retaining Harden, but Ibaka is a much bigger piece to their success IMO.

[Midnight Toker]

The reality is no one is to blame but the Thunder. If they wanted him to stay in OKC they would have offered him the extra $4 million. It's not exactly like the organization would have been starving.. instead they opted for more cash. It was a business decision by the Thunder and there's no more to it than that.

So what youre saying is they should have offered the 3rd best player on the team a max contract? I dont think there is a single team that could afford 3 max contracts, much less a small market club like OKC. You just dont pay max money to the 6th man. If he was #2, yes absolutely. Let's think about this for a moment though, they were short what like 4 million dollars? Okay, we were looking at a 52 or 54 million dollar contract for 4 years. Adjusting for the tax penalty, that puts it in the 4 year 80 million dollar range. That 4 million costs 6 million, and the following year to 10 million and so on. It's an escalating penalty they simply could not afford. So, is a 6th man worth 20 million a year on the books? does lebron even cost miami 20 million?

[RRR3]

Durant: "Man that's messed up" :durantunimpressed:


And the Thunder should have chose Harden over Ibaka

[Boomerang]

The reality is no one is to blame but the Thunder. If they wanted him to stay in OKC they would have offered him the extra $4 million. It's not exactly like the organization would have been starving.. instead they opted for more cash. It was a business decision by the Thunder and there's no more to it than that.

The reality is no one is to blame but Kevin Durant. If he wanted him to stay in OKC, he would have took $4 million less and still had the ton of endorsements he would have received.. It's not exactly like He would have been starving.. instead he opted for more cash. Harden and the fellas know he took money over them and it's on Durant's shoulders. It was a business decision by Kevin Durant and there's no more to it than that.

[rhythmic]

They aren't going to jump for joy that one of their teammates and best buds got traded. Harden is a talent and a good friend to these guys.The reality is no one is to blame but James Harden. If he wanted to stay in OKC he could have taken the $55 million and the ton of endorsements he would have received. It's not exactly like the guy would have been starving.. instead he opted for more cash. Durant and the fellas know he took money over them and it's on Harden's shoulders. It was a business decision by Harden and there's no more to it than that.

Harden asked for 3 days to think about the deal, Thunder's GM gave him 1 hour. Where's the loyalty at?

Please do some research before opening your mouth and spewing complete rubbish.

[RRR3]

[QUOTE=rhythmic

[I<3NBA]

if i'm Presti, i do not want to set a precedent about players hostaging me with their bullshit. now at least, all players in the future who will deal with Presti knows he does not bluff. that's a huge capital if you're a GM.

[Fudge]

The reality is no one is to blame but the Thunder. If they wanted him to stay in OKC they would have offered him the extra $4 million. It's not exactly like the organization would have been starving.. instead they opted for more cash. It was a business decision by the Thunder and there's no more to it than that.
:facepalm

[rhythmic]

if i'm Presti, i do not want to set a precedent about players hostaging me with their bullshit. now at least, all players in the future who will deal with Presti knows he does not bluff. that's a huge capital if you're a GM.

Oh I see, so your precedent is you offer a player a contract and if he doesn't accept it in the first hour, you trade him immediately.

Okay, good luck with that approach.
Fact is, we haven't even started the season yet and Harden asked the GM for 3 days, to think about the offer. What the hell was so wrong about that? Was the trade deadline less then 3 days away? :rolleyes:

[Mr Know It All]

The reality is no one is to blame but David Stern and the greedy owners. If they wanted a small market team to succeed in Oklahoma City they wouldn't have introduced such strict cap restriction. It's not exactly like David Stern and his owners would be starving. Instead they opted for more cash for themselves. It was a business decision by Davis Stern and the owners and there is no more to it than that.

Come on people, keep this going. So many possibilities.

[rhythmic]

That extra 4 million would have put OKC over the threshold and they would be paying luxury tax. I understand the financial concerns, the problem I have is that they wouldn't give Harden the 3 days he asked them for. That's not loyalty, and I can't believe some of you are blaming JH for that.

[RRR3]

http://fotos.fotoflexer.com/a3ca91fd28b8aa3a99e1a1fdd47a3c65.jpg

[Nick Young]

They probably all secretly resented Harden anyway after he sabotaged the thunder in the finals.

[KG215]

Harden asked for 3 days to think about the deal, Thunder's GM gave him 1 hour. Where's the loyalty at?

Please do some research before opening your mouth and spewing complete rubbish.

The 4yr/$52M deal had been on the table or several days. The 4yr/$54M deal was Presti's final offer, but he had been in trade discussions with Morey off-and-on for days and weeks. He knew Morey wanted to trade for Harden in time to sign him to a 5-year max deal before the deadline. Yes, Presti technically could've waited another day or two and let Harden mull over his final offer, but he also knew Morey may have pulled the offer if he didn't act.

[rhythmic]

The 4yr/$52M deal had been on the table or several days. The 4yr/$54M deal was Presti's final offer, but he had been in trade discussions with Morey off-and-on for days and weeks. He knew Morey wanted to trade for Harden in time to sign him to a 5-year max deal before the deadline. Yes, Presti technically could've waited another day or two and let Harden mull over his final offer, but he also knew Morey may have pulled the offer if he didn't act.

Please ask yourself if what you just wrote even makes sense.
Houston had before the trade over 20 players on the team, why the hell would Morey pull out when the dude's been trying to get a star player all summer long?

[KG215]

Some of you are also forgetting about Ibaka's new deal. Had they offered Harden much more than a 4yr/$52M deal ($13M/yr) they would've been paying four players roughly $60M a year.

[rhythmic]

Some of you are also forgetting about Ibaka's new deal. Had they offered Harden much more than a 4yr/$52M deal ($13M/yr) they would've been paying four players roughly $60M a year.

They would also be contending for the next 8 years bro.
The ultimate goal of any GM is to have a winning formula...

[KG215]

[QUOTE=rhythmic

[KG215]

They would also be contending for the next 8 years bro.
The ultimate goal of any GM is to have a winning formula...

And they'd also be very financially strapped and have a hard time building around those four players. They wouldn't be able to extend someone like Maynor after the year, and they'd have a hard time giving Perry Jones a second contract if he does at least sort of live up to his potential. I get what you're saying, but this wasn't necessarily a bad decision on Presti's fault. I've been reading your posts on the deal, and you've been pretty negative on the whole thing, which is fine. But I'm an OKC fan, and I'm trying to put things in perspective and see the upside of the deal.

[rhythmic]

Because he wanted to get Harden and have time to negotiate a deal before the deadline...in two days. If Presti had given Harden the full three days, he would've had until the 30th. I don't know how those kind of things work, but I'm guessing had the trade been made late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, it might've been tough to get all the contract details ironed out before the deadline. I don't think it'd be as simple as "here, we're offering you 5yr/$78M, please sign."

You sure Presti warned Harden he was being traded though?
Remember the premise we're talking about here, loyalty.

Maybe he told Harden, maybe he didn't...I am just going by reports, and it seems like JH got done wrong.

[Fudge]

And they'd also be very financially strapped and have a hard time building around those four players. They wouldn't be able to extend someone like Maynor after the year, and they'd have a hard time giving Perry Jones a second contract if he does at least sort of live up to his potential. I get what you're saying, but this wasn't necessarily a bad decision on Presti's fault. I've been reading your posts on the deal, and you've been pretty negative on the whole thing, which is fine. But I'm an OKC fan, and I'm trying to put things in perspective and see the upside of the deal.
:applause:

[rhythmic]

And they'd also be very financially strapped and have a hard time building around those four players. They wouldn't be able to extend someone like Maynor after the year, and they'd have a hard time giving Perry Jones a second contract if he does at least sort of live up to his potential. I get what you're saying, but this wasn't necessarily a bad decision on Presti's fault. I've been reading your posts on the deal, and you've been pretty negative on the whole thing, which is fine. But I'm an OKC fan, and I'm trying to put things in perspective and see the upside of the deal.

I am not blaming Presti about trading Harden for financial stability, I am just questioning the way he handled the trade. I just think he should have given the guy a day or two to think it over; I mean he did embrace his role pretty well in OKC. Harden is a fantastic player who would probably make a lot more money somewhere else as a starter and get far more endorsements; him taking time to consider everything should be expected.

[KG215]

[QUOTE=rhythmic

[swi7ch]

"Wow" 2x by Durant. That was it.

They kinda knew Harden wouldn't come back. I mean, Harden knows he can get upwards of 75 million from other teams so why would he settle for 55 million with OKC *********AND*********** be the sixth man (when he can be a starter)?

[KG215]

[QUOTE=rhythmic

[rhythmic]

Damn, I always thought you were a Celtic fan KG. :oldlol:

[KG215]

"Wow" 2x by Durant. That was it.

They kinda knew Harden wouldn't come back. I mean, Harden knows he can get upwards of 75 million from other teams so why would he settle for 55 million with OKC *********AND*********** be the sixth man (when he can be a starter)?
This. One of the dozen articles I've read the last two days said Durant, Russ, Serge, etc. had been aware for weeks that trading Harden was a real possibility. Perkins, apparently had already been secretly telling some people close to him (or the team...I can't really remember what the article said) that it was looking more and more like Harden was going to be traded.

So the other OKC players weren't nearly as caught off-guard as the rest of us. Yes, they were surprised and probably a little hurt, but from what I've been reading they knew there was a decent chance it was going to happen.

[DuMa]

RUSSELL WESTBROOK
On Harden: “James is a good friend of mine. He’ll always be a good friend of mine. Just because he’s on a different team doesn’t change the friendships.”

On chemistry: “You can’t duplicate it, but we have a group of guys that have been here for a while. We’re switching the team up a little bit but every year we’ve had a different team and we’ve found a way to incorporate guys and make sure everybody knows what it takes for us to win. So I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

On the change: “I don’t think we’re like down and out. We got guys coming in who’ve got to come in and make adjustments. But we got to find a way to still win games.”

On if he spoke to Harden recently about the contract stuff: “Nah, not much. I kind of left him alone. I didn’t want to pressure on nobody but I did talk to him previous before that.”

KEVIN DURANT
On losing Harden: “People get it confused. We get attached with these guys more than just basketball, and you build relationships with them and their families over these last few years. Just to leave like that, it’s always tough like that if it’s your friend.”

On Martin: “Kevin can fill it up pretty quickly. I’m sure you guys have seen that over the last few years.”

On Lamb: “It’s like we got two top five picks in the draft with him and P-Jones.”

http://www.dailythunder.com/2012/10/hello-new-people-kevin-martin-and-jeremy-lamb-introduced/

[KG215]

Damn, I always thought you were a Celtic fan KG. :oldlol:

Garnett has been my favorite player forever. I sorta kinda hopped on their bandwagon from '08-'10 but it was more for KG. I didn't really care about the Celtics winning; I wanted Garnett to get a ring, but I liked Allen and Pierce, too, so it made it easy to root for the whole team. There just wasn't ever any kind of real sentimental attachment to the Celtics.

I live in Arkansas about 2-3 hours from OKC. Once they moved here, I slowly started to gravitate towards them as "my team." And after I went to a couple of games during the 2008-2009 season there was no looking back. I hadn't ever really had a favorite NBA team before. When I was real young I liked Jordan, so I rooted for the Bulls. After that, I just started rooting for the Timberwolves because of Garnett. But now there's a team close enough to where I feel like they're "local." I can go to a game or two a year, I get all their games on a radio station, and I live close enough to Oklahoma that I get all of their games on TV.

[rhythmic]

Garnett has been my favorite player forever. I sorta kinda hopped on their bandwagon from '08-'10 but it was more for KG. I didn't really care about the Celtics winning; I wanted Garnett to get a ring, but I liked Allen and Pierce, too, so it made it easy to root for the whole team. There just wasn't ever any kind of real sentimental attachment to the Celtics.

I live in Arkansas about 2-3 hours from OKC. Once they moved here, I slowly started to gravitate towards them as "my team." And after I went to a couple of games during the 2008-2009 season there was no looking back. I hadn't ever really had a favorite NBA team before. When I was real young I liked Jordan, so I rooted for the Bulls. After that, I just started rooting for the Timberwolves because of Garnett. But now there's a team close enough to where I feel like they're "local." I can go to a game or two a year, I get all their games on a radio station, and I live close enough to Oklahoma that I get all of their games on TV.

That's cool brother. :cheers:
Me and you will have a lot beef throughout the season and hopefully in the playoffs, but it's nothing personal! :no:

[HorryIsMyMVP]

if i'm Presti, i do not want to set a precedent about players hostaging me with their bullshit. now at least, all players in the future who will deal with Presti knows he does not bluff. that's a huge capital if you're a GM.
Of course and the offer he made was more then fair. Harden was being unreasonable.

[Cali Syndicate]

Durant: "Man that's messed up" :durantunimpressed:


And the Thunder should have chose Harden over Ibaka

Harden should've chose the team over that extra cheddar.

[sick_brah07]

if i'm Presti, i do not want to set a precedent about players hostaging me with their bullshit. now at least, all players in the future who will deal with Presti knows he does not bluff. that's a huge capital if you're a GM.


This

We finally see a gm willing to take control of a smaller organisation and not get pushed around and everyone's complaining about it ... At the end of the day if russ and Kevin were so buddy like with James they would have taken smaller deals knowin it would affect James chances of staying. I'm not saying its there fault but the nba is a business first entertainment second and sport third type of organisation which is how it's always been .... So right now we have russ Kevin and serge who took contracts they feel are right, the gm didn't look like a bitch and made a great trade to help the team and harden even though labelled a 6th man did what was right by him because he knows that his very well an Allstar level player

No one is to Blame here this is a perfect example of how things should be handled in business ... Not like the bitching bullshit that happened in Orlando

The nba is made for entertainment not for the love of the game .... Love for the game exists at your local leagues were people who work full time still make an effort to commit to the sport wether in coaching or playing for free

[ThunderKat]

[QUOTE=rhythmic

[longtime lurker]

The reality is no one is to blame but the Thunder. If they wanted him to stay in OKC they would have offered him the extra $4 million. It's not exactly like the organization would have been starving.. instead they opted for more cash. It was a business decision by the Thunder and there's no more to it than that.

From what i've read the most the Thunder could have offered him is like 58/4 but Houston can offer 5/80? I thought the whole point of the lockout was to protect small market teams. Can anyone make sense of this?

[maybeshewill13]

From what i've read the most the Thunder could have offered him is like 58/4 but Houston can offer 5/80? I thought the whole point of the lockout was to protect small market teams. Can anyone make sense of this?
Lol IMO if anything the lockout made it harder for small-market teams. Large market teams can afford to go into the luxury tax..

[longtime lurker]

Lol IMO if anything the lockout made it harder for small-market teams. Large market teams can afford to go into the luxury tax..

As I knew it would. All these idiot small market teams trying to screw over the Lakers and end up fvcking themselves. Bravo :applause:

[Kobe681]

So what youre saying is they should have offered the 3rd best player on the team a max contract? I dont think there is a single team that could afford 3 max contracts, much less a small market club like OKC. You just dont pay max money to the 6th man. If he was #2, yes absolutely. Let's think about this for a moment though, they were short what like 4 million dollars? Okay, we were looking at a 52 or 54 million dollar contract for 4 years. Adjusting for the tax penalty, that puts it in the 4 year 80 million dollar range. That 4 million costs 6 million, and the following year to 10 million and so on. It's an escalating penalty they simply could not afford. So, is a 6th man worth 20 million a year on the books? does lebron even cost miami 20 million?

The main intent behind my post was to show that's its not all one sided. This trade made sense for both parties involved. I dont blame either of them for doing what they had to do. I think its a good deal for both teams and for Harden.

And to answer your question, Yes and No. Harden wasnt asking for anything crazy, all he was asking for is for the Thunder to match his market value.

Also, is a 6th man worth 20 million on the books? I dont see it like that. I dont think its fair to 'blame' that tax money solely on one player. The salaries of all other players contribute to this tax money equally.

Think of it this way: Is $20 million on the books worth having an amazing young roster that can compete for a championship for the next 6-8 years?

[Whoah10115]

As of right now, Ibaka is overpaid.

[chips93]

its probably not important now, since the therad is kinda derailed, but wojo had an article that mentions durant, westbrook, and a few other thunder players' reactions

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--inside-look-at-james-harden-s-trade-to-rockets-28301609.html;_ylt=AkME3lWmmT.RfQyTtvzPYF85nYcB;_y lu=X3oDMTQ0aTNpZ2o3BG1pdANGRUFUVVJFRCBNZWdhdHJvbiB TUE9SVFMgRlAEcGtnAzU0OTZmYmMyLWVjN2MtM2ExNC1hZTllL TQ1NDdkZWE3ZGUwMARwb3MDMgRzZWMDbWVnYXRyb24EdmVyA2U wYjhiOWYzLTIxMDItMTFlMi1iNWVkLWZlMjhiYWUyNjVhOQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTFpNzk0NjhtBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRw c3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3

[QUOTE]The impact on the Thunder locker room won't have the dark fallout some fear. When word reached Russell Westbrook late on Friday, he was disappointed Harden was gone

[maybeshewill13]

As of right now, Ibaka is overpaid.

I don't think people will be saying that as of midway this season though..

[MrWarrior]

[QUOTE=rhythmic