The Thunder's true downfall was trading Jeff Green

[JohnnySic]

They were one scorer short against Dallas in 2011. Green may have been the difference.

The Thunder thought they needed Perkins to help against Bynum/Gasol; this was the common thinking at the time. Western teams were loading up on bigs, not realizing that the Lakers had passed their peak.

And not only did they lose Green, but by extension the also had to get rid of Harden the following year because they couldn't afford both him and Ibaka after getting Perkins.

Ibaka
Green
Durant
Harden
Westbrook

Small ball before Golden State did it.

PS - that Perkins/Green trade has been analyzed to death from the Celtics point of view, but seldom spoken of from OKC's point of view, hence the purpose of this thread. I find that interesting because Green >>>> Perkins, as underwhelming as Green is.

[Pushxx]

I hate talking about the Green trade because Celtics fans forget we had 3 centers and only 1 SF after Marquis Daniels went down. We needed a backup SF for Pierce desperately. We literally didn't have one, and Danny traded for a good one.

Plus Perkins was already toast from his knee injuries. It was a good trade then and even now considering we have the advantage of hindsight. Perkins was a shell of himself after leaving Boston.

[FireDavidKahn]

Green ****ing sucks.

[chocolatethunder]

What they really needed was a PG and superstar to trust other guys on the team and pass the fcucking rock. Its pretty telling that they fired Brooks and said how much the offense was going to change and then the offense looked exactly the same under Donovan. No trust in their teammates was their downfall. I don't wanna hear they didn't have enough. When a guy is open for a backdoor cut I don't care if it's Scal or Bonner or McGrady, their more than likely gonna make the bucket. Russ and KD pretty much refused to play that way.

[Thorpesaurous]

This is true, but it has as much to do with being the one paying Perkins as not having Green, which you point out.

I still have something of a fondness for Green. I really thought he was going matter some with The Clippers. And I feel like he'll be a piece in Orlando this year, since they've retooled that team some. I think I'm blinded by my interest in versatility. I mean, Green can play at least three positions lacklusterly, and can probably even play the other two positions poorly. I don't know why that appeals to me, but it does.

[no pun intended]

Their downfall was Scott Brooks. They never really had a system to start with.