Sam Presti Screwed Up

[cotdt]

Sometimes it's better to just not say anything when you have no clue what you're talking about. And by sometimes I mean all the time.

Dude, Harden shot 4-of-20 in Games 3 and 4 and lost OKC those games. He sucked.

[theBIGjabroni]

Perkins didn't cost anyone anything. He does what he has always done, play hard. He didn't ask to be traded or orchestrate the trades.



To others: Harden was offered extension that Presti could afford and declined. Presti basically then took the best offer. Study the NBA the last while, he would have got less in the post season. Check out the CBA and tell me how they go forward by keeping Harden at max price without destroying team finances.

ISH posters questioning the tactics of one of the best GMs going around.

presti ****ed up. accept it

[MeLO MvP 15]

[Jyap9675]

Harden was also a big reason for getting OKC in the finals especially against the Spurs.

[Xiao Yao You]

I mean he royally f***ed up by trading Harden and it's painfully obvious now. Should've kept Harden and figured out what to do after the season. Either match an offer or agree to a sign and trade with someone this summer. .

No guarantees if they wait. Sign and trade has become much harder with new CBA.

Not only did Sam Presti trade James Harden to keep Kendrick Perkins, but he also traded Jeff Green to actually get Perkins from the Celtics. Kendrick Perkins might have potentially cost the Thunder a chance at winning a championship or even becoming a dynasty.

Jeff Green had to go. He's a 3 that was playing the 4 in OKC.

At least they still have bunch of 1st round picks and young talent, enough to get a legit bigman like Al Jefferson or someone similar. If only Presti made the move and amnestied Perkins, think he is waiting for another OKC exit in the playoffs to get his head outta his ass.

They have 12-15 mill to sign Al but not keep Harden? The owner will eat Perkins contract but not pay the luxury tax to keep Harden?

And you can't blame Clay Bennett. He and the rest of the ownership group were willing to pay the luxury tax to keep Harden, and said as much.

So why did they trade him than?


OKC is still the team to beat in the west until proven otherwise. Regular season means squat!

[maybeshewill13]

I agree with regards to trading Harden. Martin is really pissing me off. He hits threes one night, misses the next and we lose the game. We NEED a reliable scorer off the bench, and Martin just isn't cutting it IMO. I think he'll be even worse come playoff time.

In regards to Durant.. totally agree again. Getting sick of him running into the lane just expecting to get fouled and flinging his arms in the air while looking at the ref. CUT IT OUT. GO ****ING HARD and EARN the foul!!! Starting to get pretty sick of him. I miss the ferocious hard drives and dunks, and ridiculous shots he hits. I love the guy (no homo), and I've been following him since Texas, but he really needs to quit being a bitch and go hard.

The way we're going, we're a second round exit, MAYBE WCF exit. That's what I'm expecting this year.. and if that's what it takes to finally make the stubborn ****ing front office to realize we NEED to get rid of ****ing Perkins and use some of our great trade assets to get some new talent in, I'm fine with it. We've got zero shot at beating the Heat anyway.

[Clifton]

I'm finally willing to accept that the Harden trade was really dumb. I've defended it for a long time, but the true scandal here is that Presti was willing to sign him for like 8 mil less than he ended up getting. It's a difference of pennies, basically, and this is a guy who will be top ten for the next ten years. Rash move.

That said, they are still a great franchise, and will continue to be for a long time.

[NumberSix]

Good. Fcuk this scumbag team.

[maybeshewill13]

Good. Fcuk this scumbag team.

Thanks for your insightful post

[Xiao Yao You]

I'm finally willing to accept that the Harden trade was really dumb. I've defended it for a long time, but the true scandal here is that Presti was willing to sign him for like 8 mil less than he ended up getting. It's a difference of pennies, basically, and this is a guy who will be top ten for the next ten years. Rash move.

That said, they are still a great franchise, and will continue to be for a long time.

It's more than 8 million with luxury tax. Also gives them little flexibility which the deal has given them.

[The_Yearning]

It's more than 8 million with luxury tax. Also gives them little flexibility which the deal has given them.

Flexibility for what? Lmao Presti screwed up.

[KG215]

Yeah...this was clearly an overreaction thread. I still stand by a lot of what I said though, and tonight's home loss to an elite team was just the tipping point. I felt we had to win this game (to prove a point, stay right on the Spurs heels....something) against a Denver team who had a 2-1 season series lead and were coming off an OT game the night before. And about midway through the second quarter it looked like we had seized control of the game, were going to build a 10-12 point halftime lead, and runaway with it in the second half. Then we gave up some second chance points, started missing open threes, and Durant continued to play unDurant-like. We missed 3 or 4 point blank layups with little to no contest, capped off by Westbrook missing one at the horn to end the half -- granted he was running full speed and caught the ball with his momentum carrying him away from the basket but he made 10 other just as awkward and difficult layups the rest of the game. And we just let Denver hang around and cut the lead to one at halftime, and they came out with more energy in the 3rd quarter and kicked our ass.

In the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters we shot 0/17 from three, and at least half of those were good open looks. I mean this team basically never shits themselves and shoots that horribly at home. At least not to the extent where they miss 15+ threes in a row....5-7 or so, maybe, but not f***ing 17 in a row. I'd bet everything I own that they could get the same 15-17 looks in our next home game, and we'd probably make 6-8 of them. But it is what it is, and one bad shooting night against an elite team will do yo in. Thing is, Denver shot something like 4/21 from three, so it's not like they were scorching the nets from deep. They just got their usual absurd amount of points in the paint.


Anyway, we've looked lackluster and overmatched in most of our games against elite teams the last month or so. The bench has been wildly inconsistent, and Durant has been total garbage by his usual standards. Maybe he'll wake up for the playoffs, and we'll go back to being close to the same team we were several weeks ago. Not that it really matters, no one is beating Miami this year, so I probably won't be torn up about not making the Finals. But if Presti and the FO don't make some moves to add either more bench scoring and/or a frontcourt scorer, I'm going to start losing my patience.

[Xiao Yao You]

Flexibility for what? Lmao Presti screwed up.

Flexibility to improve your team. Look at Miami they have little flexibility but they are the team to beat. If OKC can't beat Miami and can't tweek their team to give them a better chance against Miami than what do they do? With 3 max players you have little to no room for error and those 3 players couldn't beat Miami as it was.

[UtahJazzFan88]

Presti did screw up by not amnestying Perkins, they might have been able to keep Harden if they amnestied him, and I also think it was a mistake to give Ibaka a 12 million a year deal as well. I'd rather offer Harden the big money first, then Ibaka, if he doesn't get a deal he wants, sign and trade him for a decent big.

Ibaka is/was a lot more replaceable than Harden IMO.

[rmt]

Cheer up, KG215 - things always seem worst after a loss to a good team. OKC is still the team to beat in the West (and this from a Spurs fan). You don't match up well against MIA at all, but which team does?

Anything can happen - that's why the games are played. Sure, MIA is an overwhelming favorite, but injuries have been known to happen. Of course, Lebron never seems to get injured - same with KD and Westbrooke. Oh, to be young again.