Bobcats want James Harden with #2 pick

[All Net]

Nothing major most teams want harden.

[chips93]

I wouldn't do it if I was OKC. Why would you break up a potential dynasty and superb trio before they even enter their prime? The only way I see this being somewhat beneficial for OKC is if they want to get themselves a low post scorer or maybe take on a player like Henderson who could fill in Harden's role.

the thinking from their point of view, is that they may not be able to afford harden, and will lose him for nothing in a year or two anyway

[Clippersfan86]

Not sure what the fuss is . I actually think it's a great opportunity. Thunder can avoid SERIOUS cap penalties and get a possible start wing player. Harden will be a perennial all star and right next to Eric Gordon will have the SG spot on lock for years but it's a win win for both teams IMO.

OKC can avoid cap penalties and get 5 years of a cheap rookie deal AND have a great shot at getting an all star or at worse good starter in this draft. Bobcats add an experienced player, rather than waiting on somebody to develop. Harden would average 25+ ppg on the Bobcats and if they matched his restricted offer sheet and worked hard to build around him they could get nice in 2 years.

[hawkfan]

Not sure what the fuss is . I actually think it's a great opportunity. Thunder can avoid SERIOUS cap penalties and get a possible start wing player. Harden will be a perennial all star and right next to Eric Gordon will have the SG spot on lock for years but it's a win win for both teams IMO.

OKC can avoid cap penalties and get 5 years of a cheap rookie deal AND have a great shot at getting an all star or at worse good starter in this draft. Bobcats add an experienced player, rather than waiting on somebody to develop. Harden would average 25+ ppg on the Bobcats and if they matched his restricted offer sheet and worked hard to build around him they could get nice in 2 years.

Thunder have Robinson and Mohammed coming off the books, which is 9.25 million, then they can get rid of Aldrich and Cook, which is another 6 million. That's more than enough to avoid tax penalties to keep Harden.

Ibaka and Sefolosha are going to be trickier, but if the owner thinks they have a chance to win multiple championship, then financially he will get his money back.

[Clippersfan86]

Thunder have Robinson and Mohammed coming off the books, which is 9.25 million, then they can get rid of Aldrich and Cook, which is another 6 million. That's more than enough to avoid tax penalties to keep Harden.

Ibaka and Sefolosha are going to be trickier, but if the owner thinks they have a chance to win multiple championship, then financially he will get his money back.

Harden is being valued league wide as a max or near max player (he's worth it for sure). Do the math. KD makes 17.5 mill next year. Westbrook makes 17 mill. Ibaka will probably get 11-12 mill a year (Chandler got 15, DJ got 11 and McGee will probably get 11). Then you factor in Harden who will get 13 or 14 mill a year. That's around 62 million (over cap by few mill) and that's just from the "big 4". That's cap level in the first year of back-loaded contracts. By year 3 they can easily find themselves 20 mill over cap.

I see the value in both sides of this deal.

[bleedinpurpleTwo]

I think OKC mgmt will have to play it like:
Hey James, we can either re-sign your for about $10m per, or we can trade you to Charlotte. Which do you prefer?

[Clippersfan86]

I think OKC mgmt will have to play it like:
Hey James, we can either re-sign your for about $10m per, or we can trade you to Charlotte. Which do you prefer?

[d.bball.guy]

Bobcats

[Snoop_Cat]

I think OKC mgmt will have to play it like:
Hey James, we can either re-sign your for about $10m per, or we can trade you to Charlotte. Which do you prefer?

HAH

[IGotACoolStory]

If they did trade Harden for 2, I wonder who they would draft.

-Beal would fit Harden's role the best.
-MKG would be like Thabo and can he even play SG in the NBA? The bigger problem is that he's not much of a scorer at all.
-Robinson, imo, would be great and probably the best pick for the Thunder, but Ibaka isn't a center.
-Barnes would replace the Harden role as well (pure scorer off the bench), but he's a SF. Would create a fascinating lineup with Durant at the 2 if you did that. That would be insanely tall.
-The interesting one is Drummond. He would be a project and you are replacing your third best scorer (a team with not many scorers) with, frankly, a dunker. However, imagine if you could develop Drummond? Westbrook, Durant, and an established Drummond Of course he's the most likely to be a bust of these options.

[lakerfreak]

Harden and Ibaka dont deserve max contracts. They aren't superstars.

If the OKC are unable to offer this money to Harden, then that would be an extremely sweet deal to them to get the number 2 pick.

I dont know on the other hand why Charlotte is initiating this. This is said to be a very deep draft. The number 2 pick can turn into a superstar player. Is James Harden a superstar player? I dont think so.

[Clippersfan86]

If they did trade Harden for 2, I wonder who they would draft.

-Beal would fit Harden's role the best.
-MKG would be like Thabo and can he even play SG in the NBA?
-Robinson, imo, would be great and probably the best pick for the Thunder, but Ibaka isn't a center.
-Barnes would replace the Harden role as well (pure scorer off the bench), but he's a SF. Would create a fascinating lineup with Durant at the 2 if you did that. That would be insanely tall.
-The interesting one is Drummond. He would be a project and you are replacing your third best scorer (a team with not many scorers) with, frankly, a dunker. However, imagine if you could develop Drummond? Westbrook, Durant, and an established Drummond Of course he's the most likely to be a bust of these options.

As you said MKG is a higher upside, younger Sefalosha mold player who can score more from what I've seen. Beal has been compared to Harden/Gordon so obviously that's again not bad. Then like you said Robinson would be great but they have Ibaka. I'd honestly amnesty Perkins and take Robinson, moving Ibaka to center. Ibaka has a monster reach and wingspan and can easily guard centers.

BTW when factoring cap I forgot they have Perkins who will make 8 mill next year. So basically they are actually about 10-12 mill over cap JUST WITH STARTING 5 if they keep Perkins and re-sign Harden+Ibaka and that doesn't include gaps they will have to fill.

[Droid101]

I think OKC mgmt will have to play it like:
Hey James, we can either re-sign your for about $10m per, or we can trade you to Charlotte. Which do you prefer?

I just heard James Harden's agent swig an entire bottle of whiskey.

[Quizno]

as a bobcats fan i honestly think this would be great for both teams. james harden has the chance to become the focal point of an offense and okc gets some money off the books and a lot of potential talent. i think thomas robinson would be great for the thunder

[dunksby]

OKC FO already knows if Harden wants to stay or not and how much he is asking for, so I'm not worried about his re-signing at all as I trust Sam Presti.