Sam Presti picked the best player in the draft three years straight...

[Westbrook0]

2007 - Kevin Durant
2008 - Russell Westbrook
2009 - James Harden


That's pretty crazy when you think about it. How often does one team get what turns out to be the best player in the draft three years straight?

[Rose]

Rose>Russy
Blake>Harden

[bagelred]

Um....have you heard of a man named Derrick Rose?

[All Net]

Shame for Presti he had to let harden go..

[shaq2000]

Rose>Russy
Blake>Harden

This.

[scm5]

Rose>Russy
Blake>Harden

I agree with Blake > Harden.

I would rather have Westbrook than Rose though, and I don't like Westbrook. Rose was better than Westbrook, but his knee injury has really decreased his stock in my eyes. I would much rather have Westbrook, who has been an ironman ever since he made it into the league than Rose, who is a huge question mark right now.

[All Net]

I'm sorry but Blake is not better than harden.. James has been elite this year. Borderline top 8-10 player.

[BGriffin's Dad]

2007 - 1st
[LIST=1][*]Durant[*]Noah[*]Horford[/LIST]

2008 - 3rd

[LIST=1][*]Rose[*]Love[*]Westbrook[/LIST]

2009 - 2nd

[LIST=1][*]Griffin[*]Harden[*]Curry[/LIST]

yeah, he picked the best in '07 but big deal.. it was a weak draft class

[Budadiiii]

Crazy.

He's also made some mistakes to bring his genius down a bit.

Still, he's a great GM

[Westbrook0]

Blake is not a better player overall than Harden, are you kidding me? He might have been better than Harden the first couple of years while Harden was stuck on the Thunder bench, but most GMs in the league would take Harden over Blake right now if starting a franchise.

Blake is averaging 18.7 points and 8.7 rebounds, playing with one of the best point guards in the league. He is down from his career averages.

Harden is averaging 26 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds, and 2 steals, and is almost single handedly leading a not-very-good Rockets team to the playoffs. And Harden has shown that he will only get better, whereas Griffin has not gotten much better.

[KG215]

2007 - 1st
[LIST=1][*]Durant[*]Noah[*]Horford[/LIST]

2008 - 3rd

[LIST=1][*]Rose[*]Love[*]Westbrook[/LIST]

2009 - 2nd

[LIST=1][*]Griffin[*]Harden[*]Curry[/LIST]

yeah, he picked the best in '07 but big deal.. it was a weak draft class

Love over Westbrook? Based on what? And Griffin over Harden is highly debatable. I won't argue that pre-injury Rose > Westbrook. We'll see if that remains the case after Rose returns, though.

[The Choken One]

I'd rather Curry over Harden, but I think they're basically equal.

[DirkNowitzki41]

lol @ love over westbrook

[Rubio2Gasol]

People give way too much credit for selecting the right player I feel. It almost always boils down to draft stock and projections. While Westrbook was an inspired choice, Durant and Harden basically went where people felt they should have gone.

Not enough credit is given for cultivating the talent of a draft pick. The organizations who do well in the draft are likely the organizations who give opportunities to young players and who have great coaches and trainers who actively work to mold those players into what they become.

For example - everyone was saying before the draft that Drummond was more likely to be a bust than to succeed in the league for whatever reason. So does the fact that he has been a success mean the Detroit scouts made some amazing pick?

Nah. That's too simple. Every scout in the damn league saw what Drummond could do athletically. They chose not to pick him because they didn't trust they had the organization to develop so as to collect the dividends that talent could eventually play.

[scm5]

Blake is not a better player overall than Harden, are you kidding me? He might have been better than Harden the first couple of years while Harden was stuck on the Thunder bench, but most GMs in the league would take Harden over Blake right now if starting a franchise.

Blake is averaging 18.7 points and 8.7 rebounds, playing with one of the best point guards in the league. He is down from his career averages.

Harden is averaging 26 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds, and 2 steals, and is almost single handedly leading a not-very-good Rockets team to the playoffs. And Harden has shown that he will only get better, whereas Griffin has not gotten much better.

Griffin is playing only 32mpg. Per 36, he's averaging 21/10/4.

Harden is playing 39mpg. Per 36, he's averaging 25/4.5/5.5.

I don't always use Per 36 numbers to compare players, but in this case there is a legitimate reason to. BG plays for a very deep team that blows a lot of teams out. It's also not like we haven't seen what he can do if he played 36mpg.