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

[Fiasco]

That's not a smart post.

Look at the statistics for yourself.

[Budadiiii]

Look at the statistics for yourself.

Blake is a better passer than Harden?

[LikeABosh]

And then he trades away Harden instead of Ibaka

[Fiasco]

Blake is a better passer than Harden?

Make your own call.

Griffin APG: 4.4
Harden APG: 5.8

Griffin AST+: 4.4
Harden AST+: 7.0

Griffin AR: 16.85
Harden AR: 18.55

Griffin TOR: 10.40
Harden TOR: 11.73

Griffin TO: 2.3
Harden TO: 3.7

Griffin A:T - 1.62
Harden A:T - 1.58

[Burgz V2]

i cant believe people still think westbrook is better than rose. maybe a better athlete but Rose healthy is a much better player and is expecte to do MUCH more for his team to win, and they are consistently a top 2 EC team.

[chips93]

i cant believe people still think westbrook is better than rose. maybe a better athlete but Rose healthy is a much better player and is expecte to do MUCH more for his team to win, and they are consistently a top 2 EC team.

i dont think many people see russ as better than a healthy rose, its just that we dont know what rose will look like once he returns

plus, westbrook is clearly the more durable player

[SilkkTheShocker]

He also traded James Harden for Kevin Martin

[LAClipsFan33]

Blake is a better passer than Harden?

Overall no. Relative to his position ? Yes

Harden is an above average passer on the wing...Blake is an elite passing big

[Fiasco]

Overall no. Relative to his position ? Yes

Harden is an above average passer on the wing...Blake is an elite passing big

This is my conclusion as well.

[Burgz V2]

Westbrook and Durant were no brainers. I think he got lucky with Harden, in that he turned out to be much better than anyone thought. I think that's also the reason that he chose Westbrook over Harden to move forward with.

Westbrook was NOT a no-brainer, he played very little point at UCLA and many scouts doubted he'd be able to play the point in the league because of poor decision making and saw him more of a slashing guard rather than a lead guard.

Hindsight is 20/20, just because he's an elite player in the league now doesn't mean that Presti wasn't questioned for picking him with Augustin (who had a great college career in only two years) and Bayless (who had a lot of hype coming out of the draft workouts) still on the board

[Crown&Coke]

Westbrook was far from a no brainer. Lots of people thought Presti reached with that pick at that time.

this. Goatbrook played the 2 at UCLA, and was drafted to play point. That pick was based on elite athleticsm and the idea that he would grow into a pg.

But lets not forget the fact he is picking top 3 or so picks for consecutive years. The man is a genius no doubt, but he didn't turn water into wine. He basically got the pick of the litter for 3 draft classes

[OKCThunderUP]

i cant believe people still think westbrook is better than rose. maybe a better athlete but Rose healthy is a much better player and is expecte to do MUCH more for his team to win, and they are consistently a top 2 EC team.

Yeah being a "top 2 EC team" doesn't mean shit in this scenario for 2 reasons: The EC is weak as hell, and the Thunder are consistently a top 2 WC team, which is a much harder accomplishment.

What makes Rose better? He doesn't shoot better percentages, his jump shot and his 3-pt shot are far worse than Westbrook's, he peaked at 7.7apg in 2010 (Westbrook has finished 8+apg twice), he's not as good a rebounder, he's not as durable. So what is it that makes him better?

[Droid101]

Best player available, then? That's still tough to do.

[chips93]

Overall no. Relative to his position ? Yes

Harden is an above average passer on the wing...Blake is an elite passing big

so do we say harden is a better rebounder, since he is better relative to his position than blake is?

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...der_by=trb_pct

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...der_by=trb_pct

harden is 15th out of 68, in rebounding, of guards who have started at least 20 games, while blake is 20th out of 75, in forwards who have started at least 20 games

EDIT: just for clarity sake, rebounding rate (the stat i used) takes into account minutes and pace, so blake playing less mpg, or the rockets playing at a fast pace, has no effect on their rebounding rates

[KG215]

Westbrook was NOT a no-brainer, he played very little point at UCLA and many scouts doubted he'd be able to play the point in the league because of poor decision making and saw him more of a slashing guard rather than a lead guard.

Hindsight is 20/20, just because he's an elite player in the league now doesn't mean that Presti wasn't questioned for picking him with Augustin (who had a great college career in only two years) and Bayless (who had a lot of hype coming out of the draft workouts) still on the board

OKC actually almost took Brook Lopez instead of Westbrook. A Durant/Harden/Lopez "Big 3" would've been very intriguing, although I'm not sure I'd take it over their current "Big 3" even though Ibaka is worse than Lopez and Westbrook isn't much better than Harden, if any better at all. But it's all about fit and how they play off each other.

An yway, OKC was really high on D.J. Augustin, too. Thank god they didn't go that route. If I remember right, the Bobcats were really high on Westbrook, so it's a good thing we didn't swap picks with them where they would've ended up with Westbrook and we would've ended up with Augustin. Granted, at #9 (where the Bobcats drafted Augustin) OKC would've just taken Lopez since he was still on the board.

Either way, Westbrook was far from a no-brainer. A lot of mock drafts had them taking Bayless for Lopez.