The Harden trade was still a disaster. Don't kid yourselves.

[Springsteen]

First and foremost, James "doorstopper sized pen1s" Harden is an ugly motherfvker; who would sleep with another man's wife while he has brain damage.

Secondly, half of his offense relies on snapping his head back and waiting for the foul. And the refs bite. Some of those calls last night in Houston were ridiculous.

Thirdly, his ego is so inflated at this point that it took him getting a longtime Houston coach fired to play some decent defense last game. I honestly don't think he'll win a title being who he is.

All of those things aside though, the Thunder still shit the bed. Harden was just a few notches below Curry for MVP, and is still one of the most prolific scorers in the league when he isn't snorting coke in Miami and banging Kardashians a night before a game.

Imagine the Thunder actually paid him his money? Someone like him, or at least a chunk of his talent from his time in Houston, coming off the bench? You may say, there's not enough ball to go around. Well how are the Warriors making it work? How did the Heat make it work?

Golden State paid Iguodala a large contract too, but moved him to the bench and got him to buy in. And now they have a championship. All those times KD or WB went down before playing the Spurs or the Grizz in the PO's, they could've subbed Harden in to help out. Those cheap-ass Hicks chose saving money with Perkins over winning with Harden.

Besides Steven Adams, a solid role player, did anything that amazing come out of that trade for OKC, or did it set them back? I rest my case.

[GIF REACTION]

No it was still a bad trade

[HenryGarfunkle]

Wow man, groundbreaking stuff here

You know your shit

[DMAVS41]

First and foremost, James "doorstopper sized pen1s" Harden is an ugly motherfvker; who would sleep with another man's wife while he has brain damage.

Secondly, half of his offense relies on snapping his head back and waiting for the foul. And the refs bite. Some of those calls last night in Houston were ridiculous.

Thirdly, his ego is so inflated at this point that it took him getting a longtime Houston coach fired to play some decent defense last game. I honestly don't think he'll win a title being who he is.

All of those things aside though, the Thunder still shit the bed. Harden was just a few notches below Curry for MVP, and is still one of the most prolific scorers in the league when he isn't snorting coke in Miami and banging Kardashians a night before a game.

Imagine the Thunder actually paid him his money? Someone like him, or at least a chunk of his talent from his time in Houston, coming off the bench? You may say, there's not enough ball to go around. Well how are the Warriors making it work? How did the Heat make it work?

Golden State paid Iguodala a large contract too, but moved him to the bench and got him to buy in. And now they have a championship. All those times KD or WB went down before playing the Spurs or the Grizz in the PO's, they could've subbed Harden in to help out. Those cheap-ass Hicks chose saving money with Perkins over winning with Harden.

Besides Steven Adams, a solid role player, did anything that amazing come out of that trade for OKC, or did it set them back? I rest my case.

The Warriors are nothing like the Thunder would be with WB, Durant, and Harden. The Warriors have one ball dominant player...the Thunder would have 3. It's nothing like it...and the defense would be a disaster in OKC with those 3 playing big minutes.

The Heat made it work because of defense...and because Bosh took a large back seat that nobody on the Thunder ultimately would have.

The Thunder did screw up...it just wasn't the Harden trade. It was Presti riding with Fisher/Butler in 14 when there were so many solid sg's out there that could have helped and were definitely attainable.

They screwed up with the Waiters pick up...probably the Kanter signing as well...although I'm more hopeful than most on this.

They look like they screwed up with Donovan at a coach as well.

The Harden trade actually set themselves up nicely. The best Thunder team to date has still been the 13 Thunder...can't blame Presti there...just fluke injury to WB.

But Presti ruined the 14 Thunder like I described above. Last year was ruined by the KD injury...and this year it looks like the combination of Waiters, Kanter, and Donovan....with still no sg that makes a ton of sense as a starter....are large problems.

But I don't get the Harden stuff anymore honestly. Now, I think Harden takes too much hate on here because he's a star player and what he's done in Houston is impressive, but I don't know who the **** can watch Harden these last 3 years and think he's well suited to play 3rd option on a team with WB/Durant that badly needs perimeter defense and off ball movement/shooting.

It just doesn't make sense at all. Maybe they should have traded WB, but one of them had to go...I don't see how everyone pretends otherwise. There were already chemistry issues and Harden, very clearly, wanted to be the man somewhere else.

[Marchesk]

It just doesn't make sense at all. Maybe they should have traded WB, but one of them had to go...I don't see how everyone pretends otherwise. There were already chemistry issues and Harden, very clearly, wanted to be the man somewhere else.

Problem is that they didn't get enough value back for him. What they got was a one year rental and a bunch of potential (draft picks & Lamb). They turned that into Adams and Waiters.

If keeping all three of them wasn't going to work, then they needed to get established quality in return to compliment Westbrook & Durant.

OTOH, keeping Harden would have meant he could have taken the load off Durant/Westbrook when one of them got hurt. Seems that has become a regular thing.

[Young X]

The Harden trade actually set themselves up nicely. The best Thunder team to date has still been the 13 Thunder...can't blame Presti there...just fluke injury to WB.

That fluke injury would NOT have happened if Harden doesn't go to Houston.

And yeah the '13 Thunder were their best version but that was mainly because of Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka's individual improvement. They all got alot better than their '12 versions. That happens whether Harden is there or not.

OKC would've been unbelievable with Harden in 2013. Especially in the postseason. Westbrook doesn't get injured and they have a reliable SG in Harden instead of Martin who sucked.

That trade was and still is terrible.

[warriorfan]

How does wb KD and harden not work when it took them to the finals?

[GIF REACTION]

Kevin Martin leaving kind of sucked

He played that 6th man role well

[DMAVS41]

That fluke injury would NOT have happened if Harden doesn't go to Houston.

And yeah the '13 Thunder were their best version but that was mainly because of Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka's individual improvement. They all got alot better than their '12 versions. That happens whether Harden is there or not.

OKC would've been unbelievable with Harden in 2013. Especially in the postseason. Westbrook doesn't get injured and they have a reliable SG in Harden instead of Martin who sucked.

That trade was and still is terrible.

No they don't...they don't grow as much as player with Harden still there. I don't know why you people can't grasp this. He would not have allowed those 3 guys to play at their optimal level...and would have continued to hurt the defense and need the ball way too often.

Blaming the WB injury on the Harden trade is too big of a stretch. For all we know...WB could have gotten hurt way worse if Harden was on the team...this just isn't a logical argument.

The 13 Thunder didn't need anything else. They had the best team when healthy.

Again, you are telling me...that if you were looking at the Thunder currently and Harden never played there...you would be thinking that the Thunder should trade for Harden?

There is no way you actually believe this...he makes so little sense on this team.

It's the moves after the Harden trade...combined with injuries...that have hurt the Thunder.

[DMAVS41]

How does wb KD and harden not work when it took them to the finals?

When someone says "not worked" they are talking about it over the long term and comparing it to other potential rosters.

Of course they would have still been a great team...

But again, Harden, going forward, would not have been cool playing that role. He didn't want to be the 3rd guy on a team playing a little over 30 minutes a game in the playoffs.

Nor should he be...he's not well suited to play that role at all...especially not next to two other ball dominant wing scorers on a team that badly needs perimeter defense and off ball movement/shooting.

[Jameerthefear]

terrible trade. have get value back on harden. inexcusable.x

[DMAVS41]

Problem is that they didn't get enough value back for him. What they got was a one year rental and a bunch of potential (draft picks & Lamb). They turned that into Adams and Waiters.

If keeping all three of them wasn't going to work, then they needed to get established quality in return to compliment Westbrook & Durant.

OTOH, keeping Harden would have meant he could have taken the load off Durant/Westbrook when one of them got hurt. Seems that has become a regular thing.

Except WB had never been hurt a day in his life really until 13.

And Harden didn't want to be the 6th man...Manu role for this team...he did not want to do it. So the roles would have had to change or the team would have gone up in flames.

Also, you are speaking to moves after the Harden trade. A one year rental of Martin was actually nice...it allowed them to be the best team in basketball while keeping the future open...so there was no drop off in level...while getting two nice young players.

The Fisher/Butler moves, Waiters, Kanter, and Donavan stuff is not Harden related...they were just likely bad moves by Presti.

[Springsteen]

And Harden didn't want to be the 6th man...Manu role for this team...he did not want to do it. So the roles would have had to change or the team would have gone up in flames.

Harden said multiple times after the trade that he would've been perfectly fine playing in OKC alongside Durant/WB if he got his money. Watch the Grantland interview with KD and Harden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_mlKgftxCc

That's not all of it (Can't find the rest) but it shows you if they paid him like the Warriors paid Iguodala, sat him down and got him to buy in, they could've gone places.

[DMAVS41]

Harden said multiple times after the trade that he would've been perfectly fine playing in OKC alongside Durant/WB if he got his money. Watch the Grantland interview with KD and Harden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_mlKgftxCc

That's not all of it (Can't find the rest) but it shows you if they paid him like the Warriors paid Iguodala, sat him down and got him to buy in, they could've gone places.

If you think that...I think you are being incredibly naive. Not much else I can say.

This is a guy that wants to be hitting up LA clubs all summer and dating a Kardashian....wants to be on tv commercials and have huge deals (like anyone would)

You think he'd be cool playing 6th man on a team in OKC...okay...I just don't buy it for a second.

[GIF REACTION]

Roles and gameplan are great

But talent is talent

Talent finds a way to succeed