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

[b0bab0i]

care to elaborate with an actual point? other than the cliched 'you dont watch enough games!'

People who say Griffin can't do anything but DUNK.

[shaq2000]

In comparing Harden and Griffin, just ask yourself which one can be a franchise cornerstone and you'll have your answer.

Hint: It's Harden.

Griffin is a franchise player. It's not even a question when you consider how much money and interest he brings in, being a starting All-Star, dunk contest, etc. I agree with the posters saying Harden is a better basketball player, but having more franchise value than Blake Griffin? Not even close.

[chips93]

People who say Griffin can't do anything but DUNK.

people who say that are dumb, but i havent seen any of them in this thread.

as are the people who say griffin is a better passer than harden.

[Burgz V2]

It's intriguing to think about what OKC might if they had gone with Lopez instead of Westbrook. For the sake of this discussion, say things still play out about the same, and they still take Ibaka later in that same draft; and then say they still draft Harden the following year. They then enter the 2009-2010 season with this core: Durant/Harden/Ibaka/Lopez/Green. They're still faced with the same conundrum since that's 3 max players and a 4th in Ibaka that's a near max player. Since they've already got Lopez, they probably trade Ibaka instead of Harden and go after another guard or a better PF to pair with Lopez in the frontcourt. And maybe they don't ever make the Jeff Green trade since they wouldn't have a need to go after a center to counter the Lakers size which is why they traded for Perkins. However, I'm not sure they could've afforded all four of Durant, Harden, Lopez, and Green either. I don't know if that team is better than their current team, but it's certainly still a contender.

However, there's a decent chance they get their PG in the 2009 draft instead of Harden, so they could've had something like Durant/Curry/Lopez or Durant/Lopez/Rubio.

I agree with the bolded, I think Lopez's presence would have made Ibaka more expendable than Harden in that scenario.

I disagree with not being able to afford Durant, Harden, Lopez and Green though. I think it is much more likely for them to make the salaries work with those for than if you include Westbrook, where him, Durant and Harden are all clearly max players, whereas Lopez and Green could've taken pay cuts (although Lopez's market value potentially would have/is inflated due to the lack of good centres in the league). Even so, if you have to move one guy and keep the other three (and attempting to think like Presti) you use Green as an asset and move him for a good pg (plenty of good enough pgs in the league) or for a pick (however this draft doesn't really have a standout pg, hindsight is 20/20, I digress though) and you still end up with a player that is top 5 at their respective positions at 3 of your 5 starting positions with KD/Harden/Lopez. I don't know it just makes more sense to me.

[bdreason]

Should have taken Curry!


I like to play OKC Assoc. in 2K13 and trade Westbrook + filler for Curry and Thompson. Curry - Thompson - Durant

[STATUTORY]

lol @ blake over Harden

this aint the dunk contest

[Rondo]

Shame for Presti he had to let harden go..

I guess you could say he had to learn the hard way.

And yeah, Rose is better than Westbrook.

[Fiasco]

I don't mind if you choose Harden or Griffin.
But Fiasco said Harden only has FT's and 3 pointers over him. Let be real.

You absolutely cannot evaluate players in a vacuum. Harden shoots 3 pointers and free throws better than Griffin. These are expected. Just like no one expects Harden to grab more rebounds or get more blocks than Blake. Blake as a big man is an elite ball handler and playmaker, just like Harden as a guard is. It's a wash when put into context.

Harden plays guard. He has a number of things he does better than any big man, not just Griffin.

He is an excellent offensive guard.. he can shoot, create, dribble, score off the bounce, score off the triple threat, shoot from 0-30 feet, drive... better than any big man.

To think otherwise is foolish.

Griffin does all these listed things at an above average level as a big man in addition to his abilities as a power forward. This is why we don't throw out silly statements like "Harden is a more dynamic player than Griffin (because he does more)" when it's clearly not the case.

[9512]

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?

Two out of three ain't bad.

Kevin Durant and Harden.