Quote:
Originally Posted by okcchief
As a Thunder fan Stephen Jackson scared me. McGrady will have no impact on the playoffs.
Steph Curry nor Harden would get the Thunder past the Heat IMO. If they beat the Heat it will be because Durant and Westbrook go off, and Ibaka/Brooks grow up. Martin isn't the scorer Curry or Harden is but scoring isn't what they need. They need better perimeter defense. better rebounding, better lineup management, and a big that can finish easy baskets. That's not Harden or Curry. That maybe a draft pick acquired for Harden or a free agent brought in by using the amnesty on Perk.
I am encouraged by the way the Thunder have played recently, but the Heat are heavy favs.
I do find it amusing that Harden has more turnovers than Westbrook and Durant. They all play fast, and they all turnover the ball. You take the good with the bad. I love Harden, but his legend is a bit overblown in his effect on the Thunder. They have more wins, are averaging more points, giving up less points, have a higher point differential, and are the number 1 seed in the West.
Lets also remember they gave the West to the Lakers and Spurs when they made this trade. Lets also remember that Houston almost made the playoffs last year until an end of season collapse. He's a great offensive player, but needs to be a better defender to be elite. I believe he has the skills to be someday which Steph Curry does not IMO.
Yes, the Thunder would be a better team with Harden this year, but the difference isn't what is was made out to be. They very well could get as far as they were last year, and he wouldn't be the difference in them beating the Heat IMO. He could be the difference in exiting the playoffs earlier, but that remains to be seen. If you aren't winning the title who really cares.
Steph Curry would be about the same as Harden. You would had to make a decision on him this year and probably would have traded him off. He wouldn't be the missing ingredient so who cares?
We still have Lamb baking and will probably get a top 10 pick from Toronto this year. Time will tell.
Let the real season begin.
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agree with pretty much all of this. Pretty much every great team I can think of has at least one guy that's just a little crazy and Jackson was it for the Spurs.
As for Harden, he reminds me of the dallas situation when they had dirk, nash and finley. I honestly believe dirk got a lot better after nash left simply because he had to create his own shot so much more often afterwards.
The only thing is they could have gotten so much more back for Harden than Kevin Martin.
Don't know much about Lamb, but the guy I think could be an absolute steal is perry jones 3.
all said and done though, this is still Lebron's world.