This is nuts! At like 25 mins, Zach lowe says he'd keep ibaka and Westbrook is going to continue to be a better player than Harden. OMG he was sooo wrong
I don't think Zach Lowe was saying he was a bad contract. I think it was before he signed his (discount) 5 year 55m contract. So I think Zach was just saying he would become expensive (ie max extension) like the other contracts the Warriors already had, not that Curry was a bad contract among their expensive contracts.
Westbrook was an empty calorie MVP to me but yeah. Who knows if it would’ve worked but you have to at least try. I wonder if Harden is happier now being much richer or if he’d be happier with the potential rings. I still think KD leaves not long after just like he did GSW. He seems like a guy who is never satisfied or comfortable.
In Bill and Zach's Pyramid Podcast on The Book Of Basketball 2.0 feed Bill brings up a great point: The pick OKC got in this trade I think ended up becoming the 12th pick (Steven Adams, who ended up being an above average to well above average starter for them) and the 13th pick in that draft, so literally the VERY next pick, was Giannis Antetokounmpo. So much for what Zach said about those picks not typically having much value!
Typically is the operative word. How many drafts have elite players at 12? Also Bill also says on those podcasts a lot: The draft is usually a complete crap shoot. Look at Atlanta letting Luka’s pick go for Young, look at the Spurs getting Kawhi late, look at Jordan not going first, look at Bargnani going higher than others, etc.
@@drevm7991 You're talking out of both sides of your mouth a little bit there. You are saying 12th picks don't offer much value but yet you are citing examples of teams letting great players slip by them and going later than they should. Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Devin Booker, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard, Donavan Mitchell, SGA, Michael Porter, Klay Thompson, Zach LaVine, and Jusef Nurkic were all picked in that range in the last decade.
It would have been pretty insane, but I still think OKC would have been better by keeping Harden and just trading away Perkins for a smaller contract. The real question with that is: how good do Golden State get with Curry/Harden/Draymond?
omieg89 Two top ten wings and a big defensive presence in Ibaka was the way forward going off conventional wisdom. Ibaka looked special for a few years too. I agree it was a mistake, but I'm not entirely convinced it was obvious.
@@jayt3972 To trade you have to take salary back and not many others made a lot on those teams. They would’ve had to pay him more again not long after too and that would’ve gone way over the tax. A small market team had it all and they gave it away, can’t complain now that stars don’t wanna go there
I think he was under a lot of pressure from the management to reduce the luxury tax. If you look at basically any other trade Presti has done, he has literally always done a good job.
Sam Presti was sharp enough to draft Harden and Westbrook... then dumb enough to give Harden away and kept Westbrook instead which allowed Durant to escape*
