Fear the Beard

Well, we're 4 games into the NBA season and its looking like the Thunder made the right call trading James Harden.  NOT!  You can say that in a Borat voice if you like.  It makes the fact that the Thunder broke up their young and immensely talented Big 3 even more absurd.  With these dudes, the Thunder would have been a championship contender and/or favorite for the next decade. 

Durant (age 24), Westbrook (23), and Harden (23) made up one of the youngest and definitely the most feared core of any team in the league.  They would all be entering their primes as Lebron James passed the age of 30, with Miami's and the Lakers'  other studs also well past the 30 year mark.  Their window would have been wide open!  Instead Harden has taken his beard out west to Houston, after the Thunder offered him  almost ten million dollars below the max deal.  

So why, oh why, would the Thunder break up the league's most promising young core? Simply put, GREED.  I don't want to hear the argument about how they got three draft picks, and how Kevin Martin is a top ten NBA scorer.  Sure these things are true.  But the Thunder aren't going to be a lottery team.  They went to the first round, then conference finals, then NBA finals in the last three years.  This trade keeps them as a potential contender, so they wil be picking near the end of the first round every year.  They aren't going to be getting studs with their own draft picks, and the Rockets, now with Harden (and don't forget Linsanity) won't be bad enough to have a pick in the top ten either.  Martin will be an effective scorer off the bench, but he doesn't bring the same playmaking ability that Harden brought which allowed Westbrook to be a scorer when they played together.  He also doesn't have Harden's clutch factor.  Jam Hard was essentially a second option at the end of the game if a team double teamed Durant.  

It's all good to get potential for the future, but the thunder already had that.  There is no way to know how high those draft picks will be.  And a player of Jam Hard's caliber comes about once every five drafts.  The Thunder got greedy.  They claimed they were a small market team and couldn't afford to sign Harden to a max contract.  Are you KIDDING?  You're telling me that championships don't pay for themselves?  That's a joke.   

Say Bye-bye.

Give Harden ten million more dollars.  Pay the luxury tax for the next four years, win at least two of the next four championships, and Harden's contract will pay for itself. After that, you can decide who to pay and who wasn't worth the money.  In 2016 the Thunder could have 4 NBA titles under their belt, but instead, they blew their opportunity.  The Thunder are 2-2 and look beatable most nights.  The Rockets have an identical record.  And Harden is leading the league in scoring, the only player above 30 points per game (30.3 ppg).  In the short run it looks like the Thunder have made a huge mistake.  At best they break even from this trade.  You could say only time will tell, but it looks to me like the Thunder may have significantly lowered their ceiling for the rest of the 2010's.  The Beard will be sorely missed in Oklahoma City.