And, yeah…this happened today as well.
James Harden was traded today to be with his old buddy Kevin Durant to take the place of the mercurial Kyrie Irving. Good luck with that Steve Nash. As far as the Nets go…Fool me once it’s on you..Fool me twice it’s on me.
Haven’t we seen this act before when the Nets mortgaged their future for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce for a truckload of draft picks?
We saw how that went. But to be honest with you I could care less about the Brooklyn Nets. The only team I really follow in the East is the Miami Heat with Bam, Duncan Robinson, and Tyler Herro with that smirk of his.
The deal for us here in Trumpland, USA is the fact we want Houston to fall in the standings, but not to the point they fall too far since the Houston pick is (1-4) protected.
The only real player of consequence the Rockets got in the deal beyond draft picks which go into 2027 is Victor Oladipo and possibly Dante Exum is you live within the realm the latter could make the Rockets significantly better.
Let’s look at the top seven players or so on the Houston roster now as we hope OKC massively tanks while the Rockets moderately tank.
Oladipo, John Wall, P.J. Tucker, Christian Wood, Demarcus Cousins, Daniel House, and Eric Gordon. Not a real star there, but not horrible either.
Houston has no real star now, but there are eight players or so who shou;d be able to win enough games to keep OKC’s draft swap in place above the (1-4) threshold.
If I had to pick two players today in the 1-12 range in the upcoming draft based on the Thunder’s needs …I’d go Cade Cunningham with the Thunder’s pick and probably Evan Mobley from USC with the Houston pick.
I like Cade. He has all the intangibles plus a high bar potential to be the face of an NBA franchise. His main problem so far with O State is that he’s too damn unselfish. Mike Boynton needs to get it thru Cade’s head he’s the best player on the floor every night. Plus, he can beat you with every facet of his game and he’s extremely versatile on the defensive end of the floor.. Plus, he’s smart and comes from a solid background.
Here’s my recap on the LA Laker game. The Thunder lost big and they should have lost big.
It was a great night for the Thunder. They lost while Harden and Durant are now both in the East while the Rockets should stay competitive enough so as their pick falls in the top half of this summer’s NBA draft.