Mar
06
OKC trade, perhaps, Overrated?
By Herr
Maybe a bit of homerism here, or maybe the NBA is just once again underrated Portland because, despite their success in overcoming the obstacles along their path, the NBA thinks they're nothing, at least compared to Oklahoma City. Who knows. First off, I tip my hat off to Rich Cho. I will admit I was very nervous with our new GM, especially with the reports of trade rumors that, in my opinion, would hurt the team. So I applaud you, Mr.Cho, on your success as the new Blazers GM. I wouldn't be surprised to hear chants of "In RC we trust". I'm about to chant that myself.
However, still many NBA analysis say that OKC made the best trade, and the Bobcats made the worst trade. But, is it perhaps a bit overrated, or maybe, contradicting to think that OKC made the best trade, and not Portland, but the Bobcats made the worst trade?
Let's look at what Oklahoma City gains in this trade. They gain a defensive presence in Kendrick Perkins. They gain an energetic player in Nate Robinson (who, might I add, gave Celtic fans headaches). They also gain an supposed offensive center in Nazr Mohammed (7.2 ppg, 5 rpg, 17 mpg). However, will Nate Robinson, Kendrick Perkins, and Nazr Mohammed make up the lack of offense that Jeff Green provided?
Jeff Green, on the Thunder, was the third option for scoring. The first two being Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. So, who is the new third option? James Harden? Serge Ibaka? Thabo Sefolosha? Nate Robinson? Nazr Mohammed?
Those players do not have the offensive capabilities that Jeff Green had. So Durant (who plays 39.3 minutes a game) and Westbrook (who plays 35.2 minutes a game) will now have more of scoring load.
We saw in last seasons playoffs that the Thunder had troubles with the Lakers when Durant was unable to produce. Durant, who leads the league in scoring, shoots 44.6%. In last seasons playoffs, Durant shot a whooping 35%. 28.6% from 3 point land. Westbrook shot 47.3%, and was the savior of that series to prevent the Thunder from getting swept. Yet, he had one of the oldest point guards (Derrik Fisher) guarding him. Durant had one of the best defensive players, Ron Artest on him. Green shot 32.9%, and 29.6% downtown. But yet again, he had to go against the Lakers bigs.
Meanwhile, the Blazers gave up size for talent. They hardly sacrificed rebounds, with Gerald Wallace averaging 6.2 rebounds for his career. They also gained another huge scoring threat, with Gerald Wallace averaging 47.4 FG% for his entire career, and 13.3 points. These are including his days in Sactown, in which he hardly got minutes.
In his recent playoff series, he averaged 9 rebounds, 47.7% shooting, and 17.5 points.
So, I'll leave it up to you. Who made the better trade? I say Portland.