Scott Brooks Fired

[msgkings322]

My point too!

Im sick of good teams who had success in previous seasons, fire their coach because they want "a new direction." Unless there is a good proven coach available, they shouldn't let the coach go.

Brooks have too this team to the Finals and a couple of Conference Finals and could have done more if not injuries to his star players. The next coach better do better, like win a championship better.

You mean exactly what the Warriors just did? Working for them...

 

[True Lakers Fan]

You mean exactly what the Warriors just did? Working for them...

Has it won them a championship already?

 

[logic]

Has it won them a championship already?

No ring yet, but Kerr had them playing better all year, and already has them further in the playoffs than Jackson.

 

[True Lakers Fan]

No ring yet, but Kerr had them playing better all year, and already has them further in the playoffs than Jackson.

I think they would have gotten further any way with either coach and I doubt that they would have done any different in my opinion. The Warriors got lucky though because I think they play the winner of the Memphis-Portland Series, so they won't have to get run over by the Spurs in the second round.

 

[DJ Fieri]

Kerr is the reason they have gotten farther than they did with Jackson?

LOL. This team made it farther because Curry has developed into an MVP caliber player.

 

[thunderc]

This is about one thing, the inability to get one of the most talented teams in the league to play consistent defense.

 

[True Lakers Fan]

This is about one thing, the inability to get one of the most talented teams in the league to play consistent defense.

I think they played about as good as they could - Even Kobe Bryant acknowledged that they was good team, but dude - they are not going to the playoffs without Harden - He was good enough to be a starter and happy to be coming off the bench. He was worth paying the money. They sacrificed quality over money, now they have to live with it

 

[thunderc]

Once again, the Thunder have had better records without Harden. Harden DID NOT want to play in OKC. Curry stayed in Golden State for 10 mil a season, Harden wanted out. End of story. The Thunder will win a title before Harden, that is a guarantee.

 

[thunderc]

And to say a team with defensive problems is flawed because it does not have one of the worst defenders in the league on it is just dumb.

 

[BrockForBroglio]

End of an era. Poor guy lose his job because Durant & ibaka were hurt

Plus the guy who fired him got rid of James Harden.....

 

[trojanfan12]

I think Presti feels that Brooks has taken this team as far as he can take them.

That's likely very possible. I remember when the Lakers had Del Harris as their coach. They never won fewer than 48 games (except the lockout season where they went 31-19), had an overall winning percentage of over .600, made the playoffs every year and advancing to the Western Conference Semi's 3 times and the WCF once.

That could hardly be considered unsuccessful, but he just couldn't seem to get the Lakers to the finals, so he was let go, Phil was hired and the rest is history.

 

[wildturkey]

Once again, the Thunder have had better records without Harden. Harden DID NOT want to play in OKC. Curry stayed in Golden State for 10 mil a season, Harden wanted out. End of story. The Thunder will win a title before Harden, that is a guarantee.

Typical Thunder fan delusion. Your team fucked up the Harden situation. End of story.

Also, Curry was on a cheap deal with GS because at the time when the deal was done, there were serious concerns about his ankles. He basically got locked into that deal because no team was going to pay him top dollar not knowing if his ankles would fall apart if he stepped onto the court.

 

[thunderc]

You can think what you want, Harden wanted out and was not going to be a team guy. For anyone to say the Thunder have offensive problems is ridiculous, they lead the league or are way up there in offensive efficiency every year. This is about defense and Harden is one of the worst defenders in the history of the league.

 

[trojanfan12]

You can think what you want, Harden wanted out and was not going to be a team guy. For anyone to say the Thunder have offensive problems is ridiculous, they lead the league or are way up there in offensive efficiency every year. This is about defense and Harden is one of the worst defenders in the history of the league.

Regardless of the reason why Harden left, it's pretty undeniable that his leaving has created a hole in the lineup that OKC hasn't been able to fill.

With Westbrook and Durant both missing significant time over the past couple of seasons, having Harden would likely made the time without one or both of them much easier to navigate. I'd be willing to bet that, even with Durant out, if Harden were still in OKC, the Thunder would have been solidly in the playoffs rather than fighting for and ultimately missing out on, the #8 seed.

 

[thunderc]

Without Ibaka it wouldn't have mattered because the defense is so bad without him. That is something a new coach will fix. What you are saying is the thunder could have been better with Harden because of the injuries. I'm glad we didn't make the playoffs if we can't win it all. A championship is all that matters at this point.

 

[True Lakers Fan]

Regardless of the reason why Harden left, it's pretty undeniable that his leaving has created a hole in the lineup that OKC hasn't been able to fill.

With Westbrook and Durant both missing significant time over the past couple of seasons, having Harden would likely made the time without one or both of them much easier to navigate. I'd be willing to bet that, even with Durant out, if Harden were still in OKC, the Thunder would have been solidly in the playoffs rather than fighting for and ultimately missing out on, the #8 seed.

Not only that, but I seem to remember Harden playing some pretty good defense in Oklahoma. Is my memory correct or fried?

 

[wildturkey]

You can think what you want, Harden wanted out and was not going to be a team guy. For anyone to say the Thunder have offensive problems is ridiculous, they lead the league or are way up there in offensive efficiency every year. This is about defense and Harden is one of the worst defenders in the history of the league.

Nonsense. No one thinks this except Thunder fans because they refuse to admit the franchise mucked up the situation. Harden didn't want out. He loved playing with KD. The two are best friends, so much so, that plenty of insiders think that Houston is a real contender to get KD in 2016 if/when he leaves. What Harden wanted was to be paid. OKC lowballed him and when he rightly stood his ground, they shipped him out for 5 nickels on the dollar. The reason OKC messed this up are numerous because
1) They could have afforded to keep him had they amnestied Perkins and/or shuffled some contracts around but they chose not to
2) They could have paid him anyway, kept the roster in tact and paid the tax; something they can afford to do if you follow NBA revenues (the team makes more cash than Bennett lets on)
3) Even if they chose not to pay the tax, they still could have kept Harden one more year, contended for the championship and traded him later. There's zero chance they would have gotten a worse deal that summer.
4) The deal itself was a bust. OKC has been able to recover but only in spite of the the trade, not really because of it

Also, TLF is right. Harden was just fine on defense in OKC. He gained his reputation in Houston but has recovered nicely this year

 

[True Lakers Fan]

Nonsense. No one thinks this except Thunder fans because they refuse to admit the franchise mucked up the situation. Harden didn't want out. He loved playing with KD. The two are best friends, so much so, that plenty of insiders think that Houston is a real contender to get KD in 2016 if/when he leaves. What Harden wanted was to be paid. OKC lowballed him and when he rightly stood his ground, they shipped him out for 5 nickels on the dollar. The reason OKC messed this up are numerous because
1) They could have afforded to keep him had they amnestied Perkins and/or shuffled some contracts around but they chose not to
2) They could have paid him anyway, kept the roster in tact and paid the tax; something they can afford to do if you follow NBA revenues (the team makes more cash than Bennett lets on)
3) Even if they chose not to pay the tax, they still could have kept Harden one more year, contended for the championship and traded him later. There's zero chance they would have gotten a worse deal that summer.
4) The deal itself was a bust. OKC has been able to recover but only in spite of the the trade, not really because of it

Also, TLF is right. Harden was just fine on defense in OKC. He gained his reputation in Houston but has recovered nicely this year

NICE POST - VERY NICELY PUT.

 

[thunderc]

No Harden did not play good defense in OKC, he is not capable of it. Everyone can think what they want, he was made a fair offer and wanted out. It just didn't make sense for the organization in my opinion and I think they would have zero titles either way but would not have been able to have kept Ibaka or sign Kanter like they are getting ready to do. It's certainly up for debate though, which is what we are doing. Presti knows what he is doing.

 

[trojanfan12]

No Harden did not play good defense in OKC, he is not capable of it. Everyone can think what they want, he was made a fair offer and wanted out. It just didn't make sense for the organization in my opinion and I think they would have zero titles either way but would not have been able to have kept Ibaka or sign Kanter like they are getting ready to do. It's certainly up for debate though, which is what we are doing. Presti knows what he is doing.

I think we can all agree that Harden is never going to win any defensive player of the year awards, but you're exaggerating about his lack of defense in OKC.

As for him wanting out, as wildturkey said, he wanted to be paid. Just because you think he received a fair offer, doesn't mean he believed it was a fair offer. Do you really think that if OKC paid him what he wanted (or negotiated something close) that he would be in Houston right now?

OKC's management messed that up by trading him before they had to. Why not keep him for one more season, tell him "if you want more, earn it" and see what he does?

They had several options re: what to do with Harden and they chose what was arguably the worst one.