Thoughts KD on the Howard deal? ‘I really don’t care’

@Timsnideer When harden wins his first MVP ill think about that

 @TaoMaas trust me bro.. the ball will not be in howards hands at the end of close games. Thats why you got nash and kobe. you dont need no one else to touch that ball.

 @Hoplophobia   I'll let the season decide which of us is full of chit.  I'm not worried.  lol

 @TaoMaas Really? The grand strategy to deal with the best center in the league is to put him on the foul line and let them set their defense against the Thunder's cringeworthy halfcourt sets?

 @doofUSA Yes. More Collison, More Harden, less of everything else you just mentioned.

@Hoplophobia

"If anything the pure raw talent of this team is being wasted"

That's really what it all comes down to.  Harden has to start, there really isn't any argument against it at this point.  Also I fear Brook's complete inability to correctly use utility type players like Perkins, Thabo and Fischer will always be an anchor on this team.

 @Hoplophobia    Of course we remember Hack-A-Splitter.  The question is, do you think the Lakers remember it?  Because now, Hack-A-Howard might become a legitimate way to nullify the Lakers biggest off-season acquisition at the end of close games.

 @Hoplophobia I think @SeanzieCrews was just looking for a silver lining, not actually indicating its good as far as on court to have to deal with Howard and Gasol with Nash feeding them and Kobe to boot.

 @Old Man Game The original poster was saying how it was good that the pressure was off the Thunder because the Lakers got better.

That's ridiculous on it's face. The Thunder went to the NBA Finals. They may not be able to keep this group together much longer outside of KD and Westbrook. There is plenty of pressure on this team to win. Any team that says "We'll just keeping playing Thunder/Pacer/Whatever basketball" is basically saying "Because we got to the NBA Finals we'll just keep doing what we did." Is in my mind  a recipe for disaster.  Just being faster and more athletic and slashing to the basket does not work so well when there is a credible defender in the middle. 

 @Hoplophobia  thunder basketball to me is an apositional brand of fast efficient basketball that doesnt necessarily need to score from the post because of the ability of three top tier scorers to get points at the rim and free throw line. thunder basketball is its own early stages of development. We havent inserted harden into the starting lineup and only in the post season, experienced him as a player that could close out games and be a part of a crunch time offense. When that happens, in our way, we'll have another 48 minutes of hell on hands. This could all be improved with some more movement off the ball, and the realisation that westbrook durant and harden can all work for each other to get baskets. I'm almost sure they could figure this out for themselves, and hope that scott brooks realises it before they do, so we can get an actual halfcourt offense installed, as it stands though, we still have one of the best offenses in basketball. Thunderball is dangerous from all areas on the court, players have to be long and athletic on both offense and defense, and should cause as many turnovers as possible for fast break opportunities. Thunderball is having 3 playmakers on the court the entire time, players that create for themselves and others giving defenses a fit cos of the amount of options they have to defend. We have the personnel to beat any team in the league, and even though they didn't come in a flashy trade, we have the talent to beat any team in the league. lol idk if we have the coach though, the defense needs to shore up, and the lineups have to be managed better, but thats what being positive gets you, you can hopeee brooks improves. 

 @Hoplophobia  Well yeah if you want to get into talking about inept Thunder coaching you'll have plenty of agreement here. But to your original point I don't think bringing up the Pacers is really that apt of an analogy. The Thunder are legit title contenders having made the conference finals and now the NBA finals in consecutive years. The Pacers are and were at most a dark horse type of pick to even make the Eastern Conference finals let alone win it all.

 @mb22 I guess being realistic is now being 'Negative Nancy'. What exactly is "Thunder Basketball?" A near complete inability to score in the post, running the same bad halfcourt set that inevitably break down and ends up with a contested bailout shot from K.D. or Westbrook that somehow manage to go in more than they should which makes everybody look like a genius.

Am I the only person that remembers Hack-A-Splitter in game 2 against the Spurs? If anything the pure raw talent of this team is being wasted. It pains me to watch it every time they come down the floor with the ball. Russel gets blamed when things break down and he has to make something happen. It's all on him to do everything and make everything happen. Sometimes it feels like the guy that only bothers to set a proper screen is Collison. I could go one and on and on but that would make me even more negative.

 @DennisBerry those "also rans" happened to be cap-friendly contracts to allow us to be able to hang on to some combination of Harden, Ibaka, and Maynor next season. In a tight-money offseason we were able to haul in Jones III, who was once a top 5 talent and presented the biggest steal of the draft at #28 other than Sullinger to Boston. We brought in Thabeet, who was once a #2 overall pick, so somebody must have seen something in him, Scott Brooks and Maurice Cheeks are great coaches to get the most out of him, he didn't really cost anything if he doesn't pan out for us, and I'm sorry but was any player really going to thrive in Houston last year? Hollis Thompson and Reggie Jackson looked great in the summer league, and best of all, we get a healthy Maynor back, who many consider to be one of the best backup PGs in the league.

we may not have signed any big name "actual contributors" but we didn't really need to. where exactly would this year's big name free agents have fit on this team? D-Will or Nash? We've got Westbrook. Eric Gordon? We've got Harden. Sure, Hibbert or Brook Lopez would be a great upgrade over Perkins, but we don't have the salary cap space. A Howard trade would have been great, but just like Miami did a few years ago when LeBron, Wade, and Bosh all came together on big contracts, taking on a Howard long-term contract would mean dumping our whole current bench (arguably one of the best in the league) and signing a bunch of cheap players in order to afford him, let alone having to trade away Harden/Ibaka, Jones III, Maynor, and picks just in the trade alone. 

Sorry, but I think you're forgetting that we have some pretty great "actual contributors" on the roster already.

 @mb22 Yea our big 3 are great. no argument from me there. I lovr what Collison brings and Thabo although he has to stop passing up open shots. Beyond them, lots of trash and wasted space. We have like 5 guys on our roster who are barely, if at all, proven NBA caliber players. Cole sucks so bad we would rather play a cripple Kendrick Perkins than have him see minutes. I still don't get what Hayward was bought in for. So I got an idea, let's sign 2 more terrible centers and a duplicate rookie talent to another guy on our roster, who himself is somewhat of a disappointment

 @DennisBerry    You're forgetting the main reason the Lakers re-tooled their lineup and the Thunder didn't..  The Lakers HAD to go find contributors or else they were never going to catch the Thunder.    Until the Howard trade, the Lakers hadn't done anything to cause any worry for the Thunder.

 @DennisBerry OKC didn't/doesn't have the money to go get as you say "actual contributors." This is a helluva a good team, and only getting better. You're thinking in the mind frame that last season every player peaked, while in actuality most of the team is still ascending to their peek.  

 @thunderatom You forgot we signed a bunch of also rans while our main competitors signed actual contributors and got better with their additions. We kept the same incompetent, unable to make an adjustment, stubborn, feeling himself too much coach.

 @Bryson   @Lost Ones Ben Wallace is toast...

 @Bryson   @Lost Ones Too bad none of our bigs are undersized. He could probably teach them a TON.

 @Lost Ones  @JimboSlice  @Bryson Kenyon Martin would have been better. I have seen him and James yukking it up and dap hug after the game, so there's no beef there reference the whole Trina thing.

 @JimboSlice  @Bryson  I wanted a few veterans... but you know the reason why not