The list of candidates mentioned this far for the open Oklahoma City head coaching job have excluded the ideal candidate for Thunder GM Sam Presti.
Here’s a man whose most famous trade featured him sending a franchise player to a conference opponent. In return, his team received a bounty equivalent to John Nance Garner’s description of the vice presidency – which is to say it was “not worth a bucket of warm spit.” (Or close to that.)
The Thunder won 45 games this season despite missing Kevin Durant for 55 games, Serge Ibaka for 18 and Russell Westbrook for 15. Because of trades and injuries, the Thunder had 21 players on the roster, with 17 of those starting at least one game.
So last week, Presti, the man whose trade of James Harden to the Rockets is in the mix for the worst in NBA history, fired head coach Scott Brooks, saying it was “simply a natural need for transition.”
Since Brooks won 62 percent of the regular season games he coached and 53.4 percent of his playoff games, he’s probably wondering how natural it is to lose his job.
Then again, Presti is the guy who said at the time of the Harden trade that the forgettable package OKC received from Houston would be “important to our organizational goal of a sustainable team.”
So he traded a 23-year-old player who had just played on the Olympic team to ensure a bright future?
Presti’s failed attempts at justifying the Harden trade and the Brooks firing bring to mind the old saying:
You can put lipstick on a pig, but . . .
In this age of advanced analytics, my favorite stats on this subject are simple ones. Despite missing 15 games during the season, Russell Westbrook led the NBA in field goal attempts with 1,471. Harden was second with 1,470.
In the last six years, Kevin Durant has led the NBA in field goal attempts twice. So how could there possibly be enough shots to satisfy all parties?
The answer to that, of course, is the Thunder should have offered Harden a max contract. Max money helps the bank account and the ego.
But that’s a smaller point. Despite shooting that much, Westbrook was fourth in the NBA in assists per game with 8.6 a game and Harden was ninth at 7.0. Think about that. The two leaders in shot attempts were also in the top 10 in assists.
What could be more effective than two unselfish gunners? Think they might have made a decent backcourt for 10 or so years?
One of the arguments against giving Harden max money is that he was the sixth man. That ignores that he was traded a few months after playing his way on the 2012 Olympic team. Besides, that could have been easily solved.
Start him.
Kevin McHale began his career as a sixth man. So did John Havlicek. Eventually each moved into the starting lineup. Each is now in the Hall of Fame.
Brooks may have had his limitations as a head coach. Matching up with him wasn’t as daunting as preparing for Gregg Popovich or Phil Jackson.
But was Brooks overmatched any more than Presti was against Houston GM Daryl Morey, who fleeced him in the Harden trade? Colleague Chris Bernucca was among the first to take Presti and owner Clay Bennett to task.
While some may have tired of the Harden issue, it will continue to hover over the Thunder. What is going to be fascinating down the road is the decision Durant makes after next season when he is an unrestricted free agent.
Durant seems happy and content in Oklahoma City, which is a highly underrated place to live. Still, it doesn’t have the power or glamour of New York, L.A. or Miami. The Thunder also do not have the tradition of the Celtics, Lakers or Bulls. And Durant grew up in the Washington D.C. area and makes no secret of his special feelings towards home.
Assuming everyone is healthy, the Thunder should again be contenders next season. But what if they exit the playoffs early? What if they lose a playoff series to the Rockets?
It doesn’t seem to be a stretch to think Durant might be frustrated with an organization and a general manager who traded a superstar in order to save money.
Westbrook is a free agent in 2017. How confident will he be in an organization that willingly let Harden leave, which then resulted in Durant leaving? What sort of “sustainable team” will the Thunder have then?
Yes, the implications of the Harden trade are hardly over for Oklahoma City. And how comforting can it be for Thunder fans to know that the man who made the decision to trade him will now be entrusted to hire a new head coach?
It’s safe to say that since Presti will be looking for a coach who could have won more than 45 games with star players missing 88 games, he’s looking for someone who can work a little magic.
Seems like the perfect job for David Copperfield.
Jan Hubbard has written about basketball since 1976 and worked in the NBA league office for eight years between media stints. Follow him on Twitter at @whyhub.
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We traded harden ultimately so we could keep Ibaka and Presti is also the reason we got Ibaka, Harden, Russ, and KD in the first place. He saw the potential and it paid off with 2 top 5 players. Let’s see you pick that good. Try talking about how great Presti is opposed to the random bad things
This post is garbage. Sure, the return for Harden ended up being pennies on the dollar, a terrible trade made by an otherwise excellent GM. But Presti would never have been forced into a position to have to gamble if not for that greedy skinflint weasel Clay Bennett. And there were no #1 pick in the draft Cleveland Cavaliers just standing around loitering in some Oklahoma City waiting room.
And I’m not talking about cheaping out on Harden’s salary. I’m talking about Bennett’s refusal to pay the future luxury tax if they kept everybody. Just like Dan Gilbert, something they refused to pay until push came to shove and panic about losing the meal ticket ensued.
And Brooks won 53.4 percent of his playoff games he coached? Hey, here’s a random stat: Mike Dunleavy won 53.5 percent of his playoff games he coached.
What’s your point?