James Harden

[XD-9Guy]

Dang, I knew Mike Brown was going to struggle but I didn't see that coming. He must have crossed Kobe.

 

[Mr10mm]

They need a coach that runs the triangle offense

 

[beast1989]

Ibaka has defense with his blocks, but Perk has size and the ability to put a body on a man with his defense. He also is a master at the "pick" part of "pick and roll."

Remember we got Perk in a trade at the end of his contract, and we signed him to a 4 year extension at the end of that. 9mil per year sounds like a lot, but for what Perkins does on defense and assisting the other scorers is much more balanced than what Harden could offer. He's a much more balanced player, even though his points don't show his offensive contribution on paper.

Harden put up 37 points, and he'll continue to be a leading scorer. But we had TWO leading scorers already. No room for another offensive guard to start. Sefolosha, Perkins, and Ibaka all offer defensive balance to the team. At least, I think that is where Presti was going with this. And I tend to trust it's a wise move.

I havent checked this thread in a while but better late than never.

Cardsfan the bottomline is that to compete with the Heat we need to get rid of Perk and get someone more productive. In my opinion Perkins is not good and his productivity or lack there of shows it.

I browsed espn a second ago and found these position stats for last season pretty quickly. These stats rate player efficiency for each position. Perkins is ranked 48th on this list, assuming all 30 teams start a center (some teams may even start two PFs instead which doesnt help his case) I think this is unfavorable for Perk. Half of the guys in the top 10 make less than Perk does, so for the money we pay Perk we know there are more productive players out there. His start this season is pretty similar as well.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/statistics/_/position/c/year/2012

He is ranked outside of the top 35 in avg points per game for centers and outside the top 20 for avg rebounds.

http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/player/_/stat/rebounds/year/2012/qualified/false/position/centers

Cards, why upgrading the center position is important is because the thunder rely on the jump shot heavily and that came back to bite them in the rear against the Heat. Durant and Westbrook both ranked in the top five avg points per game last season which shows that the team is in fact unbalanced. No team had a duo even close to carrying their team like those two did last season, not even the heat.

http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/player/_/stat/scoring-per-game/sort/avgPoints/year/2012/seasontype/2

Ibaka is under some pretty high pressure to develop his offensive skill set to to give the Thunder some post scoring and increased balance. Adding another big man who could get 10-12 points in the paint on any given night to take pressure off the back court would help out the Thunder immensely. Not to mention Perkins was absolutely sluggish when defending the Heat, so much so that he was a liability in that match up. Just my arm-chair two cents.

 

[gsarg]

Yep, Perk has been a big disappointment. I thought once he lost the weight, he would be a beast. Not so much

 

[beast1989]

Yep, Perk has been a big disappointment. I thought once he lost the weight, he would be a beast. Not so much

Yea I was hoping he would bust out as well.

 

[WTJ]

Never heard of 'em.

 

[JD8]

Never heard of 'em.

Great story. Thanks for sharing.

 

[WTJ]

Great story. Thanks for sharing.

Yer certainly welcome.