When Can We Give OKC the face?

 I agree with you 100%. Imagine having westbrook and curry playing next to each other. that would be simply sensational. And you are right about the need for a center. Demarcus Cousins would fit perfectly in the Thunder organization. Jeff Green is better off being the 6th man a la Lamar Odom. 

I highly doubt Ricky Rubio would want to play in OKC.. Dude doesn’t even wanna come to the NBA unless it’s for the right price.

Stephen Curry or James Harden.. They already had a point guard.. Why have 2 point guards?  They would have the smallest back court, not the mention that Stephen Curry isn’t much of a defender.  That’s why having Harden helps them, he’s 6’5-6’6 and a pretty decent defender, better than Curry.

I agree with your 2nd reason though, they could have put together a package to pick up Cousins or atleast Monroe.  BUT there’s a mistake..  How are they going to trade away Harden in a package deal for Cousins and then when you look at their line-up, you still insert Curry?  If they had Harden to trade away, they wouldn’t have had Curry.

Stephen Curry would be their 6th man playing behind Thabo Safalosha, while James Harden would be unleashed on a different team, and we would be talking about the same thing; why did they choose Curry over Harden ?

 Harden is fitting very well for the OKC team, I think OKC is trying to draft good character guys that fit well. Harden is by far superior defender to Curry and is a pure 2 guard.

I like Cole Aldrich a lot, I think he should be seeing at least some PT.

How are they going to trade away Harden in a package deal for Cousins and then when you look at their line-up, you still insert Curry? If they had Harden to trade away, they wouldn’t have had Curry.

Westbrook played SG in college because of Darren Collison, not because he wasn’t a PG.

Westbrook doesn’t guard SGs very much, that’s why they’ve got Sefolosha, one of the leagues better defenders at his position.

Oh ok, I get it now.

 I like Curry alot but if you started him and westbrook together it would make westbrook’s job alot more difficult.  Even if Russ was stilling running the point, then he would be guarded by the other team’s 2 guard since other point guards would be able to guard the shorter and smaller curry.  Westbrook’s best advantage is his size and athleticism compared to other PG’s.  Putting him in the same backcourt as Curry takes away that advantage.

I see where you’re going with the Curry Westbrook and Thabo as your guards.. But one of the Thunder’s biggest strengths is their perimeter defense with Westbrook and Sefolosha starting.  You lost one or your biggest strengths if Sefolosha comes off the bench, Curry isn’t much of a defender, and Westbrook has to now guard bigger guards.  You lose a strength and it quite possibily becomes a weakness.  It’s like the Lakers trading Bynum because they have Odom.  They lose size regardless of what they already have.  You can’t lose your biggest strengths and expect to improve.

Had they drafted Rubio, Westbrook would’ve been VERY unhappy.

Two different situations.

Monta was unhappy with Curry mainly because the team told him they wasn’t going to draft another guard and he was concerned about how it’d work defensively.

Westbrook on the other hand didn’t want Rubio because he wanted to be the point guard of the future.

Like I said.. Why turn one of your biggest strengths (perimeter defense) into one of your weaknesses?  You go from Westbrook and Thabo to Westbrook guarding bigger guys, Thabo off the bench, and Curry/Rubio (below average defenders).

so if they had that then who is there Kobe stopper?

I dont even understand how Stephen Curry would help this team take it to the next level, the Thunders don’t need more offense, they have plenty of that. Their weakness is their interior defense and interior scoring. Westbrook and Safalosha together makes the best defensive backcourt tandem in the NBA, why would you mess with that?

I think the Thunder are better off w/o Cousins because hes always in foul trouble, and why risk drafting someone w/ character issues to a young team

And Durant playing the 4??

You have to understand at the time of the draft NO ONE thought Curry was a better prospect then Harden.

It’s easy to say they should have moved up and taken Cousins, and maybe they tried, but how often do you see teams trading out of a top 5 pick? It just doesn’t happen. I think all the teams in the top 5 were pretty set on the players that they chose, and wern’t looking for something else.

Westbrook and Curry would be terrible. Westbrook is so good beause of the stength and length advantage he has over other point guards, having Curry would just take the advantage away.

 Here’s why this didn’t happen. The Thunder don’t really need offense like Indybasketball said. They have a great defensive backcourt with Westbrook and Thabo, so why ruin that by adding Curry? Also the Thunder drafted Westbrook to be their PG of the future. He likes that roll and does not want to be taken away from him. And why would you want to, he is a great point guard. A future Gary Payton. Curry is not that great of a passer. He is great shooter, but shooting is not the most important thing for a point guard, passing and leading the team are. Westbrook fits that bill very well. Curry would mess up some of the chemistry because he would want to take most of the shooting away from Durant and Westbrook who are the true leaders of this team. They selected Harden because that he could play within the team and most importantly not mess up their chemistry.

Chemistry is very important especially for such a young team like the Thunder are. When Cousins was coming into the draft every team feared him not for what he could do but for his attitude. Every team was afraid of taking him because they didn’t how that bad attitude would turn out. The Thunde were especially afraid of this because as I said before they are a young team. Bad attitudes can affect any team, but most importantly the young ones. They can be so easily influenced. Cousins bad attitude could have had a bad effect on Westbrook, Durant and the rest of the team. The Thunder did not want to take the risk, so they went for the safe pick with Aldrich.

Curry would make the Thunder a lot easier to guard on offense. PG’s can’t defend Westbrook when he is running the point, Harden is that SG threat that keeps the SG’s defending him because of his strength. Thabo starts because he is a Kobe stopper. There lacking interior defense and interior scoring. Ibaka can’t defend the paint alone, Jeff Green provides nothing defensively. DeMarcus Cousins is sure not leaving Sacramento and i couldn’t see him being traded at all to any team on draft night. but Curry would be a bad fit, Westbrook is a PG, a very difficult one to guard, you move him to the SG, and offensively it will be tougher for him to score, defensively the backcourt would struggle to contain any elite teams with a decent PG, because Curry is terrible defensively.

They’re an average defensive team because they have little interior defense, Jeff Green is not a interior defender. Ibaka doesn’t have the strength to defend the likes of Howard or Bynum good enough. and they don’t rebound the ball well at all.

1st of all dont tell me Curry is 6’4, I laugh at that.

2nd what does Curry do that would make OKC so much better they dont need perimeter scoring, Harden actaully sticks shots from the perimeter well, Thabo wins close games for OKC with his rugged defense, and they sorta have this guy named Kevin Durant who scores out there enough.

3rd Yes a great post player would have been great for OKC. Acquiring Cousins would have made them legit contenders with some good coaching and conditioning on Cuz. How do you know they didnt try to trade up, and who in the right mind would let them get away with picking up Cousins. I mean if Im Minnesota/Sacramento, Im not trading Cousins to my Conference rivals.

Knicksboy1 completely ignored BigD’s reply on that one.. Hmm…  You also ignored my post when I said their defensive on the perimeter is their strength and insertting Curry would make their perimeter defense a weakness.

Hmm… that’s odd.

You just don’t get it.  Their perimeter defense is their strength, why are you going to give up your strength and make it a weakness by adding Stephen Curry?  They simply do not need him.  You’re going to have 2 6’3" guards?  You lose size, versitility, and defense.  All for what?  A shooter with decent passing ability?  It’s not worth it.. James Harden fits the bill perfectly as a guy that can come off the bench or start the 2 guard and be effective.

Yeah, we can agree to disagree.  Good topic though.