Lolwut?
Harden, James.
i wouldn't really say that was done with fear though, Martin was a good return.
May have been the best that could be done on such short notice (I would have loved something like Klay Thompson, Brandon Rush, and their pick or maybe even Ezelli) and Presti being the nice guy he is even went out of his way to make sure the team he traded James to had the 5yr max available, but Kevin Martin is NOT James Harden.
We're still winning at a great rate but it;s misleading. Ibaka made a HUGE jump offensively this yr and KD and Russ of course improve every yr. The loss of James is still very evident to people who watch the Thunder regularly this and last yr. For one, bench is crap. Whereas with James they were a strength, now they come in and lose leads and get blown out every game. It has gotten so bad Brooks doesn't even go full bench lineups almost ever. We have KD go out from the starters early (usually the 3:00 minute mark of the 1st) then he comes back with the bench and has to effectively play point forward because Maynor was so terrible (shooting 29%, permanently out of the rotation now, refused to go to the D league, looking for trade partners) and Reggie Jackson isn't a point guard but plays 1 on Thunder games andhe isn't really good either, but he's better than Maynor because he's athletic.
Obviously Kevin Martin gives you nothing from ball handling and setting up other guys like James did, isn't the pick and roll wizard either. He basically spends most of the game camped out in the corner shooting an ever increasing amount of 3s (which give him his props he is hitting) and spending the 4th just watching KD and Russ go to work. He has been mired in a huge slump and his splits (road, games with no rest, against playoff teams) show that he crumbles without a supportive home crowd.
With James, we could just outgun you but moreso out-athlete everyone except Miami. No way you could stop all 3. Martin you can match up with, EASILY.
And to further the whole "small markets getting raped" narrative, we won't even be able to afford Martin after this yr. He's a 13mil expiring and based on past salaries of guys his age and production, will likely be expecting 3yrs/29 mil. We will only have 4 mil cap before we hit hte cap just after Westbrook, Durant, Sefolosha, Collison, and Ibaka
We're going to have to get somebody ELSE in that spot who will sign for just 4mil or *** we're in the tax. It's going to be like a Randy Foyre or somebody