Lowe: Valanciunas/Calderon for Harden was discussed?
 

A look at Oklahoma City's trade of James Harden to the Houston Rockets - Grantland

IMO, if Drummond had been drafted this deal was probably a no brainer.

Lowry
Harden
Derozan
Bargnani
Drummond

It was passed on by OKC for a reason...

Martin/Lamb isn't really any better imo. Especially considering they traded him to another western conference team. At the same time they get a high pick from Houston via us. We couldn't have offered 2 firsts i don't think.

This is the reason we should have drafted Drummond.... bigs are always valuable... legitimate seven footers with skill is what I mean by bigs though. I wouldn't trade JV for Harden, but I would have flipped Drummond for him simply for character reasons. I like Ross, but I would always take a better big over a decent wing prospect.

In complete hypotheticals...

If there's a chance of landing Harden, I'm not sure anyone's off the table, JV included. Preferably, as we didn't draft Drummond, JV wouldn't be included.

Calderon, DeRozan, Ross/Davis, future picks for Harden? Is that not better than Martin/Lamb and picks?

Just once I'd like to see us fleece someone in a deal. Okay, maybe the Lowry deal counts... so just twice...

I think James Harden is slightly overrated, I wouldn't do that deal.

val and ibaka combo could be crazy down the road

Then you're probably overrating Valaciunas. Calderon is probably not going to be here beyond this season anyway and Valanciunas hasn't proven anything yet. It's tough to trade Val, but it's tough to not land Harden imo.

Lowry, Harden would be one of the best back courts in the NBA imo.

I could live with this lineup, then look to get a Center next summer (including Aldrich since he was a throw in w/Houston):

Lowry/Lucas
Harden/Ross
Derozan/Anderson/Kleiza
Bargnani/Davis/Acy
Amir/Gray/Aldrich

Edit: wrong section

On topic, i would have done it.. We have too many guys hitting their prime to wait for val. Potential all stars in lowry bargs and harden (demar maybe). But i can see harden walking after his 1 yr.

Valanciunas hasn't proven anything yet? I think that's a poor statement. The kid has been dominant in a strong league as a teenager and dominated his under-19 and 20 tournies as well. He's come over looking decent as a 20 year old and it's not difficult to foresee a possible longterm and successful career with what he's shown. As far as trading a skilled, young, athletic seven footer for a guy that was the third and maybe fourth best player on his team his team while coming off of a very inconsistent playoff showing, I'm not sure it's a good decision given that you'd have to max out the guy you're getting in addition to most not considering him a max guy.

I'm speaking about the NBA.

meh.... I think OKC chose the right deal. Martin>Calderon and Val and Lamb are both unproven rookies with 0 NBA games between them.

fair enough... but there are major questions about Harden.... I guess we'll see how good he is in Houston where they seem to be in a similar situation as us.

Who has more question marks, Valanciunas or Harden?

Irrelevant. Who costs more? Who has more upside? Who is younger? You can ask any question to arrive at your preferred destination. Not trading JV doesn't mean you under or overvalue Harden.

I'm happier that deal didn't happen. Lowry and Valančiūnas are the only players I would be unhappy to see in pretty much any trade.

agreed... though a Bargnani for Harden deal might have looked decent had we grabbed Drummond.

Yup.

There is no friggin way we're going to trade Valanciunas. He is the true legitimate center player in last 10 years (or more) of Raptors history, who is capable of grabbing 10 rbs every single night. Think about our center players in the history... Magloire, Barg (as C), Rasho, Aruajo lol, etc. I think the very last Starting Center that grabbed 10+ rpg was Antonio Davis from 00-01 season.

Also, we even passed Drummond pick from this year's draft, to grant opportunities for Valanciunas..

So now, why would we ever trade away Valanciunas for Harden?

^ Same, i really would like to keep Lowry, Val and Ross.