Report: OKC Leaning Toward Harden
A report by the Web site Draftexpress.com says the Thunder is leaning toward selecting Arizona State shooting guard James Harden with the third overall pick in next month’s draft and has little interest in point guard Ricky Rubio.
The Web site, reporting from the Pre-Draft Camp in Chicago, said Harden has canceled his interviews with every team drafting outside of the top five and will not conduct any workouts with anyone during the draft process.
“A source close to him tells us he feels very good about the possibility of being selected by Oklahoma City or Washington, and for right now is not planning on visiting the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“Most teams we’ve spoken to in Chicago are indicating that they believe Oklahoma City is indeed leaning towards taking Harden. They also believe the Thunder are not enamored with Rubio at all, as they are committed to developing Russell Westbrook at his natural position — point guard.”
While Harden seems to be a great fit on the Thunder alongside Westbrook, Kevin Durant and Jeff Green, don’t read too much into the report. For starters, it’s May 29, nearly a full month before the draft. Secondly, the Thunder’s brass is impressed with the skills of Rubio and likely wouldn’t pass up on him because of Westbrook. With Westbrook in the fold, things are a little more complicated if you add Rubio to the mix. But the Thunder is looking to add talented players, not necessarily players that fit best based on need. And finally, we all know Thunder general manager Sam Presti is as meticulous as they come. He hasn’t even had a chance to get much one-on-one time with the top prospects to evaluate them so it’s unlikely he’s “leaning” either way at this point.
Presti saw reports like this coming on the night of the lottery when he cautioned the media and fans to not run with rumbling that creeps up.
“Much will be said up until the draft about players will go here and players will go there,” Presti said. “I can tell you that we won’t have it all figured out. We continue to do our work, collect information and on the 25th we’ll be ready to make a pick.”
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Podcast: Open Mike – Should OKC Worry About The Ricky Rubio Situation?
The alleged Ricky Rubio situation can only gain more steam from here out and grow into a much bigger issue. I expect it will as we get closer to the draft. Here we have one of only two players in this draft who is projected to be a star and he is likely headed for one of the two smallest markets.
Sports Editor Mike Sherman and I discussed the topic today on the Open Mike podcast.
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Report: Rubio Not Interested In Playing For OKC
You knew it was coming.
It’s been less than two full days since the Thunder moved into the top three in the NBA Draft and we already have our first report of Ricky Rubio having no interest in playing in Oklahoma City.
According to the Web site Draftexpress.com, Rubio’s camp is uninterested in seeing their prized 18-year-old point guard phenom begin his career in either of the cities that have the No. 2 and 3 picks.
“From what people around the league are saying, Rubio’s camp may already be sending out feelers indicating that he’s not interested in the least bit in playing in Memphis.”
“Rubio doesn’t want to go to Memphis, and he especially does not want to pay money out of his own pocket with that huge buyout for the honor of doing so. (Dan) Fegan (Rubio’s agent) wants him in L.A., and if he can’t have him there, he wants him in Sacramento. Definitely not Oklahoma City.”
Not quite sure why Sacramento is considered a better destination than Memphis or OKC aside from its obvious proximity to Fegan’s Los Angeles-based agency. The marketing opportunities can’t be that much greater in Sactown. And if you’re Rubio, would you rather play alongside Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and Jeff Green or Kevin Martin, Spencer Hawes and Andres Nocioni? Even in Memphis, Rubio would step into a better situation alongside Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo, not to mention fellow countryman and former teammate Marc Gasol.
Only one major market has a top four pick in this year’s draft, the Los Angeles Clippers. And even though there are more and more reports about the Clips shopping the pick something tells me L.A. can’t seriously be thinking about passing on Blake Griffin.
If the Rubio report is true, however, this of course wouldn’t be the first time Fegan has lobbied to get an international client to a certain market. Remember Yi Jianlian in 2007? I don’t expect this issue will go away over the next month.
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Podcast: Open Mike – Should Thunder draft Thabeet
I’ve got a lot of thoughts on Tuesday night’s Draft Lottery results but not a lot of time today to share them here.
But Sports Editor Mike Sherman and I are back in the saddle in the world of podcasts (finally), and you can listen to our breakdown of the lottery and these NBA playoffs.
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Presti Talks Draft Lottery
So much for Blake Griffin
General manager Sam Presti had a 14 1/2 minute teleconference following Tuesday night’s NBA Draft Lottery. The Thunder moved up a spot and got the third pick in the draft, and Presti talked about the prospects that are expected to be available at No. 3, whether he’s open to trading the pick, whether to move up or down, and what it was like to be locked in the room where all the magic happened. The transcript is quite long, but I’ll post it in its entirity.
Opening statement
SP: Well first, we’re thrilled as an organization to be picking third. We’ve got a great opportunity in front of us to add a player that we think can grow with our team as we continue to build the franchise. It’s a great day for our fans. We’re truly excited for them as well because this will be their inaugural draft. We’ll welcome another player into the Thunder family, and our fans have been incredibly supportive throughout the season and continue to be. So we’re ready to start to get to work, get to know this group of players on a more intimate level and we’re thrilled that we moved up a spot.
Q: What is the likelihood that you will examine a trade, whether up or down?
A: At this point in the year we’re charged with examining everything. We’ll take calls. We’ll make calls. It’s like that every year. This year we’ll approach it the same way that we have every year, which is we’ll take a look at everything and ultimately decide what’s best for the organization.
Q: What are your early impressions of Hasheem Thabeet and do you think he could be what this team needs as far as interior defense?
A: We’ve followed him as we have all the players in the draft and we’ll continue to study him more. He’s had a nice career in college and he’s someone that we’ll look at in the group of players that we continue to study. Much will be said up until the draft about players will go here and players will go there. I can tell you that we won’t have it all figured out. We continue to do our work, collect information and on the 25th we’ll be ready to make a pick.
