Do you guys think I am making this stuff up? Go talk to OKC fans that were saying the same about the guy for 4 years. Sam Presti kept Serge Ibaka after seeing him for 18 months rather than Jeff Green who he had seen for 3 1/2 years. Why? Consistency, aggression, rebounding and interior presence. All things Jeff lacks.
To be honest, I'm pretty sure Presti kept Ibaka because he already had a pretty good SF; it wasn't because he didn't think Green was good enough.
No. Presti was willing to keep Green but Green was expecting way more money for his extension than he was worth. Presti didn't want to/couldn't pay that for someone that didn't give him the complete package. He traded Green for rebounding and inside presence and hoped Ibaka would continue to develop. Ibaka developed leaps and bounds over the next 18 months and it paid off handsomely for OKC.
But Presti didn't trade Green specifically because he had Durant. Green just didn't give that team what it needed next to Durant for the price Presti was willing to pay.
This seems pretty dubious reasoning. Here is my reasoning instead:
Assertion 1: Durant is a better SF than Green. No controversy there, I hope.
Assertion 2: Ibaka is a better (or at least more prototypical) PF than Green.
Neither precludes the fact that Green is an excellent, starting caliber SF who can swing to PF.
A more logical interpretation is that Presti wanted to pay for a backup for one of them, not a starting caliber SF coming off the bench (because he knows he has to pay for Westbrook & eventually Ibaka) - no matter how good that bench SF is.
Trading Green to a team that needed (and was willing to pay for) a starting caliber SF down the road was a better realization of Green's value than having him continue to be under-utilized in the OKC system.