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James Harden TRADED to Rockets

38K views 694 replies 62 participants last post by  kbdullah 
#1 ·
James Harden turned down a four-year, $52 million contract extension offer from the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Harden is seeking a maximum-level deal worth $60 million over four years.

The Thunder have until Wednesday to sign Harden to a contract extension or allow him the opportunity to become a restricted free agent on July 1.

Via Adrian Wojnarowski/Yahoo! Sports
 
#315 ·
Dude, you just posted a quote with a statement from Ainge stating that Perkins was out with a knee injury as proof that Perkins wasn't injured. We ****ing went through this during the 2011 playoffs, when you started denying this reality. Perkins was out with a knee injury at the time of the trade (and to his "good" knee at that), and that was part of why they did it. They desperately needed help at the 3/4/5. Their first request was for Harden to go with Krstic, they settled for Green and a Clippers #1 instead. Do Celtics fans wish they'd got Harden? Yes. But Presti refused to deal him. What should they have done? Punt the season and go immediately into rebuilding mode?
 
#317 ·
Dude, SHAQ himself stated that he told the Celtics that he probably wasn't coming back. Why the **** do you think they traded for Nenad Krstic? He wasn't necessary to make the numbers work (Boston had to throw in Nate Robinson to make the Krstic part of the deal work). He was just necessary because they were starting Glen Davis. Did they hope Shaq could get back? I'm sure they did. Were they hoping that Jermaine could give them something? I'm sure they did. But in February of 2011 everyone was out injured. And they had no backup for Pierce or Allen. So, again, what were they supposed to do? Punt the season and go into rebuilding mode?
 
#319 ·
Its a new season and people argue about Nenad Krstic ?

Its 2012, there is plenty to argue about "this" season with "players that matter" .
 
#324 ·
It seems like you're just trying to get over on that specific Allan Houston reference when you know what I'm trying to say and most likely agree.

Allan Houston was never going to be a top tier player, but was paid close to it by NY because he was on that thin line between first and second tier at one point.
 
#325 ·
I'm trying to get over the point that it was a poor reference. I get what you're trying to say - but I think that Allan Houston was a bad example to choose because injuries are what derailed a promising scorer.
 
#329 ·
I don't want to come off like a James Harden hater based on the past couple months either because I was a huge fan of his game all the way back to Arizona State moreso than a lot of people, no lie. I just get extremely disappointed at a guy when he doesn't show up come Spring....I talked the same shit about LeBron last year and he proved me wrong.

That said through a couple games Harden's showing his ass, let's see how that stretches out over a whole season.
 
#331 ·
I don't want to come off like a James Harden hater based on the past couple months either because I was a huge fan of his game all the way back to Arizona State moreso than a lot of people, no lie. I just get extremely disappointed at a guy when he doesn't show up come Spring....I talked the same shit about LeBron last year and he proved me wrong.
why does the "spring" only count the finals? harden had played pretty well in the playoffs up until that point.
 
#330 ·
To be fair though, Harden was pretty good until they met Miami. At 23, I'll give him a pass and it will likely be at least 2-3 seasons before he is even close to that stage again. Not really a Harden fan but I am looking forward to watching him. So few prime SGs in the league right now. Just wish he had went out East.
 
#341 ·
OKC decided that keeping Perkins, in order to deal with the Lakers' frontcourt, and cashing out on Harden for other perimeter scorers was their best course of action. Now, you can feel like they made the wrong decision, but they're not sitting around lamenting the Perkins trade and the extension they gave him, because they could shed his salary any time they want. As I said, those handful of games they need him in are against their primary conference competition - it's the exact same reason that Boston just gave Jeff Green $40 million and let Ray Allen walk. Saying they need him for less than 20 games a year brushes off the fact that they badly need him in the Conference Finals.
 
#345 ·
Don't overreact to outlier games. Of course he went off against Rodney Stuckey/Kyle Singler and Devin Harris/Kyle Korver. Of course he was less effective against Nic Batum and Andre Iguodala. His median production will likely be around what his per 36 minutes averages are now - 26/5/5 with high turnovers and low 3P%. Those are all-star on a middle-of-the-pack team numbers.
 
#346 ·
Was at the Rockets / Nuggets game yesterday, noticed a couple things.

Lin looks out of place with Harden controlling the ball now.

Harden doesn't blow by people outright - he's dependent on picking up his momentum to get the speed to get by defenders. Also overly reliant on that euro step and flail manuever.

If Asik had just a little more offensive wherewithall he'd be a 15/15 guy. But he misses easy putbacks and turns the ball over on plays that look like surefire buckets.
 
#354 ·
Thing is I don't think Harden is a selfish player. I think he's a talented player that recognizes that the league hasn't properly scouted him as of now and his team's best chance are him going bananas on an unsuspecting defense. In a month that will no longer be the case and I would assume that he will reel it in and allow more of the responsibility to fall on Lin's somehwhat capable shoulders. Hell, it's something Lin should be familiar with, dominating teams because he wasn't properly scouted.

If Harden is shooting 25 times a game by January then that means there's a problem, but I don't think that will be the case. Nothing about James' OKC tenure leads me to believe that he's a Ricky Davis lite player, but we'll see.
 
#357 ·
We'll see. I think the drop is shot attempts will be due more to Harden actually realizing he's not Lebron James and he can't score on 2 defenders whenever he feels like it.

Either way, will be interesting to watch. I never expected Harden to come out of the gates as hot as he did, if anything he's making another fun story for the season.
 
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