James Harden TRADED to Rockets

[Ben]

Harden, what an idiot. Really interested to see what he can do in the #1 role though. OKC are already a great team but if those picks pan out well for them, I'm scared.

[Luke]

So what kind of numbers do we think Harden puts up next year? I'd say something like 23/5/5 on a mid 30's win team sounds fairly reasonable.

[R-Star]

Originally Posted by Diable

Martin provides the opposite of what Harden brought the Thunder. Harden was that team's primary facilitator down the stretch of close games. Martin is the opposite of that, he's a one-dimensional player who is aging and not all that great at the one-dimension. The big problem with this trade is that Harden took a lot of pressure off of Westbrook and allowed him to do what he was capable of doing. The big way that the Thunder got better last year was by eliminating some of the negative plays from Westbrook. It's pretty questionable as to whether or not they'll be able to maintain that tactic now. This was accomplished by taking the ball away from him.

In fact Eric Maynor will be more important to the Thunder's chances at a title than Martin will be. He's going to have to handle the traditional PG responsibilities a lot more than he did when he was last healthy. Martin provides some scoring, but it's not going to be impactful really. Hard to imagine that he'll be able to play effectively with Durant or Westbrook.

You keep saying this and it simply isn't true. Harden was the occasional facilitator to close out games. More often than that it was Russ who continued to bring the ball up.


And what exactly is Harden if not one dimensional? Last year is the only year he was better than Martin in the assist/rebound categories and it was by about 1 each. Hardens not a stopper, and he's been lucky enough to have teams top defenders focusing on Durant and Westbrook over him. While Kevin Martin has always been on shitty teams as the 1a or 1b focus (which is sad really).


People keep acting like Martin is supposed to go to the Thunder and lead them somewhere, when in reality hes going there to come off the bench and provide a scoring punch. He'll do that, and he'll do it just fine. His shooting percentages should go up with the slack coverage he'll get on OKC, and Hardens will undoubtedly go down now that he'll face teams primary guard defender.


Quit playing Harden up to be some multifaceted two way player who's doing everything out there. He wasn't and he won't be on the Rockets either. He's a scorer. He never did a hell of a lot else out there.

[R-Star]

Originally Posted by Luke

So what kind of numbers do we think Harden puts up next year? I'd say something like 23/5/5 on a mid 30's win team sounds fairly reasonable.

Sounds about right to me. I see his shooting going back down to around .43-.45 though.

[Mrs. Thang]

How is Harden an idiot for wanting to be paid his market value? Players taking less money to play with their friends is what's ruining competitive balance. Why do people think it is honorable to settle for being a supporting player on a good team when they can try to make their own name as the top guy and get payed more for doing it?

[Luke]

45% sounds about right. Harden is not one dimensional though. He's an above average ball handler and facilitator for a wing. Hopefully for the Rockets he'll be able to hide some of Lin's faults out there.

[Wade County]

I think Harden will put up around 20/5/5 on 45%. He'll be good for Houston, but he's not max worthy. He'll still get it though.

[R-Star]

Originally Posted by Mrs. Thang

How is Harden an idiot for wanting to be paid his market value? Players taking less money to play with their friends is what's ruining competitive balance. Why do people think it is honorable to settle for being a supporting player on a good team when they can try to make their own name as the top guy and get payed more for doing it?

Yet every CBA fans come out and say the "Well if the stupid owners didn't overpay!" cliche


There's arguments for either side. I just hope people realize that teams will always give out terrible contracts. The Rockets have been the worst so far. Harden and Lin are overpaid by a million or so a season, and Asik.... well that's just disgusting. He's not a starting center.

[e-monk]

Originally Posted by Mrs. Thang

How is Harden an idiot for wanting to be paid his market value? Players taking less money to play with their friends is what's ruining competitive balance. Why do people think it is honorable to settle for being a supporting player on a good team when they can try to make their own name as the top guy and get payed more for doing it?

I dont think he's stupid but Im not going to congratulate him for getting that extra 10% by leaving a team where he'd be contending every year to play for a team where he'll be lucky to get into let alone out of the first round

[Wade County]

Asik has been balling in the preseason. He may live up to that contract yet.

Don't expect much offensively, but the guy will defend and get rebounds.

[seifer0406]

Originally Posted by Ben

Harden, what an idiot. Really interested to see what he can do in the #1 role though. OKC are already a great team but if those picks pan out well for them, I'm scared.

OKC and/or Houston might be losers in this trade but the only party that's definitely not a loser in this deal is Harden. I would understand if Harden is closer to 30, but at 23 and have never been a full time starter, is it really that absurd to think that he might want to try to be more than just a role player? On top of that he got more money to go with the increased role. OKC is asking Harden to make a sacrifice on and off the court and while people might praise Harden for going along with it it's not wrong for him to turn down the offer.

[MemphisX]

Originally Posted by e-monk

I dont think he's stupid but Im not going to congratulate him for getting that extra 10% by leaving a team where he'd be contending every year to play for a team where he'll be lucky to get into let alone out of the first round

I fault any organization that will break up a title contender over $1.25 million a season. When Okc is getting knocked off in the playoffs, those draft picks are not going to be to helpful. Let's stop acting like it is 1996, a 4 year contract to a 23 year old player is not a back breaker. They were not making a 7 year committment.

[hobojoe]

It's pretty funny how you guys can sit behind your computers and call a guy a "****ing idiot" for making a decision that just resulted in him inking a max contract. Funny stuff.

[roux2dope]

Houston really wants to stay medicore then they should max harden out... I like harden, he is one hell of a #3 on any team in the league but he will be a poor #1 option.... can see this going the Michael Redd route for the Rockets

[seifer0406]

Originally Posted by hobojoe

It's pretty funny how you guys can sit behind your computers and call a guy a "****ing idiot" for making a decision that just resulted in him inking a max contract. Funny stuff.

it's only 6 million dollars, a figure that Ben will likely never earn in his entire lifetime.