James Harden traded to the Rockets

[Nick]

Or sign him to whatever he wants and trade him later.

It's not NBA 2k.

[Patr1ck]

I don't see this as such a great move. I'm not much of a Harden fan, nothing against him, but I don't see him as a person that you build around.

[Its_asdf]

I don't see this as such a great move. I'm not much of a Harden fan, nothing against him, but I don't see him as a person that you build around.

+1, the guy couldn't check any of the starting Western conference two guards and struggled heavily against them. I think Harden is a really fun player to watch when he has it going, but he usually gets going off of playing against team's second unit and/or with Durant and Westbrook attracting most of the defensive attention.

[Lamrock]

So they just traded a 23 year old all-star caliber shooting guard for a guy who's six years older, worse defensively and not a playmaker. Sure, they also grab a prospect in the deal, but he'll be lucky to be as good as Perry Jones. Despite the salary cap implications, I really think this really is a bad move for the future because 3 all-stars is pretty much what it takes to win a title these days and while Martin can definitely fill his role well for a couple years if healthy, this puts them behind the Lakers for the next few years.

Houston needed to pull the trigger on this deal. Harden has improved tremendously every season in the league and was already excellent last year. He's a couple years away from being the best shooting guard in the league in my opinion, and while he may never be a superstar, he'll be worth the contract and keep Houston's string of 9th place finishes alive.

As a Thunder hater, I'm excited about this move.

[NovU]

Or sign him to whatever he wants and trade him later.

It's not NBA 2k.

Jokester. Joe Johnson is tradeable in this world of ours. I think 2K world has it smarter.

[dopeboy]

I don't see this as such a great move. I'm not much of a Harden fan, nothing against him, but I don't see him as a person that you build around.

+1, the guy couldn't check any of the starting Western conference two guards and struggled heavily against them. I think Harden is a really fun player to watch when he has it going, but he usually gets going off of playing against team's second unit and/or with Durant and Westbrook attracting most of the defensive attention.

Well, trading for Harden sure as hell beats sticking with Martin, Lin and Asik as their core. He's incredibly efficient offensively, way better defender and playmaker than Martin and still has room to grow. I'm not sure if he's ready to lead a team on his own this season, but they have time to improve their roster and surround him with quality players.

And even if he doesn't work out for Houston (which is unlikely), it's not like his contract will be unmovable.

[Andrew]

I don't see anything wrong with Harden rejecting the offer. Actually, Spree#8 already put up some good point as well aside from the issues of money and being the bench player. If anything, the Thunder should have borrowed his service for a season to contend at the level they did last season, and see if they can change his mind. Or sign him to whatever he wants and trade him later. The move came too early in my opinion.

There's nothing wrong with it. It's just a little surprising as he seemed to be fairly happy in Oklahoma City, was in a pretty good situation and the money that was on the table was still pretty good. If anything, the Thunder are probably copping more heat from people for supposedly lowballing him and then trading him away.

As far as it being too early, on one hand I agree but I think teams these days are even more cautious about losing players for nothing than ever before, especially with the "poison pill" years in offer sheets that give other teams a chance to wrest away restricted free agents, providing that they're willing to pay through the nose for one year of the deal. As with the Jazz trading Deron Williams, the Thunder avoided that possibility and got a decent package in return. You could certainly argue that they jumped the gun, but it's understandable why they did.

[Phil89]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/85772 ... n-contract

HOUSTON -- James Harden has agreed to a five-year, $80 million contract with the Houston Rockets.

The Rockets acquired the reigning Sixth Man of the Year in a stunning trade with Oklahoma City on Saturday night. Harden is expected to start when Houston opens the regular season in Detroit on Wednesday night.

Rockets general manager Daryl Morey called Harden a "foundational player" at his introductory news conference this week. He'll become the featured player in Houston after three seasons in a supporting role behind Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City.

Good for him.

[NovU]

Harden was amazing in his first game... as expected. And this was no fluke but he can pull something like this on any given night. Sorta reason why I thought it was justifyable for him to leave the Thunder to prove himself. He definitely was being overshadowed under star-studded team.

[Phil89]

He had a great game. I'd like to see him play a few more games (and against some tougher opposition) before judging him on how he handles his new role though.

I'm interested to see how Kevin Martin does for the Thunder against the Spurs tomorrow too.

[Nick]

He's going to reach superstar status in this new role.

[houston832]

6 years 84 million? Looking like a steal!

[NovU]

I actually really loved his stats from last season.

.230 WS/48 (co-best on OKC w/ KD)
9.3 WS (2nd best only to KD)
21.1 PER (3rd best but only slightly behind RW despite a lot less usage%)
ORtg 125 (team best)
TS% .660 (team best)

I don't think he can keep it up in some of advanced stats department this season but I believe there's a good reason to believe he can put up some great numbers as 1st or 2nd option with about 30% usage.

[[Q]]

how did he not start in OKC?

[debiler]

37 points? Fucking lefties...

[hova-]

Pretty sick debut. Although it's obvious he won't put up this numbers against better teams, I have a feeling that Harden will put up very decent numbers in HOU. Sucks for the Mavs that he decided to sign an extension.

[NovU]

It sorta was clear that Harden's potential became worth paying max from last season's performance though, especially by today's standard. Is why I was against a notion that he was the greedy one, but an average ambitious man with tons of upside that deserves a shot.

It doesn't mean that loss of Harden is unrecoverable in OKC as development of their core players and Kevin Martin possibly could make up for loss of Harden. But it's no brainer that it won't be an easy task and they might even regret as they witness Harden's further development.

Overall, I think benji summarized this pretty good for the Thunder that the luxury tax made them to give up a very good player by overpaying couple players.

[Nick]

As time goes on i think it will become more and more obvious that Harden was better than Russell Westbrook all along.

[_Steve_]

As time goes on i think it will become more and more obvious that Harden was better than Russell Westbrook all along.

I agree with you and simply do not know how people could write BS like that about Westbrook.
Last night Harden showed how good he can be and really caught me by surprise. I didn't expect an outburst like that so soon.

[rise]

how did he not start in OKC?

He's essentially some weird combination of KD and Westbrook with more passing ability. He was a bench player the same way Manu was a bench player.

[Andrew]

Well, passing on the extension with the Thunder sure worked out for him financially. Very impressive debut with the Rockets too, but a true franchise player does that game-in, game out, against everyone. Let's see how he fares as the season goes on, but the future is looking pretty bright.

[NovU]

how people could write BS like that about Westbrook.

Russell in his own right is a star player as he's only 24 and has developed steadily each year on a great team. But if any blogger thinks he could have brought what is an overnight turnaround in Clippers team(40-26 from 32-50) in which Chris Paul did single-handedly, one should never call himself a 'pro-blogger'. Lol.

[Patr1ck]

Chris Paul does get most of the credit for the Clippers turnaround, but keep in mind there were key pickups at other positions who contributed as well.

Perhaps the blogger is taking Westbrook's age into account?

[NovU]

Chris Paul is just an unfortunate player. Look at the teammates he's had to work with throughout his career.

Otherwise he should never ever be in the discussion with Westbrook.

[Andrew]

I think you could possibly rank Russell Westbrook in the top five among point guards. He's at least on the fringe, sixth or seventh if you're extending the list to a top ten. He's a legitimate star and he still has an opportunity to get better. However, I don't think there's any way you could reasonably rank him ahead of Chris Paul in that discussion. Forget the team records and hypotheticals, comparing their stats and skillsets alone establishes Paul as the superior player.

I wouldn't rank Rose at number one, either. When he's healthy, I'd argue top five, possibly top three, but CP3 would be my pick for number one.