James Harden traded to the Rockets

[Detective]

52 pages already? Holy ****.

Indeed. That RealGM efficiency. Most improved thread candidate, considering the Harden is Sh*t threads from some time ago. Amazing turnaround.

[PurpleRooster]

Go back and check out LeBron's efficiency in his first finals against San Antonio. I guess he sucks too? What a stupid and asinine way to judge a player. Yup, realgm where basing an opinion on a player can happen in 5 games... (or preseason).

James was a one man team. First option going against one of the premier defenses of the last decade.


Harden a third option with the security blanket of Westbrook and the 2nd best player in the league in Durant. The difference in pressure is astounding.

Awful comparative analogy.

[Archerbro]

Bill Simmons ‏@sportsguy33

PS: Harden didn't ask for a trade. He just turned down a subpar offer from a team crying poverty that made 30-35 million PROFIT last season.

Did OKC really make that much last year?

well said By simmons.

[Archerbro]

Go back and check out LeBron's efficiency in his first finals against San Antonio. I guess he sucks too? What a stupid and asinine way to judge a player. Yup, realgm where basing an opinion on a player can happen in 5 games... (or preseason).

James was a one man team. First option going against one of the premier defenses of the last decade.


Harden a third option with the security blanket of Westbrook and the 2nd best player in the league in Durant. The difference in pressure is astounding.

Awful comparative analogy.

a bad playoff series shouldn't define a player though.

We saw Gasol look weak in 2009 finals and then come up strong in 2010 (and have a case for finals mvp).

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Oof that sucks for OKC fans.

Those picks likely won't amount to anything worthwhile.

Kevin Martin is arguable a net-negative player.

Lamb is a middling prospect whose best-case scenario, according to Draft Express, is...Kevin Martin.

All over $6-7 million.

Kevin Martin is #21 in CAREER NBA OFFENSIVE RATING

http://www.basketball-reference.com/lea ... areer.html

Active players ahead of Martin in ORTG: Chris Paul, Steve Nash, Chauncey Billups, Dirk Nowitzki

The next group of active players after Martin in ORTG: David Lee, Brandon Roy, Manu Ginobili, Lebron James, Pau Gasol, Tyson Chandler, Ray Allen, Shane Battier

NBA championship team members in red

Notice that trades to better teams got James, Pau, Chandler, Ray Allen and Shane Battier NBA championship rings.

[Illogicality]

A ton of people are in love with Jeremy Lamb's potential. People are claiming he's the next T Mac without playing a single NBA game. I see him being more of a defensive player. Some of you are underrating what James Harden currently is and that's a Top 5 SG what has Lamb done? Also as other's have added Kevin Martin is injury prone with an expiring contract.

[Dupp]

Its completely ridiculous to judge harden based solely on that miami series.

[The59Sound]

Abysmal move by OKC. Wow.

[NiqtheAntiq]

The weird thing to this for me is I have followed the NBA since 96 almost religiously and I was thinking today around like 5pm out of the blue about Harden's contract situation and how in my mind he doesn't deserve the max as he doesn't give off the vibe of being a longterm superstar one day. Maybe Presti felt my psychic link and pulled the deal an hour or so later lol

Harden could have easily been an albatross contract on OKC's books. I can see him as the kind of player who gets a max deal, gets injured and becomes a Gilbert Arenas type player when its all said and done. He will have 3-4 star seasons with Houston then disappear.I promise you he won't have the ethic Grant Hill did to come back from a major injury and still be 6th man worthy.He also looks like he could be lazy under the right circumstances(Having a max contract).I dont see that with Durant or Westbrook.

Martin will be flipped by the deadline in an even better deal so don't worry about him in all this.

[betterdayz02]

^ Exactly. Its completely ridiculous to judge harden based solely on that miami series.

Especially since the kid is 23 and it was his first finals Ibaka played like crap too.

[Americafkya]

Stern blocks for basketbalk reasons.

In all seriousness this is a solid move for okc. I would rather keep harden obviously , but if they had to get rid of him i lioe the package they got. Excellent shooter/good play maker. Good compliment to ball dominant wings because of how good a spot up shooter he is. Also good enough to pack scoring punch for bench. On top of that a solid rook with upside and 3 draft picks in the post - 2012 cba era.

Still expect okc to be real threats to win.

Sad to see aldrich go though. Never thought he was anything special but i was hoping he would take over for perk soon.

[Detective]

well said By simmons.

This is a rare statement about Simmons that may not be seen again in the wild.

In any case, this may be the opportunity to see if Harden can become more than just a hypothetical Joe Johnson post-Phoenix days that so many were speculating about when he hit free agency if OKC didn't match or make this trade. Until this season is over however, I guess the detractors will just have to..

[The Skyhook]

I still can't believe this happened especially so close to the start of the season. Every time I watched the Thunder I always saw Harden as the glue guy and when teams usually lose their glue guy we see some chemistry issues. Westbrook is a hot head and we have already seen him and Durant get into it a couple times so I would not be surprised if we saw chemistry issues between those two during the season.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

OKC just traded away their second most efficient player.

Without a doubt.

I have defended the trade for OKC but I think Harden is a better player than Russell Westbrook. The problem is giving up a PG would change the team even more.

OKC did what they had to do IMO.

[Illhavethelary]

Guys I'm really wasted right now.... am I reading this sht right?

[Rerisen]

OKC just traded away their second most efficient player.

Without a doubt.

I have defended the trade for OKC but I think Harden is a better player than Russell Westbrook. The problem is giving up a PG would change the team even more.

OKC did what they had to do IMO.

Now that Russell will have the ball that much more, without Harden needing his on ball time, maybe the balance between Westbrook and Durant will be easier to establish. They better hope so anyway, they pretty much had to choose who was going to be KD's long term sidekick.

[Prestige]

Harden could have easily been an albatross contract on OKC's books. I can see him as the kind of player who gets a max deal, gets injured and becomes a Gilbert Arenas type player when its all said and done. He will have 3-4 star seasons with Houston then disappear.
.

Harden's contract is only 4 years long. This isn't the past where you had those 7 year max contracts that felt like eternity. Its well worth it for Houston and they can reevaluate him in 4 years time, when he should be in his prime. Don't forget the guy is only 23. He'll be 27 when he's looking for his next deal and could be much better than he is today.

[Lightning25]

Pretty crazy that this thread has reached 54 pages on a Saturday night. It's Halloween weekend too, but I'm a quiet kind of guy who doesn't party that much.

Anyways, I would think Martin suffered last season because of the injury not because of the rule change. Regardless, Martin is not going to anchor an offense or anything, he'll just be a 3rd-5th option. I could see Ibaka being utilized more offensively. I always thought OKC already has their post player in Ibaka, it was just that Brooks is not smart enough to utilize him correctly.

[fallacy]

Chris Mannix ‏@ChrisMannixSI
Houston can max Harden out with a five-year deal worth nearly $80 million, and probably will.
Retweeted by Adrian Wojnarowski

80 million dollars for a career third option is risky. If Harden can improve from last year it's probably worth it though. Kind of funny that Harden is going to be paid just as much as Durant and Westbrook.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

As a Wizard fan trading Okafor would make a ton of sense. Trading an injured Nene, with 52M remaining on his deal to any team not wary of his injuries would be a masterstroke of genius that Ted Leonsis would be lucky to get. Trading Jefferson but getting more than value helps the Jazz build for the future with Kanter an heir apparent. The Kings won't trade Cousins, but the Maloofs are hard up for money and they might before they sign sell.

I can rationalize all these deals for other teams. OKC took the players and picks and so would lesser teams. You say it wouldn't make sense. I disagree.

Harden is the asset! Why in the world would you take Martin to move him, when Harden is by far the more valuable player?

OKC didn't want to face the tax. Presti didn't want to have his hand forced by Harden. I think the possibility is very great that the longer the GM waited to deal Harden the more diminishing returns in trade offers he would have received.

How much of an asset was Dwight Howard to the Magic with his status in the air?

I believe Harden turning down $54M sent the owner Bennett into an ultimatum that he carried out. Having a player demand a salary you cannot or won't pay due to the economics made Harden less of an asset.