James Harden traded to the Rockets

glydersid · Post #921 » by **glydersid** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:09 am

Those who think highly of Lamb must not have seen him play during the pre-season. He was playing like he didn't give a damn - just standing and waiting around the 3 point line and looking lost on the defensive end. No wonder the Rockets traded him.

East_Coast · Post #922 » by **East_Coast** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:12 am

xclearscreen wrote:and when was this genius? after he lit New Jersey up? or after he lit LA up? who the hell were teams game-planning if not Lin?

No one thought that Lin would do what he did. No one. Even after he exploded for the first couple of games, the conventional wisdom is that he would fall back to his normal level soon enough.

If you look at a game log of his entire year last season, you'll see that after Linsanity was over, he had some horrific shooting games:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... elog/2012/

Case in point: .091 vs. Miami, .375 vs. Boston, .308 vs. Dallas, .278 vs Philly, .364 vs. Chicago, .235 vs. Philly.

He did mix in some good games, but his production after teams started keying on him was incredibly uneven. We'll see what happens this year.

I think he'll shoot a bit above 40%, but that's it. And the turnovers will probably remain high. That's very inefficient for a lead guard.

Heat fan06 · Post #923 » by **Heat fan06** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:12 am

Now harden can be the man. Martin will easily,replace hardens scoring.

TwentyOne920 · Post #924 » by **TwentyOne920** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:14 am

Heat fan06 wrote:Now harden can be the man. Martin will easily,replace hardens scoring.

But not his playmaking. What happens when Russ becomes Bad Russ and decides to throw up PUJITs and look for his own shot even if KD's wide open in the 4th?

SCourGe OF GoD · Post #925 » by **SCourGe OF GoD** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:16 am

ChrispShots wrote:

Andre3822 · Post #926 » by **Andre3822** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:16 am

double---

Lightning25 · Post #927 » by **Lightning25** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:16 am

TwentyOne920 wrote:
Heat fan06 wrote:Now harden can be the man. Martin will easily,replace hardens scoring.

But not his playmaking. What happens when Russ becomes Bad Russ and decides to throw up PUJITs and look for his own shot even if KD's wide open in the 4th?

How is this even different even with Harden on the team?

I actually see Westbrook averaging back to 8+ APG again next season. Westbrook averaged 8+ assists in 2010 and 2011 because Harden didn't get as much playing time in those seasons. He took a huge step back last season in the assist column because of Harden's playing time.

TwentyOne920 · Post #928 » by **TwentyOne920** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:21 am

The problem isn't his assist totals - it's his consistency. Some games he'll look like a world beating all-time great (Game 4 against Miami), and other games he'll force shots and not look for open teammates (Game 5 against Miami).

Heat fan06 · Post #929 » by **Heat fan06** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:28 am

TwentyOne920 wrote:
Heat fan06 wrote:Now harden can be the man. Martin will easily,replace hardens scoring.

But not his playmaking. What happens when Russ becomes Bad Russ and decides to throw up PUJITs and look for his own shot even if KD's wide open in the 4th?

This is where having a healthly Maynor will replace that.

TwentyOne920 · Post #930 » by **TwentyOne920** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:31 am

Well, the problem is that Brooks could run Westbrook/Harden/Durant all on the floor in crunch time. Maynor could, in theory, but then you bench your third best scorer.

dballislife · Post #931 » by **dballislife** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:33 am

i cant believe some ppl think okc won this, even saying it was a tie is pushing it...lets just start with this coming season one year at a time, martin isn't near his old self and has bad D and lamb is a rookie, they just fell under miami and lakers while durant and westbrook are both entering prime, bad move since they are ready now...martin expires after one year and dont see okc keepin a player of his ability on the decline, lamb and the picks are years away......one more thing harden wanted what the 60 mill max? they offered 55? for that money difference u gave away the potential best SG in nba in 2-3 years...what more important is what durant and westbrook gonna think? ya year they were saying that harden isn't goin anywhere and now this, im pretty sure okc just pissed off their franchise players, this was a potential dynasty

borisadmin · Post #932 » by **borisadmin** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:43 am

UTJazzFan_Echo1 wrote: Harden was going to ruin that teams chemistry anyways. All he wanted to do in the playoffs/finals was play hero ball, and he's just not good enough to do that.

What? The dude ranked second in the NBA in effective field goal percentage (58.2) last season. That's not really hero-ball, that's great shot selection on a relatively high usage rate.

Johnlac1 · Post #933 » by **Johnlac1** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:45 am

Well this is an immediate boost for the Rockets. I don' t think the Rocket's situation was as dire as many people were making out. In fact, I was picking them to win 35-40 games this year and keep on improving. Now .500 ball looks easily attainable this year, and they also have a semi-capable backup to Asik in Aldrich. The best hope for OKC is that Lamb really comes around as Martin's best days are probably past him and he's not the dynamic scorer that is Harden. Plus Harden is a lot younger. Great deal for Houston.

Ymountain · Post #934 » by **Ymountain** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:07 am

As a Rockets fan i'm pleased we got Harden, he's a good piece for our rebuilding plan. However i'm surprised OKC were so quick to pull the trigger on a deal, he was an important piece of their puzzle and its hard to see them as a true contender now.

Sasaki · Post #935 » by **Sasaki** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:14 am

About the only thing I'm confused by is that why didn't OKC ask for one of the PFs? Houston has lots of them and OKC's big rotation outside Perkins/Ibaka looks pretty weak now.

H-town · Post #936 » by **H-town** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:17 am

i like the deal, now trade for Paul Millsap 8-)

dballislife · Post #937 » by **dballislife** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:26 am

im not even a huge harden fan but for people bringing up hardens playoffs and finals performance, its the FINALS, the guy is in his 3rd year in series' against kobe and metta, then bron and wade, like come on cut his some slack for sucking...what i really hated was presti didn't wait to see how harden played THIS season, 3rd and 4th years are huge in a players development thats when they make their strides and breakout...what if harden breaks out even more? he certainly has that potential, imo this year can even increase his trade value if u still waited to move him in the summer

TwentyOne920 · Post #938 » by **TwentyOne920** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:30 am

Last I recall Manu's 3rd year had him starting, an All-Star, and simply going HAM on teams. Harden's 3rd season is good but not exactly comparable.

dballislife · Post #939 » by **dballislife** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:42 am

TwentyOne920 wrote:Last I recall Manu's 3rd year had him starting, an All-Star, and simply going HAM on teams. Harden's 3rd season is good but not exactly comparable.

their 3rd years are near identical players, not to mention manu was like 26 entering the league 28 in 3rd year, and harden just turned 23

subcomandante · Post #940 » by **subcomandante** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:44 am

Wow kudos to both GM's.

Harden is thinking about his NEXT paycheck after 4 years. He will never get a big one being a 3rd option, especially off the bench. He needs money to secure his future. (Sounds funny with millons we speak of, I know, but hey that's Nba.)

Thunder gets a fair value. Martin needs no ball in his hands. Lamb is a good prospect. If they manage to keep the bench production high, they still can win the West. Of course not to mention the picks.

Houston gets a young star. I believe they will add a star PF (or may be a SF up to Parson's performance) in offseason and will be a contender in a couple of years. They need to trade on or two of their young undersized PF's for valuable keys. And Aldrich is a good piece for Rockets. But still there is Lin question. It's still up to Lin.