The Official James Harden Thread

[CB-Blazer]

McHale is going to have to open up his rotation a bit. Needed some fresh legs, especially on offense. Harden looked gassed by the third quarter.

The Blazers played some tough perimeter defense down the stretch, and slowed down his trips into the lane, something he's going to get a regular diet of.

That skip pass that Harden goes to after being doubled at the top of the key is gonna eventually start getting picked off. Still, he tried, but dialing up his inner Kobe wasn't the best idea when playing tired.

Somebody else is going to have to step up offensively. Why not give Daequan Cook a look? Dude is money from downtown.

Yeah, I think that will get better once Lin gets going. Watching him play, I'm not convinced he is anywhere near 100%.

I'd like to see the Rockets give Terrence Jones and Motie some spin.

[tsherkin]

Durant played 41 minutes Thursday, then played 43 minutes on Friday in a b2b.

He's averaging 23 points, 16 rebounds, and 6 assists on 50% shooting

Durant, however, is not taking a 10-minute increase in his minutes per game. He also played 38.6 mpg the year before, 38.9 the year before that, 39.5, 39.0 and then even 34.6 mpg as a rookie. He even played 35.9 mpg in college.

Harden has played 22.9, 26.7 and 31.4 mpg in the NBA. He did play 34.1 and 35.8 mpg in college (but for 34 and 35 games), so we'll have to see. He hasn't played those minutes in several years, and he has yet to do it over an 82-game season. Durant has been doing it for years, and the increase is a fifth the size of what Harden is experiencing between last year and this year, that makes a difference.

[fallacy]

Durant played 41 minutes Thursday, then played 43 minutes on Friday in a b2b.

He's averaging 23 points, 16 rebounds, and 6 assists on 50% shooting

Durant, however, is not taking a 10-minute increase in his minutes per game. He also played 38.6 mpg the year before, 38.9 the year before that, 39.5, 39.0 and then even 34.6 mpg as a rookie. He even played 35.9 mpg in college.

Harden has played 22.9, 26.7 and 31.4 mpg in the NBA. He did play 34.1 and 35.8 mpg in college (but for 34 and 35 games), so we'll have to see. He hasn't played those minutes in several years, and he has yet to do it over an 82-game season. Durant has been doing it for years, and the increase is a fifth the size of what Harden is experiencing between last year and this year, that makes a difference.

Whoa, I wasn't posting that as an argument against Harden. I posted that because someone said that "no one" plays 40+ minutes in a back to back, let alone play well.

I agree that the minute increase for Harden is going to hurt him

[tsherkin]

Whoa, I wasn't posting that as an argument against Harden. I posted that because someone said that "no one" plays 40+ minutes in a back to back, let alone play well.

I agree that the minute increase for Harden is going to hurt him

I was platforming off of your comment, not responding directly to you, my bad.

[fallacy]

Whoa, I wasn't posting that as an argument against Harden. I posted that because someone said that "no one" plays 40+ minutes in a back to back, let alone play well.

I agree that the minute increase for Harden is going to hurt him

I was platforming off of your comment, not responding directly to you, my bad.

Its all good. Your points are still valid

[fallacy]

I guess since we're going to play the sample size game, and I don't want to create an official kevin martin thread, I'll post this here from the OKC side of the trade.

Kevin Martin now - 17 points, 4 assists, 67 3pt%, 26.2 PER, .571 eFg%, .669 ts%, 143 ORtg, 98 DRtg

Harden last year - 17 points, 4 assists, 39 3pt%, 21.1 PER, .582 eFg%, .660 ts%, 125 ORtg, 105 DRtg


Now Harden is easily the better player, but Martin might actually be a better fit to OKC. Martin is a better pure shooter than Harden and gets tons of wide open shots from Westbrook and Durant, Durant mainly. Where OKC improves from Martin's superior shooting, they lose the ability to give the ball to Harden when Westbrook has a bad game. OKC is hoping they can replace that with Maynor, who has done a good job of it so far.

It's only 2/3 games into the season, but this trade is going to be very intriguing to follow throughout the season.

[Mr. E]

I think that Houston has three days off 'til the next game.

REST, GUYS!!!

[orangeparka]

OKC won the trade by far. Lamb's putting up 108ppg per36 on 148 PER and 150 TS%.

Haters gonna hate.

[fallacy]

OKC won the trade by far. Lamb's putting up 108ppg per36 on 148 PER and 150 TS%.

Haters gonna hate.

Lamb played 30 seconds when we were blowing out Portland and hit a deeeeeep 3. He will be really good in the future though

[DreDay]

OKC won the trade by far. Lamb's putting up 108ppg per36 on 148 PER and 150 TS%.

Haters gonna hate.

This.

Does anyone have Kevin Martin's TS% and PPG? I'm going to wager it's extremely similar to Hardens.

[Lightning25]

This.

Does anyone have Kevin Martin's TS% and PPG? I'm going to wager it's extremely similar to Hardens.

17 ppg, 67% TS%, 44% FG. The ppg is absolutely not similar but that is to be expected since K-Mart is coming off the bench while Harden is the man on his team.

[Charsace]

Both Harden and Lin were dead tired. They both are handling the ball 99% of the time.

[DreDay]

This.

Does anyone have Kevin Martin's TS% and PPG? I'm going to wager it's extremely similar to Hardens.

17 ppg, 67% TS%, 44% FG. The ppg is absolutely not similar but that is to be expected since K-Mart is coming off the bench while Harden is the man on his team.

I meant compared to Harden in OKC. From your stats, Martin is doing exactly what Harden did. OKC won't have that many issues.

[Lightning25]

Both Harden and Lin were dead tired. They both are handling the ball 99% of the time.

That is what it will be like all year. Rockets are a very predictable team and will continue to be. Their entire offensive playbook will honestly be Lin and Harden pick and rolls and that's really it. They better get ready to do 79 more games of this.

[Honey Bear]

Both Harden and Lin were dead tired. They both are handling the ball 99% of the time.

That is what it will be like all year. Rockets are a very predictable team and will continue to be. Their entire offensive playbook will honestly be Lin and Harden pick and rolls and that's really it. They better get ready to do 79 more games of this.

You never stop trolling do you?

[Lightning25]

You never stop trolling do you?

Define trolling? Disagreeing with the majority? Not agreeing with your worthless opinion? Don't get butthurt because Harden played bad tonight cause he'll be playing even worse when he goes up against better defenses.

[Zedders]

Both Harden and Lin were dead tired. They both are handling the ball 99% of the time.

That is what it will be like all year. Rockets are a very predictable team and will continue to be. Their entire offensive playbook will honestly be Lin and Harden pick and rolls and that's really it. They better get ready to do 79 more games of this.

You never stop trolling do you?

He's right though. They don't have any other consistent ways of scoring. Houston are a team on the up and they might get into the playoffs if things work out well for them this season. They need their rookies to develop and get better to provide more reliable depth and they need to get a quality PF who can put in 15ppg. When that happens, they'll be very good. Right now, I'd just enjoy the growth of the roster.

[M4P]

I meant compared to Harden in OKC. From your stats, Martin is doing exactly what Harden did. OKC won't have that many issues.

Wait till you see Martin try to dribble...

Props to Portland. They were the better team tonight by playing suffocating defense for an entire 48 mins.

[Lightning25]

Also, the Rockets play the Nuggets and the Grizzlies in their next two games.

This will be a real test to see what Harden is all about because he'll have Iggy and Tony Allen on him, two elite perimeter defenders. He won't have that 2nd perimeter defender guarding him anymore because Westbrook and Durant aren't beside him anymore to take away his spotlight.

It's all Harden from here on out, maybe Lin can relieve from time to time but Harden is the #1 and it is his team.

[FlipTSO]

Also, the Rockets play the Nuggets and the Grizzlies in their next two games.

This will be a real test to see what Harden is all about because he'll have Iggy and Tony Allen on him, two elite perimeter defenders. He won't have that 2nd perimeter defender guarding him anymore because Westbrook and Durant aren't beside him anymore to take away his spotlight.

It's all Harden from here on out, maybe Lin can relieve from time to time but Harden is the #1 and it is his team.

I agree with you man. He played 2 lottery teams in the first 2 games, both bad defenses. The Pistons couldn't stop Shannon Brown last night in PHX. That tells you all you need to know about their defense.

If you are going to judge a player off 2 games, which I think is a joke to begin with, at least do it against contenders with elite defenses. I don't even think POR played any great defense last night tbh, and they forced him into 8-24 FG and 5 TO's. This Harden thing reminds me of Linsanity. Where a guy gets hot for a few games against bad teams, and ppl assume he's going to play like that every game the rest of his career. Let the season play out and then judge him on his whole body of work. Right now he's still just a 13 ppg career scorer who happened to have a couple big games to start the year. ppl need to chill.