James Harden rejects OKC Offer / *Traded* to Rockets

[BDaddy]

What a stupid article. Waiters may be just as good as Harden in a few years. Has Harden ever had 7 3's in a game?

[bigfoot5415]

Why not keep our assets, keep the cap space, and grow as a team? If we use all of that to get Harden we have nothing left and have put all our assets and cap space into one player.


Plus I still dont think he is worth the max. Houston is off to a hot start, lets wait and see where they are by February or maybe in year 3 of their team when Harden has the max, Asik is getting $15 mil and Lin is getting $15 mil.

[Cavatt]

I think he was worth the max probably, but now it is hard to say let's throw in Waiters. 2 picks is too much when you need to rebuild.

[B3team]

We just have to pray to whatever gods each individual on this board may believe in that he can be healthy atleat until the all star break, and then the trade may happen. Hell Andy could make the all star team this year (coach's vote...), and then his value will go up even more. The thing with Andy is it is no guarantee that he'll even play 30 games.

While we are asking gods for things, we might as well throw in a request for a Perkins season ending injury.

[Henry Tuttle]

What a stupid article. Waiters may be just as good as Harden in a few years. Has Harden ever had 7 3's in a game?

No, but Bill Walker has.

[Mdog1]

While we are asking gods for things, we might as well throw in a request for a Perkins season ending injury.

We don't want to get greedy man. Perkins value is already low enough.

[Triumph36]

What a stupid article. Waiters may be just as good as Harden in a few years. Has Harden ever had 7 3's in a game?

sigh...wish this weren't actually a serious comment.

No, but Bill Walker has.

lolol a+

[InBoobieWeTrust]

Harden's shooting percentages have tanked and his turnovers have increased.

He's still a really good player, but not a max player. Houston still needs at least one superstar- a guy better than Harden- to make everything work.

[Jack Brickman]

Harden's shooting percentages have tanked and his turnovers have increased.

He's still a really good player, but not a max player. Houston still needs at least one superstar- a guy better than Harden- to make everything work.

Well, he's gone from passing the ball to Kevin Durant to passing the ball to Jeremy Lin. That's a major downgrade.

I disagree that he isn't a max player, though. He's one of the best two-guards in the league and easily a top 25 or 30 talent (you could certainly make a case for top 20). If that's not a max player, what is?

[PATRICK EWING]

There's only a handful of players that are max players and Harden is not one....I question whether Westbrook was worth that as well on that team ?? Transcending players that can carry a team deep into a playoff run and lead a franchise are max players.... Giving players like Harden, Love, Deron etc... max contracts is just stupid... Giving Harden max cash and considering him a max guy is similar to the Hawks giving Joe Johnson one 6 or 7 years ago... As a franchise you're going nowhere and more than likely will find yourself in that horrible middle of the pack spot that can kill a franchise for a decade plus...

Nice player, complimentary type of player who can be a major contributor to a championship caliber team, but cannot lead a team to a title...

The way the NBA is setup now, guys like Tim Hardaway, Glen Rice, Larry Johnson, Derrick Coleman, Latrell Sprewell, Jimmy Jackson etc... would all be max players...

[JawJuttinAsasin]

Harden's shooting percentages have tanked and his turnovers have increased.

He's still a really good player, but not a max player. Houston still needs at least one superstar- a guy better than Harden- to make everything work.

Harden is still incredibly efficient at .574 TS% and 28.4 USG while being assisted on only 30% of his shots. These are exceptional numbers but obviously not on the level of Lebron and Durant.

So, he is certainly not worth the "max contract" if that is your criteria, but I think it is a pretty interesting and complicated argument of just where that cutoff is. Harden is a top 10-15 player entering his prime. To me, it is overly stringent to disqualify him.

And certainly Houston needs another superstar, but all teams need multiple superstars. I don't think that has anything to do with how much Harden should be payed.

[InBoobieWeTrust]

Harden is still incredibly efficient at .574 TS% and 28.4 USG while being assisted on only 30% of his shots. These are exceptional numbers but obviously not on the level of Lebron and Durant.

So, he is certainly not worth the "max contract" if that is your criteria, but I think it is a pretty interesting and complicated argument of just where that cutoff is. Harden is a top 10-15 player entering his prime. To me, it is overly stringent to disqualify him.

And certainly Houston needs another superstar, but all teams need multiple superstars. I don't think that has anything to do with how much Harden should be payed.

When your team needs another player who is better than you to be a title contender, I wouldn't consider you worth a max contract. IF your team needs another player on the same level, or a little worse, you're worth the max deal.

Now, situations lend themselves to people getting overpaid sometimes. I don't think Bosh is worth a max deal, but it wasn't a bad idea for Miami to sign him, but it would have been terrible if another team signed him as their top player. I actually don't think it would have been too bad of an idea for OKC to extend him(though I think their deal was too good to pass up), but Houston giving up the farm to pay him a max deal was, IMO, a really bad and desperate move by a normally analytic and objective guy in Morey.

[Tornicade]

I wouldnt blame harden. the rockets just need to grow a bit for right now.

Position	FGA	eFG%	FTA	iFG	Reb	Ast	T/O	Blk	PF	Pts	PER*
PG	-2.1	-.133	0.8	5%	0.9	-0.9	0.4	0.2	-0.2	-4.8	-3.5
SG	1.9	+.057	5.2	4%	-0.3	-0.2	-2.2	-0.2	0.5	8.5	+5.0
SF	0.6	+.040	0.2	3%	2.4	1.5	-0.3	-1.5	0.4	2.2	+1.9
PF	-1.6	+.006	-2.2	1%	-2.5	-0.7	0.2	-0.5	-0.5	-2.9	-4.1
C	-1.6	-.011	0.5	40%	2.9	-0.3	-0.8	-0.5	-0.8	-1.8	-2.1

Production			On Court/Off Court			Simple
Player	Min	Own	Opp	Net	On	Off	Net	Rating
Harden	79%	21.3	11.9	+9.4	+2.2	-2.9	+5.1	+7.9
Smith	16%	23.0	23.1	-0.1	+12.6	-1.1	+13.7	+4.5
Delfino	30%	9.9	9.9	-0.0	+9.9	-2.6	+12.5	+4.1
Morris	43%	16.2	17.3	-1.1	+7.0	-3.3	+10.3	+2.7
Douglas	31%	8.4	13.6	-5.1	+6.3	-1.2	+7.5	-0.9
Asik	67%	12.6	14.3	-1.7	+1.2	+0.9	+0.3	-1.0
Parsons	77%	16.2	14.5	+1.7	-0.6	+7.0	-7.6	-1.4
Jones	11%	13.8	10.9	+2.9	-8.3	+2.3	-10.6	-1.6
Cook	10%	9.4	15.9	-6.6	+5.3	+0.7	+4.6	-2.8
Lin	69%	11.5	15.5	-4.1	-1.4	+6.8	-8.2	-5.5
Patterson	55%	14.3	18.4	-4.0	-3.6	+6.9	-10.5	-6.2
Aldrich	11%	12.9	34.8	-21.9	-22.8	+4.1	-26.9	-23.6
Motiejunas	1%	14.9	38.6	-23.7	-72.2	+1.8	-74.0	-40.5

[asiasportwriter]

He probably would have started next year. It's not like he wasn't getting minutes either but I think a lot of fans were disappointed because harden had indicated he would sacrifice to stay in okc, But in the long run, we have to trust that he really knows what he's doing.

[Tlyons]

There's only a handful of players that are max players and Harden is not one....I question whether Westbrook was worth that as well on that team ?? Transcending players that can carry a team deep into a playoff run and lead a franchise are max players.... Giving players like Harden, Love, Deron etc... max contracts is just stupid... Giving Harden max cash and considering him a max guy is similar to the Hawks giving Joe Johnson one 6 or 7 years ago... As a franchise you're going nowhere and more than likely will find yourself in that horrible middle of the pack spot that can kill a franchise for a decade plus...

Nice player, complimentary type of player who can be a major contributor to a championship caliber team, but cannot lead a team to a title...

The way the NBA is setup now, guys like Tim Hardaway, Glen Rice, Larry Johnson, Derrick Coleman, Latrell Sprewell, Jimmy Jackson etc... would all be max players...

Deron Williams is a max player. Utah had to play some great teams in the west. Not his fault. And James harden is better now than joe Johnson has ever been. And I'm still not sure that harden is a max player just because their aren't that many good sgs. Just lets you know how overpaid jj really is.