Quote:
Originally Posted by King Glorious
It was a bad deal for both OKC and for Harden. Some people will say that they didn't want to pay him but that's just not true. They offered him $4.5 million less over the four years than the max that he was seeking. That's $1.25 million per year. Harden talked about how it was an ideal situation for him and how he and his teammates were more like brothers and family and had something really special....then he wants to let go of it for that amount? OKC shouldn't have traded him. I would have kept him the whole year and seen what happened at the end. I doubt he would have been dogging it because he would have been playing for a contract from someone. What happens if they would have won it all? I think coming off a championship, he would have stayed for less than the max. What they got back in return for him doesn't come close to being equal value. If you look at Martin's scoring average, you will be fooled into thinking that he can easily replace what Harden gives you. He can't. While he does have the ability to score, that's about all he can do. He gives you nothing on the glass. He doesn't pass well. Doesn't play defense well. And his scoring average is a little misleading as he was the top scoring option on bad teams. In OKC, he's going to be third option so at best, you are looking at 14-16 a night. That's equal to Harden but again, he doesn't give you anything else. Where Harden will be missed most is that he could play the point for extended stretches and allow Westbrook to slide over to the two or rest a little more. That ability to run the offense was invaluable to OKC and his ability to create and get to the rim and finish or find open teammates will be sorely missed. The draft picks that they got in return could be good or could be nothing. With Harden, I thought they had a great chance to return to the finals. Now, I put them behind both LA teams in the West.
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Paragraphs help, but as usual I totally disagree.
Harden IMO is overrated. He's had the luxury of being a 6th man, which likely meant his minutes often were when the other teams stars were out. Then, when he was playing with Durant and Westbrook, who was getting the opposing teams better defenders? Yep...Durant and Westbrook.
He's going to be THE man now and I think we're going to see that he looked a lot better because of who was around him.
two first rounders, a second rounder, a 14 point a game scorer and the #12 pick in this years draft and you think it was a bad trade?