Worst thread start in recent history

[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.

[Dahoss]

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.

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?

[cmorioles]

Originally Posted by Dahoss

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?

This pretty much nails it. Houston has now committed to building a team around Lin and Harden? Really?

The one thing Harden will get from the deal is an extra year that the Thunder couldn't give him, in addition to about 1 mil per season. Harden is not a max guy, and Houston will regret this signing.

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by cmorioles

This pretty much nails it. Houston has now committed to building a team around Lin and Harden? Really?

The one thing Harden will get from the deal is an extra year that the Thunder couldn't give him, in addition to about 1 mil per season. Harden is not a max guy, and Houston will regret this signing.

Lin will be out of the NBA before this contract runs out.

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

Lin will be out of the NBA before this contract runs out.

I don't know if he'll be out of the NBA because Houston will probably amnesty him by the last year of it and some team will take him cheap. I agree with where you're coming from though.

[Indian Charlie]

I say the worst thread in this poll is the hooves one, but only because any thread started by roller doc cannot be counted, because he's an automatic out.

[RockHardTen1985]

I'm with the face of NY and CJ. I think Harden is a borderline great player, but he's leaving a great team/situation. Now his numbers might be better but he won't be winning anytime soon. I can see him going for 24 6 and 5 and his team going 25-57

[Immanuel Kant]

The more I think about the Harden move, the more disappointed I am in OKC. Harden's a unique talent who can defend, play either guard spot with intelligence, get inside or shoot from range, take care of the ball, pass, push it or slow it down. He does so much so well, I'd say it takes two or three guys to replace him.... OKC still has lots of horse power, but they just went from nitro to regular fuel. As for OKC getting first round picks, they're like lottery tickets...Harden is a blue chip stock

[King Glorious]

I agree with you that Harden is not a superstar and benefited by playing with Durant and Westbrook because of the attention they got and the freedom it left him. I think it's going to be a major adjustment for him in Houston and again, I don't see him as a superstar player. I don't feel he was worth the max contract. That said, he was still a very important piece to his team. I look at him like I look at a guy like Kendrick Perkins. Perkins doesn't add much to a team and say he's in Denver or Atlanta or LA, he doesn't help at all. But what he can give a team is exactly what OKC needed so therefore his value to them was higher than it would be to most teams. I think of Harden the same way. I think Harden took a lot of the pressure off of Durant and Westbrook in ways that Martin can't and that's what will be missed. He gave them an ability to always have two guys on the floor that could create their own shot. They don't have that now. He was excellent at getting to the line. The other thing is that on defense, he and Westbrook were often able to to just guard who was closest to them. They didn't have to waste time seeking out and finding their man. That's very important and that's another area that Martin will hurt them in. I'm not saying that Harden is so much better than Martin as a player, just that what he does is so much more of what OKC needs than what Martin does. I'm also not sold on draft picks being so meaningful, especially when you get out of the top 10. I've always felt that if you have a championship level team, you keep it until you can't. I don't think they were under pressure to trade him. I would have kept him through the season and seen how things played out and worst come to worst, he was still restricted so you could have decided that you want to keep him and pay him the max come July. If they had been under the gun like Orlando was where you know you will be losing a guy for sure and will gain nothing, that's different but that wasn't the case here.