James Harden Trade

[Closer68]

Wow.....

Okay so OKC tried to sign Harden to a 4 year 52M deal, which his agent, Rob Pelinka, turned down...

OKC felt they couldn't do any better, so they traded Harden, Cole Aldrich, Daequan Cook, and Lazar Hayward to Houston for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, two first round picks, and one second round pick...

MIND = BLOWN

I actually thought they were going to eventually ship out Westbrook and bring Harden into the starting lineup....

 

[Bargnani_]

Wow.....

Okay so OKC tried to sign Harden to a 4 year 52M deal, which his agent, Rob Pelinka, turned down...

OKC felt they couldn't do any better, so they traded Harden, Cole Aldrich, Daequan Cook, and Lazar Hayward to Houston for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, two first round picks, and one second round pick...

MIND = BLOWN

I actually thought they were going to eventually ship out Westbrook and bring Harden into the starting lineup....

In Harden's mind being a max player is more important then Championships . We are in a era where players want to team up to win a title and this guy is using the old manual .

 

[JamesDouglas]

Wow.....

Okay so OKC tried to sign Harden to a 4 year 52M deal, which his agent, Rob Pelinka, turned down...

OKC felt they couldn't do any better, so they traded Harden, Cole Aldrich, Daequan Cook, and Lazar Hayward to Houston for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, two first round picks, and one second round pick...

MIND = BLOWN

I actually thought they were going to eventually ship out Westbrook and bring Harden into the starting lineup....

Holy shit, that's all I have to say.

 

[JamesDouglas]

What a crazy deal right before the start of the season. Kevin Martin is a solid player who's just as good of a scorer as Harden is, but Martin is 29 and Harden is 23 just entering the prime of his career. I still think the Thunder can make a run at the Lakers with Durant, Westbrook, Martin, Ibaka and Perkins. The Thunder are my favourite team besides the Raptors, but Harden was one of my favourite players, what a shocking trade. Now Harden joins Jeremy Lin in Houston, that should be an interesting team to watch now.

Harden is definitely greedy, he wouldn't take a $54 million contract extension with the chance of winning championships with the young core in OKC, and instead got traded to Houston where he has no chance of ever winning a championship. He'll get his max $60 million contract, but is that extra 1.5 million over 4 years really going to make a difference when he's making 13.5 million a season? Pure greed. After reading the story I don't blame OKC for pulling the trigger on this deal. They were trying to negotiate with Harden for 4 months and came up with a very reasonable 4 year $54 million deal and Harden wouldn't accept it. If he didn't sign the extension by Wednesday he'd become an unrestricted free agent in the summer and likely would've walked without OKC getting anything in return, so they had to trade him and I think they got some good assets in return.

 

[Toke]

In Harden's mind being a max player is more important then Championships . We are in a era where players want to team up to win a title and this guy is using the old manual .

LOL

Couldn't have said it better myself. I guess leaving the league's 'best young team' was worth a 'max deal'.

On a side note...
Why didn't Orlando get this kind of haul for Dwight Howard; a player much more difficult to acquire/replace in today's NBA.

 

[MyHobbyist]

this trade completely shocked me

 

[K Douglas]

Not sure what OKC was thinking here. Harden is a much better defender than Martin who is soft and erratic. Lamb is a rook don't see him helping much. Even with the offer turned down trade still puzzles me as OKC is one of the favourites in the West.

 

[Coach 1]

All a matter of dollars. It's been reported and talked about that OKC had a tough decision to make with Durrant, Westbrook and Ibaka having max deals, they wouldn't be able to keep all four. Luxury tax is way more expensive now. What I couldn't believe is that they could afford $52 million. He turned it down to get $60????. Anyway Ithink Martin's salary is coming off the books( check to see if this is correct) and Lamb is inexpensive and has upside. They were smart and got what they could for him ( see Chris Bosh!!). They will still contend in the west.

 

[Mervyn]

They traded away someone who was young, but wasn't a starter on their roster, so it doesn't matter if the guy they get back is older, he won't be starting either.

And to a team like Oklahoma, whom I suspect would have problems signing free agents, any draft pics are valuable, if nothing else they could be used later for a trade.

 

[thewalker]

All I can say about this is Lakers-Heat 2013 NBA Finals!

OKC is out of the running now!

 

[Bargnani_]

All I can say about this is Lakers-Heat 2013 NBA Finals!

OKC is out of the running now!

How is the Thunder gettting a player who as recently as two years ago avg 23.4 pts per game and the player he replacedhad numbers on the same line as DeRozan . What is a James Harden ? For somebody who hasn't really done much he sure does get a lot of pub . OKC does have a Kevin Martin's expiring contract to even get more assets in this trade if they want to trade Martin .

Again I ask . What has James Harden done during his brief NBA career to warrent a max contract ? IF you put James Harden on the Toronto Raptors how many more wins would the Raptors have this year ?

 

[thewalker]

How is the Thunder gettting a player who as recently as two years ago avg 23.4 pts per game and the player he replacedhad numbers on the same line as DeRozan . What is a James Harden ? For somebody who hasn't really done much he sure does get a lot of pub . OKC does have a Kevin Martin's expiring contract to even get more assets in this trade if they want to trade Martin .

Again I ask . What has James Harden done during his brief NBA career to warrent a max contract ? IF you put James Harden on the Toronto Raptors how many more wins would the Raptors have this year ?

It goes beyond the numbers. He was the captain of the second unit, gave them a big advantage off the bench matching up against anyone in a Ginobili type way. He could also hit big shots when needed.

Also there was a certain chemistry and identity that was developed with Westbrook, Harden and Durant in that they were all drafted and rose together season by season, getting better every year.

It's like when the Celtics traded Perkins, the chemistry was all shot to hell even though Perkins had not great stats by any means.

 

[Bargnani_]

It goes beyond the numbers. He was the captain of the second unit, gave them a big advantage off the bench matching up against anyone in a Ginobili type way. He could also hit big shots when needed.

Also there was a certain chemistry and identity that was developed with Westbrook, Harden and Durant in that they were all drafted and rose together season by season, getting better every year.

It's like when the Celtics traded Perkins, the chemistry was all shot to hell even though Perkins had not great stats by any means.

Wouldn't Kevin Martin give the Thunder the same advantage ? A career player who had to deal with starters is now going to be on the floor against 2nd units . He avg 23 points per game against teams first unit players .

Can we preprint the headline for Houston newspapers 3 years from now ...

" Harden sick of losing will not talk extension and will test free agency "

 

[Dawgger]

It goes beyond the numbers. He was the captain of the second unit, gave them a big advantage off the bench matching up against anyone in a Ginobili type way. He could also hit big shots when needed.

Also there was a certain chemistry and identity that was developed with Westbrook, Harden and Durant in that they were all drafted and rose together season by season, getting better every year.

It's like when the Celtics traded Perkins, the chemistry was all shot to hell even though Perkins had not great stats by any means.

So will he have the same chemistry with the Rockets? I doubt he is the 6th man with Houston.

Wouldn't Kevin Martin give the Thunder the same advantage ? A career player who had to deal with starters is now going to be on the floor against 2nd units . He avg 23 points per game against teams first unit players .

Can we preprint the headline for Houston newspapers 3 years from now ...

" Harden sick of losing will not talk extension and will test free agency "

Kevin Martin may do well if he accepts the 6th man role. Will the chemistry be there with the bench like there was with Harden?

Harden will be "the guy" in Houston and not a support player that has stars in front of him. He may find life not as comfortable as he did with the Thunder.

 

[Bargnani_]

So will he have the same chemistry with the Rockets? I doubt he is the 6th man with Houston.



Kevin Martin may do well if he accepts the 6th man role. Will the chemistry be there with the bench like there was with Harden?

Harden will be "the guy" in Houston and not a support player that has stars in front of him. He may find life not as comfortable as he did with the Thunder.

How will Harden deal with being " the man " and visiting teams scheming defenses for him every night ? The fact his partner Jeremy Lin will be facing the same presure means he might not be getting much help .

 

[Ballers83]

LMAO... you obviously don't know much about basketball. James Harden >>>> Kevin Martin and its not even close. Martin is a volume shooter whose lack of lateral quickness and strength makes him one of the worst defensive 2 guards in the league. The value of James Harden goes beyond just PPG. If u look at his PER and other advanced stats, you'll see that Harden is one of the most efficient players in the league. All of OKCs best offensive/defensive lineups in terms of points scored/allowed per possession has Harden smack in the middle.

How is the Thunder gettting a player who as recently as two years ago avg 23.4 pts per game and the player he replacedhad numbers on the same line as DeRozan . What is a James Harden ? For somebody who hasn't really done much he sure does get a lot of pub . OKC does have a Kevin Martin's expiring contract to even get more assets in this trade if they want to trade Martin .

Again I ask . What has James Harden done during his brief NBA career to warrent a max contract ? IF you put James Harden on the Toronto Raptors how many more wins would the Raptors have this year ?

 

[Ballers83]

I can't believe people in this thread are saying Harden is selfish for wanting the max, instead of taking way less money in OKC. Were talking about 20 million difference here, who here would turn down that money? Its not only about the money too, its about respect. From what I hear, Harden was really insulted by OKC's offer. Imagine you already gave up your stats/prestige to come off the bench when you could be an all star if you started for other teams. Then OKC offers u a contract thats wayyyyy below your market value? There were tons of teams ready to give Harden the max once he became a restricted FA, and OKC comes in with an offer a lot below the max. I would walk too...

 

[VinnyBlaze]

You have to consider that OKC is also acquiring an expiring contract of $13M in Kevin Martin and two (possibly unprotected) future first round picks from Houston (one via the trade with Toronto and another via a trade with the Bobcats). OKC wins long term, but I think Houston wins it short time. Not only did OKC give up a great player in James Harden but they also took a shot at the great core and chemistry that they had been building these past three years prior to the trade. Of course, that's a good thing for my Lakers as I hope that Harden's absence becomes a disadvantage for the Thunder this year. As for James personally choosing money over championship, well, he's 23 years old and wants to establish himself as a franchise player--which of course is not a bad thing. He can either go the Tracy McGrady route (minus the injury and playoff failure), or fail in his attempt. I personally don't see any superstar quality in him, and I would never offer him a max contract, lol, no way. He will forever be a supplementary player to a number one option in my opinion.

 

[Bargnani_]

I can't believe people in this thread are saying Harden is selfish for wanting the max, instead of taking way less money in OKC. Were talking about 20 million difference here, who here would turn down that money? Its not only about the money too, its about respect. From what I hear, Harden was really insulted by OKC's offer. Imagine you already gave up your stats/prestige to come off the bench when you could be an all star if you started for other teams. Then OKC offers u a contract thats wayyyyy below your market value? There were tons of teams ready to give Harden the max once he became a restricted FA, and OKC comes in with an offer a lot below the max. I would walk too...

?? Where are you getting your figures . His last offer from OKC was for 13.5 million dollars a year which is only 2 million dollars less a year from Max .

 

[Hightop]

?? Where are you getting your figures . His last offer from OKC was for 13.5 million dollars a year which is only 2 million dollars less a year from Max .

Rumor has it he is getting a 5yr 80 million dollar contract with Houston