James Harden traded to Houston by OKC

After turning down OKC's $55.5M offer, he is now in Houston where he purportedly will receive the maximum $60M contract.

Really, you're leaving a team because of that? Without looking at the Rockets lineup, I gotta believe the promise of starting has to be in there too.

I love James Harden and wanted to see him in green very much, but that was before he started looking like a little prima donna.

The trade was Harden, Cole Aldrich, Daequan Cook and Lazar Hayward for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, 2 first round picks and a second round pick.


I'm not sure what to think about this trade. What do you think?



bob


.

Obviously winning a championship is not high on Harden's list of priorities.

And he thinks he can't make do on $55.5 mil.

This could mean that all the talk about amnestying Perk will go away.

Here's a link:

from Adrian Wojnarowski:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--inside-look-at-james-harden-s-trade-to-rockets-28301609.html

Dumb trade for Houston, they gave up too much, Kevin Martin is a proven scorer, playing with better talent around him will make him better, don't know what to think of Jeremy Lamb at next level as we know drafts are a crapshoot? he may have some scoring ability at this level, if he does they got 2 scorers plus good draft slots, who knows could be great move by Thunder. Can't believe Harden couldn't give home team alittle 5 million discount, coming across as selfish egomaniac somewhat.

gyso,

I hadn't heard the talk about amnestying Perk. Wow, if they ever did that, how would it make the Perk-for-Green trade look? More interesting is whether the Celtics would try to re-sign Perk.

Sam

Sam,

With Durant, Westbrook and Ibaca ($44.8mil next season) all locked up, Hardin was next for the Thunder to get under contract long term. He would have added perhaps $14mil more next season. That would put the combined salaries for just four players at just under $60mil with that amount escalating even higher the following two seasons.

Here's their ShamSports salary page:

http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/thunder.jsp

Perk is still at $9mil per year, he could be amnestied in order for the Thunder to get under the luxury tax limit for team salary, currently $74.3mil.

Here is a link to

Oklahoma City Thunder: 10 Reasons They Must Amnesty Kendrick Perkins:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1237102-oklahoma-city-thunder-10-reasons-they-must-amnesty-kendrick-perkins

Here's a couple more links:

http://pardontheeruption.com/2012/09/03/oklahoma-city-thunder-must-amnesty-kendrick-perkins-despite-dwight-howard-trade/

http://www.celticsblog.com/2012/9/12/3324210/could-kendrick-perkins-get-amnestied

The amnesty deadline for this season has passed, so it's too late for that now.

gyso

With Dwight Howard around the corner, Perk ain't going anywhere

This is an ok trade for OKC but it clearly made them worse for this season.
I have no idea why they wouldn't go for it this year and trade Harden next summer.

Kevin Martin is a one-dimensional player. He rarely shoots the ball from closer then 15 feet. He is a horrendous defensive player too.
Jeremy Lamb is a rookie that won't get much playing time this year.
OKC got two first round picks but the Dallas pick might not be conveyed to them for years. This was the top 20 protected pick that LA received in the Odom trade and then traded it to Houston in the Jordan Hill trade. Dallas should not be a top 10 team this season so that pick won't be OKC's until 2014 as the earliest. They won't receive the Toronto pick next summer unless Toronto finishes in the lottery but does not have one of the top 3 picks. Odds are Toronto will have pick 4-14. OKC does get back Charlotte's 2013 2nd round pick that was transferred to Boston then traded to Hoston in the Courtney Lee trade.

I doubt Durant and Westbrook are happy about the trade.

There are many different opinions about the Harden trade.
Royce Young who wrote the story that I linked below is a well respected writer who covers the Thunder. He gave his list of winners and losers in the Harden trade.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/eye-on-basketball/20716746/winners-and-losers-okc-trades-james-harden-to-houston

TJ,
Thanks for the link to the article.
Continuing its Winners-Losers list, we can put Celtics on the W side: this trade doesn't directly affect Celtics and, as they say, no news is good news which means it's good for the Celtics

As for Perk back in green, I think it's in the past. Let's move forward. Also, from OKC standpoint - who else they can put against DH12.

AK

sinus007 wrote:TJ,
Thanks for the link to the article.
Continuing its Winners-Losers list, we can put Celtics on the W side: this trade doesn't directly affect Celtics and, as they say, no news is good news which means it's good for the Celtics

As for Perk back in green, I think it's in the past. Let's move forward. Also, from OKC standpoint - who else they can put against DH12.

AK

Sinus,

I believe the days of Perk controlling Dwight are ancient history.
In Dwight's last 4 games against Perkins and OKC over the last two years, Dwight has averaged 31 ppg and 16 rpg while Perkins had more fouls then points in those games.

OKC - big advantage here // Hardne/Martin cancel each other out scoring wise. Harden is no max contrat player. Lamb was one of the best shooting guards in the draft. Throw in the 2 first rounders and OKC has proven that they understand value.

Perk is not going anywhere just don't expect him to score.

dboss

dboss

Totally agree Harden is no max contract player, these owners cry the blues and are their worst enemy, Joe Johnson and Ben Gorden are not max contract guys either IMHO. Kenyon Martin got a max deal, he shoulda gave half that cash to Jason Kidd.

cow

Max contracts are not the same as they were under the terms of the old CBA. Joe Johnson signed for 6 years at $119m. The max Harden can receive is 5 years at $80m.

Since Eric Gordon, Roy Hibbert and Brook Lopez all received max contracts this summer, James Harden should receive a max contract.

Here is an interesting note about Harden when Duract is not in the game.
When Durant is on the floor with Harden, Harden averages 16.6 points per 40 minutes.
When Durant is not on the floor with Harden, Harden averages 34.7 points per 40 minutes.

I expect that Harden will easily be a top 10 scorer in the league with Houston and could be a top 5 scorer.

tjmakz wrote:Max contracts are not the same as they were under the terms of the old CBA. Joe Johnson signed for 6 years at $119m. The max Harden can receive is 5 years at $80m.

Since Eric Gordon, Roy Hibbert and Brook Lopez all received max contracts this summer, James Harden should receive a max contract.

Here is an interesting note about Harden when Duract is not in the game.
When Durant is on the floor with Harden, Harden averages 16.6 points per 40 minutes.
When Durant is not on the floor with Harden, Harden averages 34.7 points per 40 minutes.

I expect that Harden will easily be a top 10 scorer in the league with Houston and could be a top 5 scorer.

TJ,

Just goes to remind everybody that there is only one ball, and individual scoring titles and records are not as valuable as the hype that accompanies them try to make them seem.

bob


.

bob,

That one ball will be in Harden's hands quite a bit in Houston.
He will be playing with a pass first pg, a center that doesn't score and forwards that aren't big time scorers. There will be plenty of opportunities for Harden to score 25 ppg.

No, scoring titles are not as valuable when compared to a championship, but I guess Harden stuck to his guns with wanting a max contract like some other inferior players received this summer.

James Harden scored 45 points tonight after 37 in Houston's first game.
He will be a top 5 scorer this season.

Both Harden and Martin looked great in their new roles with their new teams yesterday. Meanwhile the Celtics and Lakers continued to stink it out while integrating new players and a new offense.

You never know until you actually play the game...

Can anyone name the last Celtic who won an NBA scoring title - as a Celtic? That discounts Pete Maravich.

That also disqualifies Shaq, Tiny Archibald, Bob McAdoo, and Dominique Wilkens....

I don't think any Celtic has won a scoring title have they? I think Bird finished second one year. Of course my memory seems to fade from year to year.

Harden has never averaged more than 31.7 minutes a game in his career. Looks like he is playing about 40 so far with Houston. With him being the main man and getting 10 extra minutes a game, he should average around 25-26 pts a game this year.

Tardust, you're correct. No Celtic has ever won the scoring title, and it hasn't hurt us much, has it.

worcester wrote:Tardust, you're correct. No Celtic has ever won the scoring title, and it hasn't hurt us much, has it.

We obviously had several players that could have...... but like W says thats not the idea.

beat

beat wrote:

worcester wrote:Tardust, you're correct. No Celtic has ever won the scoring title, and it hasn't hurt us much, has it.

We obviously had several players that could have...... but like W says thats not the idea.

beat

Beat , we have on the other hand led the league in assists a few times. Wilbon was building up Steve Nash the other day and referred to him being the league leader in assists last year. I guess he forgot about RR. Do these guys just say things just to say them? Ooops I guess I answered my own question.