James Harden traded to Rockets

Pretty shocking.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8562868/sources-oklahoma-city-thunder-trade-james-harden-houston-rockets

The Oklahoma City Thunder have traded James Harden, Daequan Cook, Lazar Hayward and Cole Aldrich to the Houston Rockets for Jeremy Lamb, Kevin Martin and future draft picks, a source told ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard.


The Thunder were unable to come to terms with their star swingman Harden on a contract extension and chose to break up their star trio of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Harden.


The deal was reported earlier by Yahoo! Sports.

Fuck YES! I love this move.

Great trade for the Rockets.

I think this could put the Rockets in the playoffs this year especially if the young players start to gel.

I don't like this deal for the Thunder. I understand not coming to terms on an extention..but if they saved it for midseason they could probably score a better deal. Martin isnt the same player he was 2-3 years ago as he does not get to he line as much nor is he as efficient as he was for the Kings. They must really like Lamb's upside.

I just think teams would be more desperate for a game changer like Harden near the trade deadline..but maybe the Thunder felt it would be too hard to part with him in the midst of a season..especially if the Thunder are doing very well...but the might have got a better deal.

KingsOwn19 wrote:

I don't like this deal for the Thunder. I understand not coming to terms on an extention..but if they saved it for midseason they could probably score a better deal. Martin isnt the same player he was 2-3 years ago as he does not get to he line as much nor is he as efficient as he was for the Kings. They must really like Lamb's upside.

I just think teams would be more desperate for a game changer like Harden near the trade deadline..but maybe the Thunder felt it would be too hard to part with him in the midst of a season..especially if the Thunder are doing very well...but the might have got a better deal.

They also get a pick which will likely be in the teens and a 2nd rounder. Lamb may be good, but he's another mid first rounder. I think He has the least upside (more ready now though) out of the Rockets 3 first rounds. (Royce White & Terrence Jones). Clearly the Rockets got the better end. Cole may be a nice project to watch in the future too with as little depth the Rockets have at C.

Martin is an awful defender. The Thunder should've traded for a defender over a scorer.

Just read the Rockets still have room to add another MAX contract next year in free agency. Al Jefferson & Josh Smith will be unrestricted FAs, I believe.

Martin couldn't stay in front of me on the court, this makes our road to the finals a lot easier IMO.

Harden was offered 55 mil for 4 years and turned it down... to stay with a championship contender... instead he's gonna be watching the playoffs on tv like the rest of us

Farmer1906 wrote:

Just read the Rockets still have room to add another MAX contract next year in free agency. Al Jefferson & Josh Smith will be unrestricted FAs, I believe.

Neither are worth the max.

Harden is much better not being the focal point of a team which is why OKC was ideal. He needs another star to take the pressure off. Houston is still going to be a bad basketball team

bobbitt15 wrote:

Harden is much better not being the focal point of a team which is why OKC was ideal. He needs another star to take the pressure off. Houston is still going to be a bad basketball team

How do you know that? He's 23 and never been asked to be the man.

Its come out of his own mouth before and its exactly the way he played in college. Its just not his personality to be an alpha-dog and he doesn't have help with Houston's current roster

bobbitt15 wrote:

Its come out of his own mouth before and its exactly the way he played in college. Its just not his personality to be an alpha-dog and he doesn't have help with Houston's current roster

Any link to a quote where he said that? Even if he did what the hell is he supposed to say playing with Durrant and Westbrook. "Yeah they're good, but this my team and I need the ball in my hands more often".

His freshman year he took a garbage team to a respectable one then his sophomore year he was consensus all american and Pac 10 player of the year. He was by far the alpha dog of both teams.

This was before last year. He called OKC's GM and told them he wanted to be drafted by them because his game is much more suited to be a 3rd wheel type of player than to be the man on a team and try to turn them around. He was by far the best player on those college teams, but he was not an alpha dog. They were running Herb Sendak's princeton offense and he had games where he disappeared and it was always obvious that he much preferred everyone be getting theirs than the team looking to him to make all the big plays.

I like the guy and think he's a great player, but he is who he is and that's a talented guy who is much better off being surrounded by a few other great players than being asked to do too much on his own

Harden is averaging 25.5 ppg at this point in the season. The Rockets are sitting in the 7 seed and look good even with Lin playing like crap and Patterson hurt.

Harden us averaging 26.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg, and 5.2 apg. The rockets are currently 6th in the west on pace to win 50 games. Yeah I'd day he can lead a team. Rox still need another stud though. I'd live to find a way to get Cousins out if Sac.

Thunder still have the best record in the NBA. K-Mart is the perfect 6th man.

OU wrote:

Thunder still have the best record in the NBA. K-Mart is the perfect 6th man.

That has little to do with Harden being a star and being a huge pick up for the Rockets. Just admit the Thunder just let a top 15 player go for a 6th man.

Farmer1906 wrote:

OU wrote:

Thunder still have the best record in the NBA. K-Mart is the perfect 6th man.

That has little to do with Harden being a star and being a huge pick up for the Rockets. Just admit the Thunder just let a top 15 player go for a 6th man.

I'll say I think the trade worked out very well for both teams. How can you argue otherwise? Durant and Westbrook are more complete players this year with Russell bringing up his assist and KD bringing up his rebounds. Ibaka's mid range game is really shaping up and his scoring is up as well. K-Mart is averaging almost the same PPG as Harden was. Westbrook is a defensive stud, hate on him all you want but the man is an exceptional player. Tell me how the Thunder are hurting without Harden? With the rest of the team stepping up and K-Mart being a great scorer off the bench, what are we missing? Great trade for both sides.
Best record in the NBA, how are they hurting?

What's Harden leaving got to do with Durant's rebounding?

freakzilla wrote:

What's Harden leaving got to do with Durant's rebounding?

I'm just pointing out that the entire team has really stepped it up and for that reason we are not missing Harden. Everyone is chipping in more and we aren't missing Harden's production. Atleast right now we aren't. Obviously the haters out there talking about the playoffs can't be proven wrong until the playoffs. But right now there is nothing that suggest OKC is missing Harden in any way.

OU wrote:

Farmer1906 wrote:

OU wrote:

Thunder still have the best record in the NBA. K-Mart is the perfect 6th man.

That has little to do with Harden being a star and being a huge pick up for the Rockets. Just admit the Thunder just let a top 15 player go for a 6th man.

I'll say I think the trade worked out very well for both teams. How can you argue otherwise? Durant and Westbrook are more complete players this year with Russell bringing up his assist and KD bringing up his rebounds. Ibaka's mid range game is really shaping up and his scoring is up as well. K-Mart is averaging almost the same PPG as Harden was. Westbrook is a defensive stud, hate on him all you want but the man is an exceptional player. Tell me how the Thunder are hurting without Harden? With the rest of the team stepping up and K-Mart being a great scorer off the bench, what are we missing? Great trade for both sides.
Best record in the NBA, how are they hurting?

Never said the Thunder was but that doesn't change the fact you got ride of a top 15 player for Kevin Martin.

We got rid of a player we couldn't pay for long term without losing someone else on the roster. Really everyone knew it came down to Ibaka or Harden. Would be very difficult to keep both. I'm happy with how things played out. I like our top 3 guys all more then Harden as overall players. Harden is the worst defender of that bunch, which is obvious by Thabo being the starter. Martin picks up the slack for the scoring. Ibaka is getting better and better at everything. I'm happy with our current roster.