James Harden traded to the Rockets

[Andrew]

So you didn't say he was going to average 41 points, yet you completely expected it and it isn't a surprise at all?

[shadowgrin]

yellow mamba

Racist.

[airBerlin]

So you didn't say he was going to average 41 points, yet you completely expected it and it isn't a surprise at all?

are you trolling? it's really not that hard to understand...

i don't expect james harden to average 41 pts the entire season, but it's not surprising that he averaged 41 pts across the span of 2 games...

[Andrew]

No, I'm not trolling. That's not exactly my style.

My point and my question is, did your or anyone else expect him to turn in performances like this to open the season? Considering he is stepping into a much bigger role and is fresh off a Finals series where he pretty much stunk it up, I have my doubts that it was widely expected. Put it this way: if someone had said "James Harden is going to have the most impressive performances in the league to begin the season", I'd have thought "Sure, I guess anything's possible", but I'd have expected someone like LeBron or Kobe or Durant to be far more likely to lay claim to that. Instead it's Harden, newly designated franchise player and former sixth man who struggled in a series where he wasn't the star or focus of the defense, having career games out of the gate. So there is the surprise of the unexpected.

[NovU]

James Harden disappointed Thunder didn't give him more time to consider offer

"After everything we established – everything we had done – you give me an hour?" Harden told Yahoo! Sports on Monday afternoon. "This was one of the biggest decisions of my life. I wanted to go home and pray about it. It hurt me. It hurt."

Bah. Like more time would have made a difference with his decision.

"I heard a lot of those things," Harden said. "I heard that I was greedy; that I didn't care about winning; heard the questioning of my loyalty. And I'm thinking: 'Of course I want to win. I've been winning my entire life.'

Winning it all certainly was within reach back in Thunda though. That's no doubt.

[_Steve_]

If I had been in Harden's place I'd definitely liked to have more than an hour to make that kind of a decision.

[Andrew]

I think anyone in that situation would've wanted a little more time to think about it, but so far the choice he made hasn't worked out too badly for him.

[shadowgrin]

It wasn't just 1 hour. Harden had the whole offseason to consider the Thunder's offer for a contract extension, the amount didn't change it was the same offer by the Thunder even before that 1 hour deadline.
Harden is just tripping.

[Andrew]

15 points on 5/15 shooting (0/5 from three), three rebounds, two assists, six turnovers...a little closer to Earth than the first few outings.

[[Q]]

he's taking no one by surprise anymore, plus with elite defenders guarding him now (Iguodala tonight) he'll have a bit of trouble especially with no other scoring threats on his team

[shadowgrin]

he's taking no one by surprise anymore, plus with elite defenders guarding him now (Iguodala tonight) he'll have a bit of trouble especially with no other scoring threats on his team

Of all people to forget Lin, it's Q.

Denver played better and most of the Rockets just stunk it up.

[Stress Fracture]

Damn.

[[Q]]

didn't forget about lin, just don't think he's much of a scoring threat outside of NY/D'Antoni's system

[NovU]

with no other scoring threats on his team

I think it's obvious but that's a spot on. While Harden is capable of doing his shit each night, there just isn't much going on with anybody else on the team. For example, I think Asik is awful. You replace him with last season's Tyson Chandler, you probably are looking at a legit 4 to 6 th seed team in West. Lin's got upsides to his game but has been little better than an average player this season. Probably with players like Chandler or legit off the ball player who can make a difference in the flow of the game, I think he could be much better as well as the team.

[Andrew]

Asik is good defensively and great on the boards - huge numbers so far in this young season - but offensively, anything he can give you is a bonus. He'll make the occasional nice move or shot in the post, clean up on the offensive boards with some garbage baskets or finish off a good pass with a strong dunk, but beyond that there's not a lot to his offensive game.

[NovU]

Kevin Martin's great. The Thunder still could be a sick team this season. Can't wait till Christmas to see them absolfurkunlutely destroyed tho.

[kevC]

Asik is good defensively and great on the boards - huge numbers so far in this young season - but offensively, anything he can give you is a bonus. He'll make the occasional nice move or shot in the post, clean up on the offensive boards with some garbage baskets or finish off a good pass with a strong dunk, but beyond that there's not a lot to his offensive game.

He's also a great passer.