James Harden to Rockets

He traded Jeff Green for Perkins and Nate Robinson.

 

He did not trade Green for Harden

 

Whoops.

 

It's why I'm solidly anti-cap. You get bullshit like this, but the Heat and Lakers get stronger and can dominate the league for years. Take the cap away and let every team fend for themselves.

Could care less about the NBA in general but I do like the Thunder and how they play ball... I have a feeling they will be stronger than others might think.

 

Thunder fan here. I like the move. I think it'll take the team some time to get used to this, since those guys basically grew up together in their NBA lives, and that adjustment might cost them the #1 seed in the west, but I expect that by playoff time, they'll have gelled and be a team nobody wants to face.

Or so that's what I'm telling myself.

 

Remember the Thunder get Maynor back. He could be someone who eases the loss and allows Westbrook to become a SG while Maynor contributes distributing and shooting.

 

Does having Harden make it easier for Houston to attract other FAs?

 

Incrementally, if all things are equal a free agent would like to go to a team with more talent.

 

I don't think it hurts them though. The team probably looks more attractive with Harden, Lin and the grab bag they have now, instead of just Lin and the grab bag. Also, after teams like Orlando wouldn't deal them Dwight Howard or whatever true superstar they wanted, they probably had to set their sights a bit lower. Harden strikes me as a Top 30 guy, with a chance to get better, which is probably better than the Rockets were going to do picking in the low to high teens, as they are now.

 

Don't look now, but Harden went off for 37 with 12 assists and six rebounds in his Rockets debut -- a 105-96 win over Detroit.

FYI, Lin had 12 and eight assists.

Both had four steals.