Iverson only cracked 25+ PER once in his entire career while Harden has already done it twice. And that's just one metric. You didn't say anything about how Harden is far superior than Iverson in every category that measures efficiency, like TS%, WS/48, Net Rating, BPM. etc. Harden's salary this year was only $14 mil which was 24th among all players, and put up 29-6-7 on near 60 TS%, while ranking in top 10 in every major statistical category. Tobias Harris, Enes Kanter, Kevin Love, Derrick Rose, Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant had higher salary than Harden, and put up much inferior numbers and performance. I'd say Harden's contract is a huge bargain. On the other hand, Dwight is 4th highest paid player in the entire league with $ 22 mil, and couldn't even crack top 10 in his own position, while being worthless on both ends of the court. Now that's what I call a rip off. Dwight is 9th in contested rebounds, which means he's no longer a great rebounder anymore. They sure know Dwight is not what he once used to be. He's slow and worn-out. What's the point of having a $ 22 mil max player who doesn't do anything positive on the court, and gets 'unmotivated' when he should always be motivated no matter what, especially given his salary level? Again, Harden's salary this year was only $14 mil which was 24th among all players, and put up 29-6-7 on near 60 TS%, while ranking in top 10 in every major statistical category. Tobias Harris, Enes Kanter, Kevin Love, Derrick Rose, Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant had higher salary than Harden, and put up much inferior numbers and performance. I'd say Harden's contract is a huge bargain. On the other hand, Dwight is 4th highest paid player in the entire league with $ 22 mil, and couldn't even crack top 10 in his own position, while being worthless on both ends of the court. Now that's what I call a rip off. Sorry, but objective evidence and advanced stats disagree with you. Nah, this was arguably Harden's second best year, while for Dwight it was one of his worst years. If Dwight didn't decline so significantly we would've performed much better as a team. Just because the team is built around certain player, that doesn't mean he should bear all responsibility for the team record, especially when there was a glaring lack of support from other players all year long. Case in Point 1986-1987 Micheal Jordan : avg 37 PPG but the team was 40-42 2002-2003 Tracy Mcgrady : avg 32 PPG but the team was 42-40 2005-2006 Allen Iverson : avg 33 PPG but the team was 38-44 2006-2007 Kobe Bryant : avg 32 PPG but the team was 42-40 2008-2009 Dwayne Wade : avg 30 PPG but the team was 43-39 I guess they were all losers too, even though all those teams would have fared much worse if it weren't for a single superstar carrying them night-in-and-night-out. Interesting how Chicago Bulls still managed to win 55 games even after Jordan retired. Interesting how even Lebron had to team up with Wade & Bosh to finally get that ring. As if it takes 5 players to win, and overall talent level, not just one player's, and good coaching absolutely matters in building a great team. Who knew, huh?
Iverson only cracked 25+ PER once in his entire career while Harden has already done it twice. And that's just one metric. You didn't say anything about how Harden is far superior than Iverson in every category that measures efficiency, like TS%, WS/48, Net Rating, BPM. etc. Harden's salary this year was only $14 mil which was 24th among all players, and put up 29-6-7 on near 60 TS%, while ranking in top 10 in every major statistical category. Tobias Harris, Enes Kanter, Kevin Love, Derrick Rose, Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant had higher salary than Harden, and put up much inferior numbers and performance. I'd say Harden's contract is a huge bargain. On the other hand, Dwight is 4th highest paid player in the entire league with $ 22 mil, and couldn't even crack top 10 in his own position, while being worthless on both ends of the court. Now that's what I call a rip off. Dwight is 9th in contested rebounds, which means he's no longer a great rebounder anymore. They sure know Dwight is not what he once used to be. He's slow and worn-out. What's the point of having a $ 22 mil max player who doesn't do anything positive on the court, and gets 'unmotivated' when he should always be motivated no matter what, especially given his salary level? Again, Harden's salary this year was only $14 mil which was 24th among all players, and put up 29-6-7 on near 60 TS%, while ranking in top 10 in every major statistical category. Tobias Harris, Enes Kanter, Kevin Love, Derrick Rose, Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant had higher salary than Harden, and put up much inferior numbers and performance. I'd say Harden's contract is a huge bargain. On the other hand, Dwight is 4th highest paid player in the entire league with $ 22 mil, and couldn't even crack top 10 in his own position, while being worthless on both ends of the court. Now that's what I call a rip off. Sorry, but objective evidence and advanced stats disagree with you. Nah, this was arguably Harden's second best year, while for Dwight it was one of his worst years. If Dwight didn't decline so significantly we would've performed much better as a team. Just because the team is built around certain player, that doesn't mean he should bear all responsibility for the team record, especially when there was a glaring lack of support from other players all year long. Case in Point 1986-1987 Micheal Jordan : avg 37 PPG but the team was 40-42 2002-2003 Tracy Mcgrady : avg 32 PPG but the team was 42-40 2005-2006 Allen Iverson : avg 33 PPG but the team was 38-44 2006-2007 Kobe Bryant : avg 32 PPG but the team was 42-40 2008-2009 Dwayne Wade : avg 30 PPG but the team was 43-39 I guess they were all losers too, even though all those teams would have fared much worse if it weren't for a single superstar carrying them night-in-and-night-out. Interesting how Chicago Bulls still managed to win 55 games even after Jordan retired. Interesting how even Lebron had to team up with Wade & Bosh to finally get that ring. As if it takes 5 players to win, and overall talent level, not just one player's, and good coaching absolutely matters in building a great team. Who knew, huh?
Point taken. Why don't we just give Harden to the Warriors? If he is slowing down their ball movement, affects their winning, we know who is the culprit. If they win the same amount of 70 games then he can coexist with good shooters. It is the best way to find out.