It looks like Harden and OJ Mayo are having similar starts to the season with their increased roles. They were both coming off the bench previously in their careers but now have a chance to shine for their respective teams. The difference is OJ Mayo flew completely under the radar and no one seemed to notice when Dallas scooped him up for $4M per year. If you are Morey, knowing what you know now about both players, do you have any regrets? Dallas completely retooled with Collison, Mayo and Kaman playing with Dirk for cheap. The difference is Dallas has Dirk to build around, we were desperate for that cornerstone. Harden is expected to be our star, and Mayo is expected to compliment Dirk. James Harden Age: 23 Height: 6'5 Weight: 220LBS 2012 Statistics PPG: 24.5 RPG: 4.6 APG: 4.3 STL: 1.7 BLK: .6 Salary: $5,820,000 <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cCAFdBWuNhw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> OJ Mayo Age: 25 Height: 6'4 Weight: 210LBS 2012 Statistics PPG: 22.2 RPG: 2.9 APG: 3.2 STL: .7 BLK: .2 Salary: $4,020,000 <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hi5leZ5ebLc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Knowing what you know now, which of the two players would you pick as most likely to continue this level of production for a prolonged period of time? Knowing what you did prior to this season, which player would you have picked to be on your Houston Rockets? I'm not knocking on OJ or his performance lately, but I don't think Morey has anything to regret regarding this decision.
When Harden's shot isn't falling, he can still get to the line at ease. This is what makes him better than Mayo in my opinion. Plus he's a better playmaker.
OJ Mayo has a better jumper and is a better dribbler...it's too early to tell who's the better playmaker.
I still wouldn't take Mayo. I mean, if you want, I can point you to Kevin Martin's beastly numbers with OKC right now. Doesn't mean I regret him leaving. Even assuming an alternate reality where the Rockets trade KMart for a mediocre 1st rounder, sign Mayo, keep Lamb and Toronto's pick, is our future really any better? Also, he has a player option next season. So assuming he stays awesome, he'll opt out and be paid something like 4yr/$40mil as a 26yr old. Honestly, I'm not salivating at the prospect of that. Oh, and he's shooting 58% from 3pt land right now, as well as ridiculously above-career-average shooting numbers all around. Sustainability of such things are almost never based on history.
Not saying Mayo is the better player, but you can't deny that his development was heavily slowed down because of his limited role on the Grizzlies. Mayo was one of the most complete player out of his draft class and averaged 18/3/3 in his rookie year, even Chris Paul was giving him props. There's no doubt all he needed was just a change of scenario.
Harden is bigger, more athletic, younger, more defensive upside, smarter, better court vision / playmaking instincts, much more of a penetration threat. Mayo's start seems extremely fluky. And he's on a 1 year contract. At some point he will go down to earth. The question is when and will he manage to get overpaid based on his current play. The better question is -- Mayo or Kevin Martin.
He's more of a pull up in rhythm type of shooter, but was forced to be a set shooter in Memphis. He had to just stand in the corner and wait for kick outs from Zach Randolph or Marc Gasol. I think that has a lot to do with his increased shooting percentage.
And if he shot 3 pointers this year at his usual 38% clip, rather than the absurd 58% clip, he'd basically be a 19/3/3 guy this year. And you know who's a 26/3/3 guy? The incredibly hated, one-dimensional Kevin Martin. Someone half the Rockets fans were willing to dump for a bag of chips. To say Mayo is a complete player is offensive to true multi-dimensional playmakers.
I agree. I just don't see Harden becoming one of the top flight super stars. Maybe a tier below likes of DWade or Kobe, to me he's like the shooting guard version of Chris Bosh --- capable of putting up allstar numbers for multiple seasons, but unable to go far in the playoffs nor win a championship.
He's actually averaging 17/2/2 this season and 23/3/2 at his peak with the Rockets. I think the reason Kevin Martin was hated was because he was our asked to be our franchise player and the franchise player sets the tone for our brand of basketball. With Kevin Martin, you had flopping and flailing. It just wasn't a brand of basketball to be proud of.
Kevin Martin never averaged 26/3/3, I don't know where you get that number from. Kevin Martin is surely efficient, but the problem with him is that he can not create his own shot, he's heavily relying on other people to create for him, therefore I don't think it's fair to compare him to Mayo and Harden where both players create their own shots quite well. I also think you misunderstood what I said, I meant to say Mayo was the most complete player when he was drafted.
And this is...at least. Since he already played 3rd fiddle and proved that he can be a great sidekick to a superstar player...which is just a 2nd tier superstar player. Chris Bosh is just doing fine winning a championship and playing great right now. I'll take that, every day of the week. Did not have that before. If you get another player like that or somehow manage to get a tier 1 player you are in business big time...and it's easier to get that player when you have one on your team.
havent seen mayo lately... but harden is jordanlike potential...just wait until he adjusts to the new role, minutes and team...he'll do wonders....
It's still too early to say that. Harden hasn't been the alpha dog long enough to convince me he's at least at that level. Mind you, Chris Bosh single handedly carried the Toronto team to the playoffs. Whether we could get another similar caliber player is still a big fat IF, especially tier 1 players, they don't grow on trees and teams are normally on their sack all the time. Sure it increases out chance if Harden becomes one, but come to think of it, would 2 tier 2 star players be capable of winning a championship? Upon an sort of relate to Utah, they had a solid team with excellent coaching, Boozer and Dwill were all star caliber players but they fell short in the playoffs. we are definitely on the right track though.
i really dont understand why the grizzlies hated him so much , there has to be something wrong with honestly attitude or something , oj is pretty good clutch shooter and all but would u pay oj the max because hes gona be asking for it , harden a member or team usa deserves the max whereas oj mayo is mostly inconsistent but hes been great so far this season in the long run u take james harden for 15 mil over oj mayo for 4 million everyday and everyone in the nba would