Ibaka will be offered about 9-10 mil per year and Harden would probably get more than that. We could threaten Presti into trading us Harden by telling him we will be offering the max to Harden. There's just no way they can keep 3 max guys and an 9-10 mil guy on that roster. Harden will be offered that max. He's not injury prone, tons of potential, and is already one of the best SG in the game (and good SGs are pretty rare in the nba now). If gordon gets the max, harden will also.
It's going to be a difficult translation if he leaves OKC: (A) never having the opponent's best defender guard you, and always having good interior players to cover your own defensive mistakes, to possibly... (B) always having the opponent's best defender guard you, and never having good interior players to cover your own defensive mistakes. I would vote that he's going to look a lot less like a max player if he leaves. Just my two cents, and I have to say I *really* love his game.
Yes he is, you go get that mother****er. I'm tired of your ****ing cheap fat ass Morey and your master too.
Could work any way with that. Win ring. a.) Want to go for another ring. Wants to stay in OKC. b.) Has got his ring, now time to see if he can do it as the man elsewhere. Either way it's ultimately the players choice (as we have found out recently) so we'll see. I'm betting any team going after him will offer the max and also he'll have more marketing opportunities if he goes elsewhere and succeed.
YES! C'mon, K-Mart makes more than him. He should be getting paid way more than K-Mart gets paid in the near future...
5 year 60 mil contract. He is on fire in the playoffs, and he always comes through when his team needs a basket. My only question is, how good is he without Durant and Westbrook?
They made a big mistake giving perkins that money. I don't know if he is a max player, but he is super efficient and can handle the ball. If they give him max you would have KD+WB+SI+JH+KP making 75mil+
He reminds me of Joe Johnson. He is very close to a max player and a team will offer him the max to lure him out of OKC.
the big difference I see is he doesn't have a distributor on the level of Nash serving him up points on a silver platter. Harden is effective at creating his own shot and getting to the line, hence the otherwordly TS% and eFG%.
James Harden is not yet 23 years old. There is no telling how good he will become. Sky is the limit. A max contract is a risk, but he may very well turn out to be worth it. Some team will throw a max contract at Harden. Whether that will be OKC will be the question.
No, his game is nothing like Joe Johnson because Joe was always a shooter. Harden is more than solid on defense and can make plays. Harden can also shoot, but he can score in transition and just make plays. He affects the game more than Joe Johnson does and actually I bet a lot of people would tell you he's better than Joe Johnson right now. The situation that Joe was in is similar though. Only difference is Joe was drafted 10th and Harden 2nd...Harden's being a top 5 draft pick is also enticing because if you go in the top 3 you are usually talking about a player that can develop into a multi-time all-star.
This. Guys, Harden won't even be a restricted FA until 2013. Presti will lock him up this summer or before the January deadline. No other team (including the Rockets) will get a chance at him. Harden's defense is MUCH better than Kevin Martin's. Not even close. IMO, they might wait on re-signing Ibaka. Harden is the #1 priority.
He may want to but everyone that says this is never taking into consideration what Harden wants. Everyone always says the right thing until the time comes to make the decision. I completely ignore player and GM talk because it's always the same. GM "Yeah we want _____ back and we'll do all we can to ensure that happens." Player "Yeah I love this team, the city, the fans are awesome!" Next thing you know Deron Williams is being traded to the Nets.
Defense wins you championships, and the sky's the limit for Ibaka, too. With his offense starting to develop, he could be a star at PF. There is simply no way OKC can keep all 4 together, especially with the new luxury tax system starting next season. I don't think they've used their amnesty yet, so maybe they'll consider cutting Perkins if they can find another serviceable Center to replace him. In a weird way, OKC will be punished for drafting well.
D-Will was sick of Utah and everybody knew it. Sorry city and failing roster. The OKC and Utah situations are totally different. The vast majority of the time players coming off rookie contracts re-sign with their original teams when offered giant money. Harden will be no different. The real question is what KD, WB and Harden do when they come up the 2nd time.
No. Joe Johnson is a good example, and I'm not sure Harden was as good as JJ was in mid 2000s or can reach that level. I never thought Joe Johnson was a max salaried player. Good piece to have and a solid go-to player, but you need other pieces around him, for sure. He cannot carry a team, like Kobe, Dwight, or Lebron. 19.8 million roughly for a player who is mostly a primary scorer and decent play maker, not elite. I should explain that a little. You can have someone as solid go-to guy, or great scorer, but it doesn't necessarily means he should get maximum dollars, because you need other pieces around him to succeed. Which is weird when you see a player, like LeBron or other superstars take a paycut and fall into underpaid for production quality, but in attempt to win a title. Teams lose alot leverage and sometimes a competitive edge, when they over pay marginal stars/superstars. The Hawks may have been better off signing and trading Joe Johnson for quality starters and draft picks. If the Rockets signed Joe Johnson, it would've been a good move to help us, but at $119 million for 6 years . . . let him go off for another prospective team. Most of all, he's not a box-office attraction. Whenever you go to a Hawks game, I doubt there are people who specifically come just to watch Joe Johnson. Don't mean that as offense, but most people will come to watch a good game involving the home team or a team with a star or two on it (Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, the Heat, the Thunder, or etc). James Harden falls into the same category for now, unless some actually think his game would improve outside of OKC.
Deron is just one example though. Point is that GMs and players always say the right thing till the time comes. Almost every big FA that left a previous team was preceded by the GM expressing his desire to keep that player and the player expressing their desire to stay on that team. Also lets stop with the Joe Johnson game wise comparisons. Joe was and always is just a shooter. That's all he does. He's just a larger Kevin Martin. Harden at 22 does more things than Joe Johnson ever did. Honestly their games are nothing alike and Harden is more dynamic than Joe Johnson has ever been.
