It's pretty crazy that James has actually become the best player in basketball

It loses out to 1984 (Stockton - Jordan - Barkley - Willis - Olajuwon), beats 1996 (Nash - Allen - Bryant - Stojakovic - O'Neal), the real question is weather that class beats 2003 (Hinrich - Wade- James - Anthony - Bosh)

08-09 Bosh = 13-14 Griffin
12-13 Anthony > 17-18 DeRozan
12-13 James >>> 17-18 Harden
08-09 Wade <<<<<<<< 15-16 Curry
06-07 Hinrich = 14-15 Teague

* one > or < equals .10 WS/48 difference.

I'd have to give the edge to 2003, while the best of 2009 barley beats out 2003 in terms of advanced stats, the absolute size of 2003 + their superior spacing (only '09 Bosh can't shoot 3s, compared to '14 Griffin and '18 Derozan) makes up for the defensive mediocrity of Anthony and Hinrich. While the Harden-Griffin P&R would be absurdly silly, boosted by Curry getting smothered the moment he crosses half-court, LeBron's physically (plus the fact he had the highest peak of any of the players), and the overwhelming rebounding advantage against 4/5 players puts '03 on top for me.

 

This facet gets COMPLETELY ignored.

Teams ultimately rise and fall due to talent. Not just an Alpha, but key star teammates.

 

I thought you meant you called it at the time of the trade. I seem to remember a couple of people did, which a few were saying it was a horrible trade.

 

Okay, I couldn't resist. I just wasted 30 minutes of my day for the sake of your entertainment, ClutchFans!

More than 14% of the members here didn't like the trade when it went down. Here are the negative responses in only the first 20 pages of the thread announcing it:

EDIT: This is totally meant in the spirit of fun; we have ALL had our not-too-bright ClutchFans moments.

 

LOL.

 

For the record, my post didn’t say the trade was bad. It set the expectation level for what he had to be for what we gave up. The key word is “or”.

 

Yeah, good point. I just loved the "or we got raped" part too much not to include it.

 

i have grown to miss swyyyguy

 

Is he gone? Banned? Left in shame?

In all fairness, he probably hated the Harden trade because until Beard showed up, that was going to be the year Jeremy Lin established himself as a bonafide star.

 

I made more than one bad post in that thread. I also compared Harden to Swaggy P. I regret nothing.

I also thought Carmelo Anthony, James Ennis and MCW were going to work out for the Rockets. I still regret nothing.

ALSO I didn't vote in that thread. I'm not one of the 14%.

PPS No one in that thread thought Harden was going to be this good, so I think curating posts from more than 5 years ago is mean-spirited. @topfive

reported.

 

I absolutely knew Harden was going to be the best player in the league and an MVP. I would prove it by finding my posts saying that, but... um... I have a dentist appointment or something.

Seriously, I remember having mixed feelings myself. Thankfully, I didn't post them in that thread.

I'll bet even Dorrel Marley himself still doesn't believe how good Harden is. First thing when he wakes up, he probably pinches himself.

 

And by the way, Regret Nothing would be an awesome slogan for a clothing brand.

 

To be fair, no one should really be flamed for bashing the Harden trade when it was made. No one thought Harden would be this good. Not the eye test, not any statistics or analytics, nothing.

 

37 pts 12 assists at Detroit, followed it up with 44 points against the hawks.

 

If anyone really belly ached or truly thought Harden would be worse than anything we gave up I think you should be flamed.

That is the point of discussion. Someone is going to be right and someone is going to be wrong.

If you don’t want the I told you so posts then don’t take such hardlined stances on moves and decisions prematurely.

 

Lol, I thought of this post recently... Good find, jerk! haha.

For the sake of creating more fuel for the future, I'll double down and ask how many championships have we won with him?

I'm posting this with hopes it will resurface in the future when he's brought us home the title.

 

Respectfully disagree. Being "this good" does not negate a good decision. If I buy a stock hoping it will be good, then it turns out to be fantastic, that's still a good choice by me. And the people who didn't like the choice were still wrong. Morey deserves massive props.

 

It's crazy man. Even NBA players are trying to copy his moves. Dude just loves loves loves to play the game.

 

I remember that game against the hawks. He basically put the team on his back down the stretch and won it for em. Was watching the tv with my jaw drop face.