So I can finally stop complaining about the Rockets refusing to tank. You tank/rebuild for a shot at a player like Harden, and Morey made it happen without the suffering of a season long tankjob.
We now have a legitimate player that is not only good on paper, but PERCEIVED to be good by the league and other players. That is crucial to us signing that last player that will round out our trio of Lin, Harden, and X.
If he gets hungry he doesn't have to leave the court. He can just nibble on yesterday's breakfast stashed away. This could increase his PER x5.
newsflash, he's not coming with a bunch of fans. Harden fans were OKC fans, team only fans. Just like OKC is not getting a bunch of Kevin Martin fans, unless they think he's Drake and then Drake fans will be OKC fans.
He's a player who: -can create his own shot -is clutch -(knock on wood) isn't injury prone -young -2 dimensional player -is going to be with us in his prime years -help attract big names -fills a position of need
B/c we sped up the rebuilding process by atleast 2 years. Why hope our TOR 4-10 draft pick will end up an all-star when you can trade for one. A little sad to see Lamb, the 2k13 ball hog go, when we had 50 PF's to choose from. And I'm tired of atleast and alot getting scribbley red lined by spell checker.
Because he's James freaking Harden! Think about it James Harden! Top 10 talent in the NBA. All those assets were for this type of major trade we've been dying for. Even D12 would want to play with this guy. It take's a star player to attract more in the future. It's nice to be relevant again.
Harden is all star potential based on skill not popularity. That is a tad bit contradictory considering that the All Star Games is first & foremost a popularity contest. Fan vote after all.
I'm happy because this means that Jeremy Lin is not the #1 star player, which might take some of the pressure off of him and allow him to do more of what he did last year in NY. And with that back-court being able to score, and Parsons possibly coming out with a real break-out year, this could make us so much more attractive to another free agent player to round out a very good starting 5. This also makes it harder for teams to double up on our bigs and might give Asik more PPG. Nothing but positivity from me on this trade.
Harden has a substantial fanbase. Not Lin or Kobe size or anything, but he's been watched by alot of the gearheads. Toss in his popularity among fans of OKC, and yah, expect another influx of fans...
