If I say James Harden is the most likely player to be the best SG in 3 years, would I be wrong? Other potential candidates I see are Klay Thompson, Aaron Afflalo, Shabazz, one of the rookies(Beal, Lamb, Waiters) The SG position seems so overloaded with older players. Odd considering that the league is becoming more and more of a guard league.
Eric Gordon, disregarding his health issues, would be the better bet in my opinion. But he and Harden are pretty much 1a and 1b.
I dismissed Gordon because of his health. I put less stocks into the concept of injury history than most people, but Gordon's been injured at a ridiculous rate.
Even if Gordon was 100% healthy, I would still give Harden the slight edge. He's already been outperforming Gordon and he is younger. Harden has better size for the position, as well. There is no SG in the NBA under 30 who is currently better or who has a higher chance to become a superstar. I've been saying this for a year now and have been floating the possibility of trading for Harden for that long. Glad to see Morey agreed with me.
Eric Gordon has scored more points, but shoots at a lower percentage and doesn't have the all-round + play-making skills of Harden. Even if healthy, I'd take Harden over Gordon. At least Toney Douglas would ... he would be out and Livingston in if Harden did not have play-making skills.
Only Shabazz has a chance. And he has a great chance. Has all the tools to be great. Klay is one dimensional. His offensive repertoire isn't even that impressive. Affalo? Are you serious? Beal and Lamb don't look like they have that fierce superstar mentality to take over. Waiters looks like he doesn't have much BBall IQ.
Andrew Wiggins maybe? But he's more of a SF and he's awhile off before he becomes a factor... more of a next generation of wings type guy
3 years aren't that long. Wade will probably still be at the top. Afflalo was a joke, i hope... I think in 3 years: 1. Wade 2. Harden. 2. Eric Gordon. 3. Paul George. (I'm a Pacers fan so i'm biased, but whatever, i think he'll get there) 4. Iguodala. Gordon is good. He reminds me of Mitch Richmond. Gordon had injuries, but i'm not under impression that it's a Brandon-Roy type situation. Sprained wrist, minor cartilage damage after bumping knees. Those happen, it's a physical game, but they aren't career killing injuries. I worry about Steph Curry or D-Rose far more than I do about Eric Gordon.
Noway Wade will be top in 3 years. His body is breaking down allready and by then he will be going on 33 with a broken down body.Harden will be on top an in 3 years he will be 26.
Gordon? -6'3 -Mediocre passer -Injury prone -Mediocre defender -Only 37% from 3 and 80% from the line No thanks. Harden is clearly superior.
we'll see. i heard this same argument 5 years ago. His body has been breaking down forever. Not everyone's a T-Mac. Wade right now is far ahead of all these young SGs. In 3 years, the gap should close down, but I doubt it will be gone. a long, very athletic 6'3. it's not like he's Monta Ellis. "Only 37%"? And I wouldn't call him a mediocre defender. I guess it depends on what you call someone like Harden. If Gordon's mediocre, then Harden would be horrible.
Not really, since Harden performs better than Gordon in virtually every metric. The only metric in which Gordon really outperforms Harden is volume of scoring (e.g. he scores more points per game), and that's not surprising at all since Gordon has been featured as the primary go-to scorer on his teams, while Harden has been playing third fiddle.
Realistically, you would say that if Harden is mediocre but durable, then Gordon is mediocre but injury-prone. They're not that far apart in talent level. Harden just has a slight edge. In reality though neither of them are f***ing mediocre. They're both really good players and are probably the two best shooting guards under age 30 in the league. It just so happens that Harden is better.
