If we can't get Lebron/Durant to sign here as FAs,who cares if Harden gets $15mil/yr?

If anything this helps us get a superstar because Harden is a respected, famous all-star who was on the Olympic team... and we still have max cap room to add somebody.

Morey just got us

a) A guy with a legit shot to develop into a superstar
b) A guy who is already an all-star and will make Houston a more attractive destination to free agent superstars

 

Harden needs to make some buddies on that Olympic squad!

Start texting yo!

 

Josh Smith.

 

Just checked the ESPN NBA page, we got a player wearing a Rockets jersey there! Isn't that cool. Woohoo! :grin:

 

There has been an exponential increase in national exposure that the Rockets have seen in the last few months that no one would've predicted aside from us landing Howard. You're nuts if you think Houston is viewed the same today as a potential destination by NBA players than it was six months ago.

 

Lol, your right. I just checked. Not really the ESPN NBA page, but rather the cover for the "power rankings" video

 

My thoughts all along. When no one else is willing to come to Houston, you get the best you can get. Who cares if it's $15m or $20m. Money is worth something only when you spend it, not when you save it.

 

Another way to think of it is this...

There are 30 teams. Under the CBA, they must ALL spend a Minimum amount of money each season in addition to the salary cap.

IF you are one of those teams, are you going to spend $15M to try to get a single player that will make the maximum impact? Or are you going to get a bunch of $1M players that are bargains? Remember, you can only carry a roster of 15 players....

The fact is, there are more Teams than superstars to go around.

Forget the "superstars" when assessing Harden's value. There are only a handful of those around. If you don't land one of those, you're out of luck. So if YOU are the owner, where do you spend your money then?

Would Harden qualify as one of those players? IE, a top 20 or 30 player?

The answer is obviously Yes.

Folks who believe there are only 2 or 5 superstars in the league might not like it, but that's the reality. $15M gets you a tier 2 star in the NBA... and IF they LIKE your team AND want to play for your team, you **MIGHT** snag a Tier 1 star.

 

Eh, 15M may not be too much for Harden. But the logic is strange. If you twist it around, it goes: If Harden gets too much, we can guarantee that we can't sign LeBron/Durant as FA, or if we could, we wouldn't have enough to get a third star.

Ask the team he just left.

I am not saying that I am unhappy with the trade. But My fear is still there that Harden could be Joe Johnson 2.0. (I am not saying they have the same game. I am saying what if they are on the same level.)

 

I still don't agree they are on the same level. Harden's age 22 season was better than any season in Joe Johnson's entire career. Unless you think he is going to regress instead of improve--which would be unusual and would not follow the typical aging curve for an NBA player, since most guys do not peak till their mid 20s--then there appears to be little chance of him being Joe Johnson 2.0.

 

Then so what?

You still have the ability now to attract other free agents with the (semi)-star power you have, as it's been stated.

He's already shown he can be a dependant 20+ PPG scorer on the wing with defense that's miles better than Martin's, so what's to lose? If he get's better FANTASTIC if he doesn't we've still got a solid contributor to our offensive game that can create his own shot, which is what we've been begging for, for quite some time now.

 

Poor Harden. The guy will go from clutchfan darling to most hated in 1-3 months. Getting popcorn ready

 

When Morey went after Gordon with the Max deal I don't remember this kind of outrage.

 

That's because DM wasn't able to land Gordon. Some posters are so emotionally invested in their dislike of Daryl Morey that he could have traded for CP3, LeBron and D12 all at once and they would have still invented reasons why it was a bad move.

 

That's cause Gordon never came off the bench on a loaded squad.

Now everyone sticks Harden in that stigma of being a 6th man, till he proves to the entire Clutchfans community he can carry the load. Which still wouldn't matter much in the long run.

 

Well, those people are wrong. /thread

 

Top 5 players in the league are worth way more than their max salary. If Prokhorov can land LeBron for 40 million/year, he would pay that in a heartbeat, salary plus luxury tax!

Joe Johnson salary is close to 20 million/year. Harden is around 15 million. Big difference. Even if Harden plays at the same level as JJ, he is still worth about 10 million, market price. If you don't have players like Harden on the team, you have zero chance of signing players like KD or LeBron. Harden, Asik, and Lin will serve as baits for the future prize catch.

Now Morey gotta be careful and proceed with caution on who he selects for the final piece of the puzzle. This is where we should be worrying...next contract could bite off 20 million of our cap per year.