James Harden: One of the top 6 players to build around

Mainly for age

 

I think I speak with most everyone that has watched an nba game in the last 5 years, but I would take Lebron 100 times out of 100 for the next 5 years over Kyrie Irving.

 

I don't really have an agenda, I'm just trying to indicate that the jury is still out on Harden until he does it for a decent extent of time. I hate to use stats because I don't really believe they represent the whole story, but in this case, I think it's comparable.

Below are James Hardens standard fantasy stats for last season. Obviously these are a lot higher than his previous 2 years of stats due to the fact that he is got ISO love from the Rockets last season:

James Harden
GP GS Reb Ast Stl Blk PPG
2012-13 78 78 4.9 5.8 1.8 0.5 25.9

Here are the stats of a mystery player for a three year period between 2004-2007. If we are calling Harden one of the best franchise players in the league right now, then surely the guy below should have been considered equal as well and all the other superstars should flock to his team. Agreed?

Mystery Player
GP GS Reb Ast Stl Blk PPG
2004–05 80 80 4.7 5.1 1.7 .3 25.5
2005–06 80 80 3.5 6.1 2.0 .3 29.3
2006–07 74 73 4.6 6.0 1.9 .2 28.4

So this mystery player is Gilbert Arenas on the Washington Wizards with a mish-mash lineup and basically taking majority of the shots. Not saying that Harden is going to turn out like Gilbert Arenas, but he's still got two more years of producing as well as this year to get to where Arenas was in 2007. Anything can happen from now to 2018 when Harden is up for a renew.

 

Even taking into account age, those 2 are nowhere close to what Lebron and Durant bring to a team.

 

wait.. so they have Westbrook and Durant on the top 5 list..!!!
it feels little Odd

I would take him over Westbrook and Irving.

 

Just like player rankings, it's really better to just put players in tiers rather than number them. Harden is 2nd tier after Lebron(tier 1) and Durant(tier 1.5) along with several other players. I don't feel there's that big of a difference between building around Harden vs. Irving or Westbrook or CP3.

 

PGs are readily available, a scoring SGs are a rarity. I build around Harden over those overglorified PGs.

 

I understand what you're trying to say, which is that longevity is an important factor to consider if you want to say who is the best type of player to build around. The problem is, short of seeing the future, what you're asking for is impossible unless you're looking at this retroactively 5 years from now. At that point, the discussion is moot because we will already have known the outcome about who did and didn't manage to have a career without a precipitous drop-off due to injury, etc.

So without that kind of information you're left looking at what these players have actually done up to this point, in which case, Harden has done a pretty good job of keeping himself significantly injury-free in comparison to other players, particularly in comparison to guys like Derrick Rose, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwight Howard.

Re: Gilbert Arenas
He was actually a fantastic player, and were it not for his accumulated injuries (in particular is 07-08 season) he would have been exactly the kind of young, productive player you try to build a core around.

Re: Carmelo Anthony
It's really hard to take you seriously when you think that Anthony is a better player than Harden. In particular when you consider which player you would rather build a championship team around. Even one-on-one Harden is better than Anthony, and then if you take into account that these guys have to play with other people on the court then it's not even a question as to whom you pick.

 

10 years even.

even if LeBron lost his speed and explosiveness right now, he'd still be a very rich man's David West. so i suspect he will age very well and still be an all-nba player past 35.

 

Carmelo has done it for longer, is bigger, more athletic, and sad as it sounds...a better defender. Sad because Carmelo is a horrible defender. This is my explanation for the others on my list that I ranked higher:

- Lebron - no need for explanation
- Durant - no need for explanation
- CP3 - Shouldn't need to explain, but only his knee issues would make it an argument
- Blake Griffin - ultra high ceiling due to incredible god given athleticism
- Steph Curry - slight edge on Harden because I just think he's better right now
- Brook Lopez - More complete on both sides of the court and has been doing it longer
- Derek Rose - Accomplished much more as of yet, but injury maybe equalizes things with Harden. No way in hell Bulls trade him for Harden though.
- Tony Parker - Still relatively young and has the proof of longevity
- Kyrie Irving - Slight edge over Harden because he's probably the most skilled player in the NBA.
- Deron Williams - Has decent amount of longevity and youth going forward
- Marc Gasol - At his position, he's a tougher find than a SG that just jacks up a lot of shots.
- Anthony Davis - Ultra high ceiling due to freakish body. Could be Tim Duncan 2.0.

But based on the longevity statement of mine, I have no problem putting Blake Griffin, Steph Curry, Kyrie Irving, and Anthony Davis in the same tier as James Harden leaving the following guys as more of a sure thing franchise centerpiece:

Lebron, Durant, CP3, Derek Rose (pending injury), Tony Parker, Deron Williams, and Marc Gasol.

So that puts Harden tied at 9 with 4 other guys. Not bad considering that there's no shortage of SG's that would love to jack up volume shots in this league right now and coming up through the ranks. Hell, Paul George is probably there right now too based on his season and playoff performances.

 

Sorry, forgot to include Westbrook with explanation that he's done it longer at the high level. So along with Carmelo that I forgot to list too, that puts Harden tied at 10 with 4 other guys.

 

Lebron
Durant
Kyrie
Harden

ranked in terms of age, current talent and upside for me.

Kyrie just turned 21 a couple months ago, is ridiculously good and still has alot of room to grow so he gets a little push above Harden imo

 

forgot about derrick rose actually, i think he can come back to his former self and still improve so he could get the nod over Harden too

 

Lebron
Durant
Dwight (Healthy)
Paul
George
Harden
Rose
Irving

My order

 

I'll take Harden at #3 behind LeBron and KD.

Point Guards come a dime a dozen.

 

And shooting guards who jack up a bunch of shots and play no defense are not a dime a dozen?

 

The troll is strong with slestack11

 

I can't believe I just wasted time reading this bullsh**...

Anthony Davis, Broke Lopez, Blake Griffin... Bwahahahaha...!!!

 

You know what, you're right. Blake Griffin has been playing at all-star level for 3 years which should be enough to justify that he's more of a sure thing franchise player than Harden. James Harden made his first all star team last year and was one of the end of the bench guys on the team. If he can produce for 2 more seasons at a slightly improved level, then I will put him on par with Blake. But Anthony Davis still has a lot to prove too, just has a higher ceiling than Harden.

 

I'd say:

Lebron
Durant
Howard
Harden