Can't compare Durant and Harden. They play different positions and have different roles. Now Westbrook and Harden, yeah, you might argue that Harden is slightly better. Harden has proven he can be The Man. Westbrook would need to leave and go to a team without potent offensive weapons like Ibaka and Durant to prove he can do the same.
This doesn't even make sense, the avg of 60% 10 and 40% 4 is 7.6, which is much smaller than 9, of course anybody would take the higher avg LOL.
harden is already >>>>>>>> westbrick durant is still a better player at the moment, but the gap is narrowing. key issue for me is that harden needs to play better defence
Maybe, are team is winning and harden does seem like a higher BBIQ player but what about statistically wise. Hardens avg 6 more points them WB Shooting 4 FG% better, Harden shoots about 6% better form the line. Both have same 3pt% Both avg 3.5 T/O's a game, steals harden 1.9 WB 2.1, WB avg 2 less min's a game, WB avg 1 more rebound then JH, 3 more assist So with all that, count in WB defense & athleticism, james BBIQ and so far his ability to win. Its pretty damn close, westbrook is a year older with 1 more year of exp but he's been putting up big #'s since his 3rd season, this is hardens 4th. So imo its really close, i personally think WB is a little better. Stats wise, like i said harden does seem to be winning us games don't know if WB could do the same if he was in hardens place.
How can some of you guys say then Harden will never be better than Kevin Durant? It's as if y'all have a crystal ball. Will he surpass him, I don't know. To me, it is a wait and see. Some of y'all are selling him short already. Maybe y'all are thinking of a different Harden than I am. The one I am thinking of is 4th in the league in scoring, and is on his first year as a full time starter.
Harden could be better than Durant someday, becuase harden's strength makes him more valuable in clutch time when you need someone to force shots at the rim. All the NBA rule changes in last 20 years tried to create rooms/freedom for guards who are quick/strong with good outside shooting.
Why do people give a damn about threads like this... Harden is Harden and is definitely the best SG we've had since T-Mac. We finally got our legit star and that is all that matters.
KD is averaging 28pts @ 65TS%. That is ridiculous. I don't know if he can really do better than that. I think Harden can pass and handle the ball better than Durant, but Durant is tall and is better shooter than harden. Durant shot is just too money. I don't think Harden has any chance to pass durant.
-With Durant you sort of know what you are getting for YEARS. At the very least, his athleticism declines and he becomes Dirk Nowitzki circa 2011. He will truly be an MVP calliber player every year. -Harden I believe has the 2nd highest MVP type of potential. If you took Dwayne Wade, subtracted a fraction of the athleticism, and added elite level PG skills, you would have James Harden. -Westbrook is a freak of nature athlete. He's up there with the Lebron's of this world. As a player he's on an all-star level, but its really his extreme athleticism that carries him over the top. Once that starts to fade when he's heading towards his 30's, what kind of player is he going to be... I dont know, but for right now, he can have his way in the NBA on both ends of the floor just on shere athleticism alone. I dont see any problem with Brooks putting Harden in the role he had previously in OKC. He was the youngest of the 3 and his playmaking balance worked out dramatically for the team to win games. OKC didn't make a mistake by extending Durant and Westbrook first. When you have two superstars that are up for an extension guess what you do... you extend them. *Now from there on the Ibaka extension + the NON Amnesty/trade of Perkins is debatable. Ibaka IMO is the future Center for this team. I think over time, he will be one of the top centers in the league. Perkin on the other hand, gives them a size advantage, but against who... The League is becoming more and more reliant on small ball lineups, and the Thunder would still be considered a decent sized team with Ibaka manning the paint with another quality big man playing more of the 4 spot. If I was Presti I would have been trying to move Perkins or even resorted to the Amnesty Clause THIS NEXT SUMMER if for some reason I couldn't find a taker for him in trade. So those turn of events led to Harden getting traded for a quality package that they can either use to upgrade their team in a trade, develop more young talent in the future, and still fill in the roles with Martin coming back in return(some might argue is a better fit for that role). Presti is still executive of the decade for drafting these 4 players, and putting himself in the position that he was in this Fall. I probably would have done things a bit differently if I was Presti, but I can honestly tell you that I wouldn't have been a good enough GM to have put myself in that terrific situation to begin with... So yeah.
hasn't harden always been more popular than westbrook, at least in that harden is more chill and seems to make better decisions with the ball. its easy to dislike westbrook at times, and what westbrook is missing harden seems to have in spades. now, harden vs durant. durant is such an incredible physical talent, harden would have to be more a bird or a ginobilli to durant's jordan. and no one will make that comparison until harden's team becomes more competative with durant's in terms of playoffs, finals and championships. i love that its a team game and think individual popularity contests are somewhat silly. i prefer to think of the unsung heros on each team, and the team chemistry, etc.
Harden is good, but no where near as good as Durant. Lebron Durant Gap Harden somewhere in the top 10 in the league right now. Can he be better? Don't know. I don't think so though. He's definitely better than Russel Westbrook though in terms of shooting. RB though is more gifted athletically. I think everyone knows that.
Still amazing that Presti was able to land all 3 of these guys in the draft and find a total steal in Ibaka with the 24th pick. Just an unbelievable GM and in my opinion, the best in the league, though I question him not wanting to at least play out this season with Harden, then amnesty Perkins to keep it all together, but whatever...Thunder are legit for years. I remember when Harden was drafted 3rd, I thought he was EXTREMELY reached for, and I thought he'd be at best a sharpshooting bench player such as Nick Young or so.... Happily eating crow each and every Rockets game now.
As good as Harden is, his skills were redundant on OKC and they got a very good deal. That Toronto pick will quite possibly end up top 10, plus Jeremy Lamb is a talent. Presti has nothing to feel bad about on that trade, IMO.
James Harden has started 40 games in the NBA. Sometimes people forget that because he is already so good. Harden will get better. We already see improvements from him so far this season and there is no reason to doubt that a 23-year-old player will get better with more experience. A few years ago when Durant first won his scoring title some people suggested that KD was as good as he would be because he was already so good. Durant clearly is a better player now than he was back then. My point is that it's too early to answer the question asked by the OP. Give it a few more years and we will have a better answer.
Harden looks to me to be basically on Westbrook's level right now. Some say he's better, and some aren't convinced because he still hasn't done enough as a starter. If there's to be a consensus that he's exceeded Westbrook, he'll have to prove his effectiveness in the playoffs.
Within the next 3 years it'll be between OKC, LAC, and Houston for the West so we will definitely see.
