Folks said the same thing about the "Lebron wants to play with Wade and Bosh" rumors. Unlikely it will happen, but given Lebron's track record I wouldn't put it past him. While history doesn't define future behavior, it can give hints of what some individuals are willing to do.
I see Harden's strengths. Not proposing to trade him for chumps. The point is that you people overestimate how good Harden is and underestimate the likes of Kevin Love. If you think that only Durant and Lebron are more valuable as players or assets, you are delusional. There are plenty of talented players out there, and many among them don't give zero effort on D. Kevin Love, Steph Curry, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, Anthony Davis are all guys that a reasonable person would at least consider trading Harden for. Harden's offense is elite but his total dog **** no effort D takes his on court value down substantially and is a turn-off for his current and potential teammates. Moreover, the fact that he did this in his 5th season on a team that had the goal of a playoff run should objectively make one doubt how likely he is to work for an improvement on that end.
Good grief. That's as bad as the Harden compilation. 3 minutes he literally watches as Manu just goes right by him with little effort.
The state of DWade's play is a part of the reason why Lebron should consider leaving Miami. So he should probably consider the defensive abilities and efforts of his potential new teammates, too. Wade looks rough in the Finals this year and may be just physically shot. But old age isn't an excuse in Harden's case.
Zach Lowe: (Wade) I think we're seeing a continuous decline. He's 32, his knees are bad. That's not going to change. He needs to be a better jump shooter. You want to say it's too late but it wasn't for Kidd. ... ... He's been a lazy transition defense player for (some time now). Better options than Miami for LeBron? Not sure there are if you want to win a title immediately next year. If he wants a salary like the one now, I suppose the Bulls could amnesty Boozer. Houston if they trade Lin and Asik. Those things will be hard to do. If you want to win a championship, it's better to stay in the East, where you walk into the Finals. If you keep those three guys with a better supporting cast, you can do some things. We'll see. He's not afraid to take risks. (Wade) I think they would like him to opt out for less money. I don't know how realistic that is. 'Melo to Miami? Anything is possible. This isn't 37 year old Karl Malone to the Lakers. These are 4 guys in their prime taking pay cuts that amount to $10 mil or more. We've never seen that before. Never underestimate the Heat but still unlikely. Best guess on what happens? They all come back. Maybe Wade opts out. With more flexibility, they nail minimum guys/frisky mid-level guys. (Throwing out names): Guys like Darren Collison or Marvin Williams. They're not fantastic names. Jordan Hamilton will get a lot of interest around the league. He hasn't made it yet but has skills. Maybe you take a shot on him.
lebron aint coming here you freaking goobers!!!! why would he leave florida, miami for houston GOSH DANG texas!!!!!!!! hes gone to the finals 4 times since hes been with miami!!!!! they are going to have to make a team change, not lebron making a team change! you gosh dang hootinanis during the off season are some of the most desperate and degenerate of fans i have ever seen!!!!!!
Why would trading Asik be hard to do? He has very real value in this league both as a productive center, and as an expiring contract. Lin, with the right sweeteners, also has value.
Trading harden isn't crazy. But it's way too much for love because love is walking anyway. You can get love with our assets if you throw in parsons. I'd take lebron and bosh for harden and Asik in a nanosecond. I'd trade anyone way for him (but not Howard and harden both).
Prevalent media thoughts: No better options than Miami Houston will have a hard time moving Lin and/or Asik LeBron is not a fit with Harden and/or Howard and last but least: why come out West when you can stay & continue to own the East?
Yeah, why would he leave a sinking ship in Miami for a larger market with two superstar players in their prime? Crazy talk.
AD and Paul I would trade Harden for, but trading him for Love, Curry, or Griffin would be a lateral move at best and you don't trade your best player unless you're getting a better player in return.
Exactly. Then consider age and durability. Now CP3 will be great for awhile but even he is injury prone and so far Davis has missed at least 15 games of each of his first 2 seasons. I'm thinking twice about it.
I concur with this... though might be on the fence with CP a bit... only because of his inability to do much in the playoffs - granted Harden has that problem, too! And age. CP3 is getting up there. It's nice to say well you'd have him and Howard controlling the defense... well that's what CP3 had in LA with Jordan as a defender. If Carl is upset about Harden's defense, why is he so gung-ho about Kevin Love. Not only does Love play no defense, he does it at a position where you need defense even more... it's impossible for guards to play any defense anyway. Don't get me wrong, if DM decided the best bet was to make a lateral move to better fill out the roster, I'm not crying at any of those trades. If you find a way to get CP3, Howard and Melo on the same team... that's a 3-some that makes a lot of sense, has experience, etc. But that isn't happening. So why even consider it. The Clippers aren't trading Griffin, so why even consider it? The Warriors aren't trading Curry for Harden, so why even consider it? All for the same reasons we aren't super gung-ho either about making those trades... they're lateral. And the Pelicans for damn sure ain't trading AD for Harden. ---- As to the ball dominant stuff in this thread. Is there such a thing as a great guard Lebron could play with who isn't ball dominant? Steve Nash was ball dominant in his prime... he was also the best passing player in the league. Ray Allen in his prime I guess comes closest. Maybe Klay Thomson now... but nowhere near good enough yet.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Paul's teams haven't gone too far, but he plays some of his best basketball in the playoffs so I don't think that's really his fault. http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/p/paulch01.html
In the NBA if there is a serious debate about who is the better player or fit for your team in regards to franchise players, do you really think its a smart move to make that trade? I'm not going to spend the night trying to entertain the Harden Poo Poo Rally Campers but I'll just say this, most of the guys listed as trade targets in a Harden trade are lateral moves at best in talent, and you CANNOT discount their deficiencies if you are you going to use Harden's only deficiency as your primary case against him. -Love also objects to defense & has had injury issues -Curry simply cannot play defense physically & also has injury issues -Chris Paul is aging (& is untouchable so there is no point in debating) -A. Davis has had injury issues, is also untouchable, and is years away from his peak while Howard is at his prime now, and needs to win ASAP. -Harden... objected to playing defense One deficiency & risk for another deficiency & higher risk..... please tell me the logic? Also the primary reason why Harden is so valuable is because... well.... if you lose your #1 perimeter play-maker, who are we relying on to run the Rockets offense from the perimeter in the half court??... Canaan? Is he able to provide the same skill-set as Harden did for their perimeter offense? Are the Rockets going to take two steps back in their game-plan attack offensively to take 1 step forward in other areas? The entire reason for the Rockets success the past two years has been primarily because of their dominating style of perimeter play that is primarily the product of James Harden... Unless you think Lin & Beverley were the true catalysts. These are all major issues with trading Harden. I'm not opposed to trading him if the deal clearly upgrades the team, but I have yet to see anyone make a solid case that trading Harden for what the stats, the player win history, and the injury history shows is a move in the positive direction. And this is not even taking into consideration change in style of play, and on the court chemistry which pretty much docks a half season at least off of any team that goes through a drastic change in roster turnover & has risk of never working out. Whatever team you put on the floor wont hit their stride until mid season at the earliest, and that's assuming there is successful chemistry created with the new pieces. If you want to sell everyone on this notion that the Rockets better for swapping Harden with another star on the same level just because of poor defensive effort last year, you are going to have to give MUCH, MUCH more evidence than just that one excuse because guess whose also guilty of playing crappy defense.... Love, Curry, Kobe (for a stretch of years), Melo (for a stretch of his career), Wade (in the finals as the previous video shows), etc. etc. Star players NOT giving effort on the defensive end isn't some new discovery in the NBA. I hate that it happens just as much as everyone, and I am critical of Harden's defense as much as anyone. However, it doesn't change the fact that at the end of the day, an arguably lateral trade with your franchise piece for EMOTIONAL REASONS when he's as important to your success as he is, is a bad decision. All this boils down to is fans being emotional towards their FEELINGS about Harden because you know him, and you know him well. Remove the Emotion.... Use Logic. If Logic tells me its an upgrade, I'm down to make any trade.
