James Harden is a better player than Westbrook. Westbrook is an athletic brick layer who is out of control far too often.
This was a pretty solid argument 3 years ago, but not nearly as relevant today. Westbrook is one of the game's elites. On a night to night basis, nobody plays harder more consistently than Russell Westbrook. Don't you wish you could say that about Harden?
If Durant comes I think it pretty much solidifies Harden staying. I am sure they would have this conversation. KD wouldn't come here if he knew there was a chance Harden would leave.
Westbrook (and Rose for that matter) are kind of Dwight-ish in that you can expect their play to dip significantly as they lose their athleticism, and it could happen earlier than expected.
The other question in Durant's mind would be, do I have a better chance to win it all with OKC or Houston? If Westbrook stays in OKC, he would probably stay. If Westbrook leave, I will bet Durant is gone and we will have a better chance in landing him.
oops i dont know how to read these nerd things i was looking at games played heres the real rankings: Russell Westbrook per: 28.31 James Harden per:25.55 Westbrook is more efficient than Harden
Sure, but Westbrook has already reached his ceiling and Harden is still a better player (more efficient, more clutch, etc.). If the lightbulb ever goes off in Harden's head about consistent effort, he's going to be transcendent.
Harden and Westbrook are very comparable as far as actual value/output. Honestly, outside of Curry there are a group of 4-5 players that are all very close (James/Harden/Westbrook/Davis) and value is largely based on the record of the team they are on.
If that happens GS is going to **** a brick lol. There dynasty would be over. It would be hard enough to beat a JH/KD/Horford team with all the depth I laid out, but adding dwight to the mic also? Wow!!!! Bev/JH/KD/AH/DH That's not even fair and they actually mesh pretty well although I think dwight would still have to sit in the closing moments for ariza to play. I made a thread about the idea of getting KD and Horford while keeping howard about month or so ago. It's possible but all guys would have to take like 18-20m a year. If DH says hey I'll take 14m a year for 4 years then this idea can def happen because we could offer KD and Horford around 20+ a year I believe. I actually think that if we can convince all these guys to take a little less while keeping ariza and Bev? Wow this team will win 3 straight chips easy. Bev/groudlock JH/vet KD/Ariza Horford/Beasley/Harrell Dwight/Capela Sign Terry back and another vet or two? Ya that team can win big and the crazy thing is all parties can get there money if dwight excepts a little less. It works because while harden and dwight are stars or former stars they both would only eat up about 30m in salary cap space. That's why the rockets can make this work much like the warriors with curry because like curry, Harden is underpaid a lot. Curry makes 12m a year (underpaid a lot) harden 15m (underpaid a lot) Also did any of you guys catch that quote from Harden last month? He said something along the lines of KD is one of my closest friends and I will help him with his freeagent decision. That's huge that James is already putting this out there. We're def going to get the chance to pitch KD on the idea of Houston and in the meeting with JH and KD being so close anything can happen.
Why do you assume that Westbrook has reached his ceiling? I don't know that it is fair to assume either player is going to need to get much better. In the case of Harden he is averaging nearly 30 points a game, with very good rebounds and assists. You would like the turnovers to decrease and more consistent defense, but outside of a handful of players in NBA history, few guards have done what he is doing. As for Westbrook he is averaging over 10 assists a game, and scoring 25 points and getting 8 rebounds. Magic Johnson in his prime didn't even do that. The last few seasons of Westbrook have been very special. Both guys are just very very good. Throw Durant into that mix, and obviously Curry and LeBron.
Westbrook sucks.... He's a stat padding player in ever sense of the word. He plays at 200mph that's why everyone thinks he so great because it looks like he try's harder than everyone else all the time. The probelm with that is he makes the dumbst decisions on the court in the league. Just last week he took a running 3 pointer down 3 with 13 sec left.... He shot that stupid shot with 10 seconds left in the clock. A week later he says he was trying to draw a foul? Really Russ? What ref calls a foul on a shot like that? Let alone at the end of the game. I hope WB goes to LA because he's going to ruin there future. You can't win a chip imo with him as your best player or even your second best player. He's a terrible shooter that only excels in getting to the basket and transition. As others have mentioned when his athletism declines his game will fall fast. Iv never been a big fan of his nut this year I have watched a lot of OKC games because I wanted to get a sense of if KD might actually bolt. 60 Games in and I think he's as good as gone. KD is a smart player and Russ is not he knows this. Their chemistry on court is no existent. They excel because of KDs greatness.
Actually only lebron, Jordan and Oscar have avg 29/7/6 Harden is in that class offensivly which is scary because he hasn't hit his prime yet and is still figuring out his game. Wait till he gets better talent and coach around him? It's going to be all time stuff imo. Well I guess he's already doing all time stuff lol.
Harden is actually in his prime years now. There isn't going to be some significant change offensively for him