which of these top-salaried players would you rather have?

Dwight Howard L.A. Lakers $19,536,360
Chris Paul LA Clippers $17,779,458
LeBron James Miami Heat $17,545,000
Dwyane Wade Miami Heat $17,182,000
Deron Williams Brooklyn Nets $17,177,795
Kevin Durant Oklahoma City Thunder $16,669,630
Derrick Rose Chicago Bulls $16,402,552

Left kobe off the list due to age and carmelo off the list cause to me he can't win a championship at this level

 

LOL, what kind of question is this.

LEBRON JAMES.

 

Dwight Howard
Paul Gasol
Chris Paul
Lebron
Wade
DWill
Durant
Dirk Nowitzki

-----------------------------------------Reasons why I take Harden over the following---------------------------------
Kobe - too old and too inefficient now
Carmelo - something is just keeps him from playing winning basketball
Amare-obvious
Joe Johnson-Worst case scenario of Harden so at the very worst a wash
Bynum - too injury prone
Pierce - Old
Zach Randolph - love the guy but that contract will suck for the next 5 years
Rudy Gay - I'm not even sure he's better than K-Mart
Derrick Rose - too unpredictable

 

Oh, I misunderstood the question.

 

Agree with the list 2 posts above..... I think Harden will end up being worth the deal.

 

I know I'll get flamed but I'd only take Dwight, Lebron, and Durant (over Harden, obviously it's different if you're talking about WITH harden). Age is a huge factor here. You have to look at all of these guys and think about where they are now. Are they on an upward trend or downward trend for their careers. I would argue that a lot of the players on that list, while still very productive are on the back end of their careers. Also looking at the players that are still in their prime or on the rise, which ones are at positions that are easy to get very good play at (like PG). To me, an all-star point guard isn't as valuable as a star SG just due to the high amount of really really good point guards in the league. Again, i'm not saying i WOULDN'T take any more of these guys, i'm just saying i'm not sure i'd take them over harden. Taking all of those things into account i really think Harden would rank HIGH on this list given his age and room to grow (ceiling). Oh man, I can already smell the gasoline...

 

Everyone except Zach Randolph, Rudy Gay, Joe Johnson, Paul Gasol, Chris Bosh and Deron Williams

 

Thank you for wording your question without a lot of prejudice. If you were suggesting "none" then I would have to never visit this site again, which would suck.

For the record, for the lackeys who may still be high, if James Harden is worth $15MM/YR then LNBJ is "worth" $45MM. Of course, he can't get paid that. But let's be very, very careful before we completely embarass ourselves here.

 

Wrap it up fellas. Thread's over. This is the correct Answer.

 

5 years.....
ok, i'm on the fence with Rose, since i've no idea how he's going to look. and Wade and Bynum because of their knees.

I'd take:
Carmelo Anthony
Dwight Howard
Chris Paul
Chris Bosh
LeDelonte James
Deron Williams

 

Btw, current 'rookie max' is at ~13.7 mil, so you'd have to add Love, Marc Gasol, Westbrook, Aldridge and probably some other people that i don't remember.

 

and ofc i missed Durant by accident

 

The thing is all these guy's salaries will go up every year so their average salary will be much higher than 16 million.

Harden's Salary will be 14 million after this year so you have the fact that we get him for one year at a bargain price of 5.8 million. This means we get him for 6 years for 86 million. That's not bad at all.

 

Would not take Melo, Stat, JJ, Gasol, Bynum(depends on health), PP, Gay and Zbo over him.

Yes I don't think Melo is all that great. He is an inefficient scorer with decent rebounding, so-so playmaking, and defense. Not to mention the fact that he is a cancer and a playoff loser(basically a poor man's Tmac). Bynum is obviously way better than Harden but his knees are a serious problem.

 

1. Except we wouldn't be. Harden will be paid less than all of those players.

2. More importantly, just because I would rather have Lebron James or Chris Paul for $17M, does not mean James Harden wouldn't be worth just as much if not more. The salaries for those players are all artificially capped, so their actual value is worth much more. Harden is not as good as those guys, but still can be well worth the max.

 

I look at the question from a different angle - considering age, salary, and injury history, who would I trade Harden (at 15 per) for straight up?

Of that list, I would only say Howard, Paul, Durant, and King James. Without salary matching, I would add Anthony Davis, Blake Griffin, and possibly Cousins or Irving. The list is not long. We scored big-time.