James Harden is my favorite player in the NBA and I still would trade him for Anthony Davis. You guys need to stay off the crap pipe. In 4 years Davis will be a top 3 (maybe top 2) player in the league. I would rather build around Davis than Harden.
There really are two separate questions. Who would you rather have to build around? Davis. To win now? Harden.
James harden at 24 just 3 years older than Davis is already the 3rd best player in the nba and the best player on a 50+ win Contender. Your banking on potential and not what we already have. I love Davis but hardens set up to dominate and be a top 3 player for the next 5-7 years. Plus elite wing players win rings now as good as Davis is his potential outlook without a elite wing in Kevin Garnett on the twolves. Great player but it's a gaurd league if you can't control the ball the whole game (harden,lbj,Durant,cp3) ur not going to win a chip.
what? He is not top 3 in the league. You got to play D to be in that category, he is top 10 for sure, but closer to 7 /8 than to 3/4.
Who would you put ahead of him then? I think he can be considered #4. 1)LeBron 2)Durant 3)Paul Then Harden is in the mix for #4 with a bunch of other guys.
of course he does. Guys i think are ahead of Beard right now : Durant, lebron, paul, blake griffin, and probably paul george. After that its really close within him, carmelo, curry, duncan, Westbrook, dwight and davis. As good as Harden is on offense, he is just as bad on D. If he at least made an effort, he would be top 3 for sure, since his offensive skills are just incredible.
Of the guys you listed who would you take over Harden for next season? After Durant and James, would you honestly take any of the other players over Harden for next season?
This reminds me of that Paul George thread. It really serves no purpose right now other than to point out Harden's flaws.
of course i will. Our Defensive deficiences start on the perimeter, and thats mostly because he dosent even try to defend. I will take any 2 way player over him ( not duncan since he is 99 years old). HE should be the leader of this team, and if your leader dosent play one side of the ball, we are screwed.
So, of the players you listed (aside from James and Durant) who would you take over Harden for next season?
Even then it wouldn't be a stupid trade because in all likelihood, Davis is going to do those things too, and at his peak he'll almost definitely be better than Harden. Which is not a knock against Harden, Davis is just on another level. That said, with Dwight being as old as he is (along with the fact that he relies so heavily on his athleticism), he doesn't have time to wait for Davis to reach his potential, so I might have some trouble pulling the trigger on a Harden for Davis swap.
The problem here is Harden is only 23 and is already one of the league's best players. Trading him for JH would just be a lateral move and just set us back for no reason. I'd rather trade Dwight Howard and other pieces.
In the 27 games following the all-star break, Harden has put up 28.1 ppg, 7.3 apg, 4.8 rpg, on 3.6to/g (while his TO's have gone up, note that his A/TO ratio has also gone up since last year). In that same span his FG% has gone from 44.5% prior to the ASB to 47.9% after; his 3pt% has increased from 32.9% to 42.7% and his FT% has gone from 86.0% to 87.1%. All in all his TS% has gone from 60.0% to 65.3%. As more and more is thrust upon him, in bigger and bigger games, he's actually getting more efficient. It's beyond Daryl Morey's dreams what he's been able to do. Compound this with the fact that SG is the thinnest position in the NBA when it comes to efficient superstars, and you reach the situation where I really would only rather have two players going forward over Harden. It's amazing, isn't it?
