Harden has done more with less. Harden is better for winning championships. He is absoultely not a better player to build a championship around. The only thing better about Davis is his age.
When she's ROFLING at your D. I mean, I wouldnt. JH has his flaws, folds late in PO games, relies on tricks, exploiting loopholes/rules, is too casual an attitude etc. he is still a much bigger difference maker than an NON shot maker unibrow turd in AD you guys have sucked down the narrative and have lost your collective damn minds
Yes I'd do it. Davis is younger and doesn't disappear during the playoffs His peak is 3 years away when we will have the cap space to build around him. CP3 Gordon Davis will be enough to make the playoffs and pretend to contend until then
I respect you as a veteran poster on here...but are you trolling? Slim odds that Zion would ever be a comparable player to harden. Not saying it’s impossible but harden is a generational proven nba talent. My personal opinion is that Zion will be a Kwame Brown level bust in the NBA. But that’s beside the point; never trade a proven superstar for a kid who hasn’t played a single NBA minute
With a straight face you can honestly say that NO wouldn’t pair the (possible) back-to-back MVP of the National Basketball Basketball Association with Anthony Davis, just for the price of Zion? You can’t possibly be serious
Over 50% FG career, 52 and 53% the last two years. And for you advanced stat guys, his eFG% is virtually identical to Harden's this year (Harden 54.1, AD 54). There are plenty of reasonable criticisms of AD, but non shot maker is not among them.
Setting aside for a moment the fact that AD has made it quite clear he's leaving town and thus your scenario doesn't exist... I'm completely serious. NBA scouts/GMs are seemingly in consensus or near consensus that Zion is CLEARLY the best player to come out of college since AD, and many say since LeBron. Harden's amazing, but he'll be 30 when the season starts, and making $38-47M for the next four years as his inevitable decline begins. Smart GMs pay for what a player will do, not what he has done. Zion will make $8M to start and be under team control at a bargain contract for several years. For the price of Harden, NO can have Zion and another top player. The only way NO takes Harden for Zion is if they're the one team in the league that thinks he's not going to be a star. That's always possible. So you're the guy who would've refused to trade Doyle Alexander for John Smoltz, huh?
Fair enough. You gave a nuanced response so I respect that. My assumption would be that AD would stay if he knew Harden was coming...pundits can sell Zion’s potential all they want, but right out of the gate he won’t have the skills (let alone conditioning) to equal a Harden-level talent. Since AD’s focus is winning immediately, I strongly believe he would stay for the perfect 1-2 punch of the Beard-AD show
Yeah if getting Harden meant keeping AD, it certainly becomes a more difficult question. On a related note, I'm bummed AD still wants a trade post-lottery. A team led by AD, Zion and Jrue would be FASCINATING, and potentially really really good. And I appreciate the thoughtful reply. Good talk.
As a Rockets fan, first thing that should come in your mind when comparing these two players is Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon. How far did AD lead them vs how far Harden led them?
How about the fact that Harden has beat him out in RPM for the past 5 years. His impact isnt the same as Harden, it just isnt. Why, cause I wont trade Harden for Zion and effectively start tanking for 3-4 years, yea im sipping the koolaid lol. Cmon now. Or because I wont trade Harden for a worse player that is Anthony Davis, you really think we beat the Warriors with Davis instead of Harden?
Well if “HOU beating the Warriors with x” is your standard, you have, what, four incontrovertible examples that Harden fails that test and zero that Davis does. Harden’s decline likely starts in the next couple years, while Davis has yet to hit his prime. Davis gives you about 3/4 of Harden’s offense while being one of the best rim protectors in the league and a top rebounder to boot. I seem to recall some rebounding issues against the Dubs. And putting CP3 back at the point makes better use of his remaining skills than standing in the corner watching Harden. Finally, trading for the consensus best prospect since AD or maybe Lebron isn’t tanking. And given the difference in salary, HOU could pay Zion AND another good to very good player instead of Harden. The fact that you can’t see any of this is evidence of hitting the kool aid too hard.
