James Harden has added the Blazers to his list

if they watch basketball, yeah.

 

Portland isn't giving up Dame
Brooklyn isn't giving up Durant
Boston isn't giving up Tatum
Miami isn't giving up Butler
....and so on.

Houston has no leverage to get back another teams best player unless it is a shipwrecked roster like the Knicks.

 

Reverse psychology

 

It would be a combination of players and no super star.

 

In most cases (aside from Tatum in Boston), Houston isn't even going to want another team's best player. They're not looking to replace their 31 year old, expensive superstar with another ~30 year old, expensive superstar. They wouldn't want Lillard. Lillard is on the same basic timeline as Harden and expensive, so how does that help them? They just get worse in that exchange and piss off their fanbase.

Houston is going to want a young star (who isn't currently as good as Harden, which is the incentive for the other team), plus a young player or two who profiles as a solid long-term supporting player and two or three draft picks.

CJ McCollum isn't a young star--he's an overpaid decent veteran. Nurkic also doesn't qualify as a young star. So Portland simply doesn't have the centerpiece for a Harden trade.

 

Why? That ignores an entire aspect of scoring, free throws, which McCollum is awful at generating. It also ignores the distribution of his shots. 45% and 38% is good if most of his shots were threes, but most of his shots are twos. Only 38% of his shots are threes, which needs to be much higher to compensate for his inability to get free throws.

Here are the top players in the league in terms of usage rate last year:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2020_advanced.html#advanced_stats::usg_pct

CJ is 39th at 25.9% with a 54.1% TS%. Of the guys ahead of him, only 3 posted a worse TS%: Westbrook, Randle, LeVert, and Wiggins. Of the rest of the list (so 39th-100th in USG%), here are the guys that put up lower or similar TS%: Brogdon, Holiday, Graham, Conley, Barrett, Poole, Fultz, Portis, Rubio, Brooks.

The truth is, his offensive impact is probably close to the guys listed above. Now consider that he doesn't really do much else on the floor, ie. he's not a good playmaker, he dominates possessions, has gotten worse every year, and he is arguably the worst defensive player in the league when you take into consideration his role and minutes played.....the reality is he's an overpaid volume shooter with average efficiency. You can find these guys anywhere. His only role in a trade is name recognition and salary matching.

 

We'll see what they end up taking. They just took John Wall and picks for Westbrook. It seems to me that if we're willing to give up the picks and send both Nurk and CJ they might be open to that. They might want to try to flip CJ or Wall but I don't think they care about doing anything but getting picks and matching salaries with some quality players. At least that's what the Wall trade would communicate.

 

I Ubered Harden in Portland from a Hookah Lounge (King’s) to a dance hotel (can’t remember the name). He didn’t tip me but I’m in.

 

What you are saying is true from Houston's standpoint. But which team wants to give them that? He is not going to be happy on a team that is gutted. And flipping him would make no sense after you traded a good package to get him.

Brooklyn definitely has a lot to offer (3-4 players who add up to 40 million) but if I am the Nets I want to hold on to those young players. Lavert, Harris, Prince, and Dinwiddle are excellent compliments to Kyrie and KD.

Not sure what team makes sense for both parties.

 

The Nets according to Woj definitely offered those players but according to many sources Houston wants draft picks along with any package and the Nets were not going to add draft picks to that haul.

 

Some Rockets fans think they can get Dame & pick, when obviously Portland would never do a Dame for Harden trade straight up.

Some Blazer fans, talk about CJ being worthless, but think he would be too much to give up for Harden.

The fan delusion knows no bounds.

 

Wow ok. That is crazy IMO for both teams. Crazy that the Nets offered what they did, and crazy Houston turned them down.
Thoe players are pretty good, and with tradeable contracts.

 

If Houston takes their time then I agree with your post.

The only reason the Blazers could have a chance is if Houston is desperate to get Harden out. Brooklyn supposedly prefers their two current stars and role players. Philly may not want to give up Simmons and Houston may not want to give Harden to Morey.

There just aren't many allstars or young future allstars available after that. Michael Porter Jr has injury history. Add to that the team acquiring Harden has to contend after trading a lot of talent for him.

There arent many teams with these options. CJ is locked up for a long time, along with some picks maybe they decide to talk if they get desperate to send Harden out.

 

Then you should start focusing on the people wearing uniforms vs the people wearing suits, that's where championships are won.

 

It's pretty ridiculous. I could really see a CJ, Nurk and picks for Harden deal happening. CJ is Harden light, Nurk is a great piece for them next to Wood and the reporters have said that they're all about building up a cache of picks. Neil and Dame have really good relationships with Harden. Neil really likes Zach and I'm betting he likes the pieces he just picked up as well.

 

I had to laugh. CJ is Harden light in the same way Austin Rivers is Dame light.

 

Just woke up Xmas day and it looks like Santa was late bringing Harden to PDX.

 

Looking at Harden's gut lately, everyone is Harden light.

 

I guess CJ and Harden have one thing in common.