I think Harden is the 2nd best player on the Thunder. I think he's a borderline superstar and he's only 23 years old? He's that good.
I think if he gets the chance he's going to bolt to a bigger market. Dallas will have the max to offer next summer, right?
Harden is good, but: 1) he was bad when it counted 2) an awful lot of his game is drawing fouls. That could get old. Otherwise Corey Maggette would be a huge star. 3) He will end up on either a)OKC b) Phoenix c) Dallas d) Nowhere else (unless the Lakers clear cap space)
Talking of hipsters, I was talking about getting Harden before it was cool... So now it is cool, I've moved on.
Even more than that is the way he draws fouls, picking up the dribble with both hands and coming up underneath the defender's hand to create contact. I don't know that he can get away with that much longer as a focus of the offense. The scouts are bound to figure out a way to stop it.
A Lin and Harden backcourt? Wow, they somehow found a way to get the most overrated point guard and shooting guard in the league on the same team!
I agree with ISO-Joe being overrated, but Deron Williams? He's had some uninspired performances lately, but he's played on uninspired teams. I still have to think the only point guard in the game that's better is Chris Paul. (Which really makes me think back to the Hawks taking Marvin Williams #2 overall. They NEEDED a point guard, yet they pass on both Chris Paul and Deron Williams for... Marvin Williams... ) I think line 2 could also read... "any backcourt the New York Knicks have ever had," just because of how the northeastern media tends to talk about them ad nauseum despite never doing anything of relevance on the court.
I say Deron's overrated b/c, while he's an Olympian and multiple all-star and Deron-is-Deron and all, he hasn't played on a good team in half a decade. Maybe this year he'll be great again, but he's been skating on name recognition for a while, while being blown by everyone from Vecsey on down.
Skating on name recognition? The guy had a PER of 20+ last year on a shit team. He is a top 5 PG in the league. The guy is in the discussion of Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo, and Chris Paul. Deron finally has players of the same caliber Rondo, Rose and Paul had last year and he will show he belongs in the conversation of the others.
I agree....he has to show he (still) belongs. His FGs/Game has gone up every year of his career. His shooting % has gone down every year since 2007. His assist % and turnover % are roughly similar, but his APG has gone down every year since 2008. That 20+ PER was his lowest since his 2nd year (2007) I'm not saying the guy sucks, but it was never going to be he and Dwight taking a team to the Promised Land. Which is not what you heard every NBA-related column over the last 2.5 years saying.
Harden is the next Ginobili efficiency-wise, I wouldn't write him off just yet. He averaged 29 points per 36 minutes without Westbrook on the court. Westbrook looks more overrated than him, but his athleticism seduced OKC.
