"I was just snooping around ESPN, going from sport to sport. I get to the NBA and for some reason started in the middle of the headlines and worked my way up to the top one, "Thunder deal Harden to Rockets." I was literally stunned. My eyes almost popped out of my head, and if it wasn't 4 AM, I would have screamed, "WHAT??!!!?" (which is what happened in my mind anyways. The scream was so loud in my mind I'm now debated if I actually said it aloud or not..) Thought I'd share this unique reaction. Btw, the Rockets overpaid."
That was my initial reaction to the James Harden trade. I posted that as my Facebook status at around 4 AM this morning. The weird part is that is exactly what happened. I didn't really exaggerate my reaction even though it was 4 AM. Obviously you could have counted me as one of the people that thought the two sides would work out a deal before the extension deadline ended on the 31st. I knew the Thunder wanted Harden to take a discount, and I, like everyone else, thought he was in a good enough situation to accept a minor discount. Apparently, Harden did not agree with the rest of the NBA world. though. The Thunder offered him 55 of the 60 million dollar max on the extension, but he refused the offer. So Thunder General Manager, Sam Presti, did the same to Harden what he did to Jeff Green a few years earlier, he dealt him as fast as he could. Last time around it was the Celtics that ponied up to obtain Green, this time it was the Rockets that really ponied up to obtain Harden (more on this later).
ESPN's Brian Windhorst made this trade seem like a no-brainer in the eyes of Presti. He referred to Presti's philosophy which can basically be described as the old saying 'sacrifice for the greater good.' Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins, and Nick Collison had all made some type of sacrifice, and it resulted in the Thunder having the ability to keep most of its core intact. Two years ago, Green refused to sacrifice. Presti doesn't have time to deal with greedy players that can't take a little less for the sake of the team. Presti dealing Green set precedent for every future player that didn't buy into sacrificing for the greater good. It's almost as if Harden asked for a trade when he refused to do what the other great players of the team had done before him. Presti's hands were tied. It didn't matter how good Harden was or how well he fit into the Thunder system. Presti made it clear that if you don't want to be a team player in the negotiation room then he doesn't want you to be a player on the court. In a league full of players taking, the two teams with the players most willing to give their team some wiggle room were the teams that made it to the Finals, and those two teams were the Thunder and the Miami Heat.
What I don't understand is what made Harden think that he was above the Thunder sacrifice rule? He couldn't possibly have thought he was going to get a max deal after both Westbrook and Ibaka signed deals that were favorable to the Thunder. Why did he think he was special? The team can definitely manage without him. He didn't not have the negotiating power of Durant, who is by far the best player on his own team and arguably number two behind LeBron in the entire league. Harden was just the sixth man of the team, a position that isn't that hard to replace. Being only 23, Harden would most likely be able to make up the five million dollars he would have left on the table if he decided to remain with the Thunder. I guess the rumors over the years of Harden wanting to lead his own team were true. Now he gets to be the main man in Houston and he'll be paid like one as well. For those getting ready to blurt out that Jeremy Lin is still the main man in Houston, I'm sorry but you're mistaken. James Harden is now by far the best player on the strangely formed Houston Rockets.
Speaking of the Rockets, you'll notice throughout this article that I have hinted that Houston forked over too much for Harden. If you haven't noticed, then I'm telling you now, Houston gave up way too much for James Harden. The trade officially goes down as James Harden, Daquan Cook, Cole Aldrich, and Lazar Hayward for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, Toronto's lottery protected 1st rounder, Dallas' top-20 protected 1st rounder, and Boston's second rounder. Even with the two firsts being heavily protected, since when is a good sixth man and bench players worth a good veteran, a promising rookie, and three draft picks? The Magic only got six draft picks for Dwight Howard and half of them won't be used until 2015 or later. Not to mention the group of players the Magic received did not include anyone with nearly as much potential as Jeremy Lamb. I'm sorry Mo Harkless, but you are too raw to be compared to Lamb. The Rockets are incredibly dumb to give up so much for a guy that has been change of pace for Durant and Westbrook for his short career. He doesn't have enough star power to command such a deal. They don't even know if he has what it takes to be 'the man.'
The strangest part of this deal though is that it occurs right before the season. This is obviously because the contract extension deadline is October 31. I find it odd that the NBA has that deadline so late. You'd think that they'd have it before or at the halfway point of the preseason so that traded players would at least get a few exhibition games with their new teams before the regular season. Instead, Martin and Lamb will have to learn the Thunder way on the fly while Harden now has to learn to lead as he goes along. It's not completely unfair to teams that want to trade players they can't extend, however, because the season is 82 games long and all traded players shouldn't take that long to get accustomed to their new surroundings. To the people that want to make a big deal that the Thunder broke up their continuity and now might not be title contenders this year, you are crazy. All the top teams of the West, besides the Spurs, have reconfigured themselves and if you ask me, losing your sixth man isn't that big of a hit. It's not like the Thunder drastically changed their starting lineup like the Lakers and Mavs or completely overhauled their bench like the Clippers did. The Thunder will be fine. As long as Sam Presti is at the helm, it's their way or, in this case, the runway.
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