James Hard on the Cash: I Want to be the Man

Former Oklahoma City Thunder and Sixth Man of the Year James Harden was traded to the Houston Rockets for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb and some cast members. Also let’s not forget one of the key pieces to the trade that many aren’t talking about and that’s those future first-round draft picks. This can be a big deal for the Thunder down the road to keep the relevant. I understand they have Durant and Westbrook but you never know in the business how things can turn out. I really wanted to touch on the whole Harden trade and where it all started and finished. Harden is a tremendous young player with so much potential. Many people are angry with him and the OKC because of the trade. But I tell people know all the facts before we judge the situation.

There was a deal on the table this off-season for Harden to sign a 4 year/$55 million deal to stay with the team. Just in my opinion, I personally think that is good for a sixth man and a player of his caliber. Let’s not get too caught up with the contracts of Durant and Westbrook who are both inked maxed deals with the club. Harden is and I repeat, he isn’t a max player in his career right now. Not because he came off the bench, but in past history teams like the Knicks and other organizations were just throwing money around just because they saw some talent. Let’s get back to the old days where you had to prove yourself and earned you paycheck. Harden again is a good player that has great potential being a NBA All-Star but being the third guy on a team isn’t going to get that max deal; sorry James!

Now the confusion with the whole thing is that people are frustrated with Harden because the team offered him $55 million and he wanted $60 million. So what is $5 million dollars right? Let me ask you, would you leave $5 million on the table or even $10 million? Maybe or maybe not. Harden situation is very different than most because he isn’t the star on the team; he comes off the bench for God sake. Now that he plays for the Rockets, he will be number one option on the team and maybe that is what he wanted all along. It’s very hard to close to impossible to make the Hall of Fame coming off the bench and he understands that. I’m very in the middle with his decision to decline the offer. He was in a great situation with OKC to keep competing at a high level year after year.

You can tell when Harden would go into the game last season that he tried to take advantage of all of his opportunities that he got. He wants more minutes and now playing for the Rockets, he will get it. Now are they going to be a good team? No they won’t guys. It’s just that simple. I’m not sold on this team at all and they will probably be a lottery team in the 2013 draft in June. So in all Harden wanted the money and the spotlight that he didn’t get in OKC. I say that he got great spotlight on him, but maybe he was jealous of how people look at Durant as the man on the team. Don’t let the Thunder win a championship because if they do, you already know who they are going to give 90% of the credit to. Tell me your feelings about the whole trade and who do you think go the better end of it?