James Harden

We used to know James Harden for his beard. That changed when the Oklahoma City Thunder sent him to the Houston Rockets to become the new face of the franchise. Cole Aldrich, Lazar Hayward, and DaeQuan Cook were sent to Houston as well and the Thunder received Jeremy Lamb, Kevin Martin, and draft picks.

This move surprised me because the Thunder were still legitimate championship contenders. At first glance, this looked like a bad trade for them and it seemed to be one that could cost them a deep playoff run this season. They lost a great scorer off the bench. Not only that but Harden was a fan favorite in Oklahoma City. But, in the big picture, this move had to be made by the Thunder. When Serge Ibaka got his big 4 year contract extension it was beginning to look awfully hard to keep Harden under contract beyond this season. Ultimately, they decided to trade him, but they had to get a great scorer in return so they would retain some bench production. They got a scorer in Kevin Martin. Because of this, OKC is still a contender this season and they have opportunities to improve their team for future with Lamb and more draft picks.

James Harden is the new face of the Houston Rockets organization.

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As for Harden, their were a lot of questions as to whether or not he would be able to handle the spotlight in Houston. He showed us that he could from opening night when he scored 37 points while dishing out 12 assists and grabbing 6 rebounds against the Pistons. The following game against Atlanta he scored a career high 45 points to go along with 7 rebounds. So far he seems extremely capable of taking on the lead role for the Rockets. He is carrying a ridiculous statline right now with 26.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg, and 4.5 apg. To put this is perspective his career averages are 13.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg, and 2.5 apg.

One last point that needs to be brought up about James Harden is that he should have the respect of every basketball fan after he signed a max 5 year contract with his new team. I find this to be extremely commendable with so many players around the league attempting to force trades to the big-market teams to create "superteams." Many guys in this era would have said no to the contract extension. Harden said yes to a team that would not be an enticing environment to some athletes. I feel that this shouldn't go without notice. I hope that Harden will one day be rewarded with a championship ring for his dedication to the Rockets.



For more stats on James Harden click the link below...
http://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/3992/james-harden