massive:
Okay, we’ll see how good the Nuggets are this year. That team is going to surprise a lot of people (if their season isn’t derailed by injuries), so don’t be surprised when THCJ is here talking about the Nuggets in May. I’m not gonna spend time on a Knicks blog with (mostly) Knicks fans discussing the Nuggets.

Let’s be fair here, John Hollinger now has them as the second seed in the West, for the second straight season. Berri isn’t the only analyst high on the Nuggets, most statistical models project the Nuggets as a high win team. It’s a shame how that worked out for the Nuggets last year….

massive:
Another factor people are forgetting in this whole trade for OKC:

At the end of games last year (under 2 minutes to go in the 4th quarter), Scott Brooks would put James Harden at the point guard slot, with Westbrook playing off the ball. Scott Brooks trusted James Harden’s abilities to make plays and not turn the ball over more than he did with All-NBA PG Russell Westbrook. Without Harden, you no longer have that late game option. You can’t put Kevin Martin at point guard, and Eric Maynor definitely won’t be on court since Martin, Thabo, and Westbrook are all better guards than him. I won’t be surprised if this team loses more close games this year.

They will definitely have championship aspirations, but they won’t win one now. Trading James Harden handed LAL an NBA Finals berth (unless the Nuggets can outrun everybody this year).

The Nuggets aren’t getting past OKC or the Spurs unless they figure out how to make Iguodala guard Westbrook/Durant or Parker/Ginobli at the same time. Even then it doesn’t give them a good answer for Kevin Martin, and the Spurs will destroy the Nuggets big men in the pick and roll. I’m still not sure the Nuggets are even better than the Clippers or Grizzlies, why are people assuming a team with literally 1 above average defender in their top 5 players is going to realistically contend? They’ll make a lot of noise in the regular season and possibly even get home court, but they’re not getting out of the second round unless Faried turns into the superstar WP pretends he is

At the end of games last year (under 2 minutes to go in the 4th quarter), Scott Brooks would put James Harden at the point guard slot, with Westbrook playing off the ball. Scott Brooks trusted James Harden’s abilities to make plays and not turn the ball over more than he did with All-NBA PG Russell Westbrook. Without Harden, you no longer have that late game option. You can’t put Kevin Martin at point guard, and Eric Maynor definitely won’t be on court since Martin, Thabo, and Westbrook are all better guards than him. I won’t be surprised if this team loses more close games this year.

They will definitely have championship aspirations, but they won’t win one now. Trading James Harden handed LAL an NBA Finals berth (unless the Nuggets can outrun everybody this year).

The Honorable Cock Jowles: That’s if you think giving up a SG who shoots 66% TS on 21 USG for one who shoots 54% TS (and is five years older) is a good deal. Harden can’t be replaced.

Out of the past 6 years, Martin has had 4 seasons above 60 TS%. One just 2 years ago. He had a lot of injuries last year and was disgruntled by the Pau Gasol trade, I wouldn’t be the slightest bit surprised if Kevin Martin had a higher TS% than Harden this year, unless of course he gets injured again

I agree about the five years older part. That’s definitely a downside. But I am not sure that the TS numbers will hold up. Harden could have had a career year last year and Martin certainly didn’t. And I think the OKC situation will be more favorable for Martin to perform well than Houston would have been.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Martin’s better than Harden. I just think the trade was worth it given that OKC got three good draft choices along with Martin. And I think that OKC will still be a good team with championship aspirationis.

KnickfaninNJ:
I don’t money was the only factor in trading Harden to Houston. Of course OKC shopped around once they found Harden was too expensive.I think they may havfe thought the Houston deal was too good to pass up.They got a reasonable replacement player who costs less than Harden and they got three draft picks, some which could end up in the lottery. If Martin plays well for them, people may look back at this trade and say OKC got a steal.And there’s no way you can say OKC got ripped off in this trade.I think this trade is a win for OKC almost for sure. Time will tell if it’s a win for Houston too.

That’s if you think giving up a SG who shoots 66% TS on 21 USG for one who shoots 54% TS (and is five years older) is a good deal. Harden can’t be replaced.

Z-man: Looking forward to seeing how Houston does. They aren’t terrible on paper (especially if that paper is a WoW journal article) but it will be interesting to see whether changing roles for Asik and Harden will make a difference with their production, especially with a precocious neophyte handling PG duties.

I wouldn’t worry too much about Harden. He is already a top 3 SG, and he will likely improve. Even if his %TS suffers because of the added responsability, he’s still gonna be great. Asik is a solid defensive C, if he controls his fouls, he’s a good anchor there. That’s probably the 2 toughest positions to fill right now in the NBA. I am skeptic on Lin, perhaps i am bitter on the situation, but PG is the easiest position to fill. Montiejunas looks like a nice prospect. Still, i don’t think they make the playoffs this year.

We will see if they can use their max space.