Juany8: Exactly. I can pull up posts calling the move a no brainer for the Rockets, even with the attached max contract. I also thought OKC would be perfectly fine without him since he wasn’t as valuable in the role he played in OKC. Just because I think Jeremy Lin is a below average point guard doesn’t mean I’m not a Rockets fan lol

He wasn’t as valuable because he had an excellent backup and the Thunder got another good player at his position in return. It has nothing to do with role; it has everything to do with substitution. If you’ve got Chris Paul and John Stockton as your point guards, losing one of them wouldn’t be a crushing blow if it meant getting more value at a position of need.

If they had traded him for Jarryd Bayless (47 TS%), would we be saying the same thing about Harden’s value?

Brian Cronin: He was for the trade, as clearly it was a great deal for the Rockets. I don’t think there was a single poster here who thought that it was a bad move for the Rockets. The debate at the time was only over how good Harden was. Everyone knew that it was a bit of a no-brainer for the Rockets, it was just a matter of how good Harden would be and how good/bad OKC would be after the trade, as it led into discussions about interaction effects and how OKC might not miss Harden as much as you’d think for losing a guy as good as Harden is.

Exactly. I can pull up posts calling the move a no brainer for the Rockets, even with the attached max contract. I also thought OKC would be perfectly fine without him since he wasn’t as valuable in the role he played in OKC. Just because I think Jeremy Lin is a below average point guard doesn’t mean I’m not a Rockets fan lol

And weren’t you opposed to the Harden trade when it first happened?

He was for the trade, as clearly it was a great deal for the Rockets. I don’t think there was a single poster here who thought that it was a bad move for the Rockets. The debate at the time was only over how good Harden was. Everyone knew that it was a bit of a no-brainer for the Rockets, it was just a matter of how good Harden would be and how good/bad OKC would be after the trade, as it led into discussions about interaction effects and how OKC might not miss Harden as much as you’d think for losing a guy as good as Harden is.

Frank:
Totally off topic, but this Manti Te’o dead girlfriend story is just about the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard.

http://deadspin.com/5976517/manti-teos-dead-girlfriend-the-most-heartbreaking-and-inspirational-story-of-the-college-football-season-is-a-hoax

I’ve never heard of this guy Te’o before, but this story sounds a lot like the movie Catfish.

It also reminds me of the Vanity Fair story about the woman who got Warren Beatty, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton, Robert DeNiro, and a whole bunch of other celebs in the ’70s to fall in love with her, sight unseen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miranda_Grosvenor

Juany8: As a Rockets fan, I honestly don’t mind if they miss the playoffs and get a lottery pick. They have no chance against either the Clippers or OKC, and now that they have some kind of foundation to start building around, it makes sense to get as much talent as possible. They’re going to need another star to build around, and they need to hope Jeremy Lin becomes substantially better, but Harden is going to be one of the top offensive players in the league for years to come, hopefully he develops more of his game beyond his lethal pick and roll.

LOL I always laugh when you say as a rockets fan. And weren’t you opposed to the Harden trade when it first happened?

flossy: True, but I still think it would be both easier and less insane to have a flesh-and-blood beard, or in his case, play the “I’m far too religious to have sex before marriage” card.I know the closet can make people do weird and bad things, but while it might just be tribal loyalty talking I prefer to think he’s either legitimately crazy or reeeeeally stupid (or both!) rather than hope he plays for my team.

Yeah. Rethinking my point about the lengths of a homophobic homosexual, I can’t really imagine that this kind of hoax is the work of a sane person.

What are the odds that the narrative has been spun by Deadspin so as to eliminate the possibility that a super-famous 22-year-old had a phone-and-internet-only Mormon-virgin-style relationship with a fake girl and actually got duped himself? I mean, like, what if?

BigBlueAL: They are 21-18 but are 7-14 vs the West, wouldnt be surprised if they finished under .500.But if they make a trade by the deadline it could obviously change things.

They have room for a max deal in the offseason. As bad as Harden and Lin are with turnovers, if they add someone like Paul Millsap in free agency and Asik keeps improving, they’re a contender in the West.

http://www.thebiglead.com/index.php/2013/01/16/lennay-kekua-manti-teos-fake-dead-girlfriend-was-real-says-arizona-cardinals-fullback-reagan-mauia-who-claims-to-have-met-her/