For the first time in my life I’m happy about a Lakers win. LA’s triumph over Houston means just about everyone (don’t worry I checked with ‘everyone’ and they’re cool with me being their representative) wanted to see.
We’re going to get it, Houston versus OKC, the second and third highest scoring teams in the league this season.
This will be must watch TV, of course largely due to the unshaven one facing off against his old team.
Almost immediately after being traded to Houston, Harden travelled with the Rockets to NBA arenas around the US on his sold out F U tour.
Aren’t F U tours just great? I believe the terminology may have been popularised by The Basketball Jones guys, and LeMarcus Aldridge used to make his an annual event following multiple All-Star snubs.
Harden’s tour started with a bang, when he notched up 37 and 45 points in his first two games and never looked back.
Have a look at some of Harden’s stats compared with last year:
2011/12: 16.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.2 turnovers, FG% .491, 3P% .390 (31.4 minutes)
2012/13: 25.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 3.8 turnovers, FG% .438, 3P% .368, (38.3 minutes)
Harden received seven extra minutes of court time and a world of freedom as ‘the man’, rather than ‘the man off the bench’.
The drastic role change resulted in him taking his game to that superstar level. He’s also putting those numbers up primarily against starters this year, as opposed to playing against the other team’s bench for much of last season.
While his shooting percentages and turnovers have taken a hit, that comes with having such a high usage rate.
His defence has been lacklustre (sceptics have even questioned its existence – “We don’t have the science to prove it yet!”), and not to make more excuses for him, but he seems to be conserving all his energy for the offensive end where he has to do so much.
Some more defensive effort would be nice though, of course.
Like OKC in 2009, I think Houston is one of the teams of the future, but in a completely different way.
Seattle and then OKC were horrendous for three straight seasons, netting them high draft picks and their super savvy GM Sam Presti nailing every single one of them:
Kevin Durant #2 (2007)
Russle Westbrook #4 (2008)
Serge Ibaka #24 (2008)
James Harden #3 (2009)
It’s no secret than many of the lesser teams bottom out purposely in order to get a high draft pick, but if you’ll excuse the crude summary of the situation, lots of GMs are idiots.
Not because they bottom out, but because of their draft choices several months later (among other things).
Very few GMs are as smart as Sam Presti, and this method worked wonders for him and his franchise.
Another of the league’s smart GMs currently resides in Houston, Daryl Morey. Morey went about rebuilding his team in a completely different way.
He didn’t believe it was fair to his fans, his players or himself to purposely bottom out in order to increase their odds in the draft lottery. Instead, he planned to remain competitive, stockpile assets and eventually flip them for a big name player.
All of which he did.
Casual fans might not see it, but Morey has positioned his team very well for the future. His roster is littered with talented young players on cheap contracts (following salaries listed as yearly not total): Thomas Robinson ($3.3m/4 years), Chandler Parsons ($888,250(!!)/3 years), Donatas Motiejunas ($1.3m/4 years), Terrence Jones (1.4m/4 years) and a host of others.
Guys like that will further develop and continue to produce for next to no money, or get bundled into another package for anther bigger name player.
With the impending new collective bargaining agreement, cheap, high value contracts like those are valued very highly around the league.
Additionally, Morey has a defensive monster in Asik (a steal at $8.3m), an offensive monster in Harden and tons of cap room to play with in the offseason to go along with being neck deep in trade assets.
Returning to on court matters, Houston play at the fastest pace in the league, averaging 98.6 possessions a game, while OKC aren’t far behind at 95.9.
They’re also two of the league’s three top scoring teams, so expect a spectacular offensive show despite games usually becoming more half court oriented in the playoffs.
Kevin Martin will be also eager show up his old team who packaged him in the trade, and Harden will win Houston a game on his own.
However, OKC are clearly more talented, more fluent and have been in the playoffs three times in a row already, learning and growing each year.
OKC in five.
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