Talk about supressing talent! The Oklahoma City Thunder do not look like the same 2011-2012 team out on the court and having traded James Harden away to the Houston Rockets does not help their cause.
The man once solely relegated to the sixth man role in Oklahoma City, Harden has blasted his way to the top scorer in the league early in the 2012 season following his trade to the Houston Rockets.
Say what you want about it being too soon to really analyze OKC's decision, but how do you trade away a guy with so much power and offensive potential? Not only that, why was he coming off your bench when he was on your team?
Were the Thunder unaware of Harden's potential as a starter?
So far in the three games this season, Harden is proving that the Thunder made the wrong choice, not just in trading him, but designating him to a role off the bench.
The Thunder are off to a 1-2 start, meanwhile Harden and the beard have the Houston Rockets 2-1 in the season. Harden is currently the leader in the NBA averaging 35.3 points per game. He is shooting over 50 percent from the floor and sinking 35 percent of his threes.
Kevin Martin, who came over to Oklahoma City, is a risk as he has proven to be injury prone. He is off to a good start averaging 20.7 points per game, but apparently, it has not been enough for the Thunder to win.
Yeah, the Thunder will be getting more young talent as they got Jeremy Lamb and future early round draft picks, but without a doubt, Harden was their best option to win now.
Why not continue sharing the pressure amongst these young core of players? The NBA is heading down the road where the dominant big man is disappearing little by little. OKC fans and NBA analysts dislike when Russell Westbrook has the ball because he folds under pressure and makes poor decisions. So why not start Harden and have three players who can finish at the rim and also shoot from the outside?
We are only three games into the season, but Harden is proving that he can effectively lead a team to victory.
This could be a honeymoon stage for Harden as fatigue will eventually set in and injuries might take toll, but for now Harden is proving that he was not the player the Thunder should have traded and he is definitely more than just a sixth option from the bench.