James Harden and Kevin Durant played together in Oklahoma City and may have won a championship together if the Thunder were not so short-sighted and now that the two are not on the same team, that doesn't mean they aren't buddies.
The two stars joined Bill Simmons and Jalen Rose on Grantland to discuss playing together and other issues around the NBA.
Click here for video of the interview from Grantland or for more from Sports World Report.
Dwight Howard has a nice supporting cast led by James Harden that includes Chandler Parsons, Marcus Camby, Omri Casspi, Omer Asik, Patrick Beverley, Francisco Garcia as well as Terrence Jones and while GM Daryl Morey may still make moves, the main core is complete. Howard has championship expectations for himself and now that he left LA, they will be ever higher, much like when LeBron left for the Heat from the Cavs. An interesting wrinkle to Howard signing with the Rockets is Harden, who was acquired before last season in a stunning trade from the Thunder.
Bleacher Reports poses a question about Howard and Harden and compares the two stars to ones of the past, including Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant when they were with the Lakers and writes that the duo could face similar challenges that those superstars did. Harden showed last season that he has the potential to be a superstar in the NBA and now Oklahoma City looks awful after trading him away over money and at 24-years-old, he still has plenty of time to develop. Howard comes in a year after Harden was acquired and the two make for one of the best duos in the league.
Harden came to the Rockets after spending time as a sixth man to Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant and last season he was able to be the number one option. Now that Howard is in the fold the two may rub up against each other, as Howard could take away his role as the priority player on offense. Howard had some issues with Bryant in LA and that was similar to what happened with Kobe and Shaq and that could rear its head again this season. Jeremy Lin is the point guard, but clearly Howard and Harden are better than he is at their respective positions and Bleacher Reports points out an interesting item, writing that Harden at one point didn't want ant Howard related questions when speaking to the media, which could be a precursor to how they act together.
The website relayed some quotes from CSNNW.com that Harden made about Thomas Robinson and he spoke about the player and said that he would work well in Portland with the Blazers. Harden called Robinson a beast and said that he is a very hard worker, solid rebounder and a player that has the chance to turn his career around in Portland. Robinson has all the talent in the world and he was traded mostly for his situation rather than the skills he possesses and now it seems that he will stay in Portland for at least a little while, especially after playing in the Vegas summer league and averaging 10.4 points, 12.8 rebounds and 1.2 blocks through five games.
Harden went on to say that Robinson will be a player that can stick around in the league and play solid basketball, adding that he thinks he can be a special player and that the trades will motivate him to get better. Portland has a number of young players that need time to develop and Robinson is now one of those stars after making the jump from Houston. The Blazers were mentioned in some early reports as an option in a sign and trade with the Bobcats for Gerald Henderson, according to Yahoo Sports, but so far not much on that front has materialized.
