The deal came four days after the Rockets pulled off a stunning trade to acquire Harden from the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Houston traded shooting guard Kevin Martin and first-round draft pick Jeremy Lamb to Oklahoma City, along with future draft picks.

Rockets general manager Daryl Morey called Harden a "foundational player" on Monday, stating that the reigning Sixth Man of the Year is "a player we can build around."

The Rockets, who also signed point guard Jeremy Lin this offseason, visit the Detroit Pistons in their regular-season opener Wednesday.

hi new joe johnson.

enjoy your albatross of a contract while it freakin lasts...

If given like role or lions share role is...

James Harden a better player than Russell Westbrook?

3G4G wrote:Honest opinion is given like role or lions share role is...

James Harden a better player than Russell Westbrook?

LOL what? is that english, orrr....caz I don't quite understand what you mean.

If that was even to me...

And no of course he's not better silly. I said he's a POTENTIAL 3rd teamer. Or meant to say it, it was implied. You get the point though...

They better hope Bynum or Howard ends up there in the offseason, or it's awful signing.

Morey is beyond terrible as a GM and talent evaluator.

chewy wrote:They wouldn't have money in 3 years. Lin 15mil, Asik 15mil, Harden 17mil... They might not even make the playoffs.

Is anybody really surprised by this? Harden has huge pressure to justify this contract with big numbers, since nobody expects the Rockets to win anytime soon.

CrushAlot wrote:

chewy wrote:They wouldn't have money in 3 years. Lin 15mil, Asik 15mil, Harden 17mil... They might not even make the playoffs.

Part of the poison pill third year that was reported was the Rockets cap hit would be 8 mil per year because they were under the cap. I wonder if the Harden contract changes that.

It doesn't as they're still well under the cap even after adding Harden's $14.5mil. I just looked at Westbrook's deal to see how his salary broke down per year and in the second year of his 5yr $78.9mil Max contract from OKC he's making $14.6mil. Harden essentially signed the same deal

The only committed salary calculated from Hoopshype is Lin/Asik/Scola's amnesty figure. But this is reported salary and not factoring actual Cap hits. So the Rockets have $36.3mil total salary.

The Cap hit figure is $8.3mil(Lin's cap hit) +8.3mil(Asik's cap hit) +6.5mil(Scola's cap hit)=$23mil + $14.5mil(Harden's cap hit 2nd yr)=$37.5mil. Harden's Max doesn't start kicking in until next year. This year he's playing for $5.8mil(which is a bargain) Team Salary Cap figure by 2014/2015 $62mil natural progression the Rockets have $24mil free but have to exercise some Team Options on certain Players.

They waived JuJo/Brockman/Hayward already and didn't pick up Cole's option. So the way I see it they keep Parsons/Jones/White/Montie/Morris.... plus additional pick salary, comes to about $12mil. So they'll have $10-15mil depending on what they actually do to spend on another significant player and they still won't be at the Tax thresh hold.

The way I now look at Harden's deal is like this....using Westbrook's deal again as a measure

1rst yr $5.8mil
2nd yr $13.6mil
3rd yr $14.6mil
4th yr $15.7mil
5th yr $16.7mil
6th yr $17.7mil

Total 6rys $85mil is what the Rockets are truly paying Harden should he play each yr to completion as a Rocket.

GustavBahler wrote:Harden was talking about how he is ready to be a leader and how he was a leader in college and now he is back to his accustomed position. Thats some big talk from a guy who didnt step up when it mattered most. Lin also said he was ready to be the leader so it should be interesting to see who delivers and who doesn't.

Harden has all the tools to be a very dominant SG. Issue is can he consistently produce with defenses locked onto him.