Harden debuts with a bang for the Rockets

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The Oklahoma City Thunder fans will have nightmares with James Harden for a while. Harden debuted yesterday with his new team and had perhaps his best game as a pro, dropping 37 points and 12 assists. A small sample to those skeptical about Harden's ability to take the role of being the man of a team. Now do not expect Harden to drop eye popping numbers like this every night, but its the perfect way to remind the world that James Harden is a star and is only 23 years old. Yes they played the Detroit Pistons, but so what? When Kobe Bryant dropped 81 points against the Toronto Raptors nobody said anything about it being against the raptors, 37 is 37 no matter which team you play. Harden and his new backcourt buddy Jeremy Lin looked great today, finding each other, highlighted by a backdoor cut by Harden which Lin found for an open dunk
Consider this, only three players in the last 25 years have put up the same numbers or better, than Harden put up yesterday, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Dwyane Wade. Three hall of famers, and people want to say that this was a bad trade by Houston? Kevin Martin is a very good player, but he is not James Harden. Coach Kevin Mchale believed it was a challenge for Harden to figure out what the team is doing, after all he just got there. So what will happen when Harden does know what he's doing within the context of the offense? Harden is coming signing his 5 year 80 million extension, and he's determine to show everybody that he's worth every cent.

There rockets are still players away from even making the playoffs, but its a very good start. Should OKC not make it back to the finals this year, they'll look back to this trade and how things could have been different. After all, they could have just waited it out and see how far OKC got this year before making such a hasty decision. Meanwhile Harden will continue to show night in an out that OKC made a mistake and it started last night, in the tune of 37 and 12.

Now that the Linsanity Drama is over, how good can this Knicks team be?

Jeremy Lin is gone, whether fans like it or not he will not return and will be nothing more than gossip over the next months. Now its time to pose the question, how good will this New york Knicks team? They have resigned JR Smith and signed veteran PG Jason Kidd, Iman Shumpert continues to recover from a torn ACL and Raymond Felton was acquired from Portland. In addtion, they will of course have their monster frontcourt of Melo, Stoudemire, and Chandler back. Coach Mike Woodson will have an entire season and a full training camp with his team. So how good can this team realistically be?
First, everybody knows that the Miami Heat are the favorites to repeat as champions. In the minds of most it is a foregone conclusion that they will come out the Eastern Conference (barring Injury or a major change). After the Heat however, the Eastern Conference is wide open. There will be 3 other spots available with at least fhome court advantage in the first round. Indiana has resigned Roy Hibbert and George Hill and have their core in check. They will have home court advantage in the first round, whether the second third or fourth seed (we believe third or fourth). The Boston Celtics will also be back in the mix, Kevin Garnett may be old, but he was deadly in last year's playoffs. They have signed Jason Terry, and Brandon Bass will be back. Avery Bradley will be healthy to go along with Rondo in the backcourt so look for this Celtics team to make a run at the Eastern Conference again (once again barring injury).  The Brooklyn Nets have made a lot of moves and will definitely be in the playoffs. They have positioned themselves to acquire Howard after January because that is when Brook Lopez will be available for trade. If they get Howard, they will catapult themselves into championship contention, and if they dont they are still a very good team. Kris Humphries is a double double machine, and people forget how good Brook Lopez is. He is a career 17 PPG scorer, and has yet to have a full season playing with a true PG like Deron Williams, who was forced to be more of a scorer for the last year and a half because of the team's lack of scoring options. They will also challenge for home court in the first round and will definitely be no worse than 5th in the conference.
The Knicks have several issues, the most glaring one being the fact that Carmelo Anthony and Stoudemire cannot play together because of Melo's dominance of the ball. When Melo touches the ball, the flow and movement of the basketball stops. Perhaps if the Knicks had acquired Steve Nash (who played with Stoudemire in the years that Phoenix was part of the elite of the Western Conference) things would have been different. They have Jason Kidd, but at this point in his career how much of a difference can he really make? Stoudemire is coming off one of the worse if not THE worse season of his career. Before Melo was traded to the Knicks Stoudemire was averaging over 25 points and was breaking Knick's scoring records. With the arrival of Melo? things have gone south. Stoudemire is the Knicks second best player. if Melo is 1A, then Stoudemire needs to be 1B for them to truly be successful.
Now, at this point Successful isnt making the playoffs. Successful for them is making a run at the championship. They need to be a better defensive team, Iman Shumpert was their best defender and he was a ROOKIE. He is coming off a torn ACL and will take some time for him to get back in his groove. The Knicks also struggled shooting the 3 last year, and they had the best 3 point shooter in the league in Steve Novak who shot a blistering 47%. After Novak though, it was abysmal, Jason Kidd should help in that category and Felton will look to help Stoudemire regain his dominance as he was with Amar'e before the Melo trade. Ultimately, it comes down to whether Melo and Stoudemire can make it work, they are their two best players and unfortunately neither plays defense. The Knicks will be no higher than third in the Eastern Conference and we see them as no more than the second round at best.
News around the league
-Kobe Bryant calls sterns age limit for olympics "stupid"
-The Clippers have signed Grant Hill to add to their mix
-Heat's Miller will not retire and will return to the Heat
-Miami Heat are interested in Greg Oden
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With Felton now heading back to the Knicks, you can say goodbye to Lin, and why not?

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Jeremy Lin the New York Knicks starting point guard. What was believed as a sure statement has now become a long shot. Last night the Knicks agreed to acquire point guard Raymond Felton and center Kurt Thomas in a sign and trade deal that will send Portland Jared Jeffries and Dan Gadzuric. Raymond Felton is a very good starting point guard, he was a key component of the Knicks success back in Stoudemire's first season with the Knicks, before the Carmelo trade. He averaged 17.1 ppg in that short stint with the Knicks and had stated that he wanted to return to New York. In addition, they also have Jason Kidd so where would that leave Jeremy Lin?

The main issue with bringing Lin back is the way the Rockets have structured their offer sheet to Lin. the first year Lin would receive 5 Million, the second 5.225 Million, but the problem lies in the third year and 14.8 Million he would receive. By that year the new collective bargaining agreement will kick in, and with those 14 million in the books, the Knicks would be over the cap, and would have to pay luxury tax for every cent they go over. That means the Knicks would pay about 1.75 in taxes for EVERY dollar of Lin's 14 million that year. If you do the math, that means that Lin that year would cost the Knicks almost 30 million dollars.

Now, Lin will obviously make them a lot more money off the court, but regardless of how much money he makes them because of his appeal off the floor, 30 million in one year is 30 million. Jeremy Lin is not worth all that money in one year, specially when you have a point guard in Felton who has produced over a 8 year period and not just for 32 games. After all, we are talking about production on the court, Felton knows how to play with Stoudemire. Don't forget, that in order for the Knicks to become a championship team they need their 2 stars to play like stars. Stoudemire cant have another year like his 2011-12. Felton knows how to play with Amar'e and will definitely easy his burden of having to play with Melo a bit.

Now, lets look at a situation in which they do sign Lin back. The Knicks would have 3 point guards who could all be starters. How do you distribute the minutes? Kidd is the veteran future hall of famer, he obviously needs to see playing time. Kidd signed to help the Knicks get deep into the playoffs not to sit on the bench. He is a great three point shooter, the better of the 3 and quite frankly this is an area that the Knicks need help in. Outside of Steve Novak last year, the Knicks struggled shooting the 3. Felton and Lin will obviously need to play and both are starting quality point guards. So one way or another, if you have all three point guards the knicks would be spending money on an asset and not using it to its full potential. Depth is never a problem, specially at a time where the league is being dominated by good point guards. But you need to use your depth one way or another. 

The Rockets meanwhile need a point guard, they lost both their point guards in Lowry and Dragic who were both very good. Lin will immediately start, and in addition will have a much better chance to develop in Houston. So Lin to Houston is the best move for everybody, the Knicks, Houston, and Lin himself. After all Did you really expect Lin to continue his development playing alongside Carmelo Anthony for a full season?

News around the league
-The Hornets have matched the Suns offer sheet for Gordon, despite Gordon stating publicly that he hoped they wouldn't

-The Bulls once had a deep bench, and now have lost Watson, Korver, Brewer, and possibly Asik and Hamilton

-Cavaliers star Kyrie Irving broke his hand in practice yesterday

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