A Good Problem To Have

Does all of this mean that Harden is a better player for the Thunder than Thabo? Again, maybe. Now some individuals would scream, “Of course it does, look at the numbers!” and they’d have a pretty good argument. Harden is at least within striking distance of Thabo in steals, blocks and rebounds (the only ones Thabo is ahead of Harden in) and Harden is way ahead of Thabo in the others. But that being said, stats are notoriously lacking when it comes to defensive analysis and so much of what Thabo does will never be scored or quantified by a box score, so let’s try to keep a level head about all of this as we move forward. But in terms of an overall player, Harden is definitely a more complete player than Thabo. But that’s not what the issue is, or the question was, for this column. It is if Harden helps the Thunder win games more than Thabo does, and I just don’t think we can definitely know the answer to that question yet.

via Sunday Discussion – The Harden Hourglass | Daily Thunder.com.

Daily Thunder breaks down the Harden v. Thabo debate. They leave out the plus/minus numbers (which favor Harden) but do a good job of putting each in the context of the league standards.

Harden’s reputation as efficient makes sense. He’s productive when he’s on the floor. He doesn’t fade to the background, he’s active. Even if he’s not making a play, he’s working within the flow of the entire team. But having Thabo to rely on is a blessing. Rookies have such trouble with consistency, so having a veteran to provide a counter is invaluable in that regard.

It’s the slow acquisition of depth that’s helped OKC reach this point, along with Durant and Green’s development. Then you start to consider how good Harden could be in a few years and you begin to realize we’re seeing the adolescent stages of a powerhouse.

Oster-Tags: James Harden, Jeff Green, Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder, Thabo Sefolosha