Charles Barkley Loved the James Harden Trade--for the Thunder--Back in 2012
By Jason Lisk
Charles Barkley went on a long rant about analytics and Daryl Morey, after the Rockets GM fired off a Twitter message about Barkley’s commentary.
“I’m not worried about Daryl Morey. He’s one of those idiots that believes in analytics. He went out and got James Harden and got Dwight Howard, and gonna tell me that’s analytics.”
While Barkley paints it as obvious that you just get good players like Harden and it has nothing to do with “analytics”, Houston Rockets blog Clutch Fans reminds us that Harden becoming a star in Houston wasn’t obvious to everyone, including Barkley.
At the start of the 2012 season, right after Harden was traded to Houston from Oklahoma City, Barkley went on PTI to talk basketball.
“I love the Oklahoma City trade. I think that trade made them better. I’m a Kevin Martin and Jeremy Lamb fan. I like that trade a lot for them.”
When asked by Tony Kornheiser if he saw James Harden as a foundational player, Barkley responded:
“I do not. I do not see him like that for the simple fact being an instant offense off the bench, when they’re going to give you the ball every time and you’re the dominant scorer, it won’t work like that when you’re in a traditional offense.”
Charles Barkley should definitely run a basketball team.