The Wild Wild West

The 2012-13 Western Conference champions may have just about been determined this weekend with one trade.  After many difficulties in negotiating a contract extension, the Thunder ultimately made the decision to ship James Harden off to the Houston Rockets.  Also involved in the trade for the Thunder were Cole Aldrich, Daequan Cook and Lazar Hayward.  In return, Oklahoma City will receive Kevin Martin, rookie Jeremy Lamb, 2 first-round draft picks and an additional second-round pick.

I don’t necessarily blame the Thunder for making this move.  They couldn’t come to terms on a new deal with Harden and they needed to give him up this season so they could still get something in return.  It’s just upsetting because this will hurt their chances of keeping up with the Lakers if they should meet in the playoffs, and they were one of the few teams in the West that would have been able to.  Even though I know it won’t be impossible, especially since we haven’t seen any of these revamped teams from the West play together in the regular season yet, but I do think the Lakers will have a much easier time making it to the finals with Harden out of the picture in OKC.

The Thunder are far from down and out though.  We haven’t seen Kevin Durant hit his peak yet, and the same goes for Serge Ibaka.  It will also be interesting to see how Kevin Martin will fit in with this roster.  He’s had quite a few ups and downs from one season to the next, but this will be his first time playing on a strong team.  The other elements of the trade though, a rookie and 3 draft picks, seem more like something a team would trade for when they’re in the rebuilding process, not following up a finals appearance.

As for the Rockets, I’m sure that they couldn’t be happier with this trade.  After failed attempts at picking up Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol this summer, they’ve finally managed to pick up a player that will restore their playoff hopes.  Signing Jeremy Lin was a smart move for Houston as well, despite the fact that it's still uncertain how well he will perform this season.  Having Harden playing alongside him in the backcourt will be a big aid to Lin's game though.  This could be a good opportunity for both of these players to truly breakout, even if it may not be this season.

Overall, this trade will be a fairly big shake-up to the Western Conference.  It won't have the massive effect that the Dwight and Nash moves will, but it will still cause quite the shift in standings at the end of the season.  I will be in attendance for the Pistons home opener against the Rockets, and I’m about ten times more excited to go now that they’ve added Harden to the team.  They still won’t be having any impact in the playoffs, but they’ll continue their usual run of bordering on a playoff spot.  As usual, that playoff spot will just depend on how well the rest of the Western Conference ends up performing this season.  I haven't been much of a Rockets fan in years past, but I think I'll be pulling for them to get one of those last playoff spots this season.