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Originally Posted by jbergey22
Im with you. I dont see this ending all that well. Harden LOVES the ball. Chris Paul is an elite playmaker that doesnt turn the ball over so should be possessing the ball a lot more than Harden. Harden has never seemed like a player that likes to defer to anyone. Harden can still score his points but Paul is going to create the opportunities for others to be more effective. Is Harden going to be ok dropping from 10 assists per game to 4-5? I think they are an interesting combination. I felt the same about Wade and Lebron though and it ended up working out with them two.
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I think the key difference between Wade/LeBron and CP3/Harden is that LeBron and Wade happened to have been close friends since before they were drafted - hell, they engineered the whole thing together with Bosh. It's debatable but, IMO at least, LeBron was also the clear #1 guy in the league at the time, and the gulf between him and Wade even at that point was greater than Harden-CP3 right now.
Harden & CP3 might work awesome, or they might clash and still clinch the #2 seed. It's an educated gamble, not dissimilar to the Pelicans getting Cousins to pair with Davis, really. There's a lot of overlap in styles and potential for clashes, although CP3/Harden's ceiling is higher. It's a fairly small window they've given themselves with CP3 at his age and with his contract though, and I think they are still at least one major piece in the front-court away from seriously challenging the Warriors.