James Harden vs. Kyle Weaver vs. Thabo Sephalosha

If they were smart theyd start harden, weaver and sephalosha are nice but they dont have the potential of harden, there excellent backups to spell him with sephalosha brought in for defensive purposes, i think winning is not the top priority for them this year, they should be more interested in developing all their young players

Put Harden starting immediately. If he wants to learn then he needs to start as much as possible. He is the most nba ready rookie and he'll show it. He'll be solid from day one. Thabo is twice as good as weaver. Thabo is a good player and will be one of the 1st off the bench for the thuner. Can't say the same for weaver.

Weaver is basically made irrelevant by drafting Harden - he offers nothing more than minutes off the bench as a tough defender, and now Sefolosha can move into that role.

I like Sefolosha, but offensively, he's very raw. He'll do well as a sixth man.

Harden is the clear cut starter, even if Sefolosha starts at the beginning of the year. You don't take a guy third overall and not give him a shot at the beginning, especially when he'll be 20 by the start of the season.

Harden can give them 15 points per game and is good at running an offense. Thabo and Weaver are both good perimeter defenders, as is Shaun Livinston but they don't do a whole lot besides that. I'd like to see Harden get the minutes.

They should start Thabo. They need to add scoring to their second unit and Harden would obviously get more minutes but he should be on the second unit and 4th quarter team.

I definitely agree with 76er Baller... I'd like to see Harden get some 4th quarter minutes with Durant-Westbrook-Green-Center, but I think that in reality, they need Thabo's defense out there.

I think as Harden evolves as a defender- then he'll be ready to start

I think they should do what Denver did last year...start Thabo(Dahntay Jones) and bring Harden off the bench and let him dominate 2nd units, and also be the guy on the court at the end of games(JR Smith)!!!

They're starting lineup is full of scoring, and they're 2nd unit is all defenders, so they should do they're rotation that way to give each unit what its missing!!!

Weaver would be a valuable guy for a contender. He can play all 3 perimter spots. He has alot of Scottie Pippen in him. But Harden should definitely be an immediate starter. If there was anybody ready to start right off the bat from the 09 draft, it was Griffin and Harden. Sefolosha is a defender and he would be best backing Harden up. He isnt good enough offensively to start over Harden.

So Iguodala, you think that a team's 5 starters should be its best 5 offensive players? even after teams like Dallas, San Antonio (Jet and Manu) have had a lot of success having one of their better scorers coming off the bench?

I think that with this team. I mean Kevin Durant isnt a good defender, but would you start Sefolosha over him because he doesnt play good defense? I wouldnt. James Harden is clearly better than Weaver and Sefolosha, Sefolosha and Weaver defend better, but Harden is so much better offensively than those to you have to start him over them.

So are you really saying that Harden should play more minutes per game than Sefolosha?

I never said that Sefolosha should even be in the conversation of starting over Durant, so I'm not sure where that one came from...

I guess the idea is, you have enough offensive production with Durant, Westbrook, etc on the starting unit, might it be wise to save Harden's offensive abilities (which you have somehow decided are WAY better than either Sef and Weaver, despite the fact Harden hasn't played a game in the NBA- that's another discussion) for the second unit to try and balance the scoring? who else is going to score for OKC's second unit?

Kyle Weaver. Let Harden earn the Starting Job

I agree with the people saying Harden should be the sixth man his rookie year then if he improves his defense along with his offense, start him in year 2.

I know you didnt say that, it was just an example. James Harden should start over Sefolosha and Weaver, I mean it would be the right thing to do. They dont have scoring on the bench though, so Harden would fit in good there. But why not give Harden alot of minutes so he can play with the 1st and 2nd team? I hope the Thunder dont think their depth is so good they can just make mass substitutions....

That's what I'm saying, Harden should probably play a lot of minutes, but not necessarily be the starter... A lot of teams put out a guy to start the 1st and 3rd quarter and then don't even put him in again at any other times. That could be Sefolosha, although I think he's one of their better players. lol. they played a lot better after his acquisition.

Harden could log most of the 4th quarter minutes and it'd let him get going against another team's second unit.

and also, no NBA team should start ANYONE because ..."it would be the right thing to do" this isn't senior night of the NCAA

So you think because Kyle Weaver played 10 minutes a night last year and Sefolosha who is nothing but an athletic defender should play over Harden because he's a rookie? That good offensively, and a solid defender as well. He is (theoretically) what Weaver and Thebo are, with more offensive talent and slightly less defensive ability. So why sit him? They drafted him in the top 3 for a reason. Oh and by me saying "it would be the right thing to do" I meant, you play the best players. This isnt church league ball, you dont have to play players to be nice.

hahaha i was gonna say! OKC gotta win games, not be nice. And yes, I do think that Kyle Weavers 10 mpg are invaluable... James Harden has had ZERO! never underestimate experience.

yea, I mean there clearly isn't a right answer either way... just interesting to have a discussion. I think you're not giving Sefolosha enough credit, but that's your opinion. OKC played significantly better after they acquired the kid from the Bulls.

It'd be my preference to have Harden's offensive abilities (both scoring and facilitating) come off the bench with the 2nd unit, but that's just my opinion.

and for the record, Kyle weaver averaged 21 mpg in 56 games played... He didn't get much action at the start of the year, but for the 2nd half of the season he was playing 25 mpg

Yea your right. Weaver just is a poor offensive player in terms of scoring and shooting. He does have some PG skills.

Harden off the bench would be good, but I think you have to give him more than the 2nd and 4th quarter. He will be a 15 ppg scorer immediately, I can promise you that. And he NEVER takes bad shots. I like him more than Weaver or Thabo next year.

Lets be honest, all Sefolosha is good for is strong on ball D, and the occasional athletic finish at the rim. He is like a longer, taller Dahntay Jones

I think the arguement is really between Seph and James. Kyle is better at PG to me because he does not have that "score first-pass second" mentality that most SGs have and he played it well in the SL( not saying that will transition to the reg. season), but he played great D on the shorter PGs, being 6'5" and he is a better back-up for Russ than Shaun and Chucky IMO, and I think Seph and James compliment each other, Seph w/ great D and James w/ his offensive craftiness. So, idk right now, I need to see the pres3eason games. BTW James is a solid defender, too. He got some blocks and many steals in the SL but once again {read the ()'s of line 2}, and he creates for his teammates of of fastbreaks if he doesn't smash it himself.

Start Harden and let Thabo, come off the bench and provide a defensive spark, He can play 2 and 3 being 6'7'' and get about 25 minutes per, and it will give Harden a chance to get minutes and improve and Kyle Weaver isn't nearly as good as either one of those guys in my opinion.

Jeez I wish the Bulls would have kept him, especially since BG left. You could pretty much stop backcourts with him and Hinrich together on D. To answer the question, I'd say I agree with the Dahntay Jones/JR Smith theory.

Im a Bulls fan too and and i was really high on this guy too, I wish they could have kept him around

I'd like to hear how he feels about this, and whether he thinks he'll start or come off the bench.