Now that the Houston Rockets have locked up James Harden on a new four-year, $118 million deal, he's going to be with the team at least through the 2018-19 season. The star guard has an opt out following that year, meaning this contract added a minimum of one year to his old deal.
That's the good news for Houston.
The bad news? This contract makes Harden the second highest-paid player in the NBA in terms of average annual salary. For a one-dimensional player that performs at a well below average on defense, some may question the decision.
It also comes after the Rockets added two solid shooting options in Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon in free agency. Unfortunately, neither of them can be counted on to provide even average performances on the defensive end of the ball.
The biggest takeaway here from a fantasy lens?
If you see a solid scoring team going up against the Rockets next season, double or even triple down on players from that specific team.
Houston yielded the fifth-most points in the NBA last season, and that was with a solid inside defensive presence in Dwight Howard in the mix. With Howard now in Atlanta, the Rockets simply don't have that option to fall back on.
Despite finishing among the top scorers in the NBA last season, Harden only outscored the player he was guarding by 2.2 points per game. Opposing players also hit on 48 percent of their field goals and 41 percent of their threes against Harden.
Anderson and Gordon both averaged over 15 points per game for the New Orleans Pelicans last season. Though, each were outscored when it comes to the player they were going up against. Anderson yielded a field goal percentage of 47 while opposing players shot 44 percent against Gordon from beyond the three-point line.
The obvious takeaway here is that Houston will score a whole heck of a lot of points this upcoming season. It will also be among, if not the worst, defensive team in the Association. Yeah, Rockets games are going to be elite when it comes to a fake basketball perspective.