James Harden gets 5 yr $80M from Houston

[Who]

Harden is a max contract player. Good contract.

I agree.  I think with him as a primary option on offense his numbers should get to around D-Wades. 

Im not saying he is as good, but I think the numbers should be similar. 

I think a 25 PPG, 5 RPG and 6 APG line shouldnt be out of the question

A lot depends on what McHale does offensively.

But yeah mid 20s PPG 5 RPG and 5 APG would be roughly what he was doing in OKC if you give him more touches

You don't even have to change his role to get this.

If you scale up his minutes from 31 to 38 and keep his per-minute averages exactly the same as their levels last year in OKC, he averages 21/5/5.

This is pretty much where I would expect him to be this season.

In that 20-22 point range, 4.5 to 5.5 rebounds + 4.5 to 5.5 assists. Similar to Brandon Roy.

That said, James Harden is too reliant on the pick and roll for my taste. I think he'll need to become more versatile in his scoring to match Brandon Roy (and/or to become a 25ppg threat). To vary his scoring more in order to be more consistent / attack different defenses in alternate ways. His scoring efficiency will probably drop some as a result too.

Only just turned 23 years old though. Plenty of time for further improvement. Heck, Harden now is only the same age as Roy was in Roy's second season. Lots of room and time for improvement.

How do you thnk it will work with two very good pick and roll players, harden/Lin in the backcourt?

Harden worked really well with Westbrook so I think he'll be fine with Jeremy Lin. Harden can work both on and off the ball very effectively. Can function well in pretty much any system or alongside any type of teammate due to his high skill-level and intelligence offensively.

Jeremy Lin struggled when forced to share the ball with Amare and Melo so Harden will probably eat into Lin's productivity some. Needs to be a ball-dominant player to be an effective starting PG. Struggles to play off the ball. Iffy jumper. Iffy decision maker / floor general. That frontcourt of Parsons, Morris and Asik looks limited in terms of jump-shooting / floor spacing so that may cause problems also.

I'd say the addition of Harden is far more likely to hurt than help Jeremy Lin in the immediate sense. But the main issue with Lin was always whether he could become a more well-rounded basketball player so nothing has changed in the long term.

Houston (Kevin McHale) ran a lot of pick and rolls last year with Kyle Lowry and Goran Dragic. Even had Kevin Martin running more than he usually does (probably one of the reasons his scoring efficiency dropped) ... so there isn't much change with Lin and Harden there now. A continuation of what they did last season. Good home for PnR heavy offensive threats.