James Harden, not Russell Westbrook, should be the first overall pick

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Ever since Kevin Durant packed his bags, shuttered his steakhouse and joined the Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook has been the early favorite to go first overall in fantasy drafts.

It's not hard to imagine how a Westbrook solo tour could play out because we've seen it before. Westbrook has played 61 career games without Durant by his side, including 41 games in the 2014-15 season in which the Thunder had a 22-19 record.

In those games, Westbrook averaged 28.0 points, 8.4 assists, 7.1 rebounds, 2.0 steals, 0.3 blocks and 9.5 free-throw attempts per game, per StateMuse. Only four players have averaged more than 28 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in a season. Westbrook is one of them; the others are Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Oscar Robertson.

You can forgive someone for expecting that the Thunder, given a full offseason to build and adjust the roster around Westbrook's skill-set, could push their remaining superstar dynamo to new fantasy heights. And I still believe that Westbrook should go no lower than second overall in fantasy drafts leading up to the Oct. 26 opening night.

But it has become apparent that Houston Rockets guard James Harden has elevated himself the top spot on theScore's top 200 player board, bumping Westbrook from the pole position for the first time this preseason.

The case for Harden over Westbrook comes down to three key distinctions:

Mike D'Antoni's system

The Rockets are going to play fast. They're already coming into the season having led the league in fast break possessions last season with 21.2 per game. They also ranked seventh in overall pace, averaging 100.1 possessions per game. Dropping an offensive guru like D'Antoni into the mix is akin to putting an F1 engine in a Ferrari.

D'Antoni's philosophy is dependent on three main principles: pacing, spacing and passing. By being aggressive in transition, his playmakers have always been apt at finding the open man for transition baskets, especially on the perimeter. Harden effectively becomes a larger, more physically-gifted version of retired D'Antoni floor general Steve Nash. That's scary.

Harden has a realistic shot at averaging 30 points and close to 10 rebounds per game - more possessions mean more shots. The rebounds will be a little tougher to come by but Harden's typical minutes workload already lends itself to above average rebounding totals for a shooting guard, and with the team likely seeing an increase in long-range shots, it will be easier for Harden to hawk long rebounds away from the bigs on the floor.

Harden will also see his assists per game raise substantially from 7.5. The team brought in shooters Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon, meaning that anyone who dares to double-team Harden will be just one or two passes away from an open 3-point shot.

It's early, but Harden is already showing signs of improved production as a passer, averaging 11 assists in just 30 minutes a night through four preseason games. Even naming Harden the team's starting point guard should have a positive impact on his on-court personality, even if that's essentially the role he's played throughout his tenure in Texas.

Also: this team is going to be comically bad on the defensive end. Say what you want about Dwight Howard, but they'll miss him in the paint. Anderson and Gordon are both minuses on the defensive end, and Harden's turnstile defense is can be charitably described as passive aggressive at best.

It's not just that this offense can score - it needs to score to make up for giving up 115 points every night. Harden's going to be front and center in almost every single Rocket possession when he's on the floor this season.

Harden's positional eligbility

With last year's nominal starting PG Patrick Beverley expected to miss the two weeks leading up to the regular season, the Rockets made a formal declaration that Harden will be the team's starting point guard, with Gordon playing in an off-ball role. Even when Beverley returns, the damage has been done: some sites have officially added PG eligibility to Harden's repertoire.

That gives Harden three positions on some sites (PG, SG, SF). Both wing positions are particularly top-heavy but the talent-level falls off quickly after the LeBrons and Paul Georges of the league are drafted. Being able to lock down either a wing slot or PG with the No. 1 slot allows you to pick anyone at the end of Round 2 without sacrificing flexibility in roster construction.

At best, Westbrook will be eligible at both guard slots; at worst, he'll continue to be listed solely as a PG and that can kill. Having Harden in leagues with daily lineup locks is like a skeleton key; if you have three PGs and but only two active PG slots, you can slide Harden over to one of his other positions.

If you have Westbrook and two other PGs but only two PG slots, one of your players is effectively rendered a healthy scratch. Maximizing the number of active players can add two or three more games worth of production, which is a massive advantage in any format.

Injury History

Harden has missed just 10 games over the last three seasons; Westbrook has missed 53 of 246 games (21.5 percent) in the same span. In the 2013-14 season, Westbrook underwent two separate surgeries on his right knee. The next season, he fractured a bone in his shooting hand.

While Westbrook played 80 games in his most recent campaign, his bruising bull-in-a-china-shop play is conducive to a higher threat of injury. Make no mistake, Harden also has a penchant for hurling himself into the paint too, but at least he diversifies his approach with outside shooting, alleviating the amount of contact he takes on a game-by-fame basis.

Westbrook is a career 30.2 percent 3-point shooter and everyone on the floor knows it, which is why his clashes in the paint often boil down to rugby-style collisions.

The recent track record for explosively athletic PGs with spotty outside shooting (see: Rose, Derrick) doesn't support the believe that Westbrook can sustain getting clobbered as he dives to the hoop. With the perennially healthy Harden available, there's no reason to take on added risk.