But you have much more evidence to support that it wasnt true? Like waaaaay more. I dont understand why you wouldnt believe it. I get that Cp grates on people's nerves, but there are very little indications that say they hated each other Had Kawhi signed in Toronto, we would still have Chris Paul.
You believe it firmly when nobody associated with the team has said it. Literally the only people who have reported this rift are bay area media people. ESPN's McMahon said he knows the source, they tried to feed it to him and he rejected it because he knew the source was someone who was trying to damage the Rockets.
Because history tells you that drama is pretty common in the NBA? I am also not saying they hate each other’s guts just the way the other played. I never witnessed a star that wanted to play with his friend so bad to get rid of a less familiar friend/co-worker after just 2 seasons. Especially when Harden was the guy recruiting Paul not that long ago. Or another theory is that he realizes outside of WB and Durant, he got no real friends left who would gladly join him in their top shape or absolute prime, so he had to strike that iron while it’s hot. Even less believable though.
If the media can tear a relationship apart, the relationship wasn't that strong to begin with, IMO. If All this media trash reporting can place that nugget of doubt in Harden's head leads me to assume he wasn't talking to CP3 over the summer outside the visits with Morey about free agency.
I mean, Cp declined, there is no two ways about it. Harden probably just thought he couldnt win with him as he was now. Add to the fact that Westbrook suddenly became available and also add to the fact that there "some" tensions and you have the result. So yea, it was more a basketball decision than anything else.....wether it was a good or not....we'll find out.
I did not say rift, it is a style of play that worked one year and did not work no more. One of those players is more frustrated by it than the other. How is so hard to understand? Also Morey leaked himself that everyone except Harden is available for trade to test the market. So Morey can damage the reputation of the team by randomly testing the market and does not allow others? I would call it a slightly difficult circumstance and gap that cannot be bridged easily between those two. If CP3 was not traded immediately after those reports, I would have been more inclined to believe you no matter if that’s right or not. He could have been traded much later and it would not have been so dire.
he never said harden specifically was a full exception. Woj's tweet said all players and picks available in talks. he just added that its hard to imagine a harden scenario and perhaps even cp3.
I can see that aggregators ran with it too. McMahon was possibly the most on point and stated that there were riffs between them. Was it Manboobs and pink eye? No, but it could also be in how James is. He isn't vocal very often it seems (hence why him calling out Foster was so big). I still have a hard time believing things are honky dorry and James just said adios CP3 for basketball reasons.
Oh, I am pretty sure JH is vocal, you see clips of him yelling on the court or court side. He is just not vocal to reporters or ppl he is not familiar or cool with. A beard is a tool to hide certain emotions.
There were reported tensions but they were tensions that a lot of basketball teammates have. The point is that we would have been just fine going into the season had we kept Cp, it was not in fact a toxic environment nor did they hate eachother. Its possible that thing arent as positive as im framing it but given the reports i think thats much much closer to the truth.
I don't think I'm farther off from where you are, I think I'm just more on the side that's like, if given the choice Harden didn't want to work on those tensions. He wanted to cut out and bring in new blood instead. So the part I don't buy is that it's complete BS. I think there's smoke and a little bit of fire, but yeah, maybe if Russ didn't become available we would be seeing new State Farm commercials right about now.
Don't you ask yourself why Austin feels so compelled to give interviews to this topic the second time? And it might not be the last time. There has to be something behind it. Or he can just bury it. He is still doing it after CP3 is gone over all hills. The more someone denies something that is not there, the more suspicious it becomes. That is just human nature.
Well I think the difference in playing styles alone was possibly enough. If Cp wanted more ball movement, then I agree with him.
