Just a side note. I don't know why so many people sneer on the load management concept. It's the macho mentality and at the end of the day it's a matter of being smart. As a fan, I obviously do not want the star players to rest here and there. When I watch the game, I don't want the star players sitting on the bench. But I blame this on the NBA for insisting on a long regular season and a long postseason for making more money. So the teams and the players do what they can to protect their physical well being and longevity of their careers. I know that the NBA won't change so it's the reality. And it sucks. It's not the players fault. If Harden is tired, he should request rest. If he doesn't request rest and plays like he is tired, then it's on him. It does not look very macho if you play like crap because of fatigue. If it is not fatigue, then we should stop using that as an excuse. If it's the coach's decision to play him so much in the regular season, then the coach should be fired because he is damaging the team's most important assets.
Agreed. My only thing is...if the Rockets are going to load manage, they have to be willing to do it consistently and with all of the vets. You can't just do it with Westbrook and then run Harden/Tucker/etc. into the ground to compensate. And you're correct, if Harden is tired, he should rest. I know he always says he never wants to, but Morey and MDA should not be scared to tell him he has to take a couple nights off here and there.
Regardless of what any of you say in these countless posts most of you admitted to not being sure why you think the good leaders are good leaders you just dont like hardens demeanor and perimeter defense. neither of those things make harden a bad leader as we can just cherry pick anything from any player and say they arent a good leader too. we just did it go back and read the posts. no one said that harden is perfect. thats not the point. we have harden he is a superstar and you need to put talent with him otherwise the things he doesn't do well will make you angry. however without Harden we would not even be a playoff team this year. a few of you still dont get that. its not about harden, its about what we put with him. he's been the scapegoat for moreys failure to put together a dominant team for way too long and its disgusting. i lack respect for houston fans mainly for that reason.
load management makes sense if you're really hurt in whatever fashion and need some time to help get right. Other than that I don't think much of it. There's cases for different players. I'm just speaking in general terms what's interesting is how hou is holding wb out on back to backs all year while EG who just got back from knee surgery already is scrapping the idea in what his 6th game back
Yeah, what I am saying is that if Harden does not need rest, then being tired should not be an excuse. Either rest or play with full energy. You can't have it both ways.
That LeBron type leadership . . . I think Harden gave CP3 this same look last year . . LOL .. Instead of leaving. . . Harden stayed Rocket River needed some levity
for sure. tbh for me, i don't think it's about him being necessarily tired. he's in a bad funk right now for whatever reason. Could a game off or two help get him right? possibly but being off for almost a week didn't seem to really help him either playing Atl. Seeing how harden has been here to this point, it seems more likely he just continues to try and play his way out of this. whether we as fans agree with that decision or not is anyone's choice
Admittedly I was bit drunk last night when I went on a forum wide rant but seriously, how are there so many people here that don't see anything wrong with the team?! If the team doesn't have any issues, why is Russ Westbrook holding a players only meeting? Is it to discuss his wife's baking recipes?
Lmao people thinking hardens leadership is the problem hope Houston trades harden to nets for Kyrie and start the rebuild.
CP could’ve cashed in but Harden couldn’t win without him, once CP was hurt, against the warriors. Harden’s game took a step back actually.
Well, Harden has this kind of bad funk from time to time, pretty much every season. Sometimes just a game or two, or just part of a game. Sometimes it's longer. It's inexplicable, like his soul just left him. And he doesn't want to say anything about it. You can say that he doesn't want to give excuses. But it looks like there's something he doesn't want to talk about. I remember a season or two ago (was it after that infamous Spurs game?) people did ask him and he just shrugged it off. Unfortunately, this kind of bad funk also happens in the playoffs.
yeah and then all these theories people like to make up come about. These are the kinds of things we may never know until these guys are done and are just talking about the game openly
about as much as harden won without CP. with CP, Harden 3-2 in the WC finals, without CP harden was 0-2. btw, you don’t need to sign your name after each post. We can clearly see it’s you that is posting.
Westbrook led a team meeting after the loss, guess this is perfect for this narrative and people agreeing with OP. I'm very critical of Harden, but not joining this parade. Have fun guys!
Harden is a fantastic player. He is an elite player in any era (except the 90’s, he wouldn’t have gotten all those weak ass calls) and he is a hall of famer for sure. He will never win a title as the #1 option. It happens. Some superstars just don’t have that ability to make everyone better. How do you make everyone better when you jack 20 plus threes in every game? How do you make your teammates better by ignoring them on your way to the basket another 20 times a game? How do you make them better by playing lazy **** defense half the game? great individual player. Not a great team player. It happens. Trade him while he’s still kinda young. The Rockets need to get a new, hungrier coach. They need hungrier players too. After this year, rebuild.
