Isn’t the news about why Harden and CP3 blew up at each other a little concerning?

Yeah if it was only hardens fault i dont think austin would have stayed for the vet min

 

Fam, did you watch the last 2 games? Because Steph CLEARLY wanted it more than James Harden. He was CLEARLY more focused & determined than the guy who averaged 37pts, and took the most 3's in NBA history. I don't care what happened in next series. Great players are judged by how they CLOSE. And Harden didn't even try from the point KD got hurt. How do you pout & mope around in a game as crucial as game 5 & 6? Nobody's explained this yet. Theres FOOTAGE of Harden barely making it past midcourt when CP had the ball.

 

I feel like Archie Bunker after reading this thread...

Go Rockets !!!
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Not saying CP3 was amazing. But if you watched any of the player only feeds. You would of got a good idea of what Harden does if he didnt have the ball in his hands. A lot of standing way outside of possession, hands on knees and total disinterest in offense.

Kind of hard for anyone to run an offense in that situation.

The blind Homer's wont admit it. But when has Harden ever stepped into the lane and gone up to challenge a shot? Lost the ball and hustled back to challenge the shot. Used multiple screens to get an open look?

His game is lazy, but we want to all ignore this. Because he puts up "me first" numbers in the season.

Twice now I would say Harden gave up in the playoffs. Possibly 3 times. I cant believe we as HOUSTON Rocket fans we forget game 6 against the Spurs, the Clippers series, and Last year.

 

This is what I'm hoping for and expect to happen. They've been playing together since age 10. Even if its been only summers after they turned pro.

 

Good post.
The hope is that when its his buddy westbrook he wont do that.

Its a bit disappointing that he has to be coddled but that was the same for kobe and countless others.

The whole franchise rests on this dudes ego when he is now on his 3rd all star.

That said he is good enough (same way kobe was good enough to let shaq go) tilmann is also thinking harden is good enough.

I agree and looking at it knowing harden personality is a bit of an issue it makes sense to bring in a friend. Sorta the only move in many ways.

This is strike 3. Benefit of doubt and harden is top 5 so you gotta do it.

But scary scary.
Fingers crossed this is going to be interesting.
Also some of us can enjoy him while seeing his personality and some issues make him human since his play is ridiculous. No one is arguing he sucks. His attitude sucks sometimes and thats on him.

 

I remember Doc Rivers talking about getting ball movement back into the offense once CP was traded back to Houston. Funny how you change when your athleticism fades.

Try being healthy and productive before you open your mouth. Even Nene knew he had to be less vocal when he wasn’t doing it on the court.

Harden signed on for a partner; not an aging coach nagging him while taking up a third of the salary cap.

That said - it’s been proven in multiple years that harden is a b****. He will absolutely take his ball and go home if it’s not going his way. Dude needs to grow up and it’s not likely to occur while he’s still playing basketball. That’s why I would have traded harden.

 

I expressed concern that Harden would not get along with Paul when the going got tough. It appears my concerns were true.

Harden feels immune from criticism because he put the team on his back for so long. Paul clearly was not able to contribute as much due to his age and injuries, but he's still a smart player and a coach on the court. Harden didn't view Paul as equal and therefore tuned him out. Harden seems pretty uncoachable.

 

Who in the West has beaten the Warriors the last 5 years?

 

I haven't been able to follow the Rockets daily during the regular season but if Chris Paul was criticizing the Harden and the rest of the Rockets for lack of movement off of the ball I agree with him. If you look at how often the Rockets broke down late in games during the playoffs it was very obvious that was one of the issues.

 

If you trade him, you're commtting to an all out rebuild. You'll be a lottery team for years. If that's the plan then so be it but you're playing for draft picks/ position.

 

Traded harden for which team and pkg of who/what?

 

I’m looking forward to the Russel pairing and think there will be fireworks. It’s an upgrade of where we were with Paul. But there’s too much me between those two to win a championship.

Subsequent to the Paul trade - I’m fine with riding the Harden era out. Prior to - I felt your best return was always coming from a harden trade and then you could maximize the value or minimize the impact of the Paul contract by featuring him more.

We’ve got a punchers chance now, and I’ll take that.

 

have you see the footage of the boxscore where it shows harden had 35 points 8 rebounds and 5 assists in game 6? rockets lost by 5 does that mean we expect harden to score 41 points since clearly he is the ONLY diff between winning and losing in our minds

 

What news/reports? Link? Source?

 

Yeah and I'm not sure why that will change. Cp3 got traded because harden didn't want to change.

It'll be the same issues. Westbrook will push the pace and move the ball more, but harden won't.

Westbrook's usage went down to 30 last year, one of the lowest in his career, so that won't be an issue with staggering. It'll be about pace and movement.

But like last year the offense will still be good (until playoffs when harden style doesn't work).

But the defense will be terrible. Westbrook is a big downgrade from Paul defensively. We'll have two terrible perimeter defenders now. Capela and Tucker better be ready to guard tons of penetration

 

Anyway, I wonder what happens with his diva behaviour when he plays with the USA team...Theoretically he cant do all that lazy **** on that team. What Harden are we going to see this summer? I'll pay attention.

 

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Youve seen him on team usa right?

 

I mean it is mental gymnastics when many people here are trying to find any and every excuse not to admit that Harden is stubborn. His stubbornness doesn't take away from his greatness.

And yes, while everyone would agree that CP3 not under performing would have led to a much better outcome, how is it mental gymnastics to propose that a different style of play also could have led to a different outcome? The outcome could have been better or it could've been worse, but at least try it. Iso was not quite getting us over the hump with GSW. So, Chris can't get past his man? Sucks. Let's find a way to switch things up then. Doesn't make that much sense to stand pat and watch Harden work when that has never helped us get past post-season GSW before.

Adjustment in the face of adversity has always been a resilient characteristic of Harden's individual game. It's unfortunate that he didn't apply this mentality to team play.