This is probably why I root hard for and stan for Harden more than I should. Sure the guy has his faults and he's far from perfect but the amount of hate the guy gets is ridiculous. If ANYONE had put up the same statline he did last year they would have been overnighted the MVP trophy.
2019 - Media: Harden & Paul have beef, CP3 being shopped. Turmoil. Firings. 2019 - Clutchfans & Rockets: CP3 wont be traded, he liked something on INSTAGRAM! Smoke. They love each other. CP3 gon be a Rocket for a LONG tineeee in htine. We're about to get Butler AND Love. 2019 - CP3 traded. 2020 - Rockets break season record for turnovers... by game 73. Lulz. 2021 - Tilman is under the newly redeveloped 610 & Post Oak intersection begging for $1.
Over the years when Harden is carrying the scoring load, the only player I wish James Harden is paired up with was Vernon Maxwell, I wish Vernon Maxwell was playing, scoring, shooting 3s attacking the basket. If Draymond was bullying Harden, Vernon is ready to fight Draymond Green.
Man, we are going to be the biggest villains the NBA has ever seen next season. The resentment of Moreyball of course is the big driver. Harden as the executor of Moreyball and a fantastic one-on-five player has made him hated. Westbrook, for all the love he's gotten in the past as a magnificent athlete, is also a great one-on-five player and (if he listens to his coaches) will be great in Moreyball -- which should make people hate him in no time flat. That the Rockets will be contenders next season without much ball movement should drive people crazy. They'll say we have the ugliest offense and that we play cheap. Which they've been saying for years, but they'll say it even more. As much flak as we got, Paul's smart passes and occasional midrange shot placated the Moreyball haters. Now, it'll be all Moreyball all the time. And it'll work, at least in the regular season, and put the lie to the belief that you need a beautiful 5-man sharing gameplan to win games, which will make everyone resent us.
The only good part of this Westbrook trade is the comedy of the media turning on Westbrook now that he's in Houston. I will laugh.
No, the good part of the trade is we got Westbrook and got rid of an aging Paul on an almost unreadable contract. The hypocrisy is simply amazing.
Yup, Chris Paul was untradable, unless...you know...we gave up multiple first round picks and took on the same contract only longer for the ***WORST HIGH VOLUME SHOOTER IN NBA HISTORY***