Sadly yeah, it looks that way that star players have leverage over this organization This organization is rarely in control and when they have little control the owner just screws it up
I'd give him one more season under a good coach, if he doesn't take the big step I'd consider trading him for good value though
Even if the Spurs don't get Durant, we may need to trade Harden anyway. I don't see the Rockets being a contender anytime soon. They may not even be a playoff team next year. And if that's the case, does anyone think Harden won't be clamoring for a trade or hinting at leaving as a free agent in 2018? If we strike out this summer in free agency, we may wanna entertain offers for Harden. What's the point in keeping him around if he's likely to bolt in 2 years and if he keeps us from getting as high a lottery pick as possible in what's clearly a rebuilding project at that point? And don't tell me because he sells tickets. H-Town fans are fickle. They're not gonna pay good money to see James Harden and a bunch of scrubs. Toyota Center will have a lot of empty seats if the Rockets field a team like that.
The competition is too much in the West Even if Harden were to be Curry or Lebron, he won't win anything
wont be many contenders after spurs, gsw and cavs. look at the ****in raptors lmao. contenders my ass. okc overrated. virtulaly the same team whenthey had harden. and wtf are they gonna do with a max contract to enes? nothing when ti comes to rings rockets have a top player which is a huge advantage over other teams trying to contend. towns is a future move, hoefully near future with harden. gutting the team for himi will take us back some but only for a year, maybe two. gives us a dominating inside-out game which any team would prefer over two star swingman. worth it..hypothetically speaking.
Yeah I would have never said trade Hakeem. And, I actually enjoy watching harden play offense, but this whole team fell apart and you are rebuilding completely around him this year anyways. Problem with building around harden is his defensive liability. Perhaps a good coach can fix things, but other than last year I don't see harden wanting it. Trade him for Butler and at least you have defense. I think I would probably feel different if the rest of the team needed tweaks, but when you need a complete retool, I am just not sure it's worth it.
How is this a Hate Harden thread? The OP mentioned he doesn't play defense which is true. Otherwise it's just thinking ahead to next season and beyond. If we're not competing for titles and there's a huge gap between us and the top seeds in the West, then we're just wasting our time until Harden inevitably leaves.
I think you're being rather discriminatory. Nothing wrong with people relating to a cancerous player getting paid millions of dollars to come into training camp out of shape, and then using half the season to "work on it". Nothing wrong with the fact that its easier for this crowd to simultaneously maintain that this was a WCF caliber team last season while conceding that everybody else (except Harden ) regressed so badly that they were left in the gutter barely squeaking in to the 8th. Makes total sense right? Everybody on the team went from being contender component status----> scrub in the matter of a couple of months. Nobody wants to play with this guy, he's a lazy ****** that got paid, and decided he doesn't have to get up.
He said "He seems very self-focused and doesn't care about defense, so its impossible to build around that" which is a ridiculous statement. Obviously you can build around Harden, but terrible, inefficient shooters and non-athletic players is not how you do it.
It's definitely going to be interesting this off-season. You basically have to run everything by him even if he's not asking, so you don't risk alienating him. Like I thought it would be interesting if Rondo was on the team, an A-type personality without the superstar level talent. He is someone who is not afraid to just take charge and make Harden play off the ball a little more which should be deadly in theory. You would have to scrap Moreyball though, and it might push Harden out the door, but if he's going to leave anyway it's an experiment worth trying while he's here.What's he gonna do, refuse to play? Neither of those guys are great off the court leaders either, so you'd need a strong personality. Enter Mark Jackson. I'd be more willing to gamble on Whiteside as well if Jackson was coaching and Rondo was in control. Whiteside/Rondo/Harden + whatever you can find. Not likely at all, but I'd definitely have more fun watching this team. Pick and Roll for days and then Harden ISO/foul or 3 for a bailout.
Stop being so negative!! Just because another team has you beat at one or two spots, doesn't mean they will be a better TEAM than you....look at the current Spurs Roster. Aldridge is a top 20 player Leonard is a very good player but he's a SYSTEM PLAYER. Same as Draymond Green. If you swap Leonard and Harden, he would never score 30 and 40 points a game on the Rockets and make it to the playoffs. He can't carry a team but he works well in a system. Duncan is old, Parker old, Genobli old, everybody else is old but they function well as a team! The Heat had 3 top 10 players, won two Championships before they began to crumble. Not saying they wouldn't win BUT you never know.
