Yeah and that same crowd also strongly believes that MoreyBall was "debunked" and was a "failed gimmick" despite the fact that the entire league is playing it now. It's become so normalized now that every team plays that way, it just looks like regular basketball now.
Retiring his jersey does more for Rockets organization more than Harden, so yes. Even that aside, Harden absolutely elevated Rockets during his time here. He won an MVP for crying out loud. Yes, his exit wasn't perfect but if that's the criteria for judgment, we need to understand this is just sports
If you have Harden as the second-best Rocket or one of the best Rockets all time, then he is already perceived as better than other Houston greats who had their jerseys retired. I remember when he was going on his thirty-point game streak, with 60, 50, and 40-point games in the same weeks, and sports broadcasters kept comparing his offense to Wilt and Jordan as the only ones with similar records. It's a given for me and Harden earned it. Madison Square Garden Game: Legacy on NBA offense:
Rank amongst Rockets players all time 6th in games played 4th in minutes played 2nd in points scored 1st in assists 7th in rebounds 3rd in steals 8th in blocks 2nd in winshares 2nd in playoff games
He never won a championship but he was the best Rocket not named Hakeem so I say yes his jersey should be retired. He did more than Yao who also has his Jersey retired.
If we retire him, then T-Mac needs to be retired too. Great players who proved to be quitters and whiners
Anyone who intentionally sabotages the team to force their way out does not deserve to be honored by that team. While Yao's career was cut short, and he fell short of delivering a championship due to running into the Lakers and the team being handcuffed with TMac's awful contract during the years where he was completely worthless and injured the whole time......but he never disrespected the franchise the way Harden did. Harden has never been loyal to ANY team, so no team should honor him by retiring his number. You don't celebrate cancer.
No. Ultimately he didn’t win a ring and he quit on the team after we catered to him for years. But they probably will retire it.
If his number isn’t retired then they need to unretire everyone not named Hakeem. What as asinine question
Pyrrhic victory? Morey was right, but basketball is a lot harder to watch now IMO. Maybe it was inevitable, though. It's certainly the most efficient way to play on offense.
Ya i agree with this. Eventually someone would have figured it out, he just happened to be the one who did it. Probably a top 5 most influential person in basketball history
