absolutely serious. I will not answer here though and derail this thread. Harden if he asks for trade he can take his money and eat it too in the market he chooses.
What if he doesn't officially demand a trade? What if he just refuses to sign an extension? Remember, Les refuses to rebuild. Trading Harden would be the first step in that process. Could he really bring himself to do that?
I have no idea why people want to go the Philly route. That's a lot of terrible seasons for very little return.
Probably not, in fact i can see Les keep Harden until the end in a bad situation being delusional about an extension.
If he plays well enough this year to attract other stars, then it would make sense. If he doesn't, it would make sense for both sides to part.
It doesn't have to be that way. Philly made some terrible mistakes and they were also the victim of terrible luck. They also started with nothing. I'd trade Harden for Simmons, Embid, Noel and picks, and we'd be well into rebuilding just right there.
Again, this is an opinion I see regularly repeated around here. Just because Harden was born in LA doesn't mean he wants to go back there. He grew up in a shockingly poor neighborhood and watched his dad have run ins with the law and ultimately end up in jail. I don't believe LA contains the fond memories and calling of home that so many people think it does. I don't see why he would join either franchise over there. We can offer the most money and largest deal. Yes he wants to win, but if we have a good season this year and show strongly in free agency he's not going anywhere imo.
Because sitting at home in June is more promising with rookies/young players than sitting at home in June with overpayed B Level signings.
We'll see where we're at 2 years from now, but from the way it looks at the moment, I would not blame him looking elsewhere, especially since the Warriors look like they're going to run the league for a while.
Very little chance. I'm kind of hoping he goes back to OKC and takes down the Warriors, it will never happen though.
Why does everyone who opposes rebuilding keep saying we'll be just like Philly? Plenty of teams tank for high draft picks without squandering them. Cleveland put together a decent collection of talent to help lure LeBron back. Minnesota is doing a great job of amassing future stars with their lottery picks. Golden State used their picks to assemble one of the best teams ever. OKC put together a really good squad that made the WCF 4 times in 6 years(and the Finals once). It is possible to draft wisely and assemble a contending team. Not every organization that goes the tanking route winds up like Philly.
No way Nike didn't subsidize Durant's move. Cant see Adidas doing the same. The money difference is BIG + state income tax issue. We have a substantial edge. If we lose him... we need a completely new organizational strategy. Hell, we need that now.
I have been listening to some nice podcasts today and there has been lots of analysis on the steps the league will take to avoid another Durant to GSW situation. The lockout is next year. Right now the incentive for a max UFA to be to extend is not enough. That's why it doesn't happen. Stars will rather make their own decisions than extend for such little compensation. So we have lots of hope that the rules will change to give us more to offer Harden. According to ppl in the know one of the things the owners will do is to raise the % of the raises in max contracts. For example one team will be able to give Harden only 4.5% raises from year to year while Houston will be able to give him 10+% (right now it's only 7.5%). If it doesn't work well.. we will lose him for nothing. This owner is a typical example to take the risk rather than trade Harden's jersey sales away. Well Aldridge and Durant were also offered the most money and largest deal. And where are they now? Yes don't have to be Philly. Philly had a 7+ tanking/rebuilding plan! This is nothing like seen before. Most teams tank for 1-3 years and by tanking it means just give more time to rookies and young players. Other rebuilding teams right now : Orlando until this year. Utah until last year. Denver. Suns. Portland was planning to be.
I'm not even worried about it. How often is it that our mega star leaves this city? It's pretty rare. Houston is a chill place, James is a chill dude. Not only that, the Organization wants to win and is in his hands. It's difficult to predict. James may be one of those guys that wants to win but win his own way. Any ways it's impossible to predict because not even James knows. That's way far off and trading him to rebuild is not the best idea. Not when you could instead try to form a super team around him.
