The problem with Harden is that we've built our entire offensive system around him. He is the system, when he doesn't play well, the rest of the team can't adjust or step up because their roles are limited to corner 3's and garbage buckets. It reminds me of Westbrook's MVP season, people had a go at his supporting cast saying that they were trash but in reality, it's hard to look good when you're standing around watching one guy pound the air out of the ball whilst you are desperately waiting for him to pass.
This. Spoiler OKC & New Orleans did well for themselves. While their stars wanted out (AD & PG that led to trading Westbrook), Houston has to seriously consider doing the same if they flame out again. We're not contenders with AD. We are fake contenders with Russ/PG. Let's blow it up. Houston is a fake contender. You tried with Dwight. You tried with one star & depth. (Ariza, Pat, Capela, Gordon, LouWill, Anderson, Nene, Harrell, Dekker) You came close with Chris. You tried with Russ. You have no flexibility, no cap room, no draft picks. Changing the coach? Trading Capela & Tucker (your only assets)? That's just rearranging chairs on the deck. You traded 4 picks for a quick fix. You've ignored player development for years. You've built everything around one guy while everyone else stands around and watches and jack up threes (with terrible 3pt shooters) with no backup plan when it usually fails. If they flame out again, BLOW.IT.UP. You aren't going anywhere. Go see if there's a PG/AD trade package out there. Lonzo Ball Josh Hart Brandon Ingram 2019 1st round pick (#4) (--> Traded with Jordan Bone, Solomon Hill & a 2023 2nd round pick to Atlanta for Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Jaxson Hayes, Marcos Louzada Silva and a 2020 1st round pick) 2021 1st round pick 2023 1st round pick (swap) 2024 1st round pick (option to defer to 2025) Cash Danilo Gallinari Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 2021 1st round draft pick 2022 1st round draft pick 2023 1st round draft pick (swap) 2023 1st round draft pick 2024 1st round draft pick 2025 1st round draft pick (swap) 2026 1st round draft pick "but but but he's a scoring machine & perennial MVP candidate!" ... Yeah and Russ was a triple-double machine & MVP. Where/what has that gotten you? As the roster continues to get worse (thanks Til) and James gets older, not interested in 45-50 win team and first round exits. That was OKC post-KD. And in 4-7 years when Harden & Westbrook are gone and you have no picks, then you're really ****ed. And for blowing it up... The Thunder are 7th seed and have an abundance of picks. The Pelicans without Zion are 4 games out of the 8th seed.
You all really are clowns. I’m so glad no one with real power is dumb enough to take these opinions into consideration. Fans like you don’t deserve a championship.
only averaging 32ppg on those situations...........................not having Westbrook hurts in those as well
Lol !!! Trade Harden Blow it up I get it.. blah blah blah Harden’s not a leader..... We had Harden surrounded by leadership with CP0 and Ariza and were a hamstring away from possibly going to the finals. The FO got rid of both and did not replace the leadership. So the cheap @$$ FO needs to go back to the winning formula. Will he? No! So sit back and enjoy the show or train wreck.
Leadership in team sports is so ill-defined, argument of whether a player has it is almost like debating which politician is better. It always ends up in personal insults. That said, Leadership does exist and it does matter. IMO, the 15-16 season debacle was by and large a leadership problem. Yet precisely because it is ill-defined, analytics is no help there. No data can measure it because we don't even know what it looks like exactly.
We've seen it before, tired, sick, or injured. He just isn't a diva like other stars so he won't say anything. He'll just take all the blame and hate and move on.
He takes it out on the refs by laying on the ground and yelling at them every time he misses a lay up while his teammates are playing four on five defense.
I do. Plenty. And there is a thing called "frequency" and Harden is far more frequent in that behavior than any player I've ever witnessed.
I love harden and he’s my favorite player in the league... we would be nowhere without him. Having said that his leadership is ummm shaky at best. The constant berating of teammates on d after he gets beat by his man over and over and over again isn’t leadership. And those of us that see it often aren’t “lesser rockets fans” because we comment on it
Ding ding! Everyone taking up for Harden in this thread is missing the point. He can be part of a championship team. We saw it. It takes certain types of players.
Ya I agree. It takes a alpha who isn't afraid of holding another superstar accountable. CP3 was the perfect running mate to Harden.
Spiritually, mentally yes, but not as a 33 year old, maybe when he was 28 or 29. Even with Luc, Ariza, the team was too top heavy, you needed a tertiary (third) running mate, a borderline Allstar dude or at least a very deep bench.
I keep reading messages about the lack of depth in the roster. I agree. But I still think the problem is much bigger. I agree with the issue of lack of depth if we talk about winning a championship (something impossible with this team and this coach), but this team has two MVP winners, Gordon, Capela, PJ .. this is not enough to beat teams like the Warriors, the Kings, the Pelicans, etc, etc, etc? Yesterday MDA spoke repeatedly of lack of spirit. It is really painful to watch like Memphis game and see how Morant (not Jordan or Bryant or Curry ... Morant) burned Harden again and again, disrespecting him. "Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion". Those words have remained in the memory of all of us. The huge problem is that the champions are gone and the heart has also gone with them.
There were numerous plays last night where he did it and does it often in most games. I get that Harden has an inordinate amount of pressure on him to always perform at 110% which isn’t always fair but the guy has been trash the last two weeks his D has been awful, his shooting has been awful, his shot selection has been poor, game recognition poor, and his in game awareness has been bad... as much as I love the guy I’m not gonna make excuses for what I see on the court and how it’s affecting our ability to win. Yeah without him we are 20 win team but this guy tends to disappear more than just about any superstar ever could when the pressure is on and it’s becoming an alarming trend.
