I hope we don't keep him. He's Fool's Gold. If we have to keep him, I hope we get a real PG to run the show. Harden might be a great role player, might even become a great 6th Man candidate, but he's no leader. Sure as sin ain't no MVP.
A haul in a very weak draft class...in that there are very good players but I don't see superstar in any of these guys. I see all-stars though...but no Davis, no Lebron, no Durant. I think Morey can do a lot with what we have, he's done more with way less.
rockets have no choice but to keep him. Les won't take a rebuilding year. James Harden on the roster will at minimum give you a playoff appearance each year and Les is fine with that.
Several posters tried to compare Harden to Hakeem before he finally won championships which I never agreed with. I remember Hakeem before the championships and that dude never quit and **** the bed as much as Harden does when it counted the most. Hakeem just didn't have the right pieces around him until the mid 90s. Harden is not a number 1 and never will be and I don't think he has the drawing power to get anyone of significance to take them over the top so it wouldn't be too far fetched for the Rox organization to put out some feelers for him to see what they could get.
You guys are morons. Harden burnt himself out, next year manage his minutes and usage rate better. Pop is smart, he knows the human body can only take so much. Rest and management of minutes is important.
The only way we'd get help is if we overpay a mid-level star, and that wouldn't be enough to make us legit championship contenders. No legit star will want to play with Harden if they're expected to defer to him offensively and compensate for him defensively.
Magic Johnson would give us everything to get a big PG like he used to be in Harden. They'd put all their chips in Harden in LA and hope Paul George signs or demands a trade to LA by Dec of next season. I mean..sure i want Harden to stay if we can get another legit super star, but who is out there that isn't a pipe dream? Only way we win in this super team league is building our very own super team. Can it be done? Probably not. We probably end up spending our money on guys like Ibaka and Gallinari. Guys who will make us a 58 win team, but still a pretender and all will circle...fun regular season..everyone hype...then everyone so mad when we lose in the playoffs. Hard to get from pretender to legit contender status in a league with 4 star Warriors and 3 star + tons of former all star Cavs.
We have to ride with James . But James needs to take a backseat ( not that he hasn't ... We really don't know ) to the organization . And the organization needs to stop trying to math their way to winning and develop a culture . The Spurs have a culture , theirs is the best in the NBA . Golden state winning and the light shined on their system masks the fact that they have a bit of culture . From Jackson to Kerr ... A player who was present and involved in winning rings . Curry , klay , green were all drafted by GS and they developed over time there . They were good with Jackson and got better by adding pieces around players they developed internally ? The rockets haven't developed a player to star level since Yao . Who is the best player this team has developed in the last decade ? Who is the best player the team has developed and reaped the benefits of their growth? Moreys draft process seems to do well to identify players that perform well here , but peak after a couple of years .Sure there have been external factors like injury and you will lose guys to FA , but where is the homegrown talent ? Dmo and parsons have probably been the best ( playing for us) their value to us ended for external reasons ... That's OK . Royce LOL Lamb traded TJ nope Patterson , looked good rookie year then fell off Morris , looked ok rookie year then got traded Clint , looking good ... Please please please continue to grow It's not that we can't find talent, many of the guys we pick go on to carve out solid (if unspectacular ) roles as NBA players . Given where we are picking that's acceptable . The issue is they are not developing as basketball players . So much focus on shooting and in having 1 elite skill is preventing guys from becoming all around better at basketball . SA can get guys like Simmons and Murray and have them look good because they teach them a system , how to play basketball the right way, drill their fundamentals , and with confidence and performance comes inprovement . TLDR. We ride and die with James , but need to change the organizational culture.
Any of the above would turn a 55-win team into a 45-win first-round bounce. The object of a trade is to make your team better, not just to get rid of an at-times frustrating superstar.
The problem with saying change culture is ... that's not something that generally can be changed overnight. It can be... but it takes an extraordinary event. Like KG going to the Celtics - instant culture changer, but even then only worked because of the overall talent. The Rockets swing at a big culture change last offseason with the MDA hire. I didn't like the hire then. I grew to like the hire. But ultimately ended up not liking the hire. He made one big, crazy change that I give him credit for. Making Harden point. Other than that? Does he get credit for otherwise being an ok coach that is clearly better than their last one but also clearly nothing amazing?? Anyway, Again the real issue is what the freaking path? How does this team win a ring? We know who the 15-20 players are out there that are just an absolutely necessary add. How do we get one much less two. And eve with one or two... you are still not a favorite. Again, bear in mind the GSW have won 67, 73 and 67 games the last three years. The Rockets have never won more than 58 games.
Which you do by making your team better, not worse. I would trade Harden to make the team better, but that trade is not going to happen. Seriously, who could we even acquire that would offset the loss of Harden?!?
The entire Spurs dynasty is based on the fact that they completely sucked one year. Different scenario... I get it. They wouldn't have voluntarily just not let DRob play that year. But just pointing out the idea that you might have to get worse to get better has merit. What do you think the Raptors should do? The Clippers? You know he definition of insanity right? This will be rinse wash repeat for the next few years.
We have two choices. 1. Find out what made Harden play(not play) the way he did tonight, and try to fix it. 2. Trade him and hope somehow to get another NBA player able to lead this team throughout the regular season and playoffs and get us as far if not further than Harden. As for number 2. There are maybe 4 players in the league that could do anything close to that and no team that they play for will be trading those players to the Rockets. As for number 1, it may or may not ever happen. The human psyche is a strange thing and hard to tweak and fine tune. I say we work on number 1 and hope we build on what we've done this season.
If AD wants out of NOP next year when he sees Cousins bolting, I would trade Harden for him. Or if smh NY got a top3 pick and Dolan traded it along with Porzingis for Harden. That's about the two plausible scenarios I would agree that a Harden trade is worth it. For the rest scenarios in OP, the return isn't enough. The BKN pick is too much risk without enough compensation. We dont' even know yet if it will be top 3, and the player could always end up being a bust. You don't trade an MVP caliber player for that unless he wants out.
Only Les would never okay tanking. So the obvious solution is: We bring in Jeff Gillooly to pop Harden's kneecap in pre-season. Or hell, Bev can do that, like he did with Westbrook.
