For....what? How are you upgrading from James Harden? Unless you're tanking, where are you getting a better piece than Harden and his playoff averages of 27-7-5? IB4 Asian Sensation responds with "D'Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, and a pick"
Right, it was also a fluke shot that ended that series. But we were a 4/5 series with identical records. I accept it as "falling short" only to be technically correct because we were the 4 seed. However, a fair evaluation of the Rockets under Harden would say that we have NEVER failed to advance as far as we should have in the playoffs. There's kind of this myth out there that we are a great regular season team that fails in the playoffs, but that's just ridiculous. We've lost to teams that were better than us in the regular season (except the Portland buzzer beater). The playoff matchups have worked out the way they should have each year. The year we were the 2 seed we went to the WCF and lost in 5 to an obviously better team. If we don't make the WCF this year based on where we are now (injuries can change anything obviously) than this would be a disappointment year.
Lillards shot was not a fluke. He prior to the last few seasons was a clutch assasin. He has hit those kind of shots after the one he hit against us. Obviously it didn’t have as much riding on them but he hit them
That's not true imo for last year because both Parker and Kawaii were injured in the last game and they blew us out without him in game 6, we should have advanced to WCF
I mean...yes, it was a very disappointing game. No doubt about it. But the Spurs have been without Parker and Kawhi basically all season, and they're currently on a 51 win pace and the 3 seed. Popavich and their system get it done regardless who's on the court.
But he didn't carry us single handedly as a whole. That's a myth lol. He was our sole playmaker on offense, but we had guys that could allow him to take plays off on defense. He never had to guard WB, Lillard, Curry or any of the superstars at his position. His responsibilities were strictly on offense. There are a few superstars that could succeed in a MDA offense, Lebron is one of them.
I have no idea what realistic trade you could make that sends James Harden out while at the same time making this team significantly better.
Mods, please please shut down this POS thread. I hate seeing this thread. It's a freaking shame that a fan site has "Trade Your Superstar" thread open. Piece of **** fans can't even appreciate having a superstar on your team, carrying it to #2 in the league. You're scum as far as I'm concerned. If you don't like Harden, GTFO. Mavs fans are better than you, at least they don't just leave their team in the dust.
it's already proven that Harden is NOT negatively impacting the Rocket's Def Rating.. we can discuss that thread if you want let say lebron, did we have anyone in our team at the same superstar OR talent/skill/consistency as Love and Kyrie last year??? or at least who last year are the closest to Love and Kyrie last year???
LeBron is at worst the 4th greatest player of all time. Thats like saying Hakeem sucks because prime Kareem could have won a championship on the 1986 rockets.
You'd think if Harden was such a quitter then players around the league would have no desire to play with him, and yet he's pretty much turned Houston into a free agent destination by himself. Maybe, just maybe these other players around the league realize that every single player has bad games. That's not even getting into the rumors of him being completely worn down, which would be completely understandable considering the offensive load he's been required to handle the last several seasons. It makes zero sense to me how some Rockets fan can give Harden zero benefit of the doubt when he's had more positive impact on this franchise than any player not named Hakeem, it's almost like they don't want to like him.
we shall see this playoffs I guess. CP3 is here, if Harden pulls another Spurs game, or Clippers games or Portland games, there's no more excuse that he's too worn down, wouldn't you agree.
