Will Harden's choking going to cost BIG for the Rockets in free agency ?

@Reeko doing work in this thread!

 

Wait?

We didn't finish 12th in the conference? Damn, I thought we finished 12th....

Anyways, the good players come here thinking they are the solution to the problem. I 100% guarantee you they don't think "If I go to the Rockets James Harden will choke! Then we will lose!" the best players think "Yeah, that doesn't happen there. In fact, if I'm there we win titles."

Role players it won't matter, they often try to get as much money as they can anyways.

 

Anderzon has to go no matter who's here. He can't play at home.

 

Yup. People are acting like all of these other organizations are looking so attractive and only the Rockets (because of 1 terrible game) are all of the sudden the ugly prom date...

if they took 5 seconds to look at the state of many other organizations throughout the league, then they'd quickly realize that the Rockets are in a good spot

dudes over here acting like all these other teams except for the Rockets ended their season on a great note or some sh*t...

 

Anybody who thinks that a player would forego coming here because of a bad game is seriously ridiculous. Players are not that reactionary, and take a LOT more into consideration than just a guy struggling in one or two games. Hell, Al Horford still almost came here after the complete shitshow of last season.

 

I'd say maybe not but i fear it will...if we're talking about top tier players (Hayward and Paul for me). We'll see i guess, but suddenly i have literally zero expetations for Hayward to come here, while if we win game 5 and 6 i can see some decent chances for us. Like others have said though, second tier players like Blake, Millsap, Gallo, Holiday, Lowry etc...yeah, i think we can still easily get one of them, also cause like Reeko said, it's not like there are many better enviroments around...i think only Boston (Hayward) and San Antonio (Paul) are ahead of us.

 

Other organizations are more attractive than you think. Utah got swept, but George Hill was hurt, and both Favors and Hood had lingering injuries. Hill is an UFA. If Favors fully heals, and the Jazz sign Lowry while retaining everyone else, that'd be a sneaky good team.

Chicago is ready to blow it up, and that's an attractive situation for guys who want to be the top dog.

If Lowry leaves Toronto, Toronto will be looking for a top dog.

If Atlanta loses Milsap, they'll blow it up.

We're looking for an alpha player who is willing to be the beta while doing the dirty work of a role player. How many players fit that bill?

 

Utah is not a FA destination. When is Favors not battling some injury?

Blowing it up would mean trading Jimmy Butler. Wade said that his decision to stay would depend on what happens with Jimmy so he'd probably bounce too. The Bulls barely made the playoffs in the East with both of them on the roster so yeah, no, no top dog would be looking to go there. I'm also sure that a top dog would love to play with the great Fred Hoiberg who they've said will not be getting fired.

If Lowry leaves, then the Raptors will need his PG replacement. What top dog PG is out there for them to sign?

If Atlanta blows it up, then who's going there in FA? Nobody worth talking about.

My point was that people should stop acting like the Rockets are the only team who's season ended on a bad note, and many of these other teams aren't looking so attractive in the 1st place.

 

The Jazz are an interesting enviroment but they're still in Utah, and the fact that they've a lot of players on the move might be a problem for them, they'll not be able to keep eveyone around...also, it only takes Hayward to leave and they're screwed big time, i don't really see a player like Lowry going there tbh, at that point he should stay in Toronto and take the money.

Chicago no, i really can't see a top player going there, their organization is still ****ed up, and while they may not trade Butler this summer (we'll see), i think he'll still leave in a couple of years when he's going to expire, if i'm a player there're a couple of organizations i would never join as today, Sacramento and Chicago.

Atlanta is ok i'd say, like OKC, like Denver and others...but i cannot see a top player going to there to play with Howard, they really have only a decent roster overall, they look like a team bound to be out in the first round for a couple of years to me. If Millsap bolts (which is very likely imo, unless they pay him big time) i can see them trade Howard and go into a rebuild around Schroder.

I kinda agree with you on the last part though, that's also why i think Hayward will eventually go to the Celtics and Paul to San Antonio. While in those enviroments they would still be the most important player, they might pick those destinations more cause they would probably see themselves as a part of a system rather than some sort of beta of another player.

 

If a player considers himself an alpha, he'll want to be an alpha. That means he'll go to a rebuilding team like Atlanta/Chicago, a team like Toronto who needs an alpha (they don't necessarily need a point guard....they could easily take on an alpha SF), or a stacked team whose culture allows multiple alphas to coexist.

IMO, alphas are least attracted to situations like us and OKC.

 

Dude, what are u talking about? Stars are least attracted to sh*tty situations and rebuilding projects. There's only so many guys like Melo who will stay with the Knicks or PG who wants to go to the Lakers.

If u think that the Bulls can trade Jimmy Butler, blow it up, and then a star will just go there in FA then I don't even know what to say to u. If u think a star will go to a place like Atlanta then that's pretty naive tbh.

 

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about....the Melo's and the Paul George's....guys who care more about money than about winning or their legacy.

I think a rebuilding team is much likelier to land a star than we are. Why is that naive? He'd get max money, be the player he wants to be, and be loved by the city b/c he "chose" to be there.

On the other hand, what'd be waiting for him in Houston? He'd have to defer to Harden on offense, compensate for him defensively, and when we inevitably lose, he'd be the scapegoat. If you were a star free agent, why would that appeal to you? Harden's flaws as a basketball player are well-documented....why would you want to play second fiddle to that?

 

Why would stars come here when they can go play for the Spurs, Cavs, or Warriors. It always seems like they have an endless amount of cap-space to sign their guys.

 

Most stars would not be satisfied with just collecting checks on a dumpster fire while missing the playoffs. Stars have earned a ton of money, and will get a ton of money. They want to be winning games.

If u think a team like the Bulls if they get blown up is more likely to get a star in FA then you're either naive or living in an alternate reality. Unless he's convincing another star to join him at the same time, he'd be getting max money and losing, that's what he'd be doing.

and no, the new star would not be the scapegoat unless he's a better player than Harden or Harden is playing well while the other star is sucking and not living up to his contract

if it's Harden's team, then he will be the 1st 1 that people will look to criticize

 

-Lose 3-1 lead in finals

-Sign 2nd best player in the game

 

The new star would absolutely be the scapegoat b/c Harden apologists can't comprehend the massive holes in Harden's game. They'd blame the new star.

Harden's 3 biggest issues are defense, off-ball activity, and conditioning. If he doesn't address these, we won't acquire the necessary talent to be competitive. Unfortunately, there aren't any easy fixes for these issues. He'd need to rigorously train in the offseason, and considering the fact that his game hasn't improved in 2 years, I don't see that happening.

That's why I think stars would rather be the top dog in a rebuilding franchise than be the scapegoat next to Harden.

 

Who was used as a scapegoat? Dwight who is regulary benched in the 4th quarter in Atlanta and has already turned into dwightmare part 4 or Ty Drunk Lawson?

 

Sounds like you already know who our previous scapegoat was.

 

Nope this was used mostly by anti harden crowd which proved to be false as both guys failed to thrive elsewhere after leaving here.Dwight has proven to be a whinny b**** in his 4th spot which happens to be his home town to boot. Dude is on decline mode and even coach bud can see it, As for Ty?? has a lot off the court issues.