Les Alexander: If they don't respond and play hard they're not staying

I second that. He's turning into carmello part 2. Maybe the gm in ok city knew more than the salary aspect of it.

 

I want to know when this is going to happen.

Because watching this train wreck is embarrassing.

 

only a couple more weeks before he starts dumping salary heavily to get back under the taxline

 

We can't get any worse might as well make moves

 

I'm pretty sure the moves are coming. Just under 11 days til Brewer can be traded. And with the losses guaranteed to pile up with the brutal schedule, Morey and Les will blow this thing up soon once they realize the futility of waiting for the team to magically turn things around.

 

Bye Harden

 

This is much worse.

Carmelo never really got worse, he was just never that good in the first place

 

The Rockets appear to have a bizarre situation where they just have too many veteran players on secure contracts, which has bred complacency up and down the roster.

It's about the only explanation I can find for the Rockets to consistently not play as hard as their opponents.

These guys all have solid deals and aren't battling for a spot on the team. Last season we opened up with Tarik Black in the starting lineup, who I believe was a key driver in the scrappy defensive attitude the team took on early. Tarik was working his tail off to make an impact in the NBA and that attitude was contagious.

This year we have no player like Tarik. The only young blood we've got that's getting minutes is Clint Capela, and he looks to me like he is making an impact not because he works harder than everyone else, but because he has a great deal of natural talent.

There's just no out and out workhorse on this team. Chuck Hayes would have made a hugely underrated impact in that regard. The lack of professionalism of this veteran roster really needs to be called out publicly. James doesn't play D, Dwight picks and chooses when to play hard and it all just flows down from there. The Rockets just simply don't out-hustle opponents any more.

 

Harden for Butler or PG please

 

Cousins.

Anybody really

 

Harden for Francisco Garcia.

 

A star player CAN be traded. Sometimes it is for the best of the team. And the Rockets have traded star players in the past. Players like Moses Malone, Ralph Sampson, Hakeem, Pippen, McGrady.

I'm not saying trade Harden for nothing. I'm saying you could trade Harden for another star player, or a huge haul of young talent and assets. The Rockets can't be afraid in this situation. Morey has to determine if he can build a true contending team around Harden in the next couple of years. Time is running short. We have Harden under contract for about another 30 months.

 

There are very few trades that could be made that would net us equal talent after trading Harden, and you can bet none of those players are going to be made available. It is unfortunate that his head isn't in the right place right now, but him "figuring it out" is far more likely than us getting back an even remotely comparable talent.

Keep in mind, we've had an immature superstar before, and right when everyone was ready to jump ship, he turned it around. I'm not saying Harden will have a Hakeem-like turnaround, but I think it would be foolish to abandon a 26 year old superstar (yes, whether we like to admit it or not right now, he's still a superstar).

There is a reason just about every capable team will be throwing max money at Harden when he becomes a free agent, and I fully expect us to be one of those teams. A couple of years down the road, if he still hasn't figured it out, then we can talk about trading him.

 

The problem with waiting and hoping that Harden figures things out, is that his trade value goes down as his contract comes to an end. Look what happened in Portland. I bet Trail Blazer fans wished they had unloaded Aldridge when he still had huge value.

I fully expect Morey to try and recruit big name free agents this summer to reboot this team as a contender. I also expect a new big name coach this summer. So, I'm not saying we have to trade Harden now. I'm just saying that if Morey can't get all the right pieces in place this next summer, then we need to seriously consider starting a complete rebuild immediately. And if that means trading Harden, then so be it.

 

If you would trade Harden you are a knuckle head. No way we are getting equal value back for him.

 

So instead of fixing a crappy team with overrated role players..you're going to trade an MVP runner up?

And then what...complain about that player next week?

 

I think that's some peoples plan...Oh, and then talk about how Harden was actually better than the new star. #bringbackharden

 

Once you realize this team is nothing but first round fodder, you will agree that getting back the best value for Harden is the answer. Then try to lure a top FA here in the summer to pair up with Dwight and the great player you get back for James. I rather have a team of winners than a star player who's a loser.

 

You are not going to get a star player to sign here if you trade Harden.

Free agents are going to want to play with Harden more so than a 30 year old Howard.