elite? on offense only, maybe. his style isnt even that enjoyable to watch to me. and being a fan of the sport, whether or not the plays please my eyes is kinda important. healthy, yes. no questions there. dependable? really? we depend on him... for what? a .500 team record, or being on the bench in the team's historical comeback game, or having a record turnover # in the last game of the playoffs? what? he has that i-dont-give-a-damn attitude. it not only feels like it when you watch the games, his plays on the court and behaviors off the court also reflect that attitude. i can only hope i am wrong on this...
I dunno if it's all about the money though. The guy doesn't seem to have a strong connection to his teammates or to the organization. I dunno if he even likes living here. If we were winning and he was playing with some kind of joy out there, I'd feel more confident about him staying. But as long as this team is in chaos and he looks like he has mentally checked out, I get the feeling he's starting to consider his options.
Yea, I hate Curry fans. Harden won the MVP last year and those light skinned fans are still mad that Harden's peer voted Harden as the MVP of the NBA last year
Harden definitely played better in the playoffs than 2 years ago, but this isn't true. Harden played disinterested in game 1 at home vs the Austin Rivers led Clippers(Rockets lost 117-101), and he played like he was hungover in game 3 at home vs Golden State (Rockets lost 115-80 in a must win home game).
I disagree with you about Thibs. That's the coach Harden needs to become a complete player. Thibs wouldn't tolerate Harden's pathetic defensive effort and lack of intensity, and would hold James accountable. Plus, as seen last year with Team USA, he can get through to him. As for Harden's mental approach, he does not show signs of having Kobe's "I'm going to destroy you/win at all costs" mentality. Kobe would not allow himself to play disinterested in the playoffs, which Harden did last year on two or three occasions. If Kobe came in 2nd in the MVP voting, he's working his butt off to show everyone they got it wrong. Harden has actually regressed after having that happen to him. That's disconcerting for a guy the Rockets and us as fans hope can bring the Rockets a championship.
He obviously has setbacks that he needs to figure out, but this is a star driven league. Players like Harden don't come around that often, and you need someone of that caliber to be successful.
thibs "getting thru" harden was in a totally diff. setting. team usa vs the rockets, literally have nothing in common. plus that happened b4 the $200 mils. no great players actually need a coach to get motivated. the desire to win always comes from self-motivation within. and i believe true leadership was born, not trained.
Unfortunately the next best thing to reining in Harden is to get another superstar in here to set him straight. That's next to impossible but the odds of getting a person like that is infinitely better than finding a coach that demands respect and accountability from his stars. IF (big IF) Durant comes here I'm willing to bet we'd see a different Harden.
Hey I DID say next to impossible :grin: Funny thing is that the other day I was watching All-Star highlights and remember how very good Glen Rice and Gilbert Arenas was and thought about our own star.
He's untouchable because his value is just too high . He won runner up MVP last year , he was great the year before that , he is still a superstar who is young and has two years left on contract . If we were to trade him to get equal value you either have to get another superstar or multiple top 3 picks probably with a number one overall in there .
