I don't really love Harden - but throw out any feasible trade options and I guarantee we'll be laughing.
Real question, bro... Do you think hardens poor performance was based on his inability (ie lack of conditioning, gassed, tired or whatever) or Do you think he was pissed off or whatever and dgaf? Ability or Attitude? just wondering the mindset of folks that think trading him is such blasphemy...
It's pretty much a given that the team trading away a superstar talent will come out with less. That is why even though I think Harden is severely flawed, the Rockets shouldn't trade him. Make him a part time PG and he needs to improve his conditioning. I'm game for that. I
Trading Harden is absurd and it's completely unrelated to why he was garbage the last 6 quarters. Out of pure principle, we shouldn't trade superstars because you'll never get equal value from it. Morey is a star chaser and actually trading a star away would be the dumbest transaction he could ever execute. He would one-up OKC with their disastrous Harden trade. Clearly he is being taken for granted on here because of a horrific ending to an otherwise outstanding season.
False duality. That's like me saying you either raped your wife or murdered her, which one is it? Harden alone cannot carry a team. You might log that in the ability rating, but I don't think any superstar in the NBA currently could take this team any further than James did. Maybe LeBron gets those calls refs missed in San Antonio, maybe Curry has a higher percentage from 3 than James did, but this one boils down to our team lacking depth. I never bought into the ESPN narrative that James has snipers next to him. He props that team up, and for 55 wins, and 6 in the post season we saw the benefit of it. The sad part is, fans concentrate on the loss and think that his value is going down. So I ask you, who in the NBA currently could have taken the rockets further? If you did a star for star swap, who do you pick? I can't see anyone else doing a better job. If that's the case, James (barring a king's ransom) is untradable.
Trade Harden after a finale blowout, when he had one of the worst playoff Rockets game ever. So, let me guess we will get Dwight Howard for him. Harden played like a practice player the past games because he is fatique, most importantly being young thinking that there will be another season (wrong mental approach). He will never say it, but he probaly made a mistake by playing at less than full energy, not playing with urgency. He is still young, hopefully this game will propel him to be a better player, not a quitter which he has to live with for a while. Let's face it, he is becoming TMac 2.0. TMac is the one who use injury, so he doesn't have to play and used his own doctor to make him rest longer. In other words, playing for a paycheck. If Harden is hard headed, the Rockets will be fine. If his head is like Dwight, Rockets are in trouble. Trading Harden is going to put the Rockets with the Lakers, we will be tanking. I don't think there we want any of LaVar Ball's son to play, or we'd be paying 10x for the price of a ticket.
They missed the playoffs 3 straight years before Harden was traded here. Rockets used a lottery pick to get their star.
So i take it you cant name a time Lillard flat out quit like Harden did last nite? Simple question. Yay or nay my friend
I thought it was a simple question... obviously the guy didnt have it last night... why? If he was out there being aggressive and shots weren't falling... it happens... it is what it is... What concerned me more was him only taking 2 shots in the entire first half... Hey if he was gassed and MDA ran him into the ground... I'd say well we can get him a new conditioning coach and MDA is going to have to learn to better manage minutes (7 man was a joke)... Based on his body language and lack of effort from the beginning of the game... coupled with only taking 2 shots... leads me to believe he was pissed and didnt want to play... whether it was due to criticism for the end of game 5 or whatever... That's why I'm asking is it a physical issue or a mental one? Physical we could deal with... Mental? the dudes already been coddled beyond belief and given more control than nearly any player should get... if he's still gonna mentally collapse... I would just think he's damaged goods thats never gonna get us over the hump...
see reply to Zergling... same sentiment... Also I hate the whole 'what star could have taken us further argument' - this team was BUILT to compliment James Harden... not Anthony Davis, not Steph Curry, not Towns...
Blah blah blah blah. Want the truth? Donald Trump has a better chance of being IMPEACHED than James Harden being traded by the Rockets organization.
Again, what superstar takes this team further? The answer is no one. Like I said, you are setting up a false duality and saying the answer can only be answer choice A or B. You can try and isolate last night, or his performance therein, but all in all, no superstar with this set of players gets further.
I cant wait for the parade for those accomplisments. Where are the rings. If Harden cant get them, the team needs to find someone who can.
You're evading... as i said, this team was BUILT to compliment James Harden... ie Ryan Anderson was brought in to be a stretch 4 to clear the lane for Harden and be an outlet for a 3 pt dumpoff...) if i had Steph Curry, i wouldnt want Anderson, I'd want a banger down low to grab rebounds and pull the D inside off the perimeter... again, the team was BUILT to compliment James Harden... if i got a suit tailored to my specifications... who's it gonna look better on - me or Brad Pitt? Again, why does harden have a great season and then collapse? This is not the first time this has happened... Why?
There likely is not a trade involving Harden that will immediately make you better. Next summer I would consider moving him and rebuilding if we have the same results. I cringe thinking about what Toyota Center will look like in a rebuild if they can't even show up to a game 6 elimination playoff game. Either way Les wants to win now, so I doubt they would even consider a trade involving Harden. They would rather have his value diminish over the next 3 years and risk getting little to nothing for him.
In the regular season very few could've taken us further and accomplished what he did. LeBron, Durant, Curry, Kawhi, Westbrook and that's about it. He had a terrific regular season no doubt. Problem is he disappeared when it mattered the most. The playoffs. Superstars are remembered most for what they do post season... not how great their regular season was. Any of the guys I mentioned above would've capitalized and finished off games 5 and 6 with no TP and Leonard. Then there's the next tier of guys that would've put up a better performance and finished the series as well most likely. PG13 for sure, Thompson, Wall, Lillard, Hayward, Thomas. Greek Freak maybe but maybe not only cause he's really young. Butler and Derozan 50/50 but they would've showed more heart than Harden. Our depth was fine. We had good players. We were good enough to win. We had a better roster than the Spurs sans Parker and Kawhi. That's the part that irks me. If we lose to a better team and showed fight and heart that's losing with honor. I'd have no issue. If you lose to a depleted team that you're supposed to beat and not just lose but get blown out at home cause your superstar/leader puts up a pathetic performance like Harden did. Something is clearly wrong. I don't understand how some fans can just bat an eye and forgive Harden for every time he comes up short in the playoffs. This is not an anomaly or even a trend anymore. It's a theme.
For now, you don't trade Harden. Houston is not a free agent hot spot, so landing a player like Harden is not an easy thing to do. BUT, you don't take the heat off of Harden, you see how he responds next season. If he continues this trend, well then the trade option has to be looked at. In any case, Harden's stock just took a huge beating, it's one thing to choke, but Harden didn't even show up to the game. Still shocking...
