There are only a few of us that have "stayed calm". People are speaking with emotion and frustration right now. They will calm down and be ready to cheer on the team next year. Harden deserves a ton of criticism for that game 6 but some of these outlandish statements are ridiculous lol. Ive been hearing people say that they prefer the 14th overall pick years with no hope than this year. Wtf? Lol. The only reason people are so upset is because harden was good enough to place their faith in and now they feel betrayed. I dont blame them, i feel betrayed too but lets not forget that harden was good enough to give us hope in the 1st place... Big offseason coming
I mean, It was such a poor performance that i'm not sure people will eventually just snap out of it like it didn't happen. This wasn't your average series loss....
I feel u on that. From now on, I will only be judging Harden on what he does in the postseason, what he does in the regular season means nothing to me. That game 6 was just...wow. It was worse than game 5 against GS to me. However, I am definitely not willing to trade him for Russell Westbrook, some lottery tickets so that we can tank, "winners" like D'angelo Russell, Ben Simmons, or PG, or lesser stars like Damian Lillard who can lead us with his passion and heart to the 7th or 8th seed and a 1st round exit. Harden can become a FA in the summer of 2019, I am willing to see how far we can go until that time comes. If things aren't better by then, then sure, moving on and not committing to him for another 4-5 years can be a real topic of discussion. This will be a big offseason indeed.
This is actually an evolution of Harden though and people don't realize it. He's entered the tier of players where regular season doesn't mean anything at all. You won't say this for Karl Anthony Towns or Cousins, right? He's entered into that "Championship or Bust" tier of player, it is only because he's good enough that people expected it. No one is crying about how Hayward failed, or Paul George, or Butler...Harden, because Harden really is an elite player. People expect great things from.
I don't want nobody from OKC. Something is wrong with that state. Those people ain't right. The stereotype is right.
You are so wrong on Harden. All those others guys failed, but they played their hearts out. Harden, otoh, simply QUIT. There is no comparison. Smh...
Nope. Simply because of basketball IQ and contract status. If you could combine the two it would make the greatest player since Jordan. What Westbrook lacks in brains Harden has and what Harden lacks in heart Westbrook has.
Harden is still a top 5 player in the league. I understand he mailed it in on Game 6 but he was a big reason we even made it to the playoffs. We were projected to not even be a #8 seed in the West and end the season with 42-42 record or worse by most experts. Instead we overachieved and honestly I did not look forward to a series with GSW who is mostly at full strength. It was either Rockets vs GSW with a hobbled Harden and absent Nene or Spurs vs GSW with a hobbled Leonard, hobbled LMA and out for the season Parker. Were the Rockets at 100%, they'd still be the underdogs going against the Warriors. The Spurs are going to have an ugly series ahead of them with the Warriors and if you thought Leonard was getting all the calls, it'd only get worse if the Rockets were to go against Curry or even Lebron. Hopefully the Rockets can continue to add good pieces to the roster, and a true superstar to pair alongside Harden. The Rockets are closer to the summit of the mountain than they are at the bottom like some NBA teams. No need to overreact. Harden thus far has shown he can't carry the Rockets by himself. That's okay. Just keep making the right additions to the roster to make that goal more achievable.
Ok. I will give you that. I will only say that was an important game. On many levels, this was disrepectfull to his teammates, the coaches, the fans and the guy who signs his multimillion dollars check. I am going to create a thread on this, but I suspect his career with Rockets has run its course, perhaps by his own choosing.
you rather low % constant contested 3pt shots at top of key and being the turnover leader in NBA history?
I would trade the entire roster minus Harden for Westbrook. If the current Westbrook is on this team, you can be damn sure he won't let Harden p***y out like he did in g5 OT and g6.
absolutley not! you trade your two highest paid palyers who you couldnt count on in the po's for the best deal u can get. westbrook isnt the answer
Okay, this is obviously a kneejerk thread that doesn’t deserve any real and rational thought out responses. So instead I’ll put my personal opinion there. Some people may disagree, but this is my trying to be objective. If the Rockets traded Harden for Westbrook then it wouldn’t be a terrible trade for the Rockets. It also wouldn’t be a terrible trade for the Thunder. Harden and Westbrook are almost equal in talent. The only reason some find this repulsive is because Harden is our guy. We don’t want to trade our guy because he’s ours and people by nature value things they have a lot more than it really should be valued. So, we value Harden more than Westbrook. And Westbrook/Thunder fans value Westbrook more than Harden, but in reality both have almost the same amount of impact. So, if we traded Harden for Westbrook I’d be devastated, but I wouldn’t pretend like it’s some stupid idea where the Rockets are getting ripped off. Rockets fans have convinced themselves that Westbrook is this completely inferior player than Harden is when both guys are either the 5th or 6th best players in the league. They’re pretty much interchangeable. Also, this isn’t a question of who is the real MVP. So, anyone who tries to make this about who should be the MVP should quit while they’re ahead. This would be like if the Grizzlies and Raptors were to trade Conley and (healthy) Lowry. Or if the Pacers and Jazz were to trade George and Hayward (under the assumption you think Hayward has been as good as PG13.) Essentially, all franchises would most likely decline the trades if we were to exclude player contracts and were talking just about pure skill and talent. This is called the endowment effect. What we have been experiencing all season is the endowment effect when it comes to Westbrook vs Harden. “Of course our guy is better, he’s our guy! And here are all the reasons! (While I also ignore any reasons why Westbrook would be better!)” Look, we can all form our own thoughts on why one player is better than the other, but in the end both have pros and cons about them. If one player is better, and one player is, then it isn’t by much. Maybe one player has more pros, but they’re less impactful. Or another has less cons about him, but they are more impactful. I won’t get into the pros and cons because the list could go on for forever. Right now what Rockets fans are going through is disappointment in Harden, and thinking that the grass is greener on the other side. It probably isn’t. Again, doesn’t mean that the grass is less green either. Westbrook is prone to having terrible games as well. Or have we all forgotten about 3/17 or something crazy like that in the 4th quarter? And that’s just this season and just that one game. They both have done the same thing. The only difference is that Westbrook “makes that b**** look sexy” like how Kendrick Lamar would say. I admit that it is very worrisome and scary what Harden just demonstrated in game 6. It’s not really comparable to anything any superstar has ever done because no player has ever really been in that situation. What Harden did can’t be forgiven. That sounds a little extreme because it’s just a game, but when people do emotionally invest in the game it hurts just as much. What Harden did will never be forgiven likely by some people. What he can do though is prove that it’s just an outlier. The closest we’ve seen of Harden doing this is in game 5 against the Warriors in the WCF. And he was forgiven for that because 3/5 games he played as best as anyone could have hoped for him to play. All those other games where he played poorly in previous series were just him playing poorly and having terrible shooting nights. But game 6. Unforgiveable. Still, it’s one game. The worst he’s ever played. On an effort scale and on a skill scale. He was trash. But we can’t pretend like that is who James Harden will always be. BUT. I do understand why people have given up on him. And I can understand why people would want Westbrook over Harden because Westbrook has never done what Harden did. And to some people that one game means a lot more than what Harden has done with the Rockets as whole nearly by himself. And that’s fair. Not all games are created equally. Game 6 will forever haunt Harden.
What in the hell is "mentally challenged bball IQ selection"? Shot selection, scheming, defensive strategy, and all can be coached. Giving a **** cannot. I'll take Westbrook 100 times out of 100.