James Harden and the Houston Rockets are at a breaking point

For those decrying the team now leaking info to make harden look bad ( while also making themselves look bad and lowering his value?) -. The part I quoted from jacky mac was actually reported at the very beginning of this saga.

Kelly iko in his harden Westbrook wants out artcle had a quote about how Harden wanted the rockets to trade him to the Nets even if the return wasn't what they wanted.

 

Trump called.

And he wants his failed disinformation strategy back.

#stopthesteal

 

I saw it a couple of times but don't have time to look for some aside about free agent pursuits several years ago. You can believe I'm making this up or not.

WB, CP3, and Dwight have all had issues with star teammates so I'm not putting it all on James. Dwight is especially bad and I imagine dealing with CP3 barking when his game slipped in his second year caused problems. But at least with CP3 and Russ their co-stars have signed extensions. Harden's relationships have flamed out very quickly.

Also, Zach Lowe reported that Ariza was really frustrated with the catering to James. I'm including him in guys with more stature.

For those saying this is Tilman, maybe part of it is (though it would be dumb to sink Harden's value) but a lot of these quotes and this info is pretty clearly not from him.

All that said, I still want James as a Rocket.

 

Ariza did not become disgruntled until AFTER he was not given his payday by the Rockets.

And if anyone is to blame for cheaping out on Ariza it was Tilman.

It was not Harden.

It was not D'Antoni.

It was not Morey.

 

What does CP3 and Russ signing extensions have to do with anything?

There were a lot of stories about CP3 and what his teammates felt about him after he left the Clippers none of that has been said about Harden until this moment and it's all aggregated from one reporter and his ex employee sources.

To me its seems you are clinging to rumours and innuendo to paint Harden in a bad light, I might be wrong but it seems that way, I am not saying Harden is blameless in this but he is certainly not the poster boy for this type of behavior and many players have had more documented issues with teammates than Harden has and notably both Kobe and Jordan are 2 of the top names.

Ariza was once signed to be the franchise guy so yeah he might have had issues not having any sway anymore.

 

I'm not saying frustration with Harden is why he left. Had Tilman been willing to shell out $30 million for one year of Ariza (his contract plus tax implications), then I assume he would have stayed.

But for folks acting like all this is out of nowhere, it's not.

 

Stone was part of Rockets FO for 15 years.

He insisted at his presser that Morey barely did anything and that he was making a lot of the moves, setting the tone. He essentially was doing Morey's job since, in his own words, only thing that will be missed is Morey's personality and everything else will remain exactly the same.

Tad Brown is Harden's father figure, he is closer to Harden than Morey.

Culture issues have been there since Harden arrived 8 years ago. But the shet did not hit the fan until Tilman bought the team and started his very public cost savings strategy.

These after the fact articles are very cute blaming everyone and everything but the 2 people who hold ALL the power in Rockets organization.

Tilman Fertitta and Rafael Stone.

I notice they have barely made squeak during this media shetstorm around Harden.

Both guys are not known for being quiet.

 

Okay I am doing this for the last time.

First, no the Harden trade wasn't a no brainer. The Thunder shopped him around the league and the offers were low. For example the Warriors wouldn't deal Beal for him. The only reason the Rockets were able to get Harden is that Morey turned nothing into a lottery pick by getting Lowery and then including him in the Harden deal.

Second, Daryl Morey has never picked a head coach. The owners in Houston always did. Les Alexander and Daryl Morey are both on record having said that. The hire of McHale (good/bad or otherwise) was made by Les Alexander.

No, 75% of the Rockets trades or free agent signings under Morey were "bad". Daryl Morey created out of basically nothing a top 20 all time great player (Harden) and got a team to the Western Conference Finals without EVER rebuilding.

Daryl Morey wasn't perfect, he like a dozen teams, passed on Leonard.... and he over paid Gordon (although the plan was to trade him later) and there were a handful of other things.

However overall he was one of the best general managers in basketball, all while working with cheap owners that did not give him the finances to build up the infrastructure of the organization and while not being in a market like LA that sells it's self.

 

He doesn't necessarily want more control, he wants what he has stated the last 4 years, a Championship.

 

I'm saying Blake, DJ, PG-13, and KD all either signed extensions or stuck around for several years to play with CP3 and Russ. Idk who deserves most of the blame for Harden's partnerships falling apart, but they have objectively gone south very, very quickly.

You are pointing to stories about CP3 AFTER he left and now that this big piece about Harden comes out AFTER he requests a trade you don't think any of it's valid? You see where that's contradictory?

I don't want Harden in a bad light because I'd like for him to be a Rocket or get a massive haul for trading. But a decent bit of this does make sense given a few things that have been out there previously and how fast his relationships with other stars have fallen apart.

I would say that reading this story and not believing any of it and using it to take shots at Tilman is clinging as well.

Kobe also deserves a lot of blame for what the Lakers devolved into for a period and had he been traded there would have been stories like this and they would have probably been valid.

To note again, I still want James on the Rockets.

 

Practice has never been a problem with James Harden, he plays and practices basketball as much as anyone in the league. He also was known for being in the practice facility alone of with a Rockets employee late at night. He gets his work in, his flaw is he wants to get his work in when he wants to get it in.... that may be at 3:30 AM and not noon.

 

A man doesn't dramatically improve his game every year by dicking around. It's like the haters are so happy to lap up the media bs, that they ignore everything Harden has done to prove the haters wrong.

Quite sickening, literally.

I do hope when harden gets trade, it's to a fan base that appreciate him a lot more. players like him r a rare breed.

Diva? Ball hog? practice? toxic? like do u guys close your fking eyes when watchin the game?

 

The 2018 Rockets were one of the best teams of the last 5 years.

I don't know how to rank the 2020 Lakers or any 2020 team bc of covid bubble weirdness - I'm sure they'd be in the ranking somewhere.

But, last 5 years, I say the best overall teams at full strength, more or less in order, are:

2017 Warriors
2018 Warriors/Rockets (tie)
2016 Warriors
2019 Bucks
2016 Cavs/2019 Raptors


Yes, I know I'm ranking champs below non-champs, I ****ing feel like it.

 

I agree completely with you. Fertitta doesn’t know how to shut up and listen, and he’s hurting the Rockets’ organization in a myriad of ways because of it.

 

This is on the money. There should be no question about the man's dedication to his craft up to this point. But you can see why building a culture around it can be a challenge, especially for people wired like CP3 or Russ.

Honestly, if he gets traded to Miami with their culture and Butler that's going to be interesting.

 

Do you not see that you are doing the same thing?

Unlike here there are players who actually said things about CP3 and not the org and ex coaches.

His relationship with Howard fell apart because Howard did not want to play his role, his relationship with Paul I blame both equally, his relationship with Russ has not ended at all and it's telling that you keep ignoring what has been reported and what Russ said himself.

You are suffering from confirmation bias and everything innuendo or negative you believe.

I don't discount everything in the story I just realize they are piling on and slanting anything that can be considered negative, I also know that the only time Harden has been accused of pressuring the Rockets to get him everything he wants is the past 2 months and that's very strange. Until Westbrook it was reported that he has been hands off, can you name anybody else that he handpicked to come here?

 

Yeah but nothing in this article is false @Nook I know you say the Russ trade was all on Tilman but I truly believe it when Harden said either trade for Russ or trade me.

 

So wait they will not let Harden dictate how he is traded but they believe a culture change is paramount and he has to go, yet will not take 60 cents on the dollar?

So what is more important culture change or getting equal value for Harden?

Talk about a cluster ****?

This 'culture was enough to have the 2nd best winning percentage in the west the last 5 years.

Gonna be interesting to see if "culture" is more important than actually winning, I guess "culture" was the only thing missing to defeat GS why has no one else thought of this.

If you all can't see this is being fed directly to Timmy you are blind, why the hell has he not talked about "culture" issues before?

 

And yet no other reporter or player has ever said this.

Stone or Tillman needs to nip this **** in the bud or nobody is gonna want to play here.