John Granato: Raptors & Celtics favorites to land James Harden

Even this place is smart enough to know that IVERGOAT is just a Westbrook troll.

I do like how he says brother all the time though.

 

Kevin O’Connor: One trade I like for Toronto is Siakam, Norman Powell, and Terence Davis plus two future first-round picks for Harden and P.J. Tucker; the Raptors would have two of the league’s best defensive forwards in Tucker and Anunoby, plus a lethal backcourt with Harden joining VanVleet and Kyle Lowry. There wouldn’t be a better team in the East. Maybe the Raptors would have better luck in convincing Harden to stay than they did with Kawhi. As is, the Raptors remain a tough out for anyone, but they need to find their missing piece.

14. Houston Rockets
Feel free to call me foolish for ranking the Rockets this high when James Harden wants out. But until Harden is traded, there’s no reason to put them lower considering the amount of talent on this roster. Harden and John Wall compose one of the best backcourts in basketball, and Christian Wood was the NBA’s most underrated free agent, a talented big who can score from outside or attack off the dribble. Wood is like Diet Anthony Davis, and he’ll arguably be the most talented big man Harden has ever played with.

Will the additions of Wall and Wood to the existing supporting cast be enough to convince Harden to stay in Houston? Maybe not. Harden appears fixed on leaving, whether it’s through a trade or as soon as he can hit free agency in 2022. But there’s no denying the potential of this roster if the drama fades away.

 

It's really kind of dumb for Harden to turn his nose up at this group. It could be really good here.

 

There's a lot of rumblings about a Jamal Murray trade with the Nuggets.

 

I think he just wants a change of scenery. Grass is not always greener, but sometimes you just have to try it anyways. Besides the whole Lil Baby party BS, he is engaged into the season, so I'm not really sure why anyone is mad at this point. Hopefully he plays for the Rockets (my hope) but it's cool if he doesn't.

Maybe someday in the future he will apologize and regret how he initially handled the situation. The media and fake insiders are the ones stirring up **** now.

 

Where besides the one fake source that was posted earlier?

 

I guess I would be okay with that. While we will never get equal value for James, Murray is legit.

 

Im in love with the Jamal Murray trade and adding MPJ and picks as sweetener is too good. Maybe Stone will pivot to a soft rebuild and flip Gordon and House then too.

 

Murray isn’t available

 

Brown is a good player that can fit in any system and defends, but he isn't going to lead a team to a title. In fact for all of the praise he gets for his defense, his advanced defensive statistics defensively are not as good as James Harden even though he has a better defensive team around him.

Look at it like this, even in 4-5 years when Harden is 35-36, there is a very good chance Harden is still a better player than Brown.

Tatum is on a different level than Brown.

 

If they somehow land Murray and Porter there will be no need for a rebuild. That is a squad ready to compete right now

 

The Celtics have been one of the most active teams in the league in trying to trade for James Harden.

 

I do not see a trade happening before the season mainly because some of the players you would want cannot be traded until Feb due to rules.

Example: In addition to Siakim and picks, etc, we probably want Baynes) maybe not with Boogie and Woods now but who knows.

A third team would have to get involved likely meaning PJ trade in order to get everything we would want for James.

 

I would call ivergoat definitely unreliable but Jrichard Goodman seems to be very reliable

 

There are no rumblings about Denver/Murray. That’s your stomach.

 

I don't know how Harden and Stevens would work out, as the Celtics certainly do things differently than a lot of teams. Based on Thomas having been there before I doubt it would be a problem but who knows. As for Nick Nurse, he has said that James Harden is the best offensive player he has ever seen and also has praised his defense so there likely wouldn't be an issue with Nurse.

 

Hardhead ain't too bright.

 

They were the most active in trying to trade for Anthony Davis too.

 

Jalen Brown is closer to Harrison Barnes than a true star player. For the love of God stay away.

 

Living in the Boston area, most Celtic fans acknowledge Harden's talent but are afraid of the fit. They have been jaded by Kyrie. They really like their young core.