A disgusting exit for James Harden Once James Harden decided to become a petulant bother in the locker room and with teammates, he had to go. Understandable, but still incredible. The Rockets got about the best return they could in a four-team trade of a man who thanks to his messy exit will never be worshipped in this town. The James Harden era will be remembered as a waste. A lot of promise and promises, not much payoff. As we peel back the Beard, we find the face of a man who was more about himself than he was about the Rockets and the city of Houston, which he claims he had grown to love. In the end, he loved himself more. That would be fine in most circumstances. In a team sport, the best player carries extra responsibility. Harden always accepted that. He told Daryl Morey when the former Rockets GM was working a deal for him in 2012, that he wanted all of that. He lived for the limelight. He wanted the pressure. He wanted to be the face of the franchise. He would deliver, he said. He did deliver. A lot of points and assists, but no championships. Thus, he failed. Worse yet, he quit on his team. So much for that James Harden statue that would have been built at Toyota Center. Harden didn’t come to work when he was supposed to a few weeks back. He didn’t look like he wanted to be there when he arrived. He played most of this season like his mind was elsewhere. His butt was here, but his heart was in Brooklyn. He put in half-effort on the court, then spouted a ridiculous thought that the team isn’t good enough. DeMarcus Cousins said Harden’s words were disrespectful, and mentioned other Harden actions that irked his teammates. This final moment as a Rocket, the lowlight of Harden’s career, didn’t come after a game in which he put on a show, but didn’t get any help. It came after a game in which he didn’t give his teammates much help. The Rockets were minus-23 when Harden was on the floor Tuesday against the Lakers. He threw up 16 shots and made only five, including 1-of-6 from 3-point territory. We had seen a similar Harden a couple times before, but he was so good so often that I was always inclined to give him a semi-pass for an off night. This was different. This wasn’t an off night. Harden didn’t care about winning or losing. He clearly didn’t care about his teammates. And as for Rockets fans … please. He just didn’t care. What a disgusting exit.
I feel you are grossly exaggerating. Isn't Jarrett Allen an RFA this upcoming season? Rockets won't pay him. Jarrett Allen plays well and I like him, but man, it's tough having a center that doesn't shoot now-a-days. I certainly would of been interested to see him and Wood play together, but I'm not devastated at the loss. Caris Levert? He's played half a season the each of the last two seasons and already has a major leg injury in his history, I'm not really sure what's the big deal about losing him. Prince, meh. I mean, we all talked about getting a haul of draft picks, and we got them. We didn't get a cornerstone franchise player. I know you were convinced Simmons was the guy, I sure as hell wasn't convinced. I was slowly buying the idea, but after how he has started this season, it's clear he has yet to work on his shot, so I don't see the point of paying him long term money to play like a semi Lamar Odom out there. Obviously, we can't really gauge the results of this trade right now. You made a good analogy referring to scratch offs, but I'll take it. Paul George and Anthony Davis deals were just ****ing perfect storms, which is why their previous teams were able to extract at least one good young asset out of them. In reality we didn't have that perfect storm. Sixers only offered a couple of draft picks, who knows what protections they had. Miami, probably only offered a few picks as well.
Keep in mind that the LAC trade for George is what swayed Kawhi to sign with LAC for nothing. Presti had all the leverage after George's top 3 MVP season and took advantage of it. What's crazy is that I don't think Brooklyn would have offered as many picks, etc. if Kyrie Irving was still in the building playing basketball. Kyrie is what allowed us to get a haul of picks. I wish we got a similar package to what the Thunder did for George but keep in mind we can still trade Oladipo for a young talent similar to SGA at the time he was traded and can also use Exum as a $9.6 expiring contract to take on a bad contract + an asset or take on a buy low underperforming player in hopes he turns it around the following season.
Fans have short memories. We were in the desert for a looooong time before the Harden trade. I mean I liked Scola and Lowry and Brooks as much as the next guy, but it sucks getting the 9th seed or losing in the first round year after year after year.
Yeah, I went through this when the trade demand rumors first hit. I think actually playing 8 games with this group helped me accept reality, seeing that this team is not really that special anymore (Harden included). He may regain his magic in Brooklyn, but it wasn't going well here. I don't think this team would have been a real contender this year anyway, and with a broke owner, I can't see that it would have gotten any better over the next few years. It is sad, but so be it.
I wouldn't say disingenuous as so much hindsight is 20/20 at the time I didn't think that either....but watching events slowly play out over the years Morey was going to leave once, before, all of this Harden trade talk. So it was likely in the back of Morey's mind. Therefore in the back of Jame's mind. Nobody ever wonder why Morey wouldn't at least stay to see Harden off, and see the Rockets through? Morey can't trade Harden to himself! Morey always planned to stiff us after making us the laughing gimmick of the NBA.
We also don't care about how you feel B Smith. The pretzels these people are turning themselves into to deny that Harden is great is breathtaking. If you can even compare him to 10 of the all time greats he has to be great. I mean this guy is actually trying to take up for Howard the most immature guy in the last 20 years? GTFO.
Revisionist HISTORY! MDA quit like he taught Harden (on the plane ride home after collapsing to LA) lol and Morey was planning this for at least 4 years or at least immediately after Less sold the team. Tell yourself what you want to make yourself feel better. Nothing wrong with that. You guys seems to love players and personnel that don't have the Rockets best interest at heart.
