This is all frankly bullshit. He happily coexisted and was successful with Paul, and he was successful and coexisted with everybody last year. What about his style of play hampered him in Brooklyn? He was the one who changed his game the most to accommodate Durant and Kyrie. He changed his game up with CP3 and Westbrook. It's like nobody has actually seen his play in Brooklyn, if you are still using that narrative that his style of play is not conducive to stars. Harden is a triple threat unlike Curry, and he is a much better passer, why can't Harden create even more space? Let's be real here are we actually trying to say Curry would be more valuable than Harden? A guy who is pretty much one dimensional vs a guy who does everything offensively at a high level? The only way this would make any sense is if Harden was a terrible 3 point shooter and he is not. Why are we not talking about how much easier it is going to be for Embid who has the best passing guard he has ever had and the best playmaker he has had and the 1st real guy who will demand as much attention as he does and can carry the weight when he is not on the floor. It's really amazing all the hoops people are jumping through trying to downplay Harden going to Philly, even if he is declining he unlocks so much on that team, just think of the easy shots both Harris and Maxey will now get.
Harden showed in Brooklyn he did not have to be the sole alpha and he did it when he played with CP3 and Westbrook. You are projecting a lot, Westbrook and Harden got annoyed with Tillman and everyone should be annoyed with Kyrie in Brooklyn yet somehow it's Hardens fault. Harden did not handpick Irving, Durant handpicked Irving. You know who else has not been able to sustain relationships with star players, CP3 and Howard but yet that somehow is only laid at the feet of Harden, is the relationship with Westbrook not maintained? You certainly seem to trying to blame Harden for everything that has gone wrong, when a lot of those guys have had issues evrywhere else they have been.
LOL, while I hear you and I don't mind your defenses of Harden, it's funny to hear you complain of salt when you regularly stir **** up with random posters. You like wake up, log in, and bring the salt to GARM / NBA.
Yeah I stir **** up, but I never get salty over a player I am supposed to not care about or on a team I supposedly not care about. I think we have a different definition of salt. This is what I mean by salty. Salty' is defined as 'exceptionally bitter, angry, or upset. I am not that. I just like to stir the pot and call out agenda type post.
See, @jiggyfly, this is the kind of report we keep seeing a lot. Maybe they are all exaggerated somehow, but it's a lot of smoke if there's no fire. He seemed resistant to great motion offense ideas in H-town (at least to my eye and several reports), and especially in the playoffs we would watch him dribble and dribble and then make some (often incredible move) but not hit enough of those tough shots when it counted. I'll be super interested to see him with an enormous and talented center clogging the interior leaving fewer driving opportunities. Maybe they'll create a deadly P&R (even though that's statistically not something Embiid likes to do), but I wonder if Harden will orchestrate the offense, slow it down and just default to entry passes or step back 3's. I'm happy about the trade overall -- it makes the Rockets look less bad, to me, and it makes for a more interesting NBA season.
I feel like Harden might be a tough guy to deal with in the locker room if things go sour. He's not loud, but he does seem passive aggressive. Like if you get on his bad side, it's just over. I think he wants things a certain way, but isn't exactly vocal about it, but he will probably talk behind the scenes giving subtle hints. Think Howard was the same way that's why that last season was such a disaster, and then CP3 got on his nerves too and that relationship was over quick. Seems like Kyrie got on his bad side quickly, and he wasn't happy the org and KD sided with Kyrie.
it's very telling he did not attribute this to anybody, and why are we just now hearing he wanted everything catered to him like in Houston? Why did he change his game the most of anybody since he got to Brooklyn? Why is he the issue with ball and player movement when Durant and Kyrie have been even more ball dominant than Harden? If you don't have an agenda, none of this makes sense, just look at the raw numbers and none of it makes sense, if you actually look at the games none of it makes sense. The crazy part is Kyrie is the guy that all of these takes fits, yet he has never taken as much **** as Harden, make no sense. This shows the author has an agenda. Embiid was thrilled. Harden, as part of the deal, will opt into his contract for the 2022-23 season. The fit isn’t perfect. What’s Harden going to do when Embiid is posting up? What’s Embiid going to do when Harden dances up top? Can Harden rediscover his bounce? Can he learn to play with another star? (You could build a Hall of Fame lineup of teammates with whom he has clashed.) How will Embiid react to having a teammate with a similar relationship with Rubin? The only teammates he has "clashed" with are Howard and CP3 and they have clashed with more guys yet it's Harden as the problem. How after 2 years in Brooklyn when he subjugated his game for 2 other stars and did the same for Westbrook the question still remains? And then he went in on Embid as if he is a child and going to be mad because Harden has a relationship with the owner? Yeah, he is really just reaching to find a negative angle to this trade.
Yes this is the kind of report we see a lot, but in that report he is trying to claim that harden was the issue in Brooklyn when he was the guy who changed his game the most to accommodate the other guys. Harden already orchestrated the offense in Brooklyn and became the main playmaker on that team, why would he not do the same in Philly? Embid already plays some on the perimeter, so he is not always going to be clogging the lane, it's that type of surface level critique that I cannot understand. Why would you wonder if Harden will orchestrate the offense when he has it in Brooklyn and did it when he played with Westbrook to let him shine? People keep asking this question as if he has never done it. Harden prefers to run sets in the half court anyway, and why would you think he has to default to entry passes and step back 3's? This makes zero sense if you actually understand all that Harden brings on offense. He has not been dribbling dribbling dribbling in 4 years yet for some reason you and others keep saying it, which makes me think you have an agenda or not a great grasp of the nuances of basketball. Harden has had the 3rd highest usage rate since he went to Brooklyn but yet somehow people keep saying he was dominating the ball, this is why I don't pay attention to articles like this because if you run the numbers or go with the eye test you can tell they are just using an old narrative.
Because his game was predicated on the entire offensive system revolving around him and his isolation game, and that was never going to work on a team with multiple elite and creative 1-on-1 scorers. For him not to dramatically change how he played would have necessitated a complete upheaval of how the Nets wanted to play as a team. The Rockets style of play, with Harden at the helm, was an outlier.
