I think this is likely what is happening. But still, I think if the 6ers are flaming out the Rockets might be attractive to Harden. Considering what happened in BKN and now in Philly it could be that he misses having a franchise. He'd come back and immediately his role would be franchise player again with the intention of eventually handing it off to Green and Jabari and whoever else is part of our core. I'm all for it though. Harden makes us immediately a playoff team and the young guns would learn how to win. When Harden retires our young core will JUST be hitting their primes and will have had so much winning experience that I think it'll be a huge benefit to having him around. Not sure what happens to KPJ but whatever You joke but this is kind of what LeBron did lol. Cleveland got Kyrie and Wiggins (who they traded for Love when they got Lebron) I mean we could see a similar situation here. Even if we don't get a top 3 pick a #6 pick and like KJM(or Sengun) or whatever makes a VERY attractive offer to any teams with disgruntled stars out there.
remember when embiid harden pnr should have been deadly then max struss and other undraftees kicked their asses in playoffs?
I was one of the earliest advocates for shipping Harden out and starting over. I also grew to hate how he played basketball towards the end of his Rockets tenure.... But all things considered id welcome him back as long as we dont draft Scoot. All the young players on this team including kpj instantly get better with Harden running a majority of the offense. And with Harden being older i think hed be more willing to share the load and not iso as much.
Peep what Steven A Smith says....."He settled on Brooklyn because Houston was never gonna trade to Daryl Morey." And the story changes yet again.
I think it happens if Philly doesn't make the ECF. I definitely think it does. Philly isn't going to offer the big deal he's looking for and you know what? I bet Tilman would. The Rockets WANTED Harden to retire here, people need to remember that. They did not intentionally run him off, the whole drama was based around them trying to convince him to stay and him doing all he could to get them to trade him. If Philly doesn't contend like they are supposed to, he's gone. Philly will want him gone (the fans) and the FO has already been reluctant giving him a long term deal. I have a feeling the Rockets would roll out the red carpet for his return.
I believe the rockets have a lot of talent just need a point guard. I think Harden could make jabari a max player. The last few years of the deal might look bad, but I the rockets should 100% do it.
You know, as crazy as I think I am saying this, would that be a bad thing? Whichever pick we get in the draft, it's probably a good one, so another young player on a team full of very young players. I can't see him doing it because he wants to compete, but if he really did and wanted to play a pass-first PG role that he's played since leaving... ...is that not EXACTLY what we've all been b****ing about needing for the last however many weeks? We're not talking the return of MVP 50 points like he wasn't even trying, drawing more fouls than most teams Beard. We don't even need our cap space yet either tbh, our players are still raw as ****. I genuinely wouldn't care if they threw big money at him as long as it's off the books by the time Jalen's peaking, we're good. If Harden wants to play out the end of his career passing to our youngsters and giving them the elite PG to put them in the best spot to succeed I say we ****ing let him tbh. We don't need another good pick after this season, we've got players. I genuinely think any reason you can give not to pay him for a couple of years then drop that money when we need it (and if he wants to stay as a late-career benchwarmer I'd pay him them wages too) is fairly easily dismissed tbh. Paying him for a couple years when we have nobody we need to pay for because we're not competing yet and letting him give the kids a chance to succeed sounds ****ing great to me. Imagine how open Bari and Green would look with a Beard drive and dish game? 2 man game with Sengun, Bari, Bruno, Garuba, Eason or anybody else who can learn to throw a pick then run at the basket? I very much doubt Harden's considering it, but if he is then bring that mother****er home!
Wemby would be a great PnR lob threat for him, and since we are guaranteed to get Wemby I can see why Houston is attractive for him. But for real, this is just for leverage in Philly negotiations.
James Harden would be better at running our offense than KPJ. We were very likely owe OKC our pick next year. Our players will grow from playing in a real offense and playing in games with real stakes (as I assume we will be a play-in team after adding Harden). Main question for me is the number of years on the deal. 5 year max is untenable, but a two/three year deal gives us the benefits listed above without handcuffing our franchise too much, as Harden’s deal will be up when we need to re-sign our young guys.
You know ball! I don’t think this would be good for Sengun tho. James harden needs shooters and a lob threat. I know he plays with Joel, but don’t think he’d defer to Sengun that way. Jalen, KPJ, and Jabari would feast off of Harden. I would want him to come here and put up 18&11, that’ll be all we need!
I actually wouldn't mind him coming back. He clearly isn't the same player he was here last time. But he's still one of the best playmakers in the league and would certainly be a better PG than anyone else We could sign or trade for this offseason. The only way he would work here this time would, however, be if he served as a primary distributor on the court and not a franchise killing primadonna off the court.
