That's true, but he wouldn't have left the Rockets in the first place if he didn't care about winning. Because the window is shut and won't be open for a while.
lol you forget an incredible luck they had that injury prone KD getting from achilees surgery played 130% of his potential...if cp3 or dario saric didnt get injured they would have beaten bucks...if trae young doesnt get injured he beats the bucks etc if harden didnt flee from midrange he easily wins it all.. if he doesnt fall in love with 3s instead of rim attacks he easily win it all... heres lack of bbiq or iq in general why? why would anyone do this?
always remember these words of yours next time you fall into temptation to hype up an athletic player over a brainy one
It wasn't self confidence. He just knew the window was shut. There's no distinction between true rings and fake rings. If there was then the 99 spurs would have gotten an asterisk. I definitely do understand that NBA players themselves care way less about winning, twitter narratives and "legacy" than the fans do. These are guys who make 8 figures playing a kids game. They mostly care about lifestyle and comfort. And JH would only be coming back to Houston for that. Not winning. But, he also forced his way out because he was obsessed with a title. Maybe, I'm just trying to pry into his brain here, but maybe he really thinks he's going to win a title this season and then go back to Houston. I always knew he would come back to us AFTER he's already won. I just didn't think he would return no matter what. I mean, if it's about the money then Daryl will very willingly fork over the max. Daryl was going to offer him the max but James was the one who took the paycut just to bring Tucker and Melton in. Why would he do that if he didn't want to win?
Doesn’t make any sense but this is James. Forced himself out of Houston just to force himself out of BKN just to leave Philly to come back to a rebuilding team? If he would have just stayed with the Nets they eventually should have won a title. Who TF knows what he wants and I doubt he does either.
Precisely, after he made his decisions then he comes to realization that his decision impacted half of the league.
Harden is averaging 25 pints 17 assists 8 boards 3 steals in the last two games.he is looking like magic Johnson out there since he came back from the foot injury which started the Sixers 8 game wining as soon as he came back . The Sixers currently have the best offense in the nba in the streak and top 4 overall
But really, what’s in it for him? Money? (And if so, why should the Rockets want to be the team that pays him?) If for whatever reason he leaves Philadelphia, he should go ring chasing, not mentoring 20 year olds. So now all the pro-tankers, “Trust the process”, “Keep Silas”, “We’re just in year 1/2 of the rebuild”, are now ready to “Yeah, sign Harden! Perfect missing piece! Playoffs next year!” Interreeessttinnngg… Lillard (1.5 years ago): Why would we want Lillard?! WTF is Tilman doing?! Mitchell: Why would we pursue Mitchell? Trust the process! Draymond: NO! GOD NO! Ben Simmons: Put the crack pipe down! Trae Young: Nah, he’s not even that good; would put us on the mediocrity treadmill! “Bench Wall! Send him home! We’re about development!” Harden?: YASSSSSSS THIS IS BRILLIANT! Uhh no? This team is the worst team in basketball 3 years running. 34 year old Harden is not the “missing piece”. This is not LeBron (bringing Bosh, had Wade; bringing Love; had Irving; bringing AD) This not Kawhi (bringing PG) This is not “We’re missing that one piece; let’s go get him.” This is THE WORST TEAM IN THE LEAGUE! Just move on already. Appreciate what he did, wish him well if you want, but move on. “Bring back JVG!” “Bring back Harden!” Stop living in yesteryear. I mean, with all due respect,… That’s like saying “We wouldn’t be bringing in LeBron to make this his team.” This would absolutely be Harden’s franchise/team again.
No team can offer him more money than Philly. But he has taken less before. He turned down 50 mil annual from Tilman.
No, unless we got him without giving up anything whatsoever and he bought into a supporting role mentality, like Shaq when he teamed up with Dwayne Wade toward the end of his career.
People never learn. Harden is going to take his money, being injured 25 games a season, chatting with KPJ or Green or Jabari by the sidelines. They always think of a scenario that is perfect, the majority of things ain't perfect in real life, I am not even sure what they daydream about.
I don’t want James back either but next year is the official stop tanking and go for it year. We will have cap space and a ton of trade capital in Gordon’s NGTD deal and a plethora of young assets and the BKN picks to swing a disgruntled star trade. Point is the rebuild ends after this season and we need to sign a vet star. I would like FVV but if that doesn’t work then Harden would be good. There’s not a lot out there in FA. I’d consider unloading KPJ and assets to the Bulls for Lavine to play the 3. (He’s a solid 3 pt shooter and we probably wouldn’t have to empty all of the BKN pick cupboard for him). If you win the lotto and draft Wemby, trade for Lavine, (or some disgruntled star), and sign Harden you’re playoff bound immediately. I’d prefer FVV because that core ala the current Celtics would take a couple of years to hit their stride.
Houston for whatever reason is a tough city to not want to come back to when you lived there long enough and know the good spots. I do legit think Harden wants to live in Houston again and he’s said his family is still here. So I think it’s more about the lifestyle than it is about leveraging Houston to get Philly to pony up. Believe it or not there will be more teams than you think trying to get meetings with Harden in free agency. However if he lays another turd in the post season that would severely hamper the other teams really driving the market. Then it really would be low ball offer from Philly to save face and a legacy type of homecoming offer from Houston with a Kidd/Mavs type of role, but honestly if he lays another stinker in the post season not sure I’d want him around the kiddos. The best part of this story I think is just the validation that Houston is an underrated city and if you’ve lived there for a minute, it’s hard to not to want to move back. But really the fact is either he has a good post season and the Rockets shouldn’t overpay him at that price he’ll command or he’ll lay a turd again and then I would prefer to not have him on this team as a veteran leader regardless of price.
Likely a leverage play by Hardens team to get his last big contract, from Philly. I imagine there is a small chance of a Houston return. However, for the Rockets, after this year, its time to win and we have limited time to spend our cap, so it's a no Brainer, unless you somehow think the cap is better spent on FVV. Harden is probably better over the next three years than anyone on our roster will ever be.
