I do remember. And the stuff you quoted from me is not a minority opinion - it's what most people saw when they watched our team. And fwiw, for the CP3 era, it worked amazingly well. Here's an article from 2019 about it: https://www.sbnation.com/2019/5/10/18564422/chris-paul-james-harden-houston-rockets-passing-success
Yea I know, but they still worked well together, Paul didnt need to Harden to make him better because he was already great and their skill set overlapped. If the offense is super elite when you pair Harden with another start, then he is in fact portable. Harden absolutely made Westbrook and Dwight better when they stuck with the game plan and were not washed. Same with KD/Kyrie. And Joel and Harden have a great two man game. Like there are plenty of people who get better playing with Harden.
The Rockets won 20 games (24%) last season with a net margin of -8.4. They won 10 games (27%) this season with a net margin of -6.4 on a brutal schedule. I'd say there is progress, although I can understand your pessimism. It looks pretty grim at times. But I think you have forgotten how more grim last year felt.
What exactly did Harden do that made Westbrook better? Westbrook played better once we traded Clint and made him effectively our center on offense. What exactly did Harden do that made Kyrie better? Kyrie has always been best as a wingman who can take over for stretches; that's not something Harden did. What exactly did Harden do that made KD better? KD is playing better this year without him. And before that, KD was already KD. For Dwight and Embiid (moreso Dwight) one could definitely argue that Harden as a PnR ball handler has helped them, so that's ok. Dwight *should* have been playing as a roll man for forever but he never accepted that, and Embiid doesn't do much rolling now but rather catches it off the short roll and then operates from there. In any case, all the guys mentioned above were established vets and stars. The reason I brought up those names is to give examples of how Harden doesn't integrate his game into others' but rather prefers the "your turn / my turn" approach, which you seem to agree with. But playing with established vets and stars is different than playing with 20 year olds trying to find out what kind of players they will be. Is Harden willing to defer and share with guys like that? If so, then hell yeah, bring him on. I've always been a Harden fan and still have a Harden autographed ball, autographed poster, and at least 2 Harden shirts. But there's a chance that he won't defer or share with our young (and occasionally frustrating) guys, or that he would initially do that but then later get tired of losing and try to assert himself and his style more. That's really all I'm trying to do in this thread: state that there is a possibility that signing Harden isn't a home run for us.
Kyrie Irving shot 52% from the field playing next to Harden, the highest mark of his career...if he didn't make KD better, he at least made his life easier Embiid's numbers and shooting percentage are noticeably better next to Harden...Tyrese Maxey is a completely different player next to James Harden isn't even capable of playing Houston Harden ball anymore, nor does he really try to...he seems content to set guys up and chip in 20 or so points even in the games this year without Embiid, he's averaging 10 assists a game, but only 15 shots per game KPJ - 15.6 shots a game Harden - 15.4 shots a game KPJ's usage - 25.8% Harden's usage - 25.9% the difference is in time of possession and touches Harden is 2nd in time of possession and KPJ is 9th...Harden is 3rd in touches, and KPJ is 14th not worried about Harden wanting to monopolize everything, that's no longer his mindset...that's why this rumor seems so farfetched because aside from the fact that Philly is a much better team, there's no one here who could reliably share the load on a consistent basis if we were looking like last year's Pelicans or this year's Kings, then I could see this legit happening if Philly was another 2nd round exit
alright so we all agree James MF HARDEN comes back to win COMFORTABLY 3 titles and then we go on for another 20 years likes 94,95 a perfect storm awaits!
He defers all the time now. Even now, he even defers to Tyrese Maxey. He cant score like that anymore( I think). He cant really play his game like that so he HAS to defer. For the record, Im on fence about it myself, but mostly because of the price and his age. On the court, I dont worry about him trying to take over because...well he simply cant do it anymore, sad as it is to say.
Old Harden, Fat Harden, or Harden with one leg is still better than KPJ. I hope they bring Harden back only if the 76ers take KPJ.
You gotta squint real hard. Remember, December was supposed to be an easier month after a brutal October - November. I haven't done the math but id guess their rest-adjusted SOS got easier and their net rating got worse over this last brutal stretch of 8 losses in 9 (soon to be 10 in 11)
To add to your point, his last days as a Rocket he was deferring much more to teammates when everyone said he "quit". Yet when he arrived in Brooklyn and now Philly he continues to be more of a pass first point guard. Looking for shot attempts a lot less and getting others involved. If he does return to Houston he knows exactly what his task will be (help mentor, develop and get team back on winning track.) You can tell by the way he plays now that he has no desire to lead the league in scoring or carry a team on his back by himself.
Most players switch teams in free agency because they were offered more money. Even if we showed that small improvement of 25+ games he wouldn't be coming here as a better on court option. Sixers still have 2 all star level guys in their 20s. He'd be coming for a max contract or something close to it if the Sixers don't give it to him.
Ah, you're talking about switching to a more veteran "win now" mode. I don't see that. I don't think the rockets blow their Nets picks or any of our recent top 5 picks for some low tier max player. Sure, if some all star can be had for KJ/Sengun/Tari/one pick they'll take it but that seems unlikely. We tried the Harden plus all star and nothing else thing, when Harden was much better, and it didn't work. I think if Harden comes it's to be a solid PG as the young guys develop. We'll still be young and developing. We just have a crap ton of cap room to use and better to use it on Harden than some mediocre role players when we don't have our own picks.
You have taken a step back with your super fanatical Sengun ties You forgot to add Bird / Pistol Pete / West / Jokic combined on roids, while we are at it lets say he can jump like Chambers mixed with B Barry
They still didn't disclose what Chris Paul barked to Harden and only reported he was disappointed about fellow banana boat member Melo didn't work out.
