For years, folks wanted to trade Harden for picks and young players.

Set up a strawman and then argue it...lovely.

DD

 

I was fine with the Harden era, we were very close. Yao/ T-Mac was tragic timing of healthy stars and no role players or great role players but hurt stars. Between Hakeem and Yao/TMac yes, they could have done it. Heck, the couple years before Harden gave us the assets necessary to acquire Harden. I would say not rebuilding was for the most part a good choice.

Now, regarding the tax savings on the other hand...

 

Blazer fans would never do that to dame lol

 

I think the reality was most objective people after the Westbrook trade looked like a failure wanted to get ahead of Harden's likely request for a trade, and sell high with picks and young players to just rebuild from scratch.

Also there is the fact that the two trades we all saw from reports were for Ben Simmons and maybe two picks vs 4 picks and swaps from BKN. I think the fanbase consensus to prefer that trade was smart then, and is still that now. Simmons, Wall, EG, Wood, etc. was going nowhere and the rebuild was the right lever to pull if Harden was forcing his way out.

So respectfully OP, I think the VAST majority of the fanbase had a much more nuanced but well thought out opinion on the matter given the information we had at the time. As frustrating as it is to watch today, I'd still prefer what we have vs Wall, Simmons, EG, Wood, and maybe a resigned Oladipo. Those were really the only two options when Harden wanted out. I saw virtually nobody here ever recommend we trade Harden and rebuild until the Westbrook debacle blew up.

 

Perfectly sums up my feelings about the current Rockets team and season. I'd love to see more improvement, especially from Green and KPJ, but not at the expense of a top-3 pick this summer.

 

This is a mentality I just cannot understand.

We will be very very lucky if our 2023 draft pick is in the top 2 where their raw talent is at the same level that Green and Smith's is. Why would we choose to botch their development in favor of another shot at the same level of raw talent you already have??

Say what you want about what the Rockets have done with that raw talent, but that raw talent THEY ALREADY HAVE is exactly what folks think we are talking for in 2023. Not saying we need to trade for a roster full of vets, but I do think the development of Jalen and Jabari is much more paramount than pinning hopes and dreams on what might or might not walk across that stage in June at the draft.

 

i can only speak for myself...

but i wanted to 'cash out' on Harden for awhile... tremendous talent - but a small minded narcissistic sob that wasnt gonna win it as the unquestionable beyond reproach lead dog - which was the only role he would accept... imo

Getting young talent is great... but u need guys developing that talent...

thats why i was never on board with this whole 'everybody needs to be on the same developmental timetable' nonsense... no... u need a good mix of vets and youngsters - guys that set the standard and hopefully help develop a culture together...

not a bunch of kids wandering around aimlessly with the blind leading the blind... or everybody just working their own agenda...

thats what i find the most disheartening...
not the losses...
but the lack of structure...
the lack of mechanisms in place to propel future prosperity...
the lack of culture, accountability, evident advancements and team building...

hopefully we get a new coach - and an infusion of veteran leadership with all that cap money! lol!

just my 2 cents... lol

 

you could say the same thing about a lot of current and past players. Reggie miller, Damian lillard, Kevin Garnett lol, most of those teams fanbases loved those players would stick it out through thick and thin. I feel like rockets fans deserve what they are going through right tbh because they wanted it

 

pot


Kettle


Black

 

It's just that we ended up with young players that are not that good. No one would be complaining if we had Banchero for example.

 

It is almost impossible to evaluate how good they are given the current coaching situation. Next year should tell us a lot if they hire a real coach.

 

Daryl was charged with a nearly impossible task by Les. No rebuild. Reload...and contend. And, against all odds, the Wizard pulled it off. The NBA had to steal a Title from us.

The Lakers were a beaten team before Yao went down. We were headed for another title.

All that said, the percentage play has been/is to rebuild, and I'm glad it's finally happening. I don't agree with ALL the moves so far, but for the most part, the transition seems to be going about as expected.

 

I think this is where you need to have a couple of good vets on the squad to help with this. The coach can tell them in practice and pregame what we want to do on the floor, but having a good vet to SHOW them and remind them in real time helps a lot.

 

theres all kinds of crazy runnin around the league... lol... always has been...

Hardens kinda crazy i put in the same category as Kobe, Iverson, etc...
we all watched the evolution... 6th man, to a team leader w Chandler & Lin, to cornerstone w D12, to the world revolves around alpha dog, to beyond reproach i aint even gonna listen to CP3 self absorption... lol

i was ready to explore other options around the time of Khloe and 'Those that mind dont matter...'
and was completely done by the time we dealt CP3... at that point it was evident that placating Harden wasnt gonna align w winning a championship... imo

i think we deserve some disappointing years...
but idk that we desrve the sh*t show that is playing out b4 us..
lol

 

For the most part I would say a majority of us prefer harden to still b with us instead of this sht show of a rebuild. Most of us would rather watch harden than kpj imitating him. Anybody who says otherwise is just a hypocrite. Cough double d cough. Anybody who btch about isoball would never root for kpj like this man does.

There's the fringe lunatics who said something stupid like I rather watch us tank and lose playing teamball over harden winning iso ways. Most of those guys don't even post anymore.

There's the harden anti folks who btch about him in every game thread but those r the loud minority.

Folks are impatient with the rebuild and r tired of losing. It's also triggering to see kpj hinder the development of everybody else.

 

Harden staying here is Dame staying in Portland . . . ..
I don't and didn't want that so I was ok with him leaving (if not how)

I am fine with what we have . . .i think we just need more coaching
(Sam Cassell!!!!)

Talent is there . . . .Patience needs to be as well
NO MORE TMAC TYPE TRADES!!!

Rocket River

 

Aww, not true, but very funny.

DD

 

I totally get your POV. The difference for me is that I think most 18- and 19-year-olds in the NBA are just fine with a "wasted" year or two of getting acclimated to the speed and feel of the game, of putting in the hours of work on your own, and of getting a feel for NBA coaching (even if it's not optimal coaching). And sure, if we get a #3-#5 pick, we'll be taking A level talent instead of A+. So throw the new talent in with the current talent, make the necessary coaching changes, and set NEXT year as the year you want to see steady improvement. By then Green, Sengun and Jabari should be ready to assert themselves more often than not, and can hopefully carry the new rooks along with them until they also get acclimated. Josh is the only the true casualty of this being a tank year, IMO, and a lot of that is on him.

TL;DR: I understand your take, but mine is different. But only one of our takes will emerge from the steel cage as the winner!

 

Fixed it for ya

 

To be honest the best case scenario is Jalen and Jabari develop into stars having monster games left and right but the team just barely manages to lose games with the other teams just playing out of their minds.

However that’s probably not realistic if I’m being honest. Even with the Adelman coached post Yao years with Scola. Battier, etc. the loses still looked like crap on a stick. Losing almost always looks like “the wrong way to play” in the end. I would just like to see better team play and fundamentals… like just a little bit that would go a long way in this team not looking like an AAU team playing against the dream team on a nightly basis.