Draymond Green just said Harden may go back to Houston

What don't you understand in back to back championships?

That is sacred, the other stuff is sacrilegious.

 

I think James Harden is a better player in a lot of aspects now. I think pure pg Harden is more likely to yield a championship than iso-Harden. I also think that this version of him is likely to play at this level for 3 to 4 years.

VW is plan A no matter what. But, I don’t know how effective he will be in the NBA for his first season or so. Maybe longer. I am a fan of building a veteran starting lineup around Harding through free agency and trade and pushing our young draft picks to the bench. Let them scrap and earn it. You may be able to justify starting Victor if his D is amazing day one.

Siakam and Bridges are examples of guys I think we can go get with our assets. Jerami Grant stands out as a cap space guy. Even Myles Turner is still probably attainable vis trade if we don’t pick at 1.

 

No thanks!!! He’s gonna cost us 50M when he’s 37 and 38. We need to get a younger player and not this clown that betrayed us

 

If he's coming back on a hometown discount sure! If he's trying to get paid like Dame? Nah. Only way it happens anyway is if Philly wins it all this year IMO and at +1400 odds thats not looking great, but anything can happen. If Philly comes up short James will go join another "contender".

 

This is all true, but Harden returning could still be better than watching Stone bungle through a rebuild.

The question is how able is the org able to build a contender without sacking its future this time.

 

Har

 

fire Silas, get Harden to come back home, and let’s put a winning environment around these young guys and have them actually playing for something of substance

if Harden were to come here, then playtime is officially over…these young guys will be forced to put in MAJOR work in the offseason…all them bricks, turnovers, and bad decisions won’t fly anymore

Jalen Green and the rest of them came into the season with a “there’s no losses, only learning experiences” mindset…I mean, c’mon

all that would be over and done with

we’d see who sinks or swims…who gets exposed when the goal is winning games and not hoping for lotto balls

 

He's not a better player now than he was in 2019. But he has a better chance at winning one because he's going to have more support around him than he did in 2019, and moving forwards even if he leaves Philly there's a good chance he'll find another superstar to piggy back off of. People don't realize how difficult it is to win as THE guy. In this generation only Lebron and Steph are truly at that level. Kawhi and Giannis are fake alphas with opponent-injury-bug rings. Even KD can't win unless he has a superteam around him.

 

I think Harden's plan was always to leave, win a ring and come back. He likes his lifestyle in Houston. Coming back without the ring says a lot about him if he does.

 

Harden as a vet pg basketball wise fits like a glove. And even be an upgrade over someone like a Conley (whom I personally thought was realistic to get). That would go on the pro list.

The unknown of gutting some of the young players could be a con.

Say Green and Jabari do end up becoming a contender core in 4-5 years. But Harden could only give us 2-3 good years, will Harden be OK with just being the bridge and not a destination for that deep playoff run.

This current Rockets regime seems to overvalue the importance of 'Lob Threat'. I think Harden is still good without a lob threat or a rim running big. But I fear the org may be stuck with certain old recipes that they feel they have to mod the team to be like the old Rockets. This is confirmed by some of the what-ifs like Feigan talked about if Harden returns.

Harden is versatile enough where he could fit the team. Fear is does Org don't recognize this, but will over-adjust the team to fit Harden.

If there's one thing we learned in the last 3 years, it's that this regime mis-apply basketball archetypes on the players they actually have. Copy pasta MDA's is safe but may not yield optimum results, and I'm not confident they're smart enough to carve their own path.

 

I dunno. All it says is he couldn’t win a ring. That’s true for a lot of good players. Lot of ring chasing vet stars come up empty handed. Not everyone wins.

 

I would give him 4 years 150.

trade KPJ. Get a shooter. Sign another veteran. Draft Wemby.

 

It would be better to play KPJ at the 2 next to Harden in that scenario.... he IS a shooter.

 

All this should happen regardless of if harden comes home or not.

 

Harden, in theory, still has a shot at a ring in Philly though.

 

If Harden is coming back because of the youth and what he sees, he may not want guys like Jabari and Green to leave. Who knows though. I hope we keep Sengun, Jabari, and Green but you never know. If Harden coming here gets a few other free agents (quality vets) to sign, that's great, and to me, enough. You don't need to be a contender next year. Just not a team in the lottery race anymore. Harden could help this group be a playin team and that is a huge step forward.

 

Agree, KPJ is a black hole on offense.

 

He's Dollar Store Harden.

Why keep Dollar Store Harden when you can have the real Haren.

 

I see no reason to be in a hurry to trade KPJ. Give him a try as our backup PG/SG/SF six man.

 

He’s leading the league in assists this year