Bill Simmons: “In the whisper circles, everybody seems to think he’s going back to Houston.”

Come again

 

They can add Harden and a player like Draymond or Harrison Barnes via FA into cap space then use the MLE on another and then have the trade market to work with still.

Stone really set himself up well for this offseason.

 

Potentially

Harden
Green
Jabari
Draymond Green or Harrison Barnes
Wemby

Try to sign vets like Cam Reddish, Seth Curry, Brogdan Bogdanovic or Naz Reid for some depth coming off the bench.

 

Still don't believe a word of it. They're using us as leverage and maybe Tilman is dumb enough to fall for it.

We happen to be the only team with cap space to sign him outright. Who the hell else is he going to use as leverage? The only other possibility is the Jazz and no one on this planet is believing James Harden would sign with the Utah Jazz. Pacers could make room too but again, no one is buying that.

It would be ridiculous anyway to give $45m per season for 4 years to a 34 year old who is not good at staying in shape and is giving up on winning a title. If you want Harden to retire here then you wait 1-2 years when his contract value becomes negative and at that point whoever has him @ $45m will pay us to take him. A 36 year old James Harden will be worth $20m or less in the new CBA and if you sentimentally want to bring him back then you get paid to do it if you play your cards right and his contract will be shorter than 4 years which is a lower risk for us.

We will have filled our roster with good value players and we should have at least one primary max-worthy player on our squad by that time. Then you can bring Harden home and let him run the offense for a young team that's very good without him and great with him.

Disclaimer: landing Wemby (or a top 10 NBA player in trade) would change everything. I would totally consider signing Harden if we landed the #1 pick. The team would have such an enormous volume of promising young talent that the internal improvement would have us climbing the seedings very quickly season to season. It would also be an extremely attractive situation to FA's.

 

Underrated development is the ascent of Bill Simmons to the rank of the league's Master of Whisperer Circles

 

James Harden and Draymond Green teammates on the Houston Rockets?

 

He did. Hopefully he doesn't whiff on it. To me the biggest question is what coaching staff he brings in. Without a doubt it's going to be interesting.

 

Much as I dislike Draymond, he could really have a lot to teach guys like Tari about how to do the little things that win games. Don't know if he'd have any interest in playing here though, and I bet he's gonna get paid more than some of y'all are thinking

 

He'll probably punch every youngster in the mouth by the end of the first practice ... but maybe they need that.

 

Signing a late prime guy who has declined over the last couple of years to a roster full of 1-3 year players isn't ideal for sure. I would have some serious concerns about his continued decline over the course of an extended contract if he signs that, as well as how much control he would have over the team if he returned.

That being said, he's still a top 20 player and would instantly make us competitive for a play-in spot at least by himself. We are under a lot of pressure to be competitive starting next year since we don't control our picks. If the only alternative is to continue to suck and lose high picks, yeah I'd sign him.

Obviously, I'd like a free agent(s) who are younger and as good, but I'm not seeing who else has shown an interest in coming to Houston. It's a complex issue worthy of debate for sure. Hopefully a viable alternative presents itself this summer. Maybe if we get Wemby we just bet on the young guys and (hopefully) a new coach.

 

Less ideal - having a roster full of 1-3 year players and nothing else

 

James Harden is aging like fine wine

worst case he’s PHX CP3 3 years from now while the young guys do all the heavy lifting…last year Chris Paul averaged 15 and 11

don’t know why people always want to overthink things

don’t sign Harden so we can instead overpay *insert mediocre player…sounds like a great plan

don’t sign Harden because 3 years from now there might be some young superstar that wants to come to Houston

don’t sign Harden because he didn’t win a title when he was with us

 

Yeah, can someone explain why so many are claiming Harden has "declined?" I'm honestly confused. His eFG% is the second highest of his career. His TS% is the third highest. His assists per game are tied for the second highest in his career. The only difference is he shoots less.

 

his ability to get to the rim has declined…his blow-by percentage and percentage of shots at the rim is much lower than it used to be…his shooting percentage on layups has also been declining since his hamstring injury

he has started to incorporate the midrange game in order to compensate

but that’s all that’s been declining with Harden

 

U forgot
Don't sign harden bc we don't want to see his iso heroball ways or his habit of slow walking the ball up the court.

I truly don't understand the mindset of some folks on here rejecting the idea of one of the greatest Rockets wanting to return to play for us. Pretty sure a decent amount haven't been watching this 3 years sht show.

 

Exactly. The question is, why is he shooting less?

 

because he has a number of scorers around him embiid, harris, maxey. 3 other guys capable of dropping atleast 20 a game outside of himself isn't exactly something hes had in his career. why wouldn't he be shooting less. this philly team doesn't need him to put up 20+ shots game

folks confuse this assumption of some huge decline with adjustment, which is what he's done. that's what smart players in the league do. we know full well examples of guys who don't adjust that are idiots in the league

 

which is quite significant. He is less consistent in crunch time scenarios when the team needs to score. He's done a great job of distributing and not forcing. But in the playoffs, when the offense bogs down, he needs to score 1 v 1

 

He is declining in some aspects of the game, but his bbiq is tremendous. He will continue to adjust his game until he retires. The comp to Phoenix’s Paul is good, but Harden is more sturdy. I would pay him 3-4 years max and we would still have the ability to sign/trade for another max player. We are set up great for the future. Stone gets a great deal of credit for our flexibility, but he needs to execute to keep his job. Firing Silas is day one. If he doesn’t do that, I am done with him.

 

it’s only significant if you’re relying on him to take all the shots and carry the team like he used to…now he just picks and chooses when to turn it up and has balled out in several 4th quarters





16 in the 4th @ Utah

20 in the 4th @ Milwaukee the other night

Sixers have the 2nd best clutch net rating this year

Harden has played well against good teams like Boston, Milwaukee, Memphis, Denver, etc consistently this year which wasn’t the case at all last season when he was dealing with the hamstring