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

all just leverage...

he left money on the table last time to work his 'brand image'... 'its not just about the money...'

so now he can hammer Morey for a much too long much too expensive last contract...

and then he's gonna pull the ripcord...

and its the return of the fat post AIDS Magic Johnson...

imo

 

This is silly. He doesn’t need leverage to get the max from a team.

 

He will be in his late 30s getting like 50 millies a year, I doubt morey will just give him that without a little pressure lol. For the record I don’t want harden here. We don’t have the defenders to cover for him. He needs a team like the iverson 76ers, lots of strong defenders

 

Chris Paul was getting supermax contracts into his twilight and still producing. Whats the difference between Paul and Harden that has people so worried James wont be able to get you 10 assists per night and direct a top offense even as a 35 year old? I think James could play into his 40s with his relaxed tempo and style of play.

 

cp3 was known for his defense and has a track record of being a 2 way player, harden , not so much . When he’s 38 years old getting 50 million a year and getting blown by on the perimeter on every play and yelling at his teammates to cover for him it won’t be good

 

as opposed to what alternative. that literally has been happening without him even being here

 

Im not sure a realistic expectation of Harden has ever been as a defender anyway why allow that to mar the benefit to the rest of the team? It wont matter with Wemby back there anyway!

 

I repeat, you really think there are not teams out there willing to pay Harden the max? He does not need the Rockets for leverage.

 

i think most would give him a 3 year max deal... an additional 1 or 2 years at max money is what the leverage is for... and those last couple years will be negative value by the time they roll around...

 

many of the people who don’t want Harden will then turn around and mention the likes of FVV as the alternative

 

So true. Can’t for the life of me understand why people want FVV at top money. I’d feel better rolling with KPJ and hope he gets it. I’m sure Conley could be had if we don’t land Harden or draft Scoot. Right now landing Harden and Scott and trading for an established second tier player like Bridges or OG without giving up Green, Jabari, and Sengun would be my dream off-season.

Harden/Scoot
Green/JC
Bridges or OG/Tari/KJM
Jabari/Tari
Sengun/Jabari/vet center

With solid defense at SF and PF and a new coach we will be fine. I also expect Green’s defense to improve.

 

Far too much projectioning going on both sides of the "Whispers" conundrum! The only known's are death and taxes! I'm on for bringing stripper Harden back home!! I'm tired of the Stros being the only legit game in town!!

Spoiler

Go Rockets!!!
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Harden is still a better post defender than Sengun

 

What the heck is a whisper circle???

 

Randos on Bill's twitter feed?

 

If they happen to win it all maybe Harden gives him a discount to retain or bring in others, and many past and present stars need strong defenders but more so playmaker/scorers to win ships

Iverson led team needed more scoring support since they had a defense minded HOF coach in Brown so the scheme would have been strong......they should have drafted TMac 97' and Dirk or Pierce 98' instead of settling for T Thomas/Van Horn and then even further downgrading to Snow/McKie

that is horrible GM drafting which had nothing to do with Iverson needing defenders but him carrying a team full of defenders which is why he had to shoot 30x a game just for them to have a punches chance

 

Only concern for me is we dont have an Embiid to make Harden look even better. Im all about him coming home.

 

Sengun will have a more successful career than Embiid.

 

Cmon. You know I am pretty high on Sengun but I just dont see that. Embiid is an amazing defender and just more physically gifted. Sengun may beat him as far as durability though.