Lot of opinions on if we should or shouldn’t bring him back and for how much. I really think the next 4-7 games will give us a good answer. I’m not gonna lie, I have not watched a whole lot of him since he left. It was mind of painful in away. But I am really going to be watching this closely. You get to scout James and then Jaylen Brown and Grant Williams at the same time. Many implications for us.
Spreading the money (for all of Udoka’s wants and needs — center, shooting, etc.) >>>>>>> paying Harden the max (or slightly less) Playoff Harden (& Glenn Rivers) will do Playoff Harden (& Glenn Rivers) things. He’ll have one or two good games (in the series) The excuse is already set. “What do you expect him to do without Embiid?!” His BFF, the GM that knows him best possibly won’t pay him but we should? Leaving a top 3 playoff team to come back to the worst team the last 3 years? The rest is sentimental BS. “Who else are we gonna pay?!” “He loves Houston! Houston is home!” Coming back for all the wrong reasons. (“Money”, “home”, “comfortability”, “strip clubs”) They just got off the terrible contract merry-go-round(Paul-Westbrook-Wall) but some are ready to jump back on. “You must love KPJ!” “You must want to run it back with Nix!” LOL Next 4-7 games won’t tell you anything. (For Harden or Brown)
Harden with an injured teammate meanwhile Warriors are winning games with help of refs. A tale as old as time...
I don't get why it would be Brown + Williams vs Harden alone Brown isn't a free agent. If we're talking about acquiring him this off-season, the question becomes Harden Vs Brown (minus the trade package we send for him, which should be SIGNIFICANT) + whatever you can get in FA with the additional dollars between Brown's cap hit and what Harden signs for. We can likely sign Harden + Williams with 60 million, but trading for Brown could potentially open up an additional 15 million, meaning perhaps CJohnson instead of GWill, or perhaps just an additional player for 15 mill. If we're talking about signing Brown in FA next year, this comparison becomes even more apples to oranges, you have to factor in kicking the can for a season, meaning missing out on whatever FA's this off-season / losing more games next season, for only an opportunity and not a guarantee to attempt to sign Brown. In a vacuum, of course, we should rather have the 6 year younger star player. We would just still have a need to find a facilitator.
What is CF's obsession with Grant Williams? He fell out of the rotation in Boston for a reason. Maybe if we're getting him at an absolute bargain then I'd want him, but otherwise I'd rather roll with our forwards: Tari, Bari, and KJM.
I look forward to doing a lot of scouting - can they pass my vaunted eye test? We'll see. It involves 20/15 charts and lots of Magic Eye stuff.. not for the faint of heart or the astigmatic.
On the surface, he looks like a 24 year old PJ Tucker, who has a connection with our new HC, and is also a native Houstonian. But... yeah he has been out of the Celtics rotation which is a red flag, if you look at Celtic fans talk they don't seem like they'd care much to lose him in FA, another red flag. The PJ Tucker mold has obvious downsides, despite his success here in Houston with Harden, and it's perhaps likely Williams isn't close to being the defender Tuck was in his prime. Still, dude is made out of rock, and we got a team full of skinny boys, dude has been a pretty consistent shooter, and we got a team full of brickers. I think the expectation that he's getting 15-20 million per season might be out of wack, his top dollar might be full MLE money.
Harden....opts out of last year makes him an unrestricted free agent. I say pay him $38 mil first year, with 3 more season of resending pay. 1 yr) $38M...2 yr) $35M....3 yr) $33M....4 yr) $31M Dude was an All Star this year, 21 pts, 10.7 Ast (led the league), 6.1 rebs. How much do people expect to pay for an All Star? Bargain as his skills decline so does his pay. Jaylen Brown....$30 left on contract. Could be one year rental. Lakers traded a ton for Dwight Howard one year rental. Kawhi Leonard bailed on the Raptors Paul George bailed on the Thunder Kyrie may bail on the Mavericks. Count me out on this trade, giving up either Jabari or Jalen Green Grant Williams ..... Restricted Free Agent this summer. Most teams don't want to tie up money bidding on RFA while other players are signing straight out. Sign and Trade can only be traded by themselves. Means no package of Jaylen Brown/Grant Williams together. Other option is throwing more money his way than other teams and hope the Celtics don't match. Cam Johnson....Restricted Free Agent this summer. Most teams don't want to tie up money bidding on RFA while other players are signing straight out. Sign and Trade can only be traded by themselves. Means no package of Miles Bridges/Cam Johnson together. Other option is throwing more money his way than other teams and hope the Nets don't match. I want the Rockets to offer Sengun......Nets do two deals. 1) Sengun/J Christopher/Nix x Cam Johnson 2) Tate x Nic Claxton (if they want Sengun....2nd deal has to be made as well) Torrey Craig & Harden would be Unrestricted Free Agents
Exactly. He is playing well on both ends. I am sure he wears down as the series goes. I seriously question a lot of people on this board sometimes and how much they actually watch.
I know it’s garm , but I’ll talk aboht the game here . just checked the box score , holy **** lol philly has played a great game …. Offensively . nearly 60 percent from the field and more than 50 on 3% . they also only have 2 TO and have 3 steals . but 0 ft Boston meanwhile . was 27/37 from the field … so less fga , but insane 70% percent . Also good percent on 3 0 ft Lmao whole half and 0 ft .. very odd . harden scoring well and had 0 to last time I looked . close game . Will tune in
Well Embiid is out......you understand the successful playoff teams nowadays count on multiple players to carry the load. Maxey is so-so and Tobias sux. And I can assure you I watch a ton of basketball.....willing to bet more than you
I'm watching and there's no doubt we will improve with him. I wouldn't be surprised if Harden alone gets us in the play-in... and playing competitive, meaningful basketball will definitely have a ton of positives for our young guys. My thing with Harden is unless if you are a top 10 player he expects you to stand around, set screens for him or rebound. I can see how some of our players stats would improve, but also become dependent on his playmaking. Does that mean they really improve? There's never ever ever any motion in the offense and it is very predictable... which is fine so long as he is scoring. I firmly believe playing iso with Harden and CP3 while switching everything on defense was the right call in our attempt to beat GSW for several reasons. But that's not a winning strategy for the Rockets going forward in their players developmental phase. He's not some vocal leader that's going to set the culture of our team right, which is pretty critical on this phase 2 of our rebuild. If we're not able to build a win-now team (not likely) theres plenty of options I'd rather explore. I get it, it sounds dumb that I don't want Harden here taking up all the cap to some people. That's fine.
