Used to love Morey and Harden. I have been rooting against Morey since he left us holding the bag, but I have been passively rooting for Harden to get it together since he left and since spurs game six when I lost all faith in him.. This kind of makes me sad and glad he never came back here. this is so messy.. wow.
probably about long term money. Man Morey loves Harden. does harden not realize he is not in Houston anymore? If he wanted that type of pull. he should have stayed here. we loved his punk ass despite how he embarrassed us over and over again
This is the culture that's created when you keep saying "it's a business at the end of the day" on behalf of ruthless owners. The players are simply becoming the same, doing whatever it takes to achieve their goals. If that's the culture you support, then you should right now listen to Harden's comments and say "well, it's a business at the end of the day and this will help force the Sixers' hand in trading him - which is what he wants and what's best for his financial future." Really shitty thing for Harden to do even though I'm sure Morey like every other GM has lied about something in the past. Seems like Harden feels he's owed a lot just for taking a tiny paycut last season. His plan was to take a single season $5m paycut and then opt out of the rest of the contract to pursue a full max. Do the Sixers owe him the full max for that? That paycut helped Embiid and Harden compete with a better roster. Morey is truly an idiot if he offered Harden the full max in exchange for that. There was no chance Harden would be worth the full 4-year max at this declining stage of his career with his lifestyle and wear/tear. He's not in a good place mentally and it's obvious. The dude is depressed and that depression is turning into rage. He's not at peace with the fact that he's not worth the contract he wanted from Houston and Philly. His childish solution is to go to the richest owner in the NBA, but he doesn't realize that if the Kawhi/George experiment doesn't work then they will blow it up in a year and he won't get the max there either. In many ways this situation is best for Harden. This is going to force him to be less of a money-w**** and for once make winning a ring his #1 priority. There's no easy way out this time. He has to get in shape and join the best team with players who have as much or more say than him to win a title. He has to learn to play with other people basically. That's his only path to redeeming himself now.
Wait a tick, this is his China tour, I understand he may be mad at Morey about not getting the contract he wanted or maybe feels he won't get traded to the team he wants but this almost seems like he's pandering to the CCP and their hatred for Morey after the Taiwan incident to help sell his brand. LeBron v2.0?
Man, Harden really fumbled the bag. Turned down our extension, turned down the Nets’ extension. Not sure how he gets a big deal from here.
Harden sadly finding out what @cheke64 and many others knew years ago. “It doesn’t matter what this player or that player thinks. They’re literally role players! They’re the 12th guy! Who cares?!” “It doesn’t matter that they found out they were traded/cut/released on twitter! It literally does not matter! Who cares?!” “It does not matter what that [former superstar/all-star] thinks! They’re literally washed and no longer relevant! Who cares?!” “It does not matter that Morey sees them as assets and not human beings. It literally does not matter! They can cry in their million dollar bills! Who cares?!” “It does not matter that Morey lied to Harden! Harden is a diva and can’t get along with literally anyone! Who cares?!”
Clippers are hesitant to give up Terrance Mann for Harden and yet he thinks he's still some superstar. Just an egomaniac
Harden has made weird choices with his contracts over the last few years that have cost him a lot of money. I wouldn't be surprised if Morey had promised him a large extension this off-season but then went back on it because, well, giving Harden that large extension now would be a bad move. But from Harden's point of view, that is shitty, obviously. Harden and Dwight can now join together to form the Morey Lied To Us superteam. But I must say. I am a bit out of shape right now. Not exercising nearly enough. Still in the acceptable range of BMI, but I should be better. Seeing Harden's t-shirt sticking out 6 inches off his waistline because of his beer-belly type build isn't the motivation I need to get my act together. He needs to get in shape for my sake if for no other reason. Give me something to aim for, James!
I feel like the confetti is falling in Toyota Center and Kool & The Gang just started playing Oh happy day
There's no way to know exactly how the conversations went last year, but the fact is after they had those conversations, the Sixers got seriously fined which changed everything. Harden shouldn't be that naïve to think that those prior verbal agreements had any weight to them now after the NBA sanctioned the Sixers FOR THOSE DISCUSSIONS. Also because of those discussions and sanctions from the NBA, ownership likely stepped in to overrule what was discussed. Morey likely blamed Harris, and co. for not being more aggressive with an extension offer this Summer, and Harden likely didn't believe that it was out of his power. This is pure informed speculation, but I think it's obvious that its likely the way it played out. If Harden was smarter he would have been able to read the Tea Leaves after the sanctions from the NBA, and set himself up to either be more attractive in free agency, or to be much more popular with the Sixers players, fans, etc. in order to make it a no-brainer for everyone BEYOND Morey to want him back. He was mostly dumb for not becoming besties and doing whatever he could to befriend Joel Embiid who at the snap of his fingers could get Harden paid. Harden can blame Morey all he wants, but in the end, it's his responsibility to make himself valuable or build more productive relationships with the right people.
