The “give me Harden over FVV” takes are embarrassing

FVV had a game with 2 pts and another with 4 pts.

 

It’s not about the raw points, obviously. We won both of those games because FVV was deferring to the hot hand. Harden and the Clippers were absolutely destroyed.

 

Wasn’t he 2-13 from the field and 0-7 from 3 in the game he scored 4 points?

Sure, we won that game. But that’s not deferring that’s being carried by your teammates to a win when you had a shitty game.

 

2-13 one. 0-2 the other. 12 combined assists and 1 turnover.

so 2 for 15 with a 12:1 A:T over 2 games versus 1 for 10 with a 3:4 A:T.

I'd say the 2 for 13 game was bad, but the other was more defering to teammates.

 

No debate there.

 

Uh that clippers team is absolute trash. The record that they have is a miracle and a testament to how truly great James Hardrn is. Of course if he doesn't play well they will lose cus they have no one else to create any offense.

 

Yes, he’s been great…so far. Let’s see if he can keep it up, or if this is a harbinger of things to come. Things can fall apart for nba players over the age of 35.

 

It doesn't matter unless Kawhi can comeback healthy. They have a 0% chance of winning it all without him.

 

I'm talking about the context of this thread, FVV v. Harden. I don't think people bring up the fact that FVV is 5 years younger than Harden enough. I could see FVV opt and and resign to be our starting PG for the next 3 years or so without any major dropoff. Conversely, I'm concerned Harden is going to start falling off a cliff fast. I could be wrong. Only time will tell.

 

I think signing FVV was the best move we could make, because we are still in development mode. Harden, in my opinion, is top 5 best offensive players in the history of the game. He is still great, but we need to develop Amen as a PG and Harden would set that back. I'm also on the fence on extending FVV for the same reason. I'm not of the opinion that you have to have a superstar to win a championship, but Amen is our superstar in the making and needs to play PG. FVV has done a great job of speeding up his game and driving to the hoop, but I'm starting to see him reverting to walking it up the court and playing hero ball at the end of games.

I don't see him re-signing for less than 40M/3 years and that would severly limit our flexibility going forward. If anything, I would just sign the team option for next year, because I think we are one year away from any significant youngish star being available this off-season.

 

If Kawhi could come back as a young guy at his peak powers, they still would have around 0% chance of winning the title this year. The overall talent level of their team is pretty low.

 

Disagree. Healthy Kawhi is one of the 5 best player in the world right now. He's just never healthy so it most likely won't happen.

 

That was when he was 25-29 .....dude has aged. Still probably Top 12 ish but not consistently.

 

Last time we saw him in the playoffs he absolutely dominated KD. And he's only 33. There aren't 5 players in the league id take over a healthy Kawhi. But that is more of a dream than reality.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5990739/2024/12/13/ime-udoka-rockets-nba-defense/

When Udoka and Rockets general manager Rafael Stone started revamping the Rockets’ roster two summers ago, they had a crucial question to answer that would set the tone for what came next: Was it time for a James Harden reunion?

The legendary former Rocket had made it known he was interested in a Houston return, and the two sides even held a meeting that included Harden, his representation and Udoka to discuss that very possibility. If Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta wanted the most obvious way to return to relevance, this was it.

Udoka had coached Harden as an assistant during their time together with the Brooklyn Nets and coached against him for years in San Antonio, Philadelphia and Boston. There was great respect for Harden and his game, but it just wasn’t the right fit. If the plan was to build a defensive juggernaut with a balanced offense — and it was — then adding a ball-dominant, all-time great who never has been known for defense wasn’t the way to go.

“My main thing for us was, ‘What fits best with our young guys to continue to grow?’” Udoka said. “But also, out of respect for James, (I told him), ‘You’re at the stage where you want to win, and we’re not there yet.’ And it wasn’t just James. I had five, six veteran guys who went to championship-level teams who wanted to come (that summer), and I said the same thing to all of them.

“They all went to other places, but they had Golden State, Milwaukee, Phoenix and all these teams (wanting them) to come. But I told them, ‘We’re not there. Go try to win a championship.’ And so, it’s just about fit and where we’re at. … Our (young) guys needed the reps.”

Even beyond Udoka’s vision for the defense, Rockets officials were concerned the development of their two most important young players — big man Alperen Şengün and guard Jalen Green — would be stymied if they added veteran standouts who weren’t truly compatible with their young core. Enter veteran guards VanVleet and Brooks, who signed that summer and shined in their respective roles as Houston improved from 22 wins to 41.

Udoka had a soft spot for VanVleet, in part because of the similarities in their stories. Both were undrafted before making it in the NBA, with VanVleet going on to become an All-Star and a champion (with the 2018-19 Toronto Raptors). Brooks’ playing style and prickly personality, made (in)famous during his Grizzlies tenure, also were perfect for what Udoka had in mind.

“Fred had played on and off the ball,” Udoka said. “He’s been with Kawhi (Leonard), been with DeMar (DeRozan), been with (Pascal) Siakam. He’s had to do both. And so for Jalen to grow and Alpie to grow, and the other guys, I felt Fred was a better fit. …They (both) fit in seamlessly with what I was trying to do, and they had that defensive mentality that would rub off on our guys on a nightly basis.”

 

harden by himself is already twice better than any of kawhi's raptors teammates

Zubac
PEAK Kawhi
Djones
Powell
Harden

but Kawhi will never be the same we all know that

 

The people who wanted Harden didn’t understand that taking him back would be waving a white flag on the rebuild, bringing in other veterans to compete with Harden for a ring now. For some reason, they thought that Harden would be OK playing with the young core while they were still developing. FVV over Harden was absolutely the right decision and to argue otherwise is idiotic.

 

A Kevin Porter alone can disrupt Play In and potential Play Off games off the bench......

He is not a winner, low IQ, he is looking to overdribble, his so called decent shooting comes and goes too often as well.

He is 24, still does not understand the basic concept of positioning himself on the court.

 

Precisely, in the report itself, there were already championship caliber role players lining up to play with Harden and for Udoka.