didnt work first time with nets prob won’t work this time. Neither Harden or Reed plays defense but the fact that Harden would start hurts this team on that end.
He's not why they are terrible. Look at the on/offs. They are like +12.5 better when he's on the court. That roster is old and bad. Last year everyone thought they were going to be kind of bad but it unexpectedly worked out, in large part due to Harden among other reasons. I thought they were going to regress this year, though not quite to this extent. This year Powell was a big loss, they got older, and it's all fallen apart. If Harden missed any significant portion of the season it's not going to liberate the Clippers. Assuming Kawhi would be out as well, they'd instead be in Wizards and Nets territory.
I just watched Pritchard highlights from game Sunday. His man guarding him was rarely more than barely in the frame. For the game? 8 3s. JEH’s D remains (a lack of) work in progress.
For the heck of it I just watched a highlight video that had most of Pritchard's buckets and don't really understand this comment. Two of the made threes were when he was Harden's responsibility. Once when Harden was guarding him in man Pritchard hit a three off an on ball screen that an elite but not average defender could've gotten through and once when they were in zone Pritchard hit a deep 3 in Harden's face on an OK but not great rotation from Harden. Most of his other buckets were long 3s against the zone and/or just good buckets.
You got with them for a reason and you know that backslide always feels better than the first time lol
Just wait until it all falls apart...and Harden is bought out by the clippers. Then we will pick him on the cheap...and he will willingly come here. Yule C.
OKC has been missing their second star for the entire year and they are 12-1 no matter how you slice it that’s impressive. My only hiccup with them which is the same with Houston is that the schedule has been cake. They have just beaten up awful teams. The biggest difference is OKC is has yet to lose against a team with a winning record and Houston has dropped 3.
The thing about teams like OKC is they execute to perfection when they are supposed to, they man handle teams that are beneath them, their point differential is historic. The Rockets made a home game go into OT and kept it very close against a Magic team missing Banchero and Suggs, OKC is destroying teams while missing a guy that would arguably be the top prospect on the Rockets. The Rockets on the other hand struggled against a short handed Spurs team and lost by double digits, lost at home to a good Detroit team, but looked pretty lost at times. I think if they had not had a miracle come back against a depleted Magic team, people would be thinking differently. Don't get me wrong, the Rockets are a very good team, but OKC is built like a dynasty. The only team I can think of in the past 30 years to start off this way was the 2015-2016 Warriors, it just does not happen, they are coming off of a Championship as well so they are proven. It is OK to be hopeful, I was the same every matchup against the Warriors thinking we had a shot, we were often close, just like we were opening night against OKC w no JDub. Now add J Dub and a top 8 pick from one of the deepest drafts in a decade+ to a team that just won a championship and has done a phenomenal job evaluating talent in the draft, and is on pace to win 70+ games (76 currently, but assuming they will rest guys at some point), we are going to need Reed to turn into a borderline All-Star and to get extremely lucky adding another star to compete with them. If Clippers trade us Harden, they likely will not be getting better, especially if we are sending our injured players there, we would be gifting OKC potentially a top 5 pick in an insane draft.
I don't understand the logic. You are worried about a change of a couple of slots on a pick ALREADY going somewhere (don't forget the also have the swap in 2027) and you are fine with our team being weaker and staying that way in a year we are competing? This is chance to turn FVV into one of two discount stars in Harden or Kyrie. I don't prefer Kyrie because he is coming off injury but I could understand someone making an argument. He is better than NO FVV. I think we can get one of these guys and keep our 4 potential lottery picks and have the last real chance to add outside talent to this team before paying Tari, Amen, and the upcoming 2027 and 2029 rookies. We could always trade the picks but why not improve now and keep our ammunition ready for later? People said no to Durant and look what that got us. Discount stars serve our purpose. We need everything we have to go against OKC, Denver.
Harden has to sacrifice once in his lifetime big time, he is uber talented but not great at being accountable..... Come off the bench again. Put the team before his scoring and name.
Harden got to play with Kyrie and Durant 16 TIMES. When they played together they were unstoppable and Harden looked like a magician. Harden has played the way he has had to play everywhere he has been. Usually like the Clippers or Rockets or every other team, people are hurt, there is nothing to work with, go out and get us a 30-40 point triple double and drag us to 50 wins. He has been worn out. If you look at the playoffs NO ONE gets judged for losing Game 7 to the Warriors EXCEPT Harden. Harden why aren't you better than 5 all stars at the same time? They were only beaten by Toronto the next season AFTER KD and Klay went down. If we don't get Scott Fostered, Rockets history is quite different. I was always a Durant fan first going back to UT. I always hated the Sonics but in addition to Rockets I closely followed Durant from the jump. As a result of that I became a Harden fan because he was the perfect 6th man. Whenever Durant was in the game with Brodie it was like he went into the witness protection program because Brodie hogged the ball. It is a testament to how great Durant is that he can disappear and you wake up and he has 25-30 points. When Durant played with Harden you could see the joy that they meshed so well and Harden fed him the ball. Shocked that wasn't a dynasty. There is no reason Harden couldn't come here and do WHATEVER we wanted him to do. I think he would want to come home. If he got 25-30 minutes here and was insanely productive I don't think he would care. He could still be an all star level player. You could see Reed move into the starting lineup and let Amen be Amen and then when the bench clears with Adams, Tari....Harden could go ham making the 2nd unit better than starting playoff teams and just destroy teams with the perfect overlap. He would still play with starters and get starter minutes. I think Durant wants to play into his 40s. I could see Harden doing the same thing in roles that work for us. These guys have money and fame. They want to win, be remembered for greatness, and have a home where they are loved and have fun. I have never wanted some trade where we give up those 4 picks for 1 star. Never wanted Giannis. I have wanted these discount stars to grow with us as we keep picking up the next generation of star Rockets so this team has a 15-20 year runway of talent. Hakeem - Got 1 lotto player in Horry. Lost Ralph Sampson for Otis Thorpe. Got Cassell with pick 24, traded Thorpe for Drexler that became 1 chip Yao - Got McGrady trading Cuttino/Franchise. Lost all assets built through smart players like Hakeem squad. No assets, injuries killed them Harden - Some smart acquisition, NO LOTTO. Drafted Capela pick 30 but could never get the other star they needed. There is a theme. The Harden trade is the greatest thing to EVER happen to the Rockets. If you track all of those transactions when this plays out it is going to dwarf The Great Trade Robbery. To think, we need Harden AND could possibly get him back to be part of all of this is legitimately insane when you think about the improbable sequence of events it took us to get here. Neutered Westbrook trade fiasco, bet against Brooklyn, bet against Phoenix, bet against Dallas, and watching Clippers implode. We could get Harden and still have 4 LOTTO picks waiting for us to power up. After next year, the good OKC assets run out except Dallas 2028 swap. The NBA is always an arms race that the Lakers are helped by outside forces. This our chance to make the most powerful team we can.
