Out of this thread....Still wonder what was so groundbreaking and would cause such a reaction than cyberx didn't want to post it...Whatever.
Look the Rockets don't NEED Love. We need a PF. Could be Bosh, Milsap, Melo or Zbo. I'm glad we aren't chasing stars and making gmails to send love letters to players anymore.
Cyber is the most connected person in the world. He knows the personal thinking of Dwight and Love, he knows the thoughts of the Rockets locker room, he has private meetings with Daryl Morey where Morey discusses the financial impact of Jeremy Lin on the organization, he knows what Les is thinking, what McHale is thinking, what the Boston organization is thinking and even the general viewpoints of the entire league. He knows about all the major names being rumored to be available but none of the lesser ones. Is Cyber Adam Silver?
I think type of effort being compared is apples to oranges. You can look like you're actually exerting effort when all you have to do is put up a little more of a fight when getting backed down in the post. Remember whenever Harden guards players in the post we get all those threads about how Harden is suddenly piecing it together on D? It's not like teams are making Love run around screens and what not. Not to mention I've seen Love not play help D intentionally so he can get in a better position for the rebound.
I think you guys are seeing what you want to see. The Rockets aren't trading James Harden. That's aint gonna happen for anyone other than KD or Lebron so just put down the pipe. Kevin Love saying that he has questions about the leadership & effort of Harden & Howard... doesn't say ANYTHING about Morey & Les' stance on the future of the franchise with James Harden nor does it the rest of the league. That's ridiculous. Do players & FO officials make jokes about Harden's defense.... sure... Do you they want him on their team anyways .... HELL YEAH. What Kevin Love and his agent are saying out there about where they are wanting to go, and their thoughts are going to be made more and more public over the next few weeks as Love will try to push his way to the desired destination. I think he lets Minnesota, out of respect, field some offers over the coming weeks, and then act more assertive after they get an idea of who is really in pole position to make a serious offer at that time. Also, do not lose site of the fact that Kevin Love, while he's more popular at the current moment(ESPECIALLY ON CLUTCHFANS... WHICH IS SAD) than Harden or Howard, but that does NOT mean he's a more productive player than either of those two guys which means more than likely, he's not going to be putting up the STATS in Houston that he would be in another location where he's the clear go-to scorer & rebounder AND he's playing with another couple studs that can help get him to the playoffs. Kevin Love cares about Stats... go watch game film and see the way he defends (or doesn't defend) to get in position for boards, and how its completely obvious on defense that you dont get in the way of Kevin's boards. The guy is on a mission to be the top rebounder of all time, and might very well break the all time record when its all said and done. Playing alongside Dwight Howard KILLS that stat line for him. James Harden... Why does Love want to play with another guy that gets nights off on the defensive end?...that's exactly what Love gets in Minnesota now. 2 guys aren't allowed to be DH's on defense. Love is smart enough to know that its just not going to work out defensively with him and Harden on the floor together because both guys are putting the focus in on the other end. He needs guys that are going to allow him the freedom to take the lesser assignment defensively. Love, even though he's a PF, is still a high volume isolation scorer. He's going to care about his touches offensively especially late in games. Do you honestly think he wants to play in Houston as the 3rd option offensively with a ball dominant guard, and a post up player who demands his touches????? Come on guys.... Use your heads here at bit. Just because Love is bad-mouthing Harden & Howard among agencies and front office officials means nothing about how the rest of the league and the Rockets brass feel about James Harden and Dwight Howard. There is a REASON this would come out of Love & his camp's mouth. Harden and Howard ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE. You guys just need to put down the pipe and get that through your head. This is free agent politicking. Nothing more nothing less. Despite their flaws both players frankly..... are better all around players & more valuable to this franchise.
^ This. Obviously Dwight's having a tough time shaking a reputation that he didn't entirely earn. Even my wife last year when talking with a Joe Other-Rockets-Fan Nobody at some store. She was wearing Rockets gear, too. She was talking up Dwight, and the other guy "just didn't care for Dwight Howard." "Why not?" "I don't know. I just don't like him." Sorry to bring this up but that goes right down to the referees when they would favor thirteenth-player scrubs over Howard (leading to not one but two "oops, the refs goofed" comments from the NBA during the playoffs). Howard's Rockets teammates saw that he didn't match the negative media image. One side of me says Love is a typical dip**** who ought to know better than to believe what he hears (I'd say "read" but, you know, come on; how many of these guys use their tablets to download books?) The other side of me says Love is spot on about Harden but his Howard-dip****tery can be cured once they're teammates.
Offseason guarantees: -Prominent player is looking at real estate in city X -Insider reports that player X isn't a fan of something about team Y -Media begins a crusade about why Player X is going to go to Z -All of the above turns out to be false/smokescreen -Profit
i wonder what hardens trade value is. I prefer love/howard to harden/howard make a deal to get the player love and howard would prefer to be with like maybe rondo? Rondo Daniels Parsons Love Howard Trade Harden and 1st for Rondo and their first ?
Honestly though... I think its great that we have someone that (assuming he does have connections) is willing to share what he's hearing, but my 2 cents is that there is WAY too much liberty being taken about what certain players "feelings" are, and what they like/dont like, and what is said in private conversations. Even if he's the most connected person in the league, there is no way to be this all knowing. These at the end of the day ARE rumors that a person in the know would be hearing from agents, side-players they know, and front office officials. They should be given out in that context.... not as if they are spoken directly from that player, coach, GM's mouth. Anyways... that's just my thoughts, but (as he's been vouched for by Clutch himself) I appreciate hearing as much as possible. However.... Most of what he says makes sense as that's what you'd probably hear in agent circles. There is no doubt in my mind that Kevin Love & his agent would say these things about Harden & Howard to politick his way to more desirable locations. Even though Houston seems like the obvious fit to win now, we are talking about a player who obviously thinks pretty highly of himself as a superstar (rightfully so), and is going to have serious questions about his role on the team next to two other superstars that could very well make him the 3rd fiddle. There is NOTHING wrong with Kevin Love having questions about the fit next to James Harden and Dwight Howard. It will take a big sacrifice for a budding superstar to come into this position as the 3rd best player. However its important for folks around here to understand that just because Love has questions about his fit next to these two stars doesn't mean that they should think ANYTHING less about them or that people around the league think anything less about them. Any GM in the league would kill for these two players.
I just want to say that it's incredibly agitating when people question Cyberx...people fail to realize that you can be an insider and that not everything goes 100% as planned or predicted. In other words, if Morey was posting here anonymously, and telling people some inside info, they would call him a fraud bc not everything would turn out as Morey planned. In any case, I want more info, Cyber. Feed me. My body is ready.
And on the cool I most definitely don't give a crap about wanna be Internet keyboard gangsters such as yourself. I was just messing with Cyberx because he kept saying don't bash me for this and that. Bwhahaha
