What does this even mean?? Did I miss something? Playing through an injury that is hurting his game and his team, in the middle of regular season, and try to tough it out, is not heroic. It is stupidity. I am looking at his movements on the court and he is definitely not moving right. There is minimal explosion on his first step. He is showing limited lateral movement. He is not reaching out to full extension when closing the passing lanes. His shooting form is not the same. He is not even attempting the step back or side step 3s which requires a lot of extension. It is clear that something physical is not right with him. Could be a back issue that was brought up a few weeks ago. That would certainly explain the above. Or could be other injury. But whatever it is, it is MADNESS for him to keep playing and for the Rockets to keep playing him. Do they think that his injury will heal with playing time?? If anything the franchise is risking a serious long term injury with his body because of either overcompensation or because of fatigue. It is Mike's job to shut Harden down and tell him to STFU if Harden continues to whine and pout about playing. What is he afraid of? He already is on the last year of his contract. Earn your ****ing paycheck and do your job! Take charge of the team. Educate your players about the big picture if they are too dumb to understand themselves. Unless Mike himself doesnt get the big picture lol. It is Morey's job to tell Mike to do his job and to tell Harden to take some time off. Enough of the perennial regular season MVP campaigning. And it is Tilman's job to protect his asset by telling Morey and Mike to do their job. This is poor management top to bottom. I cant rationalize him being on the court from either a basketball, or a business point of view.
I can’t disagree with all you say above but I also think that he has some sort kind of mental thing going on with the way his game has been affected by the double team, the refs not bailing him out any longer, and the ball being taken out of his hands more than he is used to with Russ playing more dominantly the last 6/8 weeks. I do think he is playing through nagging injuries but there is more to it than this ... his attitude on the court, his handles have been terrible, he’s been extraordinarily lazy on D the last month, he’s been barking at his teammates for HIS defensive errors more... if he is that injured why would he take the court ? If he really is that injured Mike and Morey gotta nut up and stop him from destroying the season and his own well being NOW !
Also, when you are playing on an injury like that I remember some sports doctor saying that it can risk a more serious injury since you may ask more of some other body part and thus stress it more. It's the regular season. The team is good enough to wade and float and still be 4-6 seed without Harden, in fact so far (as in this past month) they have looked better without him. He needs to get right for the playoffs, that's all that matters. With All-star break coming up this is the perfect time for him to get a ton of rest.
I guess Harden is too stubborn for this, but I wouldn't mind a 24 MPG limit while his thigh/whatever else heals. I think that would be a reasonable compromise as he can still be a secondary shot creator and spot up shooter in limited minutes even if he's not 100%. But if he's not fully functional offensively, then I really don't see what value he is adding for us over a full length game. It's not like PJ Tucker where he's obviously not 100% either, but at least his injury is not affecting his defense, so he can provide a lot of value to us. Harden was questionable/lazy on D as is, let alone having a stiff thigh which I'm sure feels like a lump of coal on his leg every time he moves. There needs to be a change in the rotation for Harden in the rotation sooner rather than later. Also, if there was any doubt on whether he was healthy or not...LOL at that last layup attempt. I've never seen him with that poor of a lift off the ground. That's maybe acceptable for someone like me, a former mediocre high school player, now at age 34. But when James "nosebleed dunk" Harden barely jumps high enough to clear a book and air balls a layup, you know something is off.
I agree with everything you said. However unfortunately we are talking about MDA who has zero job security and is likely to lose his post in a few months. Morey too. All personell in that case whether it is coach or GM only focus on the short -term success. MDA who will anyway get out of here soon, doesn't care enough to go into Harden's bad side. Morey when he gets fired soon, will need 3 seconds to get another post who will pay even better. What need do they have to put in jeopardy their relationship with a superstar? Because until now the whole organisation has been on Harden's beck and call and are treating him with kid gloves. He gets what he wants always and has done so for years in Houston. There will be a fallout if that is to change and no reason for MDA or Morey to do it.
MDA does have his foot down .... on the gas pedal I’m sure Morey has tried to be a good executive and let the medical staff and coaching staff determine game to game lineups . I think Tilman is the one with big enough balls to force harden to sit . Unfortunately James sitting hurts his bottom line (home games ) maybe with this road trip and the ASB we can rest him . But the second the nba comes complaining to us Tilman will bend over
Yup, exactly what I said in the sit your ass down thread. He hurt us again today and not doing us any favours by playing. MDA is a p***y and won't say ****, neither will Morey. Harden has everyone in our organisation wrapped around his finger. He's the CEO, the CO, the warden, the GM, coach, every damn thing. Watch him getting hurt soon or tired and when we lose in the play-offs, the excuses will be: injuries and tired. Yet another wasted season. Harden knows what to do though. Rinse and repeat next year.
Why doesn’t anyone ever attack the medical staff? They are the ones who cleared him. MDA is not a doctor. If he’s been cleared by the medical or training staff, then MDA is gonna play him. If the medical staff says he can’t actually play, he won’t be on the active roster. Simple as that... medical staff says Russ shouldn’t play both games of a B2B...MDA follows that recommendation if medical staff says Harden shouldn’t play or should be on some sort of restriction, it would get followed as well, but as we can see, they deemed him fit enough to play against Portland, so MDA played him
Different organisations pay different attention to the opinion of their medical staff. For example there are many times that the 76ers have allowed their players to play, even though the medical staff recommended against because Embiid i.e wanted to. On the other hand, the Suns in the past empowered their medical staff to the point that if a player didn't do his therapy for the day he was immediately fined. The responsibillity isn't on the doctors but on the decision makers.
Does anyone really know what Harden's supposed physical problems are? All I read is speculation and opinions based on rumors.
Could be injury, could be sulking, could be Kobe, could be a life issue. clearly something isn’t right. DD
I still not buying this whole narrative that Harden is the one and only source of power in this organization that he runs things etc etc HEll JVG ran Francis and Mobley out of town . . . . and the rockets ended up no better for it . . . . I don't think Harden has JVG type power Rocket River
