It's a nice gesture and I hope it's genuine. I have no reason to believe that it's not. If he continies to progress as a player we'll get to root for a team with an mvp level, first ballot hall of famer leading the way, but some of yall actin like he should be a finished product at 26 or forgot how ridiculous it was when Scola was perhaps our best player. Yall trippin. Harden got work to do to to get better but dude is already a beast.
Sadly, I'm starting to feel this way as well. This BBS used to be a community of mature, well-informed posters... all bound together by a common strand... sharing insights, stories, and loads of positivity for Houston Rockets Basketball. Is it possible ONE down season (as disastrous as it was) could destroy DECADES of optimism and authentic fandom??? Nah, much like real life, this is just a rough patch where emo millennials have failed to make the necessary emotional corrections. Soon, all will be right again and they'll be the first to petition the league for Harden as 2017 MVP. There are some of us who know... CLUTCH CITY will never die.
He obviously hired Battier to write that for him. :grin: (Before you bash me for being a Debbie Downer. It is widely known that Battier writes letter for every NBA player.)
I can't believe people are bashing Harden for this letter. I thought the talk on here would be mostly positive to be honest. Regardless, this is the what we needed to see out of Harden this offseason. He's finally taking that mental step to being a true leader. Of course we'll have to see it translate on the court, but it feels like it's finally clicked mentally for Harden.
I couldn't agree more. Yeah, the letter came off as a bit forced and formulaic, but at least he wrote the damn thing! Hell, for the first time in a LONG time, we actually have a superstar in the city who wants to be here and went out of his way to sign an extension to stay here. And to back it up, after all of the criticism he's received for his lack of leadership, the guy is finally stepping up and acting like a leader this offseason. But instead of applaud his efforts, fans are crapping on the guy. I'm guessing these are the same fans who will be praising his name if he returns to 2014-15 Harden this season.
"...at least he wrote the damn thing!" We'll probably never know, but I'd bet anything that he didn't.
Yes, this is good news and sign, also... If anyone remembers houston randomly got this guy, a trade could happen and bring that much needed 2nd star, if not, the team grows together and gets better. PR or not, I'd rather keep Harden. If he proves leadership this year (growing towards it even, as the man), then FA's will take notice, obviously Hou would have to move some pieces, but it's not like the 10 million was bringing in some game changer. Don't be a ****ing bandwagon fan when things are back up The team isn't a super-team yet, but all hope isn't lost... He could have easily bolted, this at least extends the window. And, yes, Last season sucked, let's move on, we're Rockets fans, right?? You guys act like the team fell apart from coke or something. Could be a lot worse and critique is fine (I do it too), but we're not even in the season yet and at least he's working on his game, he could be at Chipotle or in jail with Draymond Green.
I fail to see why the redditors are so positive, or why we should be excited about the team at this particular point in time. It's a forum, feel free to post all the positive stuff you want. We should have civil discussion. I don't think this forum should have a single point of view or dominated by one perspective. The reason I'm negative is not just because Harden didn't play like his usual self last year (went from an mvp candidate to not even an all-nba player), and we had a hugely disappointing season where it looked like the team wasn't even trying half the time, but even worse because it seems like Les is meddling and overruling Morey, particularly with the DAntoni hire (and before that firing McHale). I don't think anyone is particularly excited about Dantoni, correct me if I'm wrong. This forum was melting down when that was first just a rumor. Personally I am fine with Dantoni as long as he sticks to coaching and not being GM. And then we couldn't even get a meeting with Durant and used our max money for four years to sign Gordon and Ryno. Nice role players but not close to stars or even good assets we can flip. And there's the whole Dwight Howard leaving. The guy had his issues, he stopped trying until the playoffs, but him leaving for nothing isn't good. I don't agree we'll be better with him gone and essentially replaced by Nene. Vegas odds now essentially have us at Utah's level competing for the 8th seed. And we don't really have much flexibility to sign a star or assets to trade. I'm excited for Dekker, I like our draft picks, I think Beverley, Ariza and Capela played much better than people think last year (it really bugs me when people say everyone on the team except Harden sucked, repeated by Les). Really I'm most concerned that Morey has lost power and the direction of the team is driven by Les and DAntoni now. That screams mediocrity to me, but I hope I'm wrong. Heck I still have my half-season tickets because I thought Morey would pull something out of his sleave this off season. I guess we'll see. Nate Duncan said he thinks Morey is gone in 2 years, I sure hope not.
Meaning what? That he should be a finished product? That you'd prefer ibaka? Huh? He'll also be three years younger than Jordan was before he won his first ring. Five years younger than Dream. They were still figuring it out at 26, oops 27 too. Most players aren't gifted championships at 20. Seems like maturing and earning them would be a part of the value of finally winning one. He may mature further. He may not. That may lead to a ring or it may not. But we could be doing a whole lot worse than rooting for James harden to grow. Just saying
I would like to complain about the people that complain about the people that complain on this message board. Can I do that?
This letter deserves an oscar. I cried, it was so heartwarming. One of the best books I've read so far. New York times best seller. Will read from this author again.
That he is a young veteran but not a young player, sure he can add a few things but he is the player we saw the last 5 years. It won't change much.
