[Feigen] D'Antoni said Harden is "devastated." Open to considering strategic rest.

You didn't see that Kobe game 7 then. He absolutely laid down and quit. I watched that game and I believe he didn't take a shot the entire second half. Kobe quit and pouted, then later blamed his teammates. But he is a 'proven champion', so everybody has amnesia about it.

 

yea all solid points

 

Really nothing that is said matters at this point.

I can't think of anything they could say that'd make me feel better about their prospects moving forward.

 

Lol, what do you think we should do, blow it up? Despite the embarrassing game 6, were in a pretty good spot going into off-season. Despite what y'all say Harden is one of the few true "superstars" in the league. And you want to get rid of him? Rockets fans are rich.

We could either be a directionless franchise desperate for a true superstar, or a team like the Raptors or Clippers who have max players that just aren't elite enough to be true contenders and may very well need to blow it up. Harden is our only max contract player, and despite having one of the worst chokes in NBA history and partying after, he is still a top 5 candidate. He has had two MVP worthy seasons in the past three seasons. If you think the answer is to blow up the roster instead of pursuing another superstar to play alongside him, you are truly lost.

 

Were in a league where Kyle Lowry, Kevin Love, and Demar Derozen are all max players. They are good players and deserve to get paid in the crazy NBA salary cap situation, yet are still unable to carry teams on their own. And y'all want to get rid of one of the maybe five players that can singlehandedly carry a team to the playoffs over a bad game and because he partied after? I get how horrible it was and I was angry as hell at Harden that night, but jeez have some sort of perspective. Especially after a couple of days.

Westbrook, Harden, Curry, Kawhi, and Giannis are probably the next generation of NBA superstars, and y'all want to get rid of one of them because he "pisses you off". Come on.

 

He has 3 years left on his deal....If i'ts me, he gets one more year to mature. A high profile free agent is not coming here. If there is another disappointing playoff exit next year...(based on how he plays, not the quality of his team), I do my best to sell high and clean house. I think Les is still in the Morey/Harden camp though and I don't know what it will take to get him out of it, so Harden will probably be here through the entire contract, even if he disappoints, and doesn't grow up.

 

Lmao

Is MDA saying he does not have enough players that he trusts????? Sounds ridiculous.

 

Only Giannis is the future.

WB, Harden, Curry, Kawhi are the now..... Some of them are about to turn 30 in 2, 3 years.

 

sounds perfectly reasonable...many players on roster you cant trust to hit their 3s...and this is a team that shoots more 3s than any team in HISTORY..for gods sake we played brewer greater part of the season...

so yeah, bring more reliable 3pt shooters, particularly 3pt shooters that hit their 3s consistently...say i would prefer 35% shooter whose percentage doesnt vary much month to month over a 40% shooter which is a hot and cold guy

 

He surely wasn't devastated on the press conference after the game.

 

you think he copy pasted that tweet? Given how many times the exact same thing was said over the course of the year?

 

no im ok. its just the playoffs. its just one game. i wasnt feeling it and my shots didnt go in. next question?

just come back stronger next season and win a championship.

 

wondering if there's any word on whether Harden has cheered up any yet

 

What we are is a directionless franchise that is desperate to find a winning strategy. Been that way since the late 90s. And, like the two teams you mentioned, the Rockets also have players who aren't elite enough to elevate them to true contender status. And judging by your proposed solution, it appears that they need to embark on (yet) another quest for that elusive superstar to team with Harden. That should buy Morey another good 4 or 5 years of job security. But they'd best be careful because the bearded one has shown that he doesn't play well with another whom folks may deem "star". As far as the Rockets are concerned, players and coaches come and go but the results remain the same.

 

We've objectively been very succesfull. We are top 3 in wins over the past decade and have made the playoffs as much as anybody. Now we haven't had the best playoff success in the world, but saying were directionless and desperate is ridiculous. By that logic, every team not the Warriors or Cavs are desperate and directionless. Harden was good enough to lift us to a 55 win season and a 3 seed in the playoffs, but obviously we need another superstar to lift us over the hump to be a true contender. People act like this is some grand revelation, but nobody can win a ring on there own. Not Lebron, not KD, not Steph, not Westbrook, not Harden, not Kawhi.

People love to dream about what the team would be like with new leadership and fresh personell, but the reality is there is a 90% chance we are worse off than we were under the Morey/Harden reign.

 

Don't really know much on the subject, but I'd assume most shooters are pretty streaky. I wonder if some players are statistically more consistent (wonder if there are any metrics on this?), but I'd assume most naturally go through hot and cold streaks. Just how it goes with some much volume over a full season.

 

The big question is, does the Rockets front office acknowledge that Ryan Anderson is not the answer as a starting power forward? The longer he's out there starting for us and raking in 19 million a year, we will not a ring.

 

he must not have trusted Dekker, Montrez or rest of bench. Playing with rotation of 7 really hurt

 

This is the D'Antoni I worried about when he was hired. When he failed, he looked for excuses, looked for someone or something to blame, seldom pointed the finger to himself and own up to what should be on him. He did that in LA. Did the same in NY.

 

Very smart way to spin and save his job too