Losing Harden is a blessing in disguise

So many people on this site put the onus on Harden. No other star on a championship contender has to work so hard to score. And this team never had a legitimate second scoring threat until Russ. As great as CP3 was, he wasn’t an offensive threat the likes of AD or Klay Thompson. The 27 missed three pointers in 2018 WCF should give us an indication on why the Morey/MDA way is not the way to a championship. It seems like the Rockets always made it difficult on themselves trying to reinvent the wheel instead of just playing basketball with a normal roster and normal philosophy. Basketball hasn’t changed in decades. The fundamentals are still the same. Rebounding, defense, interior scoring, perimeter shooting, passing. Sure guys are jacking up more threes now but how to win all goes back to being solid in the fundamentals. And if you look at how we shoot the 3 ball a lot of those shots don’t seem like great shots either coming off dribble pull up or within an arms length of another player. Everything is so difficult for the Rockets to score with no off ball screens or movement. This is why I have been so critical of the philosophy, style and decision making from MDA and Morey and put the onus solely on them. I believe it seems like the organization recognizes small ball and morey ball doesn’t work and we are seeing a paradigm shift. Hopefully.

 

I would not trade him until midseason at the EARLIEST and even then maybe no - I would want Silas to show him how he can be more successful here, if not then you move him a the market develops.

DD

 

Another tidbit.

Russell Westbrook got 2.1 millions more salary than Lebron James.

Harden got 2 millions more salary than Lebron James.

LBJ got 4 more ships and more FMVPs.

We're spoiling them kids.

 

He had better teams. Never played with a small ball roster. And had better coaches.

 

He also took smaller contracts to be on superteams. Relatively young.

Given that he was such a commercial king who made the rest of his money elsewhere.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/los-angeles-lakers/lebron-james-2257/cash-earnings/

 

Lebron is a better GM, Player, and Coach than harden.

 

it was stopped by arguably the most talented team ever when our second best player was in street clothes. everybody else went a smooth 5-33 against the durant warriors in the playoffs. seems hard to argue we had the wrong strategy when it was the only one that even threatened them.

did the warriors win with a normal roster and philosophy? i'm pretty sure they broke the mold and played the best way possible for their team. as did we.

steph curry dribbling 20 times and flinging up a 30 footer off the dribble doesn't look very easy, but it's effective. klay thompson catching the ball on a dead sprint and turning and firing almost instantly doesn't look very easy either. most offenses aren't just generating tons of wide open looks against good defenses. arms length is sometimes as good as it gets.

the onus of what? creating a couple of championship contenders without the luck of having kevin durant or lebron james sign on their team? possibly even making the best team in the nba despite working with 1 prime hall of famer and 1 declining hall of famer against 4 prime hall of famers and a team that was basically thought to make a joke out of the rest of the nba? seems kind of weird to see how good the rockets were and act like we were doing things obviously wrong, as if other teams came up with anything better (or even close).

 

Now that it looks like Harden is staying the Harden haters who couldn’t help themselves prematurely celebrating are exposed for all to see

 

If you read what I said, I simply stated that the philosophy was wrong leading to the team always coming up short. I never denied those teams’ success. Jacking up threes playing isoball with no off ball movement and screens is not a winning formula. Neither is small ball. Neither is abandoning mid range shots. This was the formula for this team and it simply didn’t work. You compare these rockets teams to the warriors who had two outstanding sharp shooters who are better than any of ours. Their system was based on ball distribution and a lot of off ball movement and screens. They did not believe in scoring only in two ways (dribble drive & three). They never played the Hampton 5 lineup throughout a whole game or series. So yes their approach was more sound and traditional than our belief in the high volume 3 pt shooting approach. You can blame it on the CP3 injury all you want but the team’s approach in shooting high volume three killed us in the end. Not only that the lineup featured a SF in Ariza who was not great in creating offense or dribble drive and a PF who could only shoot corner 3s. There were serious limitations to that Rocket team despite winning 65 games. So yes the onus is on MDA and Morey for the team not being able to capture a title in the past 5 years. The root of the problem aren’t the players. It’s the philosophy, personnel decisions, and tactical approach to the game.

 

I don’t even like Lebron but I can be honest and say he’s a better player than Russ and is better than Harden also even tho I think harden is really underrated for being an MVP.

but keep it real all lebrons chips have come on stacked big 3 teams and this year in an odd bubble with no fans and AD. Harden has never played with talent like that in houston.

and harden did damn good Getting to 2 WCF and pushing the KD warriors to 7 games something Lebron couldn’t do.

I hope Harden retires here with it without a chip. He’s an alltime great just enjoy it we won’t have a player as good as him again for a very long time and maybe never will. Slot of teams have never had a player as good as harden on their team in their whole existence.

 

I hope you forgive me for slightly changing part of your post and then reposting it. I feel the same way you do and think it deserves a bit more attention. Some others might share the sentiment. Let's hope James sticks around so we don't end up with egg on our faces!
;-)

From @YaoMing#1

"I hope Harden retires here with or without a championship. He’s an all-time great, so just enjoy it. We won’t have a player as good as him again for a very long time and maybe never will. Most teams have never had a player as good as Harden in their whole existence."

 

There was a player who wanted out 28 yrs ago. He called the owner a liar even. Those who know, know. The Rockets can hold Harden until February 2022 if they so chose. That's what they should do.