Shams: Harden has added bucks and heat to “preferred destinations”

Simmons can't shoot a jumper. From anywhere. 10-14 ft. Mid range. His FT% should be most telling. He's Dwight Howard level. I don't understand fondness towards dude with SF body with PG skills who really should be a PF. He is someone you carefully build around. Not a star. When we acquired Harden. The Rockets gave up Kevin Martin. Who at the time was a legitimate 23ppg scorer. A 1st which became Steven Adams & Jeremy Lamb. We'd be selling short in any deal involving Philly. Seriously wtf

 

I just can not get my head around how little everyone seems to place on Harden's value. Jrue freakin' Holiday got the Pelicans Hill, Bledsoe, 3 first round picks and 2 pick swaps (or something like that). Hill and Bledsoe aren't All Stars, but they are serviceable players.

Can you imagine New Orleans seriously considering an offer of Lavert, Allen, Dinwiddie and some low first round picks for AD last year? Hell no, they would have hung up the phone before you could say Caris LaVert.

We're talking about a guy who has been one of the top three players in the league for the last several years. An MVP. A multi-time scoring champ. A perennial All-Star. A guy who doesn't miss games and isn't injury-prone. He is and should be more valuable than AD. We should be getting 2-3 really good young players and 5+ 1st round draft picks (or 1st round pick swaps) out of this.

I really can't understand how the media would think the Rockets would be happy with other teams garbage and maybe throw in one or two picks as sweeteners.

 

Westbrook wanting stronger covid regulations, has nothing to do with his crap play. And this isnt coming from Westbrook, its coming from people withing our own organization. I dont trust anything with the Rockets. Especially since Fertitta bought this team.

 

LA has a considerably higher population density than Houston.

 

It's pretty simple. Repetitive articles slandering someone. To the point their value drops. Just enough. Then you let the major markets swoop in to take him. Proceed to rebuild character. Blahblah LA/NY/Boston blahblahblah

 

I'm not taking Simmons. If we trade harden to philly I want Embiid and green. If we're trading Harden to Milwaukee, we're getting Vagiannis. If he goes to heat we'll take everything that makes them relevant. HARDEN wants to compete then tell us who he wants get Tillman to send a hit man and make sure that team trades us that player. Tillman then needs to pay.

 

It's not really the organisation he built anymore.

We're a couple of years into the Tilman era of the organisation... and it's been a straight up trainwreck and only getting worse.

 

wtf this gotta do with us?!?

harden this harden that. Man f*** Harden. We have a game to play tomorrow.

 

dont know how these guys have a job.

 

LOL

So now we are talking counties.

Moving goal posts at every turn.

 

Amen

 

Obviously only if traded, but what does that mean for chances staying? I mean what are the above numbers, the betting odds of him staying?

 

Not LA county vs Harris county.
Which is what those totals are.
Look up land size for those counties.

 

I said LA had double the cases of Houston.
You brought up Cali and Texas.
That’s on you for moving goalposts. Gotta read bud.

 

These are two separate issues.
Westbrook blaming front office for NBA regulations that every team and player had and what you feel about the front office are different.
If Russ thought the regulations were unsafe, which were set by the NBA, he should have opted out.
He is trying to blame someone else for his poor play. And you and D rock are excusing him. I don’t get it.

We can go back and forth, that’s fine. But conflating feelings for Covid policy and him making excuses when every player in the league had same policy and options is not something I’m going to change my mind on.
He chose to play, he knew the risks.
There’s also no guarantee he caught Covid in Houston. As evidenced by the number discrepancies between LA and Houston.

 

He can hop a private jet to Vegas any time and probably have 5 lap dances along the way. Strip clubs nearby don't matter, besides he's on the road most of the time where he has access to that because they are all major cities.

 

Shams:

Where do things stand on his trade demand?

James Harden is in Houston, complying with the NBA’s coronavirus testing protocols. As of right now, the expectation around the team, around James Harden is that he will remain professional but he’s gonna continue to let the Rockets know when you guys are ready for a move, I’m ready. The only people that can make a transaction right now are the Rockets in terms of being able to pull the trigger on a trade. He’s got two years guaranteed left on his deal and you don’t usually see superstar franchise cornerstones get traded with two years left on their deal, even if they ask out. Those deals usually happen with one year left on their deal but James Harden has made it clear he wants a move to a contending team and he’s made it known these four teams he’d prefer a trade to. At the top of that list are the Sixers and Nets and two other East contenders in Milwaukee and Miami. The bottom line here is James Harden has made it known he wants to be on a winning, contending team elsewhere.

Because James has two years left, what are you hearing about teams that might not be on his list? Is there a market for him outside of the teams he listed?

Potentially but in a lot ways a lot of people expected the Nets and Sixers would be the two front running teams throughout this process and now you’re starting to see it open up a little with Milwaukee and Miami. There’s always a team that comes out of nowhere, right? Who knows what develops as the year goes on. Houston is going to try to prolong this as much as possible because right now, the offers on the table don’t fit their criteria for a James Harden trade. They want an all-star caliber player, a young star type of guy, along with another rotation player as well as draft picks. That offer is not on the table so if you’re them, do you wait out on Philadelphia to make Ben Simmons available if they ever do. Do you wait for another offer elsewhere from a team that might not be in the picture, maybe like a Boston or Denver. I haven’t gotten the sense either teams are in the mix right now. That’s why more and more this looks like that something goes into the year. At the end of the day, he made it clear he feels he’s exhausted winning a title, championship contending in Houston. He wants to go elsewhere to accomplish a championship at the age of 31 in his prime years, as he still has a few of those years left.

You said he’s going to remain professional. What does that really mean because this guy has been in Vegas, hanging out with Lil’ Baby, he’s not talking to ownership, only to his assistant coach, not even really talking to the head coach. How messy is this situation?

From the outside perspective, it doesn’t look totally professional but in terms of those who know James Harden and the way he’s operated around that franchise over the course of his 8 years there, James Harden going to a city for 2-3-4 days at a time and coming back and being on his own time schedule, that’s not unknown for him, for this franchise. Harden has operated in this fashion. Houston has allowed him to operate in this fashion. He’s taken days to himself, to go on quick trips and then he’s come back and put up 50-point triple doubles. How much can we really live with with James Harden, as long as he continues to produce at that level? Houston’s been like we understand the dynamic we have here as long as we produce and Harden, if anything you have to give him this: he’s produced at a high, high level, he’s always been durable, he’s always been on the floor, he’s always played his games, played heavy minutes, played through injury. Harden for the most part has done everything you can ask for on the court.

How is trade speculation reverberating with trade targets?

That’s not something those teams want to deal with. These teams have contending aspirations. They don’t want their players’ names to be out there. Philly, they’ve yet to make Ben Simmons or Joel Embiid available in any trade talks. They want to see how those two cornerstones look around the shooters Daryl Morey brought in, Dwight Howard, Doc Rivers. Miami, same thing. They’re not trying to move Bam Adebayo or Jimmy Butler. Bucks seem set. They made their big move, getting Jrue Holiday. Some of these teams, they’ve made their moves. Could things change as the year goes on? That’s what Houston is weighing. Houston, in a perfect world, wants to see how Harden fits with John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Christian Wood and see if this team can win and compete in the Western Conference but at the end of the day, Harden has made it clear he feels he’s exhausted championship contention there and wants to go elsewhere.

 

I dont know if this has ever been brought up, but could Morey and Stone be buddies and could Stone do Morey a solid and give him more favoritism over other teams?