(Salman Ali Podcast) Chron reporter Jonathan Feigen on Harden rumors

Oh Yeah, Tuesday morning Tina beats Monday morning Ramona.

 

The logic is people expected Mike to be there but Mike is old and can't be bothered to show up.

Alternate theory is Dantoni overplayed his starters so much in a game that he didn't even want them to practice or they would be dead.

 

Yeah I am a believer in shoot arounds. I got this unwavering belief that putting the ball in the basket is more important than "saving energy" for the two and a half hours with tv breaks ahead,

 

Replace Jonathan with Mel Gibson in mad max and it all makes sense the real hero we need.

 

Or maybe nobody really wants Harden that much? Or maybe we think he is worth more than market value really is? There are teams out there who could get him right now but apparently they don’t think he is worth much. Intersection for sure.

 

This fact right here is WAAAAY underreported and is a very vital part of this puzzle. Harden is a TRUST guy. Morey steps down in October. And then in November Harden asks for a trade. Look, I like what Stone has done so far. Ideally the team plays well into the season and Harden looks at Stone's moves/roster additions and gains confidence in him. Maybe that is enough to make him want to stay. We can hope.

Harden loves Houston. And ideally I don't think he wants to leave. But the clock is ticking and he wants a ring. He is doing his part on the court. He wants to see ownership do its part in terms of spending for assets to build up the roster. Harden not seeing that spending over the last few summers, hasn't helped.

 

What. The. ****?!?!?!

Dumbtoni the genius strikes again! No wonder the Rox missed 13 straight 3s in the playoffs.

Cuz you know, the last thing a 3 pt shooting team needs is to practice their 3 pts.

Where's that Iverson meme? Practice? We talkin' bout practice?

 

It was about Hakeem calling Charlie Thomas a coward (publicly).

 

Not sure why this seems to be such a surprise to people. Shootarounds for older teams isn’t exactly necessary. In fact, more waste of time than anything. Guys like harden already get to the arena hours before gametime and get their pregame work in. They have their set pre game routines. That’s much better than some morning shoot around and guys turn around and go back home, only to come back again. We see this becoming more and more true with guys in the league. Morning Shootarounds are so much less common now than ever, especially for vet teams that already have established routines within their personnel

 

but they would still be upset if he was signing 1+1 deals, so it’s damned if u do, damned if u don’t

I have no doubt many of y’all would be excusing away Tilman’s cheapness and destroying Harden because “how can u expect Tilman to spend when u can’t even commit to the organization?”

fans would be b*tching and moaning regardless, so Harden is gonna do what he feels is best for him...y’all are just mad he’s not doing things the way y’all want him to

 

Feigan is well known for his fluff pieces for sure.

But the bias here for the Rockets FO was clear.

MDA is "get a long guy" but Silas is positive player influence.

Ra-fell can say "no", Morey never says "no".

Ra-fell handled a lot of deals, no real details even though worked as GC for 15 years. Morey "approved" Westbrook trade but Stone did most of the negotiations and made that deal happen.

The more lauded Capela-RoCo deal was not negotiated by Stone but by Eli Witus, who has very close relations with people in Timberwolves FO.

D'Antoni and Morey leaving affected Harden's decision to leave but they were merely indirect reasons for Harden wanting to leave. Their leaving was simply convenient to Harden's decision.

Tad is father figure, still on Rockets so dissatisfaction or distrust couldn't be why Harden choosing to leave. Morey close but not that close. MDA closer but his leaving is not why Harden wanted to leave.

Harden real reason for leaving because Rockets were not "really" contenders vs. Lakers after losing 4 straight after 1st win (were there ANY contenders last postseason then?).

Rockets problem last season was not being small but being beat off the dribble. Drop coverage is the better answer to not giving up 2nd chances.

Sterling Brown absolute plus defender, Rockets will be better defensively on the perimeter.

What is Feigan's definition of a contender? Rockets were 4th seed in West last season.

If Rockets not a "contender" this season then trade more likely by trade deadline.

 

LOL

Nothing in that podcast refutes what I said about Stone being scared to address the media.

The FACT is Stone has addressed the media only ONCE since becoming GM and he looked like a deer in headlights.

Stone continues to use Silas and the players as human shields with local and national media. Stone has issued ZERO statements on Harden or Tucker's grievances.

And Rockets FO continues to leak anti-Harden, anti-Money and anti-D'Antoni pieces to obscure Rockets ownership and front office failures and fiscal trends which are the real reasons driving James Harden decision for leaving.

But I'm sure you'll try to obfuscate this issue like you've done in other threads because you are incapable of supporting your weak ass stances.

Take your L.

Again.

 

Eliminating shootarounds has been a league trend over several years and was based on "science" that all the teams have access to.

 

bingo.

why spend when you have harden in his absolute prime years and put together a relevant supporting cast. Nvm this team isn't good enough. LTS

why spend when harden isn't committed signing 1+1's. Nvm. LTS

*Harden requests to be traded after nearly a decade in houston* LTS

 

I'm not sure if he's SCARED to address the media but I don't think it's the right strategy, whatever the motivation behind it.

 

All the best coaches have done away with shootaround, even Doc.

 

The Rockets have made bad decisions with regards to deals where they let salary slots disappear or failed to add salary in a trade that could be used later. They've made stupid decisions about cutting minimum guys to avoid the tax. No denying any of that.

BUT...

we throw around the word cheap too loosely. The Rockets have had one of the highest payrolls in the NBA. They didn't do what the Bucks did and let a borderline star player IN HIS PRIME leave because they didn't want to pay the tax.

This stuff has nuance and is a spectrum. It's not a black and white issue. I don't think ownership has been as committed as they needed to be in order to win, but they haven't been "cheap" either.

 

cheap is just relative to the situation. in regards to the rockets, yes tilman has been cheap in regards to this topic thats been hammered the last 2 years and surrounding harden with a relevant supporting cast rather than bottom barrel min's/non guaranteed's just for LTS.