James Harden and the Houston Rockets are at a breaking point

The hit piece lowers Hardens value and damages Rox leverage significantly..BKN, PHI, MIA already have multiple young franchise all stars, cornerstones and are title contenders.

Rox have no desperate teams to take advantage of.

Hou headed towards an ugly divorce and wasted 2021 and even a few years of futility.


SAS still hasn't recovered from the Kawhi divorce. They pridefully held onto him too long and they're still paying for it

 

Because the main character of the article still wanted to be here. Now that the main character wants out....all those previous reports make for a juicier story.

....and it worked; every sports media outlet is running this story.

 

Brooklyn and Philly are title contenders?

 

FTR. Odds as of 12/15/20

Who Is Favored To Win The 2021 NBA Championship?

Los Angeles Lakers +210
Brooklyn Nets +550
Milwaukee Bucks +600
Los Angeles Clippers +600
Boston Celtics +1600
Miami Heat +1800
Golden State Warriors +1800
Philadelphia 76ers +1800
Denver Nuggets +2000
Dallas Mavericks +2000
Toronto Raptors +2800
Portland Trail Blazers +3500
Phoenix Suns +4000
Houston Rockets +4000
Utah Jazz +4500
New Orleans Pelicans +8000
Atlanta Hawks +8000
Washington Wizards +10000
Indiana Pacers +12500
Memphis Grizzlies +12500
Oklahoma City Thunder +15000
Orlando Magic +17500
Minnesota Timberwolves +20000
San Antonio Spurs +20000
Chicago Bulls +25000
Charlotte Hornets +30000
Sacramento Kings +30000
Cleveland Cavaliers +30000
Detroit Pistons +50000
New York Knicks +50000

 

When we were chasing after big FA's in the past (LBJ, LMA, etc.) guys who were plugged in talked about James not having the best reputation for being a professional around the league. WB wanted out after one year and he'd played for years with KD and PG13 and now he's going to a situation that is catering to Beal. Your matter of fact statement that he didn't have an issue seems too forceful.

 

where would harden go and have more control?

 

Keep in mind East is the JV Conference. 4 really good teams...MIA, MIL, BKN, PHI. Rest are gonna teeter around .500

 

I guess. I don’t see it. Specially with Philly.
And Brooklyn is really dependent on KD being healthy. No way they should be over Miami or even Milwaukee.
Philly has consistently underperformed.

 

This hit piece, the holdout, and the 12ppg preseason average, the bad angled fat pictures makes his value the lowest it has ever been. If Stone trades him now it would be a mistake.

 

Three really good teams. Miami, Milwaukee and Boston.
Philly and Brooklyn are unknowns imo.

 

Wasn't sure but did look him up. An immigrant. Apparently he covers the NBA for Sports Illustrated. Has connection with the Miami Herald, so relations with the Heat. Two of last few articles are positive pieces for heat: Butler and Bam.

And apparently also a fashion critic for GQ.

 

"SAS still hasn't recovered from the Kawhi divorce. They pridefully held onto him too long and they're still paying for it"

you can't make this claim wihtout reminding us all what options they had early that they missed out on? what could they have had instead?

 

What's new and what's the matter with this? We all knew that, and regarding that he was not only the best player on the team but also the tactic himself, the team was supposed to do that. I just hope we can have massive return now.

 

so boston is going to teeter around .500. that's pretty hard to believe when they have a top 5 odds of winning the title.

 

Well, Fertitta is who he's talking about now, I guess. I'm just annoyed that people talk about a 31-year-old man as if he's a child who needs to be constantly coddled, even at the disruption of others' time and livelihoods. Everyone is disposable if they don't keep him happy.



I get Harden isn't the first person to act this way in an organization (in any field) and some people are much, much worse than this (don't have to mention names on this side of the site), but it really is infuriating to finally read it with some level of detail. I'm not just annoyed with him, but all the people who let it get like this.

 

Boston with Morey Junior (Ainge) had their run. I think they made 5 ECFs in a row. BKN and PHI better.

Players are gonna tune out the overrated Brad Stevens too.

But point taken.

In any case East is JV conference with 3-4 really good teams who have a legit shot of coming outta the East. Rest of conference is fodder for the top 4. No trade partners for a Harden package now.

 

Celtics have made many ECFs in recent years and have not pushed through to the Finals. Their 2021 competitors have better coaching, rosters and experience than years past

 

Link?

Because I read a lot and have not seen any of that.

WB wanted out because he is OCD and wanted practices run his way and he did not think the ORG was conducive to winning and he wanted Lue. I have no-idea why you or anybody else is claiming Harden was the reason.

He played 2 years with PG13 and PG13 left him on the 1st train leaving and KD even left WB for the GS what exactly are you trying to say concerning WB and Harden?

Its been reported multiple places that WB had much greater control over OKC than Harden has had in Houston but its ok why?

We will see if how Wash catering to Beal goes over especially since Brooks is WB's old coach.

 

and that means they will be about a .500 team? i don't see how that applies. it's one to say they won't make it pass certain teams but for them to struggle in the regular season when they're still actually one of the better teams in the league is another

 

They were winning so they wrote some puff pieces around him. Harden likes to party. There is nothing wrong with that because he was putting up numbers. He isn't kobe in terms of practice.