Winning cures everything. I have no doubt that Harden wants to go and I imagine many in the Rockets organization are tired of him, too. I hope everyone understands that the grass is not always greener. When Harden re-upped for his max deal, he reduced his options. First, taking up so much of the cap space means that the team had less flexibility to fit the right pieces around him. Second, the team was forced to build everything around James and his desires. That meant that the team building opportunities that can often happen when players go through adversity together and work with each other and hold each other accountable never really happened once Dwight left. From then on, Morey reshuffled the roster. They cashed in their assets to get Chris Paul. He was a perfect basketball fit for the first year and had the ability to step up in the playoffs. When Harden and Tilman soured on him and Westbrook became available, the team had even fewer options to build a championship team around Harden. The very success that Harden had under D'Antoni also has had a downside for his championship aspirations. The unguardable tour of 2019 may have happened by necessity, but it also probably blew up Harden's ego to an unhealthy degree. Tilman's cost cutting also meant that the Morey had to scramble to stay under the tax line and D'Antoni had to juggle rotation players. He could never find a deep rotation he could trust and Harden was run down by the end. Because Tilman was cheap with the coaching staff, D'Antoni, himself, essentially had to also revamp the defense to meet their limited personnel. It was the offense that took a backseat, in my view. Westbrook forced the Rockets to make a radical change and took away Harden's lob threat in Capela. I think all of the enabling of Harden, cheapness of Tilman and lack of roster continuity meant that the Rockets could never build up enough chemistry to be able to overcome adversity in the playoffs in the D'Antoni era. I get why Harden wants out. Rings culture has been a real cancer on how we understand success in the NBA and nobody has been more impacted than Harden. We just saw Anthony Davis pull the same act with New Orleans and he was rewarded handsomely. Durant went to a loaded team (after barely losing to them), won rings and is now seen in a different light, too. I am sure Harden has seen the decline of the Rockets organization since Tilman bought the team and is alarmed. Tilman traded assets that could have helped the team win over the last few years to save money, as well. Knowing that Tilman drove out Morey and D'Antoni while his business fortunes have been decimated by the pandemic must signal bad news to Harden and he has mentally moved on. I get it. However, there is hope. The Rockets have hired a coaching staff that is deep and talented this year. So far, Stone has made a number of good moves that could keep Harden and the Rockets a top 3 seed contender, or help them rebuild. They are younger, taller, more athletic and the shooting is better. The injury concerns are real, but this roster is one of the better, more versatile groups Harden has played with in Houston. The rub is this: Stone has to make a good haul on this Harden deal, or his career as an NBA GM is in jeopardy. Any team Harden goes to will struggle to integrate him in the middle of a shortened season. At least this year, Harden probably has as much chance to contend in Houston as he does elsewhere. The Rockets know they will lose any Harden trade, but they have to at least get $.90 on the dollar. I would rather sacrifice Silas' first year than bend to Harden's will and trade him for a lousy package just to appease him. Here is the thing: one LeBron injury like he had the year before last changes everything. James is entering his 18th season. Time is undefeated and at some point it will catch up to him, too The Lakers are nowhere near the Warriors in terms of firepower. The Clippers, Heat, Celtics, Nuggets, Raptors and Nets all have flaws that can be exploited. One of these contenders may start out slow and put their best offer on the table. Maybe a fringe playoff team sees an opportunity with Harden and takes a gamble at the deadline. That's when you pounce. Right now? No way. I would let Harden throw daily tantrums before I would give in to him and trade him for an inferior deal. If the Rockets start winning, that may help James rethink his situation in Houston. I don't hold out much hope for this.
IMO, the organization needs to pay the man for showing up to work. If the organization does more than than for him then that is nice of the organization. Obviously there are norms that must be fallowed, but the player needs to take responsibility at some point. Harden is an employee under contract with the organization. Yes the ownership changed and key personal is gone. Change is not always bad. A trade is unlikely... [ There aren’t many spots to take ones talents at the rate he is compensated at. (Simple math from a simple person). He makes 1/3 of the team’s player salary and there are only 30 teams —>1/90 of the league’s total players salary. There are a maximum of 15 roster spots on each of the 30 teams —> a maximum of 450 full time players in the league. 435 after the Rockets are taken out. How dose someone making 1/90 of the pay find a spot to be traded to when there is only 435 spots total. 1/90 vs 1/435 (average) —> hard to find a match. If something where to happen a team would have to send back several players so we would need to send off players to match or cut some players. Gets really messy really fast just on the matching of money let alone talent, then fit on the team. ]
Having a kid is a bad thing. Does he take care of her and keep her out of the scrutiny of the media? Or did he Karl Malone her?
