[MacMahon] Harden could be suspended for violating Covid protocols

I don't think so.

The Rockets have know about Harden's trade demand for nearly two months. The Rockets have been talking to teams for some time and have not made a deal. The Rockets leaked to the media that Harden is most likely to spend the entire year as a Rocket.

There were no consequences for the Rockets not trading Harden in a timely manner when he completely cooperated and didn't cause issues.

Now there are clear consequences for the Rockets and there is real motivation to trade him.

 

depends on what your definition of "is" is

 

Yeah. Great you're supporting your girl. But did you break NBA protocols though?

 

being that there’s real motivation to move him now, if a very good deal came available but it wasn’t Simmons but still met parameters of their ask- would they be more inclined to move him and a take a very good deal right now and be done as oppose to wait for the potential of Philly sweetening their offer?

 

Its the Harden gom jabbar for the Rockets.

An animal lets the pain and frustration of the moment drive them to act. A self-aware being is able to ignore the immediate for what is good in the long term.

I politely inform Harden (via a phone call to his mom since he doesn't have an agent) that each one of these tantrums will unfortunately result in a cooling off period of several weeks where trade talks with other teams will be suspended to allow the incident to be forgotten.

Make it clear that getting what he is demanding is directly tied via cause/effect to his behavior - operant conditioning 101.

If you let him force you to act on his schedule and in response to his prodding, you deserve what you get when you get a bag of d***s in return.

 

Morey is licking his chops. Hell, at this rate, Morey may try to keep Simmons & get Harden.

 

Actually he is making sure he gets traded. He does not care what the Rockets get in return...just as long as he gets away from Tilman.

 

The petulant $40 mil a year child look.... not a good one.

 

I don't know, I would have to know what has been offered and would need to have been involved in other negotiations up to this point.

What I can tell you is that the owner and GM need to put their ego aside and realize that they are going to look bad and take criticism no matter what. The team that gets Harden is going to get the top offensive player in several generations, and there is a good chance he wins a title within the next couple years if he ends up in Miami, Boston, Philadelphia or even Denver.... he is that good.

So the Rockets have to see what is available and decide what they want to do for the next few years. Are they rebuilding or retooling. Everyone knows retooling is a bad idea, but that may be the directive from ownership.

Also what isn't being considered is the contracts of the players the Rockets can get in return. For example Jaylen Brown is a really good player, but how good is he really when you are paying him over $100,000,000 over the next four years. Are the Rockets better off taking someone that is under a rookie contract and expiring contracts and operate in the future with cap space? There is a lot to it.

 

Thanks to James Harden
For keeping all the stripclubs in Houston in business
He’s just providing the covid relief for them

 

Love Morey but he is part of the problem with Harden, he basically created this monster, and I have news for him....a Harden led team will NEVER win anything.

ANYTHING - so if Morey chooses to die on that hill, let him.

DD

 

this is why all the talk of “be a good soldier and the rockets will do right by you” are foolish .

in what world does ANYONE trust Tilman fertita to not put himself first .

look at how Morey left .

I’m sure Russ wasn’t moved because he’s such a good soldier and asked politely .

I don’t like what harden has been doing . I really don’t like this last report if it is indeed one or two nights ago .

but I don’t think it’s mutually assured destruction. Harden can hurt the rockets more than they can hurt him .

Outside of team suspensions and fines , Tilman is still having to pay his ass 40+ million dollars ... to potentially help sink the team.

if we play this back and forth game enough this year , harden holds even more leverage next year . He can make it undersireable to trade for him by saying “I intend to test the market no matter what ... or give 1 team that he wants to go to .. making it a gamble for any other team to acquire him” . He can take a discount in FA and take veiled shots at the front office .

The negative PR around harden was ramped up even before he partied even before he pulled this last stunt . The narrative is putting the CP3 Russ trade squarely on him ... when, reporting at the time strongly suggested it was a TF move .

harden is an immediate problem . A more underlying issue IMO is that we have bad ownership . If we get rid of James , TF gets a pass for a few years .... but don’t sleep on him .

who knows what harden has been telling other guys privately .

edit. And I posted this before i knew Wall and cousins are out tonight

 

This plus a warning that next time similar action will result in suspension without pay.

 

That has always been his goal, find a way to add Harden to Simmons and Embid.... he did the same with the Rockets, both he and Harden wanted to add a third elite player....

 

In fact, the less the Rockets get in return, the better for him and his new team.

 

I agree with you that Adam Silver has done a lot of good things as commissioner of the NBA, such as using a bubble to complete the 2019-2020 season. He’s also definitely better than Roger Goodell and Rob Manfred, not that it’s a high bar to clear.

However, I can’t agree with your stance on player empowerment. Right now, the system is set up where an elite player can sign a fully-guaranteed, supermax contract, and that player can also hold his team hostage at any point during said contract to go to a new team and still get all the remaining money on his deal. That’s not right, and you know it. If James Harden wants to forego the remaining $127 million on his contract to get to pick a new team immediately while taking a massive pay cut, that’s fine. In that scenario, the Rockets get $40 million in cap space to sign players to replace him in free agency starting next offseason. But, he, nor any other player, should get to force his way off his current team and still receive the remainder of the money left on his contract.

 

Nobody in the West that hasn't played for the Warriors has won anything in 6 years, until the Lakers last year and that was Lebron.

 

Thoughts?

 

Harden is 31, he is a great individual player but his warts are too much to overcome, no one really wants to watch him pound the ball and stand and play D.

He is just not a leader - not a person you can rely on, not someone to build the franchise around - character matters.

Time to get this character off of the Rockets and move on.....

DD