Already, a myriad of twists and turns, the James Harden trade saga has a life if it's own. "Playin with our emotions" So, what camp are you in at this point, as to James future as a Rocket?
what it’s always been Harden is an all-time great, the 2nd greatest player in franchise history, I want him to retire a Rocket and win a ring here, and any trade for him is a massive downgrade that will shift the Rockets towards irrelevancy it could be decades before we get another player of this caliber I understand why he wants out tho
I miss the option of : 100% keep him if he wants to stay, get as much as possible if he wants to leave
I believe JEHj is traded. To the East. Philly or Raps is my guess. 3rd or 4th team? Sure, why not. If the question is do I want him traded then YES...provided...the return is solid and a half. Simmons or Pascal? Plus pix and better balancing of roster? Murray and Porter? Love it. Ainta gonna happen. Brown and Smart? Love it. Ainta gonna happen. Buddy Buckets and Barnes? Not enough draft pix to make it work. Randall and Knox, 17 mil TPE + 4 1s? Not enough unless third team fills in with a true stud.
Same as it's always been, he's an amazing player and I think his best chance to win is here, but if he's too short sighted to see that, get a king's ransom for him on the way out.
Keep him until a great deal is available. I do not think this team is a contender. I think we're still a team that has to be carried by Harden, and I think he knows that. So I do not believe that, for example, a narrow win over Sacramento (that only happened because Harden put the team on his back) has changed James' mind.
Same as it’s always been. He is the Houston Rockets. Without him the team is absolutely nothing. I don’t want to see him in another uniform but I understand why he wants out. His best shot at a title isn’t with The Rockets. Especially in the West.
If he doesn't sign an extension but continues to ball out, do we risk letting him walk in 2 yrs or trade him for lesser than equal value?
Wish he'd straighten up and quit clubbing, but he's worth far more than any team is willing to offer, and with him, we're a contender, as long as Wall and Boogie are healthy. I say you keep him till the deadline, and if they're healthy, keep him all year. If Wall goes down, trade him for what you can get.
I'd like to see the Rockets go All-In before a Harden trade. Everybody wins. Rockets can upgrade with the newly acquired 1st Rounders from this off season and try to get James to stay. Harden gets a half season to see where he wants to go, he may not want to be in Philly if Embid gets hurt, or BKN if Durant or Kyrie go down. Much easier to gauge contenders 50 games in vs 3.
Fact is if he keeps putting up amazing feats every night, people will be reminded of his value and want him. I don't think the Rockets control the situation. If James wants out, he wants out. It's just a matter of finding the right package and when that happens. But it might be worth letting 15 - 20 games pass while you find that right package to see what happens....
I have remained unchanged through all the rumors and fake reports; dont trade him until you absolutely have to. Or if the team is really bad and you're doing him a favor.
We want James on our court, we need James on our court... The truth is that NO package will give us a fair return on a generational talent like JH. H-Town is Harden Town and if we're going to chase a championship, we need JH leading the way. If he decides to be a malcontent and stop producing (aka Butler) than Stone might have to reconsider, but until then let's play it out and stay away from the Code Red (trading Harden).
There's so much debate about how Harden ranks within the pantheon of historically great players, that we often forget that within a particular franchise, players like this come along once a generation. I mean no disrespect to other Rocket greats when I say that Harden, Malone and Dream stand alone atop the Mount Olympus of Rocket players. Three multi-MVP first-ballot HOF players since the birth of the franchise in 1967. That's three in fifty three years. We honestly don't know how long it will be before before the next - fifteen years? Twenty? Everybody hopes to be the gritty, disciplined Pistons in 2004 and defeat the presumed all-talent champions, but that almost never happens. When he's gone, it will be the end of an era and we cannot know how long it will be before we're consistently in the playoffs, much less contending. If you want the Rockets to win a 'ship, you want Harden to stay.
