Shaq goes in on Harden - " you didn't give everything to the city of houston"

"good riddance"? So Tucker is gone?

 

maybe this is the holdup with the olidipo trade
Please ship out Eric and Tuck

 

Stop making excuses for harden. He lost to warriors without Durant multiple times. Lost to Spurs without Leonard.

 

I haven’t read the whole thread and this is not a defense of Harden post, but Shaq didn’t give everything to Orlando or LA or Miami or Cleveland...

TNT could do better.

 

Man, I've been pissed at Harden too, but we seriously gonna go all revisionist here? When I argued vehemently with all of my non-Houston NBA fan friends, I genuinely believed everything I said and still do. I didn't just go 180 on my view of him as a basketball player because I'm emotional. The anger at his actions over the past month I think is completely justified. What I don't get is the 'he's a fat loser, will never win anything, never did anything for us' attitude.

I also think we'll be a bit more grateful once we start bearing the fruits of the Brooklyn trade in the coming years. Big picture view - we traded K-Mart, Jeremy Lamb, and a pick or two for a 6-man who elevated his game to MVP-level, gave us 8 years of playoff basketball and a couple of years of truly elite basketball, and that development ultimately yielded 8 first-round picks.

I guess more time just needs to pass. T-Mac is remembered fondly, and his Houston career had an even less graceful ending than Harden's.

 

The Rockets went on a tear and McHale (rightfully) made the decision to keep Harden on the bench that game.

Was Harden pouting or demanding to go in? No. He was cheering his team on off the bench.

And dominated Game 7.

To make it seem like he's just this selfish player who constantly choked isn't true. He is the reason we are in Game 6 of the WC Semis. He is the reason this franchise has been relevant for the past 8 years. Yes, 2 Conference Finals appearances and 0 titles hurts BUT we made it to the Conference Finals twice BECAUSE we had Harden.

The 15 years before we got Harden were brutal. Yes we had Yao/TMac for a stretch but by the time they were able to assemble a strong core around them, both had essentially broken down with injury.

 

Yes, many players didn't.

It was dumb to say something like that right before he got traded.

And he threw his teammates and the whole organization under the bus on his way out.

 

We wouldn't even be in these elimination games without Harden... I'm pissed at him too, but let's pretend we would have been better off never trading for him.

 

Right, then he joined Durant, like Durant joined Curry, like Lebron joined Wade and AD. With a semi peak CP3, he took down a team that trashed Lebron James, until CP3 folded and got fat.

also, it doesn’t matter if he’s not as good as them. His best just may not be the best. How stupid to expect your franchise player to be aDirk or Hakeem and blame them for not being that. No one owes anyone that, except to try, which he did. He was destroyed by the end of those series. He gave more wins to this organization than anyone but Hakeem. He needed another person as good as him and the org delivered all lesser players. I don’t give a F if he didn’t win against the odds.

Stop making excuses for the penny pinching.

 

Harden was fixing to have a restaurant here in Houston. Wonder how that turns out?

 

The fact that the team’s were good enough to win. With Dwight the year they went to the WCF Dwight missed 41 games, Pat Bev and Montejunis were out the whole playoffs. He carried a whole team with Jason Terry as the starting PG to the WCF and 56 wins, not to mention Kevin McHale was the coach. Then the first year of CP he actually had a team to win it all, but CP got injured, letting him down. And Russ just wasn’t good enough, we all know that. Plus, for some reason good shooters come here and start bricking. Only 2 years that I thought we had legit snipers were 2016-17, and 2017-18, so that part isn’t entirely true either. I didn’t like the exit just as much as most of y’all, but don’t let that cloud your judgment. But I don’t have to defend him anymore so I apologize, it’s a habit lol.

 

Taking any fan colored glasses off, I don’t see how anyone could deny the fact that in multiple crucial games, Harden’s effort waned. While national media and taking heads exaggerated Harden’s playoff busts, James did have a major tendency to get frustrated as he didn’t get foul calls he deserved and would shrink in big moments. In fact that OKC block last year erased the fact that he basically quit in that game before that final possession. He did that a decent amount over the years.

 

Harden will be the guy that couldn't get it done as a #1 and not much else.

Even shaq is part of that that talk and it's maybe a few names like Jordan and olajuwon.

So harden won't be in bad company if be wins.

I want nets to fail but if nets get to finals I want to see harden win and think of harden as a rocket in that moment with kd and kyrie...i don't think it will beat lakers but I'm interested to see if harden plays star or goes and sulks again and playoff disappearing like he does. Im rooting for him but I also am going to enjoy if he gets benched in key moment..
Maybe in that he will come back in 2 years..
"Finish what he started"
Doubtful and will then go to lakers

 

I agree. Harden was an unprofessional jack ass on the way out, but often times professional sports stars it ends badly. Shaq (Lakers & Magic ended badly) & Barkley ended badly with every team he played for. I like the haul of picks we got and Stone still has assets he can trade for more picks. It the Harden Era had more than run its course.

 

Then you don't know what giving your all is. He rarely played like he was the man in the playoffs. He didn't sacrifice one minute of his social time. He'd force the team to take days off when he was in certain cities, so he could get more of that playtime. He was always late to meetings and practice. He usually came back from the offseason out of shape. He mortgaged the team's future by demanding management acquire players. And in the last few games here it was obvious he'd quit. I appreciate the memories he gave us, but he never gave Houston his all. Never. It was always about what he wanted, and unfortunately, the Rox always acquiesced.

 

Not only did Harden quit on the team multiple times over the years when things got tough or he didn't get calls he wanted but we now know he was a locker room cancer in the way out... which makes you wonder how many times he's been that in the past and it was just blamed on others.

 

Incorrect. Half of those are pick swaps. You're also forgetting that the CP3/Westbrook trade cost us several of our own picks which are far more valuable. That's on Harden.

 

I wouldn't bet against one local pro team owner having a couple goons make a visit and check out the menu.....

 

Shaq is right.

James had some of his worst moments as a Rocket when the stakes were the highest. Really talented dude, but mixed with all the other stuff I’ll just never be a fan of his or look glowingly on his time here.
But to each their own.

 

Until they realize there is only one ball on the court