[Feigen] Four grueling months: the road to the James Harden trade

I know you guys hate all the tilmans and think everything is spin, but this feigen article painted zero villains. Everything seemed like an "it is what it is" scenario. And yet, a lot of you guys are not having it. I dont know what more you want from a bad situation.

If anything, Westbrook looked the worst out of the whole article.

 

He actually did. Patrick was the first port of call and almost always physically present at the front office. He was also involved with almost every contract negotiation. There was an interview with Patrick recently where this was clearly on display (was it posted here? I get most of my Rockets information from clutchfans anyhow)

 

The stuff about Harden declining to weigh in or give clear signals throughout the process rings very true. One his defects, as a star who needed to be a team leader, is that he tends to retreat when he's unhappy, instead of communicating clearly and constructively. That eye roll he once gave in a postgame interview, before cutting off the interview and walking away, is classic.

 

Great piece. I tend to think most of it is right, and I can see Tillman being as hands off as described. I think Tillman did force Morey's hand on the Russ trade that set us back (though that was in response to Harden demanding the trade be made and I'm guessing both applied pressure here), and I think Harden's comments after that Lakers loss did force the FO's hand, even if they had been negotiating for some time. I don't think he gets moved as quickly if he didn't come out, although I'm sure he would have been moved in the next few days either way.

 

I want to believe everything in this article is correct.

 

Pat is Harden's "Son Figure"

 

This is extremely interesting, and suggestive.

Project this story backward onto the CP-for-Westbrook trade. Presti, like Stone, told Morey what he wanted in order to complete the deal. Morey thought then, as he thought in the proposed Harden deal, that the demands were too high. The difference, apparently, was that in Houston, Morey was overruled by the owner. In Philadelphia, he wasn't.

 

Yea I saw this on Twitter. It was a good read.

 

It looks like Feigen will retire soon. He's beefing up his financial security, saying whatever he needs in public till it's time to exit.

Like Harden, MDA and Morey. Very authoritarian environment, never seen so many NBA people so hopeless about change that they're willing to smile and nod while things are on fire.

 

Not defending Westbrook but we are supposed to take this Tilman endorsed fluff piece at face value?

This is Tilman PR machine at full throttle.

In a way I hope it is and full of crap because what's worse than Tilman runnign the show?

Tilman Jr. running the show lol

PS. Feigen just trying to save his job and stay relevant.

 

No, not at all, but Westbrook's play and attitude seem like the straw that broke the camel's back.

 

But Westbrook wanting out anyways would have been more of an incentive for Morey, Harden, & Mike to stay. Him wanting out and them not having to force him out was the easy solution if they wanted to get rid of him and go back to normalcy.

Clearly this is was about more than just Westbrook.

They all ran away from Tilman.

 

But when I called the lackey a lackey, he and the board jumped on me for it.

Does Stone know he is building a team till it's ready to compete and then Feigan & co will undercut him with scathing narratives to make way for Patrick? I bet he's ok with that though.

 

When you are a "faux" billionaire one of the best things for you to spend your money on is good PR.

 

Rockets needed young pieces. Rockets needed another big man.

Why the **** didn't we keep Jarrett Allen??? Rather have him vs Exum and a pick. Allen would be killing it next to Wood and way better than Cousins.

 

Never saw any lack of communication with Morey and D'Antoni.

This is revisionism.

 

A lot of people are desperate for there to be a big bad villain that caused this break up. Sometimes things just run their course.

 

Good, detailed article and a good read.
However, it starts from the point where those who were planning to leave had already made up their minds to do so. What was left was merely the execution of their plans, not the reasoning as to why they wished to leave in the first place.

So, you get Morey vaguely (and it turns out falsely) talking about spending some time away from basketball, or D'Antoni (politely) saying he just wanted to avoid a possible messy contract situation. Even Harden's ambivalent behavior seems typical of a person with one foot out the door already, but wishing to avoid outright confrontation. And IMO they're all behaviors that anyone who's worked as a manager in a company would have seen at some point.

So, it seems futile for Feigen to repeatedly point out how in the past four months, the owner did nothing to directly cause these actions. Whatever motivated these "disgruntled" employees to decide to fly the coop would have taken place before then, and what Feigen is describing is just the organization trying to put out the fire.

 

Lots of words and spin to reiterate that our team and management is among the worst in the league. Good thing nobody reads his ****.