Lets say we still have no harden, but had kept CP3. Would this be a playoff team? At least we would have kept our picks. I am going to argue yes. No one thought that okc team was making the playoffs last year and he almost took them to the second round. Suns have greatly over performed their expectations, and he is probably their best player.
It’s a hard call because by his own administration the trade was an embarrassment to him as a player and he took it very personally driving him to his return.
Does it matter? CP3 is 35. The Rockets would be headed towards an inevitable rebuild anyways, we just got to that point now instead of a few years down the road.
what’s done is done...Rockets just need to tank, hopefully keep their pick, and then aim for a good pick the following 2 years as well
Would CP3 have gone vegan if he stayed in Houston? I think the answer for that holds the answer. Vegan CP3 makes the playoffs here in Houston.
Depends honestly. If we had kept CP3 the Harden trade scenario changes. We aren't looking for draft picks we are looking for win now situations.
Yes. CP3 is a winner. If the purpose was to win, then he would try to win. People that were worried about tanking were mainly worried that players that haven't won anything would infect the other players with that loser mentality. CP3 is a winner he would at least nag players into competing. at the very least he would educate when losing. Rockets arent trying to win though.
the problem is this was the wrong year to tank. Even with bottom 4 record there is 47% chance OKC gets the pick.
i dont get the obsession with no 4 picks.. we already have a ton of picks.... you can pick great players with any pick if you do your homework...
U think tanking/rebuilding is just a 1 season thing? Chances are we’ll be horrible next season too. U think 1 of these players in the draft is about to be Duncan or Hakeem? Even the Sonics/OKC with a prospect like KD still ended up picking 4th and then 3rd the following 2 seasons.
Does Wood still get injured in this scenario and our other PFC is Boogie Cousins with the athleticism of Chris Farley? And are our wings still House and Tucker? I love Paul, all time top 5 favorite Rocket, top IQ, top competitor, but winning takes a roster.
So, like... CP3 / Wall / Oladipo / Tucker / Wood Gordon / Nwaba / House / Tate / Cousins? I would say no. But we wouldn't have Wall without Westbrook, and we wouldn't have Westbrook without CP3. It's too hypothetical with too many moving pieces.
I doubt it. CP3 isn't a heavy enough scorer. He's a very good playmaker and can score in the clutch, but he would need better role players around him than Harden had.
While we're in hypothetical world, it really depends on what trading Harden would have gotten us ... as Oladipo and a lot of picks wouldn't have happened back in 2018-2019. If it's even a borderline all-star 2 guard though, I think it's a lock for playoffs. Wood would grow more on the intangibles and defensive side of the ball while averaging his 25 & 10 so that'd also be amazing. Really depends on if we'd have capable wings at that point. As much as everyone wrote off OKC last year, they had very good role players around cp3. Shai was and still is a borderline all-star guard in this league, Shroeder was an excellent 6th man, they had gallo for floor spacing, and solid bigs in adams and noel. Not to mention that their young guys had the potential to learn as the year went on and produced real value (dort, bazley).
