Can’t be mad at the return. It’s kind of hard to get max value for a player when he blatantly quits and wants out. Whatever the picks end up being I’m sure it will be better than the poo poo platter we got for Scottie when he quit on us.
I will not stand for any slander against Stacey Augmon, Kelvin Cato, Ed Gray, Carlos Rogers, Brian Shaw and especially the Wizard himself, Walt Williams.
If the hope is that those Nets picks turn into lotto picks then even KD getting injured wouldn't help. All Harden needs is 4 players--G League, Euro, Undrafted, Washed, you name it--on the court that can run and rebound and he can will that team to the playoffs.
This core will not play together for 2 more years. Even if they win a ring or not. I suspect they will leave sooner than later. The Nets are not going to take a chance and trade them away for whatever they can as soon as there's noise about not taking extensions.
Was that Cato's nickname lol? I mean weren't we all entertained that fateful night of preseason basketball that netted Kelvin $42 million dollars?
Thanks for the reminder on just how poopy that platter was. I remember Augmon refusing to play for us. As if his 4ppg was too good for us.
What have we learned from the recent Heat/Warrior/Laker superteams? They don't last long (2-3 years) before they break up (Heat/Warriors) or break down (Lakers) The previously super team falls off quite a bit afterwards Sure, the Nets might buck this trend and stay together and be competitive for the entire time the Rockets own their draft, but I think its unlikely. It's also unlikely that the Rockets will be continue to be terrible for the entire run and these picks/swaps will be used to bolster the team in later years. Could the Rockets maximized this return even further? Probably, but not enough that I'm going to worry about it.
Yes, it was his nickname for years. He had only decent season for us. I opposed giving him that huge contract based on that pre-season performance.
Prime Harden? Yes ~33-35 year old Harden? Doubtful The injuries started this year. It's going to go downhill from here. Harden works very hard at his craft, but he lives pretty hard off the court. He also doesn't seem like he trains in a hyper-efficient manner to maximize longevity like Lebron. Last year they had the anecdote about him running stairs in the hotel during the bubble. That's great for building up his wind. It's not really great for minimizing impact on his joints. Melo was an all-star in 2017 at age 32. One year later he was replacement level in OKC at age 33. A year after that he was pretty much out of the league. For nearly everyone it goes pretty quick when you start getting into your 30's. I'd bet on BKN being very good again next year (and now we've got the Miami swap to hedge a little for that). After that I think the fall is going to happen pretty quick unless they pull a rabbit out of a hat like getting a franchise player in the second round, the current Big 3 leaves and they somehow sign younger franchise players in their place, etc.
melo is your example to use for harden. He's been a replacement level player for years bc hes only been a scorer for his career. Hes never had much versatility. Harden is dramatically better than melo in every way and it isn't close. Everything from IQ to actual basketball skills. It's funny how we have folks that still dont understand what actually ages well and everything about Harden's game will age fine. Yes he will still be an elite player after next year. So Harden in a span of 2 years is just going to fall pretty quick. The same one dropping monster triple doubles right now and getting W's. Yeah not happening
Years ago the Celtics traded Pierce and KG for nothing. That ended being very good for the Celtics way down the line. Also, if Harden pulls a Lebron and comes back, and now we have major assets from a depleted Brooklyn, then we're looking very good.
I can't tell if people are genuinely just stupid or acting that way with this "we traded Harden for nothing" nonsense. Maybe it goes poorly and we end up with an underwhelming package, maybe it goes our way and we get a lot, but certainly not nothing.
This notion that the Rockets will end up with absolutely nothing for James Harden is silly. A lot happens in 7 years.
Harden will bounce to the West Coast before it's all said and done. Nets won't be around for a long time, win 1-2 and break it up.
