It's going to be weird considering how much love and loyalty Morey and Harden has for one another. I think Morey will convince Harden to pick up the player option and punt the extension talk to next summer. If I was Daryl I'd tell James to pick up the option, get in the best condition of your life this summer, come back to play at 80% of what you were in Houston, help get the team to at least the ECF and THEN we can talk extension.
One thing I’ll say though is that Miami was still throwing like three guys at Harden last night. Obviously coaches still are afraid of the guy going off or just don’t respect the other Sixers players. So that tells you alot. The first thing it tells me is Maxey needs to get better at running the offense. Doc’s lack of trust in letting him run the offense was interesting. They gotta let him play a larger role than Corey Brewer.
He might push trading Embiid for Westbrook but Harden was unclear in his post game interview if he knew exactly what to do yet...
People rightfully call out Harden's playoff performances but the spotlight needs to be on Rivers once they get done killing James on social media and TV. For every one great play Rivers calls there are probably a dozen questionable plays/calls he makes. He isn't a mystical healer that could have revived Embiid's fracture face or Harden's hammy but you gotta be able to trust Maxey or put him in a situation where he takes on that role.
He’s gonna opt out. The only team that will give him a max deal is Phili if Daryl and him are still best buds but nobody else will. He will get paid but 5/150 to 165 range is where he will be. Very few GM’s wanna touch this because of his negotiations in Houston and Brooklyn and his performances in Brooklyn and Phili which is where he wanted to be. FAT JAMES gonna be on insta all summer posting workouts of him getting shredded for next season!
Ranking the five teams involved in the James Harden trade saga (msn.com) Awesome article. Looks like our team is slowly redeeming themselves.
“We’ve seen these type of performances from Harden before.” “We’ve never seen a superstar of Harden’s ilk have a bigger decline from regular season to postseason on a consistent basis.” “At some point in time, we have to accept this is who James Harden is in the postseason. We keep trying to find excuses. “What happened!? What happened!?” How many times do you have to ask what happened when you’ve seen it over and over before you realize what’s happening is gonna continue to happen because this is who the guy is.” “Those rappers and entertainers you’re hanging with and hanging out until 5/6 AM, they can sleep all day. They get to do this until they’re 50. … You don’t have that shelf life. Get your butt in the gym.” “He’s almost like Iverson. Did not take care of himself. When that snowball is on the hill and you push it, it’s gone. We’ve seen Harden decline so quickly.” “That step back, he needs to throw that thing in the trash.” “He looked so disinterested last night. It’ll be hard for someone to convince me that Harden gave a damn about that game last night.” “I’m reading in USA Today this morning “There are whispers around the league James Harden isn’t healthy.” BALONEY! Are we gonna do this again? Is he gonna be career long not healthy? There’s always something with him.” “The truth is James quit a long time ago. That’s the God’s truth. It’s not a game situation, it’s a career situation.”
I think you are correct that Morey will attempt to go that direction, but I don't believe that Morey OR Harden have any loyalty to anyone at all, let alone to one another. I don't think Harden has any interest in a "prove it" season, the reason he keeps forcing his way off teams is because he's tired of having to put forth so much effort, he wants to ride coattails. I think if a long term deal isn't offered, he'll force his way out once again and go somewhere, anywhere, that will break the bank for him. He's still good enough to get a scrub team into the playoffs and at this point I don't think there's ANYONE that can carry him all the way to a championship, so I think he temporarily abandons his quest for a ring and just looks to get one more massive payday. After that final payday, maybe he signs minimum deals looking to snipe a ring as a role palyer at the very end of his career.
I feel like if James opts out SOMEONE will give him the max. We've seen lesser players get the Max and some of these teams will be willing to bet on James Harden vs whoever else is out there. Chandler Parsons got a max.... I guess it'll be more about if James wants to play on a mediocre team and hard carrying as he ages, maybe there is a Phoenix situation that works for him though? I don't think it happens though, I think him opting in is what is best for both sides. I do agree that there is no way Morey wants to give him the max.
Yeah but once he gets the contract, he doesn't have to do any heavy lifting, they are obligated to pay him no matter what. I think getting that guaranteed money is the only thing that matters to him at this point. He's been paired up with Chris Paul, KD, Kyrie, and Embiid....none of it was enough to carry him, so I don't think there's a scenario where he's able to find a team that can carry him as a main piece. That means he needs to choose between a ring chase and a final payday. I think he picks the payday. The situation in Philly is already starting to get toxic between him and Embiid, I don't see it getting better over time.
SAS: “This was one of the most atrocious performances by a star in NBA history.” SAS: “James Harden was so bad last night, it looks like he almost did it on purpose.” AS: “It did look intentional. Seems like James doesn’t want Doc as head coach. He has history of when not liking something, shutting down. We saw last night he shut down. Then “Next question” in the postgame lets me know he doesn’t really agree with Doc being HC.” KP: “I blame all of it on James Harden. Are we starting to see the pattern? Gets into it with Dwight, Dwight outta there; CP3 comes in, don’t see eye-to-eye, CP3 outta there; Russ gets there, Russ outta there; all of a sudden he wants out, doesn’t show up to TC and when he does, he’s outta shape. Forces his way to Brooklyn. Gets to Brooklyn with his guy Kevin Durant. Hadn’t been talking in years because Harden wanted KD in Houston when he decided to go to GS. KD says let’s make a run at it now. Harden bounces on Durant. You get to Philly. Now you quit on Doc Rivers. You quit. Why? You want things to go James Harden way. … If a person shows you who they are, believe them.” KP: “Him and Joel Embiid are two different people on two different agendas. We’ll see Harden in the next 2 weeks with Lil Baby or poppin’ bottles in the club. You won’t see Embiid doing that. He’s in the lab getting better.” SAS: “Kendrick Perkins brought up Houston. Dwight Howard didn’t work. CP3 didn’t work. Westbrook didn’t work. These were moves made specifically because Harden wanted them. When they went to the WCF and lost the next year, Harden went to the back room in Toyota Center and told Tilman Fertitta “I want CP3 outta here.” They did what he wanted them to do.”
Use your eyes. He’s done. He’s an iso guy who can’t beat anyone off the dribble anymore. He’ll opt in because that’s the last bit of a max deal that he’ll ever see. He’s played too many minutes on & off the court. And next year he’ll just be a year older. No way anyone gives this guy another max deal.
Oh I agree, I wouldn't give him the max, no way no how, I don't think he has the drive to keep in shape and motivated to make it worth it for his later years...but I think there are teams foolish enough and desperate enough to do it. They'll say he's better than any other guard they can get and hope he proves the world wrong. I can't think of a Suns scenario either...maybe the Pelicans is a place where he can really just slot in there and the team could take off, I doubt they have the cap space for that kind of move. Spurs have that kind of cap space but not much there for him to work with. I dunno man, I've seen lesser players get the max. We have one of them on our team. Teams are desperate for star power and as long as there's like 2-3 teams bidding for his services there is a potential for one of them to just give him the max. Every summer we see teams overpay for players most NBA fans are just crossing their fingers that their teams don't do anything dumb every offeason.
Ahh, it's nice to soak in all the sports media hot takes about James Harden when he's not playing for the Rockets anymore. When James Harden quit on the Rockets in the playoffs I basically shunned sports media for 1 week.
