Sam Amick sources: Rockets decided not to pursue James Harden in FA

Thank you or the overview

 

Funny, I see it the other way around, but that's mainly because I don't view KPJ as an asset. And because I prefer Harden on a 1-year deal to having him for longer.

 

didn't like Morey. A showman and those have good marketing usually but aren't good. Riding off work of other people

 

Signing Harden would have been a huge mistake.

 

Oh I'd trade KPJ for harden, I would be more worried about losing KJM or someone else for one year of Harden.

I'd also just worry about dealing with Morey in general.

 

Rockets Changed Course On James Harden Pursuit After Arrival Of Ime Udoka

The Houston Rockets were long linked with a pursuit of James Harden as he had maintained a fondness for the franchise and for the city. The Rockets also wanted to accelerate their rebuild as they also enter the offseason with cap space.

But the situation may have shifted with the arrival of Ime Udoka as head coach.

"I think once Ime Udoka came in as head coach, they started looking at the roster," said Adrian Wojnarowski. "What they wanted to do in free agency. I think Fred VanVleet has moved to the top of the list in Houston.

 

So many thoughts on this situation:

-I always thought and still do think that the Rockets were always playing the market for Harden to try and help him in free agency as a legacy courtesy. I don’t think anyone in the org was naive enough to think this group was ready for a player like Harden at his age and stature. Maybe in two years where Harden is more of a side character mentor ala Jason Kidd with the Mavs, but it’s clear that Harden is still going to be ball dominant next season.

-Morey was super smart to resist the urge to work with Harden’s team before the league allowed it. As a repeat offender the league likely would have come down hard on the Sixers and it could have cost Morey his job. Some might think it’s just an excuse but knowing Morey as a fan for years I do think this played a huge role. The original sin here was last years offseason which, by getting caught, setup an awkward offseason this year.

-The Suns are so stupid for not holding off on the Beal trade to get Harden instead. Beal has the worst contract in the league sans maybe Ben Simmons, and as weird as he can be, Harden is still the better player. Harden also helps a contending team the most by regular season playoff seeding. He’s an excellent regular season star who can consistently be reliable and wins the games for you that you are supposed to win. Which for an aging team, is huge. It allows you to rest someone like Kevin Durant, and makes sure that you likely have home court in the post season. In the playoffs it’s a whole other story but even then as we saw in Philly, if for some reason KD or Booker miss a game or two, it’s still possible for him to win you a game in the postseason on his back… even though he’s likely to drop a turd most playoff games.

 

I say there is no chance .....

 

Funny because Harden picked up his option to be traded to a team that would have no cap space otherwise.....to precisely avoid the Rockets situation.

 

Not at all. Just a bunch of people doing things for profit above all else.

 

Thank You Ime!!! Looks like he was the one to smack some sense into Fertitta and Stone’s head. He looked at all of them sternly and said, ‘Put the James Harden crack pipe down!’

 

Now go get Kyrie

 

No offense to Sam Amick but why are we supposed to believe the insiders post hoc reporting as the true version rather than what they report for the previous 6 months?

Like if you're Woj/Shams etc and in the game of carrying water for agents or whoever by reporting Harden to Houston....er i mean Philly for 6 months - who's to say what we're hearing now isn't similarly motivated or mistaken?

 

I used to say it jokingly but there's a non zero chance the Rockets actually acquire buyout/bad contracts to get up to the salary floor and otherwise "run it back"

That possibility should disgust everyone here but a vocal minority will tell us it's a sign of virtue

 

This whole thing that Fertittas and Stone love this guy is bullsht, they are just saving face to look like they still like the guy. Everyone knows Harden is washed and fuked up when he left. I think the rox org never seriously considered Harden to come back

 

Maybe loving low EQ Harden "as a son" is part of Morey's low EQ evidence.

 

Morey does not even have to be the GM, he is the president of bball operations, he could very well just nod the head and transfer daily matters to the next GM.

As far as I can tell, probably just the thrill of making transactions.

Slippery Eel was one of his monikers.

 

Looks like FVV is now our max man...

 

Amen over Scoot. FVV over Harden.

Crack team of talent evaluators in this organization.