The “give me Harden over FVV” takes are embarrassing

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/most-wins-over-the-last-16-seasons-by-a-player

A loser. And always will be.

 

How many wins does he have THIS season compared to the Rockets?

 

Yeah. Makes me laugh when guys say Amen can't run point because of his turnovers. He should be initiating our offense 70% of the time he is on the floor. From the first time I saw him play, I said we had our superstar. I said he was going to have the best career in that draft. Said he would be all defensive player and perennial candidate for dpoy. Said he would develop a shot and better handles. Said his comp was Magic Johnson. More than 70% of this board dismissed me. Now most are claiming they knew all along and there are still a few diehards out there wanting to waste his time in the dunker spot. FVV should be a player coach from the bench for 20m or so or be gone. This team should be the modern version of "showtime" with just a couple of depth tweaks and Amen running the show next year.

 

I haven’t once ever in this thread advocated that we have brought Harden back. I didn’t want him back.

I actually agree with a lot of what you say. The hindsight being 20/20. Being skeptical of being able to turn around recent injury history at the time…play style meshing.

But there’s plenty of bullshit brought in by the anti Harden crowd I don’t agree with.

A loser, someone who would have tanked our defense, someone who would have destroyed our culture. Nah. Don’t buy it.

 

You are gaslighting yourself. You moved the goal posts. In 2023, as stated by the owner, the goal was to "walk before we can run". Nobody imagined the Rockets would be championship contenders in 2025.

Who cares if you think FVV or Harden is what the team "needs." The only thing that the team needs is wins.

 

That's fine. Don't buy it. That's just one opinion that can't be substantiated one way or another. The only thing that can be substantiated is that FVV is not negatively impacting the results of this team, regardless of how bad he's playing, and the Rockets have a flexible team option to see if they can make an upgrade this summer.

One viable result this summer is the Rockets flip FVV for KD (plus picks/change) at which point this conversation is moot.

 

Right. You are lumping me in with everyone else’s arguments. Im not here to negate FVVs impact. I think he was our most impactful player when it came to adding wins to this team last season. I think his signing was an overpay but a necessary one that didn’t harm our future cap. Hes had a bad year, but younger guys have filled the void….which is what we wanted.

I just can’t stand **** arguments. And there’s a lot of **** arguments about Harden made in here.

 

That’s not the point. The discussion was specifically about what Harden did in that Lakers series in 2020. He turned the ball over at least 5 times in 4 games of that series giving up 11.6 points per game from TOs.

 

Oh yes. Clearly if the Rockets replaced Harden with FVV and his career playoff 10ppg on 39% shooting and most importantly, 1 turnover per game, would be destroying the Lakers for sure.

 

What has Harden won? As with anyone who argues with me I invite you to go back and watch his playoff performances. Watch closely. If you don’t understand what you’re watching then there’s no point. The proof is in the game tape. I just watched 3 games he played in the 2020 Lakers series and his defense was pathetic. This has been the case his whole career. Just shooting and passing isn’t cutting it. Do you think the Rockets would win more playoff games or series if he boxed out more? Closed down driving lanes from the top of the key? Defended his assignments and rotated properly to his player? So many points given up due to laziness is unacceptable. This is why he hasn’t won anything in 15 years. A bum.

 

Who said that? At no point did I say that. At no point is that the topic of discussion. A fan argued that Harden performed well in that series and only cited surface level boxscore stats. I revealed that it wasn’t the case

 

Harden plays no defense. Has no interest in defense and that’s a fact

 

This is why I can't take antiharden fans seriously.

One of the greatest player to grace to court is called a bum simply bc he never won it all.

Hates the man so much has to hype up fvv, a guy we all can clearly see is subpar and overpaid as a starting pg for our team. Lets hope our youngsters takeover in the playoffs bc i have no faith fvv is going to do anything but lead us to a quick exit.

We beat two great teams recently man scored 13 pts and 3 pts. The guy is getting paid 40 mil to get carried. Just wild.

Oh but fvv is a winner since he won it all. let's just ignore that he got fking carried to a ring also on the raptors

 

Yes he is. I stand by that. Again boxscore watching. You obviously did not take my advice on actually watching the games. Maybe all your eyes see are the shiny three pointers and step backs. That’s on you to get better at understanding the game then.

 

Yep. I loved Harden at the time. We witnessed the coming of age of one of the best to have ever done it. And Harden got a lot of hate at the time cause he wasn't better than what he was. lol. The dude was freaking magical. On his defense, he was also better than what folks give him credit for, actually. He is/was a good low post defender.

But James "I am the system" Harden is not what this team needs. This team is about the future.

My biggest issue with Harden today is he has proven to be an integral part of the meltdown of 3 consecutive teams. He has some embarrassing playoff performances. And he demanded everything from the Rockets, got what he wanted, and then burned it down. So fine. Time to move on. You don't date exes.

 

Yep a bum and toxic. No longer here and we are winning.

 

Harden's game does not translate to the playoffs. It's why I am not scared of the Clippers. Unfortunately, the game is called dramatically different in the playoffs than the regular season. Defenders are able to hold perimeter players and free throws for all but GSW and Laker players are few and far between. Harden did choke from time to time, but I really think it was more of a factor of him not being able to get to the free throw line when it counted.

As far as the FVV vs. Harden argument, Harden would have been a disaster for the re-build and FVV was the perfect fit and perfect contract for the plan that the Rockets put forward from the very beginning. FVV's contract was brilliant and it still gives us the flexibility we need as we move into perennial contention, whether it be a trade asset or a valuable bench player.

 

He was strong and could guard some bigs in the post. I give him that. But everything else sucks. Simply because of no effort.

 

Which is why you are an idiot. And I stand by that.

 

The operative part of your sentence is "we beat two great teams". Just stop there. Did you want the Rockets to win better? What are you actually complaining about?

FVV's contract is not a burden. In fact, his contract genius. His contract has NO IMPACT on the team cap situation. If they didn't spend that money, they were under the salary cap and that money would have gone to Adam Silver instead. If they had Harden, they'd be locked in 2 more years. Stop complaining about his contract. It's basic logic. You are better than that.