After watching Harden literally quit & stop competing in multiple elimination games, not sure why any Rocket fans are rooting for him. Will never respect a quitter
Yes. There are many here under the fantasy that Harden playing for the Rockets would be the same focused player he is with the Clippers.
I'm rooting for them, I don't hold grudges against players like that and none of yall really do. We all know if you saw Harden walking around you'd be trying to get him to sign something and take a picture, its not that personal. Harden didn't ask out because of anything Rocket fans did or he hated the city. He just understood the team needed to rebuild and he wasn't going to stick around for it.
I'm not rooting for the Clippers, but I'm somewhat happy for Harden. If the Rockets and the Clippers play against each other, I'm going to root for the Rockets all the way.
Rooting is too strong a word but I would say I hold some sympathies. They shouldn't have zero chips while the Lakers won 17.
I don't actively root for them, but generally now that time's passed a little, I do find myself rooting for James when I watch him play now. He's my second favourite player of all time, I have more of his jerseys than every single other player combined. If we don't win it'd be great if he got a chip (then came home and helped us get one lol.) Obviously, if we see the Clippers I hope we destroy them and that he disappears for them under intense Amen-fuelled pressure. But yeah, I think I'll always be a Harden fan, I'm too emotional invested not to be.
We match up pretty poorly with Denver. Happy to have the Clippers take the Nuggets out. The Clips offer a few unique challenges and might be more of a problem for OKC. But it won't matter all that much. The Thunder will be in the Western Conference finals. Over the years, my animosity toward Harden has faded. When he finished that playoff series like he was stoned, I thought the team should have shipped him out. I'm happy he's playing better now and that his game has evolved away from the constant foul hunting, which is now obsolete.
To be honest, Harden asking out at that time actually helped the team quite a bit from a long term perspective. The roster was depleted of assets by that time and we needed to move on.
I didn’t have a problem with him asking out. The way he went about it was very unprofessional. Same with his exit from Philadelphia. He’s a bit of diva, but I think he has genuine appreciation for his time in Houston so I can’t hold a grudge against him. Seeing him win would be a bit of a vindication against the critics that unfairly bashed him over the years.
I wish that during his time in Houston Harden was able to play the way he’s been the last few years…as more of a pass-1st pure point I sometimes imagine him playing that way, but with the burst and finishing ability he had in his prime could’ve been possible if we had managed to pair him up with a an elite pure scorer…CP3 and Dwight were definitely not that
Other than Harden, I can't think of any reason why we Rockets fans should root for the Clippers. I don't have any emotional investment in Harden anymore. I used to appreciate Leonard, how he had improved from a defensive specialist to a complete player. But over the years, I've been gradually losing respect for him. I generally root against all California teams. The Kings are my least hated relative to others because they had never been relevant other than those few years under Adelman. The Clippers are somewhat the same.
This has been my point. The Rockets were ready for full rebuild. MVP Harden could not take John Wall and Boogie Cousins to the Finals I don't think anyone could. The Rockets management were very stubbornly not trying to rebuild quickly, didn't want to spend (wisely) or what have you. Leaving jumpstarted everything we have today for that I am. grateful 2 or 3 more years of Harden would not have changed that ALSO. . . . He knew Silas wasn't the one before anyone else did evidently His Pure Point with the guys we had would not have been enough Not even close. We'd be like . . .i dunno . . .Atlanta Rocket River
His mind was already on his way out. Harden has become this star that one has to cater to hard to please him.
