Bless you, James Harden!

I would listen to arguments for Harden over Hakeem as a player (though I probably wouldn't agree), but Hakeem is miles above Harden when it comes to being a teammate, a leader, and as a person.

 

tilman has quotes saying things like “basketball Ops got a little weak on the trade at the end , but I believe you have to make moves in this business”

harden and CP3 not liking each other was rumored , but neither said anything publicly about not wanting to play with each other .

I’m sure James was sick of Dwight too in 15-16 , but we didn’t trade him ... we let him walk . CP3 was a FA after his first year here .We could have let him walk , some a SnT then ...

For the harden story to make sense he would have had to not mind playing with CP3 the first year , then done a complete 180 and threatened to leave right after the next season .

I can believe harden would prefer to play with WB over CP , but not to the point where he is leveraging leaving the team .

I think there’s much more evidence on the Tilman side of things , not bringing back Ariza (not saying he had to ) , but in combination with other cost cutting moves , Morey choosing to leave , MDA publicly disputing with him ... I think it’s much more likely Tilman is the root of disruption .

granted , he’s the owner . He gets to do what he wants . He can build a team in the image of his liking . But taking big **** about how he wants to pay the LT and then finding a way for us to get under it every year while other contenders pay for that marginal piece rubs me the wrong way .

All of this on every side is speculation . Both Tilly AND James could be diva’s . But I can’t agree that Harden “destroyed” the rockets . Especially given how good we’ve been ... much of that due to harden .

every player has flaws . Even previously thought of saint Kawhi Leonard forced his way out of SA and working with popovich .

 

That's what seems to have happened. CP3's first season was the best season in franchise history for the team, the next season CP3 and Harden started getting into it a bit as CP3 had a down season across the board.

After the season ended being less competitive against the Warriors than they were the previous season, it led to Harden wanting CP3 gone....and he got his way....and they just so happened to flip him for one of Harden's closest friends which is the move that destroyed the franchise in the near term.

So you either believe all of this is a coincidence or you look for a scapegoat so you don't have to blame Harden for what he did.

While it's true that the primary reason why the Rockets were as good as they were was due to Harden being amazing, that doesn't change the fact that Harden was also the primary reason why the best team in franchise history was destroyed.

Once that team was destroyed and the franchise had no path forward, no one wanted to hang around for rebuilding. Could Fertitta have told Harden to shut up and stay in his lane? Sure, but that likely leads to him demanding a trade sooner. There was no positive outcome available once CP3 and Harden started to get into it and Harden decided to throw his weight around.

 

Snottie Pippen still alive. . . . ..

Rocket River

 

Not sure I really agree with this. Sure he played against a few great centers, Robinson, Shaq, Ewing etc. But he also played against some really bad centers that wouldn't even be able to step on the court today. Plenty of scrubs back in the day. Oliver Miller, Greg Ostertag, Luc Longley, Joe Kleine, Felton SPencer. Bill Wennington. Danny Schayes list just goes on and on.