That stretch in the regular season was nothing but fool’s good. The rockets shifted to a completely unconventional lineup to cater to him. So it would have been a shame if he didn’t do anything. It was new to the league and all the teams they played. Once the league adjusted and figured how what worked against them, it didn’t matter. Westbrick would always regress back to his normal self. The bubble wasn’t the beginning of the rockets struggles. The rockets were struggling right when the season paused. Teams like Boston and the clips had defensive blueprints lined up that the rockets Struggled with. Red flags of his fit were always apparent in the regular season. People just chose to ignore it. The good ole I’m gonna wait til after 20 games to judge. Then the I’m gonna wait til after the as break to judge. Then the I’m gonna wait til this lineup plays more games to judge. unfortunately, harden is stuck with him. He might be ok with that At this point just because they’re BFF’s. But one thing he’ll never do with him is win.
i don't want to be that guy.. but this is why i didn't like the WB trade in the first place. I thought we should have used THIS year as the "rebuilding/retooling year" and then go all in 2021/2022... so yes, we did waste this year of harden's prime on this grand experiment our stupid ownership wanted. /end rant
This season in my opinion didn’t really count. No fans in the stands. No energy over-all from ANY team... Everyone else aren’t playing for anything.
“I know I work my f---ing ass off,” Harden told Yahoo Sports. “I don’t feel I have to show the world what I’m doing or looking for credit, looking for love, looking for reassurances. This is the situation I’m in, and I’m just going to figure it out. I don’t know how long that’ll take, but that’s how I am. I’m just so focused, man. If a championship comes, it comes. But I’m going to continue to work my butt off until it comes. I’m not looking for any cop-outs, I’m not looking for any excuses, I’m not looking for anything else but putting my head down and keep working my butt off.” https://sports.yahoo.com/true-lake-...o-west-finals-rockets-in-limbo-150724895.html
I understand your frustration, and some of those years were indeed pitiful, but if you're trying to rob people of their enjoyment of teams that had hustle and Scola and Battier, it's a losing proposition. I honestly agree that those teams were more fun to watch than the analytics and iso-driven stuff. (shrug.) Yeah, we have better results now, and we were maybe a hammy away from a championship, which would have been super-sweet. But game for game enjoyment, I agree with those that it's literally more fun to watch a team over-achieve than it is to watch a team with a true superstar sputter and under-achieve. Just my take. But you're right to remind people just how little success we had before MDA and Harden teamed up. It's very true. But people can enjoy memories they find inspiring and I don't get why anyone would want to piss on that. Cheers.
You are right. It has (and hopefully will continue to be) a good run with Harden all these years. Second greatest Rocket ever. Things just haven't quite fallen into place for a championship (so far.) Unless he asks to leave, I say we ride out the rest of Harden's career and let him retire a Rocket. He's earned that right if he wants it. Even from a purely business standpoint, I don't think it makes sense to trade him. If you trade him while he's in his prime, you will be trading a dollar for three quarters, as they say. Draft picks are a total crapshoot, and are pretty overrated. Even the #1 pick in the draft has been extremely hit or miss over the last decade. Once Harden is past his prime, his trade value will be limited anyway. Once Harden is gone, it is likely to be bleak for 5-10 years. I'd rather push that eventuality as far away as possible, rather than do it now and watch him succeed on another team while we hope some low draft picks and d-league guys can actually play in the NBA. We've been through this in the early 2000s and it is not much fun. It took years before we even had a team that was good enough to lose in the first round. It took over a decade to get another true superstar that could carry the team out of the first round. I am in no hurry to end this era, because those of us who have been around for a while know what it is like on the other side.
it just bothers me when people sh*t on our current situation and try to act like what we had going on back then was so great...it wasn’t we were in a position no franchise ever wants to be in...not good enough to even be the 8th seed, but not bad enough to get a good pick...we were just irrelevant, mediocre, and desperate so desperate that we sign Trevor Ariza and try to prop him up as a potential star...so desperate that we’re trying to trade for Pau Gasol...so desperate that 1 of the top players on our free agency wish list in 2011 was Nene...so desperate that we gave poison pill contracts to Lin and Asik the Harden era hasn’t delivered us the ultimate prize, but there have been many damn good moments that far surpass anything we ever experienced when we were mediocre but had a lovable bunch of role players and zero expectations give me the heartbreak, the inability to get over the hump, the tough playoff losses etc over celebrating because we played with heart and only lost by 6 points to a good team with our role players who tried hard as we embarked on our journey to 40 wins Rockets have at least been invited to the biggest party of the year and had a shot to ask out the hottest girl...back then we were just the uninvited nerd stuck at home reading comics the Harden era has been a blessing...unfortunately, we just can’t get over the hump
Harden did his best. Honestly I know you are always supposed to have the mindset that you wanna win it all but honestly have we ever been Favored in any of these losses? Basketball especially is a game where the favored team almost always wins except the 2016 cavs. Harden is not a lebron but y’all treating him like a choker is wrong. Look at MVP caliber guys like Giannis, he’s been exposed and fans would still kill to have him. Try out life without harden for a bit y’all whiny b****es
That's my takeaway this year. Harden was very good in these playoffs. The Ringer and other writers will cling to their standard narrative blaming Harden for shrinking in the playoffs, but that really wasn't the case this year. I think he played as well, as consistent, and as under control as I have seen him in the playoffs. He had almost all good games, except for maybe 1 or 2 poor shooting games. But even in those games, he was strong in other areas. His defensive improvement is outstanding. The Rockets were just clearly outmatched against the Lakers. Their double teaming prevented Harden from having his crazy scoring outbursts, but he did his best to overcome it. I think the next adjustment will be to find real, effective counters to overcome the double-teaming strategy (both on the team and individual level). This strategy was employed against the Rockets all year, and it was often effective. They never seemed to find a consistent way to beat it.
I say start over gut the team and trade Harden and Westbrook now. They aren't winning anything anytime soon. DD
You know we aren't winning with Fertitta as the owner and our rebuild is likely going to extend to the typical Knicks/Kings timeframe where we suck for 10+ years. Maybe you enjoy that sort of likely scenario, but I don't. I ride out Harden's prime and enjoy it because Tilman/Patrick are going to ruin the Rockets for a lot of us (it's already started).
In the 25 years after our last championship, the team that made me proudest as a Rockets fan was the 2009 team. They pushed the stacked Lakers team to 7 games after we lost Yao.
John Wall looking spry. Beasley too. Harden is amazing man, something about that eye level camera got me (again). His skill set is unreal and people hate him for it. Even people here begging to trade him because they'd rather feel nothing at all than the pain of knowing they're alive and close to a chip!
That team was awesome. It's a curse that this team can never be fully healthy in the playoffs, regardless of who is playing on the team.
