ESPN Sources: James Harden was not in Houston today but told Rockets FO he will be soon

Keep riding the harden train if you wish....I got off at the last exit.

 

James Harden is far more talented than all those guys. In fact, I'd rather have a lineup with James Harden than a lineup with CP3, Brodie and Howard in it. Your hate for the man is clear to me. I'm curious to know if you know that you hate Harden?

 

You, my friend, are spot on! He took my damn “time” and “energy” cheering and defending dude...(something I can’t get back)...
I understand it’s entertainment - and when the movie or show I’m watching gets ridiculous, I turn it off.

I’m not those fans that take it personal to the point they burn jerseys; but I will vent and shift focus and root fit guys that want to be rockets.

 

If it was any other year I’d say he just needs to blow off some steam and he gets his super powers from big booty strippers anyways.

What’s different besides the trade request is Covid. He knows damn well he’ll have to quarantine now or risk infecting the entire team if he shows up and infects the team during camp which could screw up the season before it starts. It’s as reckless as what House did and Harden is supposed to be a leader.

 

He was our 300 foot anchor in 3,000 foot seas. He had no choice but to steer and fight the swells in the deep blue sea, but he tossed the anchor into the abyss anyway. Great success.

 

I like that Wall is running the show at practice for now. He'll need to learn to turn on and turn off being the man. Learning to be the man is the hard part. I hope he learns everything he can about the offense before James comes back. We'll need Wall to play a big part this year and I want him to be as comfortable as possible with the playbook and players. Harden? He's pretty much always playing good ball. When was the last time he got less than 20 points in a game? He'll figure it all out, no worries here.

 

More than anything this just confirms that Harden isn’t that smart of a person.

If you want to be traded this isn’t the best way to force that hand. Even if it ultimately gets you what you want - a trade - it will come at a cost. First and foremost A cost to his reputation. There’s not a single National or regional media person right now whose like “oh yeah I get what he’s doing. He’s upset at Tillman and Tillman’s a cheap owner so it makes sense!!” Rather every analyst on every show is like “dudes a baby!!” I know because I’ve been listening.

it’s not a good look and is pretty close to cementing Harden in that tier of players definitely below Wade, Curry, etc...

he likes to have a me against the media persona but at the end of the day you’re remembered how you’re remembered.

If you want to hold out... you just say you’re holding out. You dont do this I’ll be there eventually thing while there are endless pictures of you partying in the middle of a pandemic. You just say “look I’ve asked to be traded. I gave it a good run. Everyone else has jumped ship. I’m holding out till a trade”. Maybe at least then a few media folks respect the stance to a degree. After all Tillman does suck.

but second... GMs pay attention too. Less teams will want this dude. Ok... but how about the one team he wants, the Nets. Lol. Yeah good luck getting them excited about adding this attitude to a team with KD and Kyrie.

fine let’s say miraculously this works for him. He holds out in this passive aggressive way that makes everyone hate him, Tillman and co are like “f it” and trade him to the Nets for a crap package. Well you’re now in the biggest media market of them all having just acted like a baby while playing with the 2 other stars that have leadership issues. Good luck with that.

as for me... I’m indifferent. I think this roster with him committed can be good. But if he’s not committed fine... just don’t give him away. Get a great return and it’s still possible to have a competitive season while also setting the team up for future growth.

 

It was his friend's birthday, let him live *******.

Every season (with the exception of the year McHale got fired), he has come into the season better than the previous having worked hard in the offseason prior. Feel like he has earned the benefit of the doubt here based on track record alone.

Drunk coke head? Why? Because he likes to occasionally go out and you occasionally see it on social media? He's a human being. Do you just stay home 24/7 living a miserable life??

 

He's like Achilles in the beginning of Troy. "He's not my king."

 

He definitely parties more than the average player. Even OKC management saw this between their trio of future MVPs.

 

Hahaha. He's like, "Hey Stoner, I'll be there soon. I'll report to training camp the same day Buddy Hield does. *click*"

 

On the court however, he has improved every season he has been here. There's no way anyone can convince me the guy doesn't work.

He violated COVID protocols and will likely have to go into a mandatory 14-day quarantine. Maybe he just wants to get it out of his system before he goes through that.

The bubble was rough on a lot of players....

 

I don't think he's improved every season. His best seasons to me were 2015 and 2018.


If he is such a "gym rat', then he has a severe diet issue and eats a lot of trash because I expect gym rats to have lower bf%. He did in 2015 and 2018. He was very lean in those years.

 

Disagree. You can see it defensively for sure, offensively: he has been dominant but constantly adding new moves to his arsenal.

 

Maybe he's just trying to get it all out his system:

 

Tuesday

5:45

Guaranteed

 

Naw. He's narrowed down his offensive game to be more gimmicky. He had more moves in 2015 than today.

He got more "old man strength" has he's gotten older so he's become a better post defender but I would say he's worse at help defense and switching on the perimeter today than in 2018.

 

Did you miss all of 2016?

 

When is the last time you heard say anything substantive to the media or even use the media? He never has, the only time in a decade that I can remember him ever saying anything to the media was when he called McHale a clown, and I think that really just caught him off guard. Otherwise he essentially addresses nothing publicly. In the past Daryl Morey would just call Harden (based on their relationship) and that was it. Now, he doesn't have a strong relationship with anyone. Is it annoying, yeah it can be.... but it isn't anything new, just the circumstances have changed. I suspect he didn't report in part because he didn't want to deal with any questions about the Nets.

The fact that he is following Cousins and Wall on instagram and that he reached out to the front office stating he will be in soon is about as good as you are going to get from Harden unless you have a really strong relationship with him. John Wall wouldn't say what he said if he didn't have the blessing of Harden to do so.

This also shows me that Harden doesn't completely trust his teammates, then again after he was essentially doubled and tripled in the LA series and no one stepped up, I can see where he is coming from.