But he also wanted Jimmy Butler BEFORE asking for Westbrook. There was no holdout or any negative fallout resulting in that not getting done. And per Morey, Harden was also informed that the Westbrook deal wasn't happening either and he accepted it. It was Tilman, who hated the CP3 contract with a passion and voiced that displeasure often and openly, who overrode his "ops team" and pushed that trade through at the urging of Patrick.
unless I am mistake The things I have read was "Build a team around me or trade me." Which is a pretty common place saying among star players i.e. SPEND THE F*CKING MONEY!! Rocket River
How about when Butler joined the Timberwolves? Is that more relevant? Out of curiosity, what do you think is more valuable? An elite center or an elite shooting guard?
Yeah....he didn't throw Harden under the bus by letting everyone know he was being a petulant child and demanding a trade if he didn't get his way, is that what you would have preferred he do? I'm pretty sure you'd have a thing or two to say about it if that's what he had done, or worse, if he had told Harden no. The same people who are complaining about how he handled it would be even louder about their complaints if he had done literally anything else.
Lebron has also earned the right to make that demand. Finals appearances and titles have followed him wherever he's gone.
Lebron took player empowerment to several different levels and held 3 franchises hostage to his demands. He was literally the de facto GM AND the coach of both the Cavs AND the Lakers. And Butler forced himself of TWO teams in 3 years. None of this shyte is new.
Butler isn't nearly on the same level as Harden. In the modern NBA an elite shooting guard is more valuable....... Also we are not just talking about an elite shooting guard....... we are talking about one of the 2-3 best offensive players even that for the last 8 years has average 30 points a game and over the last two years has averaged 35 points a game. Embid is a very good player, but he isn't THAT good........ couple that with Morey being in Philadelphia, and Harden would have more power than any player on that roster for sure, for at least the next couple years. The Sixers only bring in Harden if they want to win a title in the next 2-3 years..... if they do not strongly believe that happens, they don't want him.
Then use other superstars as examples. Using Lebron is asinine. He's a top 3 GOAT. He's an obvious outlier.
Silly question. What era do you think the NBA is currently in do you think? *Hint: rules favor guard play
He didn't throw Harden under the bus? First, he and Morey have both publicly said that Harden wanted to play with Westbrook; so he didn't "save" Harden at all. What Tilman was doing was either being truthful, that he as the owner wanted Westbrook (and we know he didn't want Paul) and forced the trade ......... or he was lying and wanted all the credit for the move when the move was good and threw his basketball operations people under the bus stating that they didn't want the trade. Also, as for protecting Harden, where the hell do you think all these stories coming out now are coming from? It is coming from the owner. How could Tilman have handled it? How about not throw anyone under the bus that works for him? How about not get into minute details or god forbid do what other owners do and say very little. Tilman has brought all of this upon himself.
Michael Jordan (before AND during his championships) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Wilt Chamberlain Moses Malone Kevin Durant (with OKC and BKN) Steph Curry (wanted KD) We can keep going but learn how to google if your knowledge of NBA is so limited.
I disagree. Look at it this way....if you pair a legitimate star guard (not a pretender like Simmons) with Embiid, you'll get a certain level of production. What caliber of center would you need to pair with Harden to meet or exceed that level of production? And in the playoffs, we've also seen how easily neutralized he is. Harden's iso-centric style isn't winning basketball.
That fits... Westbrook is NOT an efficient scorer and his play style would only lend to getting injured... that’s why he is constantly injured... better to put him in the crappy eastern conference... that’s where old, injured players go... or you wanna have good stats vs. crappy Semi-g-league teams and you your value. Let’s face it, the Rockets/Daryl Morey faces the wrath of China with that one tweet. That’s why his mom said what she said. He took a big money hit when China pulled out. It was the worst PR/business hit to his brand. And the fact is China LOST FACE!!! Now the Rockets are paying hardcore... loosing their future for Wesrbrick, now Harden NEEDS to leave, Rockets have a bunch of nobody’s and no future and is owned by a trump supporter... kiss this franchise goodbye! Wait till he is forced to sell to a Chinese govt... especially now that it’s gonna be all open border to China in the Biden administration. Good thing I studied mandarin in college. Strap in-gonna be a rough time... we’re officially the New York Nicks.
It was a rhetorical question, but I was referring to James getting slandered into being a bad guy, teammate and the reason why Covid exists.
Was Hakeem a diva for forcing Rockets to trade Otis Thorpe (very popular at time) for his friend Clyde Drexler?
I was talking about protecting him at the time, not now. Harden demanded the trade happen or he be traded, the owner hid that and made it seem like he pushed it to protect his star player.....then when it falls apart, his star player throws a tantrum over what he caused to happen and outright demands a trade so he's not being protected from the natural blowback from his actions anymore.....especially given that player is leaking BS blaming everyone else for the things THEY did. Where do you think the "Knicks of the south" BS came from? At a certain point, you stop defending the infantile manbaby constantly throwing a temper tantrum and let them take the heat for their own actions.
Embiid couldnt get his team past Boston without Simmons! How is this guy going to hold a flame to what Harden could do for that team. I think you may be overvaluing the "center" position entirely in respect to the current trends in the NBA. Play 5 out and run Embiid off the floor seems to be a pretty good strategy so far.
