People seem to wanna gloss over the fact that homeboy totally melted down... It wasn't that we simply lost to a better team... he turned to crap... Did he work hard in the offseason and try to correct these issues? Nope, same crappy tendencies, still more worried about chasin hoes, smoking cigs, partying, alienating teammates... dude's got talent - just no sense of priorities and from what I see ain't gonna listen to nobody else either... maybe if we got a Thiibs or somethin...maybe... And for all the talk of James was the only reason we were there... I recall him sitting on the bench as we had a huge deficient and facing elimination vs the Clippers... give Josh n the boys some respect...
It was a right step! but let me ask you this, did James build on last years accomplishments.. or did he use them as justification to do whatever the hell he wants to do this year?
What a lousy narrative. You're looking at Dirk with the perspective that he already led his team to a championship. From 2007 to 2010 you would not have held him in such high regard. Somehow, once you win a championship that means you've never lacked effort and gave 100% every game. Well I've seen Kobe quit several times. He's pouted, acted like a diva, demanded to be traded, demanded that his teammates be traded, and gotten a HOF coach fired. He's also won five rings. Not every legend is going to be like Tim Duncan. Harden clearly has the talent to be a main guy, a franchise player. He's already led his team further than Chris Paul, who's been a beast HOF-level player for a lot more seasons. Harden even beat CP3's team last year, despite missing two starters. If you think we're better off without Harden, or that there are several players that would make us better if they took his place, I don't know what to tell you.
What?! Thats laughable Harden is already better, and in a better position than Mac or Stevie ever were You guys are still underestimating him. I am not a groupie of Harden, I have accepted for what he is and am fine with what he does. Of course we gotta find the right coach and pieces to compliment him and make him even better. But IMO, Harden > TMac > Franchise
he's turned to the darkside yes however we can bring him back to the light, he's not a lost cause (tmac)
you are judging him this year off a few games, putting the full teams struggles at his feet, ignoring his past successes and inferring information you do not know to be true. what's the point in debating someone like you. Your mind is obviously closed to fact and locked in to opinion.
Hey, I hope I'm wrong... wouldn't be the first time... I thought Stromile Swift was gonna be great for us - lol! James looked great for the first half against Atlanta... very unselfish, good ball movement, lobs to D12... then went back to the same ol bs tendencies... dribbling the air outta the ball as the shot clock dwindled, forcing drives into multiple defenders, etc.... I hope I'm wrong... i hope Harden becomes the GOAT... nothing would make me happier.. but at what point do you accept that James is who he is?
There is definitely a point when you reach that assessment. Personally, I believe it's incredibly early to do so with James. And yes, he screwed up down the stretch last night, but he didn't kill the offensive flow. The players stopped moving. In the first half, movement created open shots without James having to touch the ball. The rockets need this and it's what propelled them last year with James playing the closer when needed. Why didn't Howard try to dive back into the post in the second half? Why did players stop cutting and sharing the ball? Seems to me the offense went from good to sloppy to stagnant and then James had to play hero ball.
I'm German, so I followed his career from the start and I very much remember what was being said at certain seasons and moments. While people questioned his toughness and being a true leader that could lead a group to a ring, effort and dedication to the game were NEVER in question for Dirk, he's also always been a great teammate and didn't bring the chemistry and off-court issues with him that Harden does. History doesn't change just because someone wins a ring, people still remember the mentality issues Hakeem had before our two championships or Robinson's failures with the Spurs.
The part that I found most confusing last night was the commentators... Bull, Clyde, Bill... after Harden did a great job facillitating (resulting in the highest pt total in a half this season) they started talking about how Harden had to 'get his now' and so forth... then it all went to ****... James started isoing, players stopped moving, lobs to D12 and Cap were all but forgotten... If the gameplan got you 70 points in the first half - why change it? I think James is a great player... but people need to stop telling him he's the next MJ or Kobe or whatever... He needs to learn to operate within a system not try to dictate the system around him...
DD your old enough to know that The whole city thought the same about Dream. Not comparing them as players because they are very differnt. But both are/were immature until they hit older. It took lebron till age 28 to really learn how to lead men and he had his best friend who happend to be a superstar in Wade and pay Riley. I just think that Steph curry is a very extreme example and we shouldn't compare his leadership to harden. There asked to do way differnt things first of all and secondly curry is surrounded by some very elite players in green/Barnes/klay/bogut/iggy all those guys are a lot better than our 3rd options and I would take green over howard. What in saying is we gotta give the guy some time you have to fail first before you come out on top. JH doesn't have a ring yet but neither does KD or cp3 who have been in the league longer with better supporting cast. We gotta see were this guy takes us he's been great his first 3 years leading is further and further. This is the first year he has let us down and we had high hopes that's why it stings more but it might be what JH needed to get back and perfect his craft even more. He still had 4-5 really good years left on top of another 2-3 years were if he has another young stud next to him could be great also. I hope JH stays a rocket forever because he's been our best player since dream and it's not even close and I loved Yao/Mac/sf3 but they couldnt accomplish what JH has so early. I think the jury is still out on his leadership abilities, his team still listens to humans respects his game the locker room is still intact and that has to reflect a lot on James in avoid way. It's not like he's jimmy butler calling out his coach and having his teammates talking about how he needs to be a better leader. I only bring this up because I think JH can be the leader but a guy like butler can never be one. We've never heard anything but positives about JH from his teammates even the ones that have left the team still respect him. Parsons still speak highly of hardrn as does Lin delfino you name it. That's a good sign for the future lets see what happens and enjoy the ride.
honestly, i have no idea man... I watch my Rockets season pass and maybe a handful of games otherwise... I have no idea who would be 'available' for Harden... I dont throw a lot of random trade suggestions out there bc im simply not knowledgeable enough of all the players on all the teams in the league to make an informed suggestion... but unless we have a Thibs or someone similar on the horizon, I feel we're just spinnin our wheels...
Hakeem didn't have 'mentality issues', it's not like he was crazy like Ron Artest or Rodman. He had a really bad temper. But he helped the Rockets go to the finals in his 2nd year. His basketball mentality was not in question. He 'felt' disrespected that Patterson believed he was faking an injury. Everything suddenly became fine when he got a big contract extension before Charlie Thomas sold the team. Robinson wasn't a 'failure' with the Spurs, there's no heat on him like there is with Harden by fans. Avery Johnson yelling at him doesn't count as 'failure'.
To be fair, they were down 1-3 before that last game, and Harden played great for the most part throughout the series. http://www.basketball-reference.com...rn-conference-finals-rockets-vs-warriors.html He was far and away the best overall player on the team. He even d'dup Klay for the most part. He had a bad game. All that said, clearly James does not dedicate himself to the game the way someone like Steph has. Steph's ballhandling has gotten [a lot] better over the years because he works tirelessly at it, just like his shooting, etc. I'm not saying James doesn't put in the work, but it's not to the same level. Even with that, though... he really just needs a legitimate coach. I'm not a huge Thibs guy, but he'd be way better than what we have. Just due to respect. Whether JAmes should or should not respect McHale or JB more, they're either not coaching him up properly, or he's just not respecting them. He seems to respect Thibs. DM has lots of work to do to the roster. The coaching search will be equally important. Slightly old but still relevant article: http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/72749/the-nbas-top-head-coaching-prospects I think Lue and a guy like Sean Miller would be interesting choices.
they made the comment because the team had stagnated and lost all semblance of being able to score. DMo's legs were done and he was a net negative, shots stopped falling, dwight quit looking for that pretty little hook he used in the first half, the high low play from the high post stopped - and none of that is on Harden. I'm more and more convinced that JB was never calling out Harden and was calling out the team for getting standing and waiting for Harden to do it all itis. Same thing used to happen to the teams built around McGrady. To me - it's why I have passed judgement on Dwight a long time ago. He's peaked as a player and for my taste, takes up too much of the budget to build a team around Harden with. I'm also very annoyed with the coaching. Slapping on asses, getting jiggy with it, and then making bold but faceless statements to the press does not make a coach.
