Harden "Hopefully those fans appreciated everything I did on the court "

PREACH DUECE!!!!

 

"Whatever. I know what feels like the truth to me, and it feels like James Harden ruined this team."

 

Because so many of you refuse to believe it, here you go:

Fertitta wanted Chris Paul traded (Link)

Fertitta: "I just said, ‘We’re doing this. We are going to make the change. We’re going to go after it and roll the dice." (Link)

 

You’re in denial if you truly believe Harden didn’t push the FO to acquire Westbrook. It’s no secret by now that Harden was given the King treatment and was extremely involved on roster decisions — Morey said so himself.

Did Tilman say CP3 was the worst contract he had ever seen? Yes. Did Tilman want CP3 out? Yes. But if Harden really wanted CP3 here, he’d be here. Point blank period.

 

There's nothing to deny. It's pure stupidity for the few folks still believing the fake narrative that Harden is the sole reason cp3 is gone. It's nothing but silly casuals that have not done the research or kept up with the summer of 2019 in its entirety. its the lazy narrative that's fake. you obviously haven't been around here long enough to actually have gone through all the discussions this board has had. so yeah do yourself a favor, do some research rather than taking the lazy route. the information isn't hard to find since its been posted over and over and over and over

And no it didn't matter if Harden really wanted cp3 here, the rockets have a dumbass owner that went over everyone's input and made his own decision. That'sTilman. That's who is he and how he operates. And that will forever be the way he operates his businesses. He'll continue to treat a professional sports organization the way he operates his restaurants

 

I still can't get behind all the people who are cheering for him as a Net because it's still fresh and the reality is we really traded maybe the best player in the NBA for savings and some scratch offs because it's where he wanted to play. I just can't imagine those who are still cheering for Harden actually live in Houston and are over the age of 21. It's just too fresh during one of the worst sports periods in a city with some bad history all while in the middle of an all time awful year in general. Top 5 worst trade of all time. The CP3 - Russ trade is probably a few spots ahead. The OKC Harden trade is probably right behind.

 

Sorry if it's already been said in this thread, but I know it's been said elsewhere: Moses Malone was a hell of a player. No, not as amazing, but a very uniquely skilled player who could absolutely dominate games and carry a mediocre team to the finals.

 

Interesting take. I think of it in the opposite: if you are angry at the Harden trade it's likely because you're really young and emotional and don't know better, or because you don't have anything else going on in life.

I also don't blame Harden for Stone/Tilman accepting the Brooklyn trade offer. That doesn't make sense to me.

It might help because I saw this coming. I was not caught too off-guard by his trade request. I thought it would come a year later than it did, but I expected it to come.

 

I'm not angry at the trade because I have no control of it. I'm also not going to cheer for Harden once he leaves Houston. He left in a hurry, had a short list and the team gave him everything he wanted, from the second he arrived to the second he left. They didn't take the 76ers trade because Tilman decided not to gift Morey a contender. He clearly was more angry at Morey than MDA. He also saw an opportunity to save money.

I think Harden/Kyrie/KD will all retire in Brooklyn and we will be lucky if one of the picks is valuable. Not getting any sure things for a top 5 player in the NBA is shameful. I was with Stone the whole way until this trade. I've never been more underwhelmed by a Rockets move. They made a move to save money and basically tank except they thought Oladipo would fill right in. They honestly thought they could hedge their bets and decide on the fly whether to tank or compete. I do not trust this team anymore.

I say age not because of maturity but because Gen Z root for players.

I say not in Houston because there's less geographic pride in your team if you root for a team outside of your commute. It's easier to separate yourself from the team if you actually picked the team for a random reason vs picking it because it was the team down the street.

 

All good points. Well said.

 

I’ve lived in Houston my whole life. Over the age of 21? 21 years is basically the amount of time I’ve been going to games.

Harden is the 2nd greatest Rocket, and you’re surprised at how many people aren’t crying or behaving like bitter exes, and if they aren’t, they must not be over 21 or live in Houston? Lol, really?

 

Read the follow up Mr. Antsy.

They are crying though?

They are acting like they can get Harden back by loving him enough. I don't see you doing that. I like Harden a lot. I hope he has a successful career. I appreciate what he did while he was here except his personnel decisions, which he made a lot of them. HE was basically hand picking the roster for the last 5 or so years. There is a big contingent of people telling people YOU HAVE TO CHEER HIM. YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER THE GOOD TIMES. Let them do what they want? I don't care if you cheer him or boo him, just do it and leave the others alone.

I should have phrased it that I can't get behind rooting for his Nets or joining the crowd but I don't care what you do as long as you don't tell me what to do. It's like 9/10 takes include telling people how to feel or react. I personally just cannot get behind his team yet.

 

Don't go to the game tomorrow if you're planning on booing the man. Not only did he give us his best basketball for 8 seasons but he gave the city millions of his own dollars (on multiple occasions!) when it needed him the most. Forever and always a James Harden fan, even if I can't bear to watch any Nets games. It's like a healthy breakup, you still love them and you want them to be happy, but you don't bother going on their instagram page lol

 

Acting like they can get Harden back?

Was Harden the mastermind behind LTS then?

the only mistake Harden made was preferring Russ over CP3, but it was Tilman who pushed that deal through regardless of how the FO was feeling

the ones who must not be from Houston or live in Houston are the ones who loved to trash the team while we were actually good...who loved to only show up after losses...no way in hell they ever went to games behaving like that...they are the fakest “fans” off all

 

Of course he wasn't the man behind LTS. Les knew what he was doing and Tilman didn't. Les put together a team that was going to bust the budget and he got the **** out of here and found the nearest sucker. All the while getting a record amount for a team that was so reliant on Chinese investment. Tilman bought a lemon and instead of making lemonade, he cut his hand with the knife and gave us bloody water to drink. I'm no Tilman fan, I was hating on him before it was cool. Now, I've cooled off, he's a bad owner but there's worse. He made the Ariza mistake and everything snowballed.

He did hand pick Brewer, Dwight, Lawson, Ariza, PJ, CP3, Russ, Josh Smith, Jeff Green off the top of my head. Some worked out and others didn't. He didn't like playing with Chandler Parsons or Lin. Those both worked out.

I don't know what it is. I didn't mean to come off as negative in my initial post but maybe it is. This place reeks of negativity and i should be better.

Yes, there is a huge contingent that thinks Harden will be back in 3 years and it's incredibly misplaced hope. There's a better chance that MPJ is a Rocket within the next month than Harden returning to Houston in three years.

 

Will never boo Harden. That doesn't mean he didn't do some suspect moves to get out. Especially when the team did what he wanted. No matter, hope he wins a championship, and we can get top 3 pick. Works out for both. Will be at the game 6 years from now when they retire his jersey at Toyota Center.

 

Morey also directly said that he told Harden that the Rockets were likely not going to get Westbrook and Harden said he was fine with that..... in that same interview Morey also said that the play was to add an elite player (Butler) to Chris Paul going into the season. There was never this secret plan to get rid of Paul by Harden.

 

Fans should be classy, but he could have done more on the court.

Which would have required him to dedicate more to defense and to less partying off it.....

It is what it is....be kind, James was a great player here, who never quite reached his peak, but got danged close and was at a Hall of Fame level.

DD

 

Most worked out. Brewer and Smith were valuable for our 2015 playoff run. He knew that Dwight wasn’t the answer while many on CF were taking Dwight’s side. He recruited CP3 here and that resulted in 1 of the greatest seasons in franchise history. Jeff Green was a very good pickup. PJ too.

His only mistake was preferring CP3, but his main priority was trying to add Jimmy Butler to him and CP3. It was reported before the Russ trade happened, and later confirmed by Morey, that Harden’s 1st thought when Russ was available was if Russ could be added while keeping CP3. I remember we had a thread about it before the Russ trade happened and I said Morey would have officially lost it if he tried adding Russ to Harden and CP3 because it made no sense. At the end of the day, he preferred Russ over CP3 which was a mistake, but Harden’s actions that summer are not those of someone who had an unsalvageable relationship with CP3 and wanted him gone by any means. Tilman’s actions show that he wanted CP3 gone by any means from complaining about his contract to other owners and flat out telling us he overrode the front office.

Huge contingent? I can’t even think of 5 posters who genuinely think that Harden will be back in 3 years. I’ve seen some think that it would be cool if he did a Lebron back to Cleveland type of thing, but that’s different from actually thinking Harden is really coming back here.

after years of having to listen to fake fans trash the team while they were actually good and had something to play for and nonsense like “I’d rather lose and move the ball than win with ISO”...after years of people acting like the Harden era was so horrible and Harden was everything wrong with the team and the organization, but now he’s gone and the Rockets offense is now bottom 3 with no ball movement and they could lose 20 straight games...all those clueless fake fans are now getting called out...then we have the bitter exes who claim they don’t care about Harden and never liked him, but act like scorned lovers that Harden slighted on some personal level...that’s why the board is at its current state

 

Remember when we discussed saying the opposite of what you are thinking? This would be one of those times.

James Harden worked harder than any other Rocket..... he improved his game greatly, he carried an ungodly large load and he played hurt and played 40 minutes a night. His effort and desire really shouldn't be criticized.