OPs posting history through the first 4-5 years of Hardens time in Houston would suggest he doesn’t deserve Harden....
Harden is loyal to the Front Office because they’ve been loyal to him. Look at Anthony Davis’ situation since coming into the league, then Hardens’. Harden has played with Dwight, Clint, and Chris Paul. Yes other players may have had better (we can’t all be the Warriors.) The FO has given Harden talent on the floor, and coaching as well. MDA was huge for Harden. I think Jeff was also good for Harden. We know James isn’t a great defender, but if you go back and watch him from two-three years ago, you can tell the improvement. TL;DR - Players are hurt right now.
yeah 61 million difference, and the're a whole 2.5 games up on us while we've been without Paul for a month, gordon for weeks, Capella, nene, ennis, etc...
He was beginning to be damaged goods with the Clippers, Clips knew it. It was no surprise, it just meant Harden did not care to research or recall. 3 years ago, the Houston bench staged a comeback against the Paul less Clippers. The Clippers were again hampered by CP3's injuries. He had several hammy injuries throughout his career and majority were with previous teams. Morey knew about it and took the risk, like many risks he took. No other way to explain it.
I get your point, but such a trade ain't. gonna. happen. Rockets wouldn't get equal value back, so why would they do it? This ONLY occurs in a 'blow it all up' scenario, which is the polar opposite of what the Rockets are thinking. Plus any blow it all up scenario would need to include CP3 as well, and who wants that contract? Good or bad, Rockets are in for the ride, at least for a couple of years. Any team that traded for him would have to blow their team up to do it...so why would Harden want that? Just a lateral move to likely a worse team.
Like this thread or not we must face this life without James Harden eventually. He has been tremendous for us and hopefully we will have the healthy, dominating, prime version of him for years to come. Other than not winning a championship he has been the most exciting player for me to watch including Hakeem and he is a close second. They play different positions so it is kind of hard to compare them. The difference so far was that back in the Hakeem days I think it was his 10th year in the league the Rockets management was able to surround him with enough supporting cast to win back to back championships. Like Harden he would not be able to do it with a hodge podge of throwaway, picked off the scrap pile teammates. Because we overpaid for CP3 both when we traded for him initially and more recently when we decided to give him the $160 M contract we find ourselves with limited resources to improve the team. I hope CP3 gets well soon and comes back and helps Harden lead thus team to a championship which at the present time seems to me a long shot at best. In the meantime I am going to continue to appreciate and enjoy James Harden's greatness for as long as possible and hope he does not burn himself out by trying to do too much on a team where the supporting cast is so inconsistent and overmatched in nearly every game we play.
Harden might be the best offensive guy ever or one of them, he ain't the best Player GM. He has no eye for the immediate future, should stick to things on the court. MDA deferring to Harden, Morey deferring to Harden. Everyone should do his job.
that's the way the NBA works...same goes with lebron, they're the real GMs....so point being, why would harden demand a trade when he's the one who wanted Paul? overpaid or not, that was the price to get him....if he demanded a trade, he would be known as a quitter. He's had plenty of chances to win here.
nah. even if im frustrated with the front office pre season acquisition houston is a good place for HARDEN. The only big market team that needs a superstar right now is NEW YORK and we all know ownership of that team sucks. maybe he can go to new york when hes already on 2019 melo level in exchange for porzingis. hehe. he might still get the max there which houston will no longer willing to pay. but other than that scenario i hope he retires a rockets.
Yup, they are different. Lebron is really the ring chaser. Harden is growing his business from Houston. He and his mom decided to do so. Lebron would have demanded a trade, signed a shorter deal, then head somewhere else. Harden is more loyal, I get that. In the end they are different. Not every player GM is equally successful.
This. However, one cannot blind themselves to the reality of today's NBA which says that in order to be truly validated a star player must have won a championship. Just ask former star players like John Stockton, Karl Malone, Bob Lanier, Charles Barkley and others. Or consider the current plight of Chris Paul who as great a player as he has been all these years there's still a "But" when describing his career. Said "But" being he's never won a championship with Houston now being his last shot at a title. Harden is a generational talent who's a serious MVP candidate every year he plays but even he has to be watching Chris Paul's situation with the understanding that is not what he wants for himself. So it's not really all that improbable that if it doesn't happen here for Harden (an NBA title) then at some point James will be faced with making the same decision about himself and his career about whether or not he can win a championship in Houston.
i get it, Harden runs this team, so he can't be pissed about the situation. but if I'm Morey, i'll be very concerned. there's a narrow window of opportunity to win a championship with at least 2 HOF players, one of which can be considered an all-time great scorer in James Harden. if you can't surround them with the players they need to succeed, that's a impediment to the goal of winning a chip in that narrow window that you shouldn't ignore. leaving these types of critical decisions to your best player is not a smart thing to do as a GM. every franchise player has disagreements with the front office. some justified, some not. but i trust Morey's decision-making skills over Harden's when it comes to maintaining a roster, and he shouldn't just hand that off to the franchise player with so much on the line.
From a market stand point, LA is the only way to go as New York is really not a good place to build a contender. If he cannot succeed in Houston, a mid sized to big market itself, the next and only logical step is LA with its never ending resources and magnets of drawing star FAs. Maybe Toronto or Boston with similarly big markets and young stars/great roleplayers already in place.
That is a defeatist thinking. There is no deserving, either he commits or he does not. He committed. Gotta go to work.
