Is there a path that leads to a Championship in the Harden era?

I don't see a path. Should have rebuilt last year. But we gave up a billion picks to get a negative asset. Now WB's value is tanked even more and basically untrade-able.

Tucker is old, EG also tanked his value to basically negative. Harden, Covington and maybe House are the only positive asset we have.

It's funny how last year this time, we thought CP3 was untrade-able, we are basically in a even worse situation and without 2 picks

 

I think we missed it. I think Hardens only chance at a ring is if he leaves Houston.

 

Yes, retool. Tricky because of cap situation. Let’s say Westbrook and Harden can’t be traded.

Under contract next season (2020-21).....approx salary
Westbrook.....$41.4M
Harden..........$413M
Covington.....$12.1M
Tucker..........$8M (non guaranteed)
House...........$3.7M
McLemore.....$2.3M (non guaranteed)
Clemons........$1.5M (non guaranteed)
Rivers............$2.4M (Player Option)

So the core remains




Wish to Move
Eric Gordon......$16.9M and roll his pay into possibly a couple players.....maybe 3 players.

Bring Back
Try to bring back Jeff Green and Gerald Green (McLemore becomes expendable....moved like EGo)

Coach
On board with system.....improve the defense with defenders that have length and size of SF’s predominantly.
Coach Adelman was great but guard centric in offense while running mostly the Princeton offense.
Coach D’Antoni was a good coach but was guard centric imo.....both win regular season games but only
gets you so far in the playoffs. I can’t think of a single predominant guard centric team winning the championship.
Maybe the Mavs in 2010. But that was more because of a 2-3 zone defense.

Side Note: Westbrook has to work with a shooting coach the entire offseason. If Rondo, Iggy and Blake Griffin
can improve, so can Westbrook. As the player ages.....they need to venture away from athleticism and move
more towards improving their skills.

Edited: Having Westbrook play in our system for a season now. Shooting 800,000 3’s from the
left corner 3 (because Tucker has earned the right to shoot from the right corner 3). Allows Westbrook
to also free-lance along the baseline as Harden drives.

Shoot 800,000 from 3 straight-on above the break pull up jump shot 3. Sets up the drive.

Those two locations for 3’s.........and FT’s. That’s Westbrook’s homework for the offseason.

 

First we need a coach who can coach.
Then We must tank!
Sacrifice Westbrick and pray that the basketball Gods gift us the #1 pick to select that once in a lifetime talent.

Plan B- eat at Landrys

 

Hard disagree. We didnt need to rebuild We just needed to keep Cp3 and use those assets to retool the roster.

 

Wouldn't it be a lot easier to tank if we had a coach who CAN'T coach?

 

And pray Russ can be healthy in the playoffs.

I still think the Russ we saw in this playoffs is the worst version of himself, and that is affected by his injury.

In the last 30 games prior to the shutdown, Russ was averaging 31.3 + 8.1 + 6.7, and shooting over 50% from the field. Because of the gravity of Harden and the shooters outside, Russ was actually having his most efficient season. He led the league in points scored in the paint, he was shooting 45.7% from mid range at a high volume (5.5 attempts per game, basically he was better than Kawhi Leonard from mid-range in that 30 game stretch). He had his usual problems, he was a terrible decision maker and a bad defender, but at least he could score, and surprisingly with a decent efficiency. If we had this version of Russ against the Lakers, we won't struggle so much offensively. In fact, the first game after we traded Roco, Lakers double teamed Harden pretty hard and Russ killed them.

Russ is going to decline, but I hope Harden's improvement can neutralize that. If we get a coach that can make our offense less one-dimensional, and we get some key pieces, we may still have a chance as long as Russ stays healthy.

 

Owner sells team to an actual Billionaire like Bill Gates!
B owner dies and an actual billionaire buys the team
C morey is allowed to spend whatever he wants
D when we finally have a team ready to win a championship we aren't forced to cut the roster because he refuses to pay his players.
E get rid of fertitta and our problems will be solved.

 

No coaching change can fix this. It’s the mentality and play. WB will not change, and his flaws are more glaring than hardens. Paul brought out the best in James, WB enable the checker in him.

at This point you gotta look at it from a business decision. The rebuild is inevitable. You can’t trade WB. Need to trade for picks

 

Nope. Enjoy the regular season, gimmick ball, schwag champs, scoring titles, triple doubles & pregame fashion shows.

 

forgot David Nwaba......hey things are looking up already. Good move Morey.

 

WB won't ever learn to shoot and he ran an elite spread PNR until he switched over to Houston so you need an offense partially catered to those aspects of his game.

Harden needs more of a complete game.

We need a game manager/tactician head coach.

 

No. We can’t tank because of James Harden. MDA can tank. Look at his Lakers and Knicks teams that were awful.

 

Wish to move eg?
Nahh wish to move is Westbrick!
Probably will get traded because he is still tradable is Eric Gordon. He's still a shooter. People will pay and trade for a shooter streaky or not in todays league.
We are going to need a miracle to get rid of him. Like we are going to have to take in another terrible contract just to unload that mess!

 

For starters, MDA gone is a blessing. No more small-ball, no out of position assignment & no 3-ball only strategy solves half the problems. The new coach needs to put Rockets back into basic fundamentals of basketball by using position player's strengths.

IMO, if possible, sign a solid C/PF that can create his own shots and not depended on Harden to continuously create plays for him (like Harden used to for Capella). This will help spread out and each of our current players will benefit. Would not mind someone like Blake Griffin or LaMarcus Aldridge type players, if its even possible to land any.

 

Now is the time to trade Harden and get some picks back. You are basically wasting his value every year he stays here and no chance of improving or competing for a championship.

Something like Harden for Booker, Oubre and a 1st can help us be competitive and continue to gain assets with the chance/ability to move Gordon and Westbrook in the near future.

It’ll also be easier for the incoming coach to instill his coaching style/philosophy with a new set of core players.

 

Step 1. Get a coach who can win it. Not Bill Fitch or Don Nelson or MDA. Someone who runs a proven system, and not a gimmick that we hope succeeds.

Step 2. Get that coach some players. We can't pay $40mill for a backup PG. It just isn't feasible.

Step 3. Set a roadmap to compete for years. As an example the Lakers getting LeBron. They wrote off a year in order to compete for a few years. We might need to trash 2020/21 As a reload year. Move on Westbrook and Gordon, send PJ to a contender for assets. Get some young talent that Harden can carry to 4/5 seed next year, and can be flipped for a bona-fide 2nd star who fits with the coaches gameplan for 21/22.

Step 4. Contend

 

Whatever that path or road is, it must have, I mean absolutely must have a Tesla involved and that Tesla must be put to work as an Uber vehicle. Follow that simple step and we shall profit.

 

McHale but they fired him after 11 games.