Sorry, he is a regular season king with several good playoff seasons. But I never heard of Dirk Nowitzki is deserving a ring until he took it. Other than from hardcore Mavs fans I didn't hear it. Either you win it or you do not. Nobody's getting a title for charity! He shied away from the moment too many freaking times.
Heat are not as silly as Westbrook in clutch. Herro and Nunn are future starters and borderline stars. Robinson deserves a 18 million contract, Ryan Anderson type of money and more because he is the Number 1 shooter in the league. Lmao. WB can flaunt his athleticism in useless regular season games.
I do not see Harden getting traded. He is one hell of a player, it's just that he is not a leader and MDA system of small-ball is simply not working. IMO, bring in a new coach, get a star PF/C that can create his own shots inside, bring in pure PG that has decent ability to make 3s, move Harden back to SG, and encourage him to take mid-range and catch-n-shoot shots which will open up whole avenue of his skill-set. He has a solid mid-range game as seen many years ago, but under MDA he never uses it. The strategy needs to be changed and that will only come with a change in coaching. Of course, this is all assuming if Rockets get eliminated, which seems likely.
Can we wait at least after game 5? This thread has the potential to look silly (or appropriate, in fairness) after this series. And if at all, I'll try to trade Robin first before Batman Who knows, we might stumble to a good Batman fit, play and mindset wise.
Even if this were to happen, pretty certain the Heat would hang up the phone. They’re building something solid on their own - come to think about I’m wondering if anyone would want him? Maybe some dead in the water small market or he returns to 6th man glory somewhere (which I kinda think he wants)
If only Harden had the pull like LeBron to force superstars to stop being competitive with him preventing him from getting a Championship and could make it so they play ON his team. . . .
It's been 25 years since the Rockets won a Championship and the Rockets have had some pretty competitive teams and several top notch players in that time but still fallen short which makes it all the more clear what a special talent Hakeem was and those squads were in '94 and '95.
I understand what you are saying, I wish his fire was bigger in the playoffs. Harden is special, but perhaps our expectations of him are rather unrealistic? Teams adjust and play defense in a much tougher way. In other words, Harden is obviously a great player, but not as great as we expect him to be. I still want him to get his ring here or likely somewhere else. Since coming to Houston, Harden has made this franchise relevant, every ****ing year. We were nothing without Harden, couldn't even make the playoffs.
I think the bubble actually helped the Rockets as a team, I firmly believe that pre House violation. Players got healthy, defensive rotations got better, communication got better. If you still can't gentlemen sweep the Thunder, sorry, they're just not great (in Harden's words). What do you do with a not so great team, you consider a rebuild. https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/video-james-harden-says-warriors-arent-even-that-good/ The most you give him are 2 years. I do not even know why he doesn't want to play in LA other than the tax situation here. Afraid of the LA limelight and media?
I no longer believe in Harden. Another absolute abomination of a performance in a critical game. I probably should have reached this point long ago, but he is incapable of mentally rising to the occasion. He is a terrific player who just will never get it done. I feel bad for him that he clearly is dealing with some sort of mental block. I'd be okay moving on and beginning the rebuild. I hope he wins a ring at some point, but it won't be in Houston, it appears.
Pretty clear that Harden's inability to play off ball is why he gets 100% nullified when double teams come. He also loves to bring the ball back out in any scenario and try to size up his man which is when the trap comes.
This. Why isn't Harden more willing to play off ball? You know you will eventually get it back anyway. It's crazy that a guy as smart as MDA can not persuade his superstar player to adapt in the playoffs.
