Ha such a loyal fan for a guy who refused to play for the team and forced his way out. 2nd best Rockets my *** stop disrespecting the real Rocket legends.
Harden will be fine. He wont look like the 34+ point nightly scorer, but he'll be/is fine. He will look more like pre-MDA Harden as the ball will not be in his hands 90% of the time. As a passer expect his assist numbers to stay in the double digits, but as a scorer his ppg avg should linger in the low 20's just as it did last season. Last season Harden played a lot of games without KD or Irving or both. This allowed him to both dominate the ball/shots and adapt to team/sharing the ball in other games. His free throws and scoring have lowered since joining the Nets, not due to officiating but to not having as many oppurtunities. The level of heliocentricism when Harden was on the MDA rockets was the highest I've ever witness. Nearly every play started with Harden as the 1st and 2nd option to score. For example, Harden runs a high screen for a mismatch... doesn't work, Option 2 is to back out and try again with another mismatch. This type of one person dominant offense has been utilized to great regular season results by the 2017 Thunder, 2020 Mavs and MDA Rockets. But going from having the ball at a historically high level to suddenly having to sharing it or not touch it for stretches or having to look/wait for chances to attack/score is a huge adjustment. especially for players who thrive on rythym and volume. Harden made those adjustment beautifully last season when playing with KD/Irving and ended the season avg 24 ppg 10 assist and 7fta pg. This season his numbers are down slightly from last 20ppg 10 ast 7 fta . He's played very simarily to how he did last season when both KD/Irving were on the floor. He is less aggressive and assertive, but that could be due to not being in game shape (due to hamstring) or further getting use to his role as the secondary option and primary distributor. Long gone are the days, where Harden "dribbled dribbled dribbled" & look to score/attack as the first and second action of every play. But if KD misses time, expect Harden to put up and make a lot of shots & ft's once again.
Half this statement is true. You lost me with blaming Tilman. When you know Tilman did everything, literally breaking up the team for Harden to try and keep him. You have to man up like Harden and accept his mistakes. He has no one to blame but himself and whoever gave him that bad advice.
They say be careful what you wish because you just might get it. I'm sure he's struggling with the fact he thought he was going to was just going to be the bonus help and that KD and Irving had everything under control. He could go to the clubs, get drunk, stay out late, not show up to practice and he was going to be handed a championship. Let's not act like we didn't see this mans flaws for 8+ seasons. He didn't go there to be the star he was here otherwise he wouldn't have left!
So James is having trouble fitting in along side arguably the best player he's ever played with? Surprise surprise.
but let us tank and draft a player that will have a minuscule chance of being a caliber of player these 2 are...
I think James made a mistakes and is having trouble with that ball not being in his hands. on the other hand he will be compensated quite nicely
1. Harden quit 2. We weren't winning anything with him here. We should have started the rebuild earlier
I don't feel bad for him, never forget he forced his way to a team that was supposed to be good enough while leaving The Rockets in potentially the worst situation in franchise history. Houston did not naturally rebuild because it was time, they rebuilt because this diva could not handle pressure or adversity. Never performed well under pressure or adversity in the playoffs and never will. Overnight he destroyed a franchise over the blind pursuit of overcoming something he felt Houston was holding him back from. The problem was not Houston, the problem is not Brooklyn... Its not Durant or Silver, its not the refs or rule book..... Its not the fans or the owner.... The problem is Harden, he will never be the guy. He will never be Curry or Lebron, he will never even be a Kawhi or a Giannis.... Those guys excel in the situations Harden does not. Good riddance, maybe GSW needs a 6th man of the year.. Only chance he has of winning it all...
Obviously 17 was the year. After that though the writing was on the wall. Harden and cp3 had issues and the rest was history.
Interesting. This is a franchise that had won one playoff series in 15 years before Harden got here. Now the fans are championship or you’re trash! It’s funny to me because they have only been happy for three or four years as Rockets fans. Some of these cats have to hate every Rockets player not named Olajuwon or Moses. Because they are the only 2 to lead a Rockets squad to the Finals.
I'm willing to bet at least 70% of them weren't even born when Moses or Olajuwon last played for this team.
You have to be fair here, the Rockets were 2-0 against the Mavs, and 3-3 against the Jazz IIRC. The last execution and not balanced O and D led to it. It was pretty close. I am not looking up finances but I wasn't sure they spend it big after the Barkley Pippen debacle on role players. There were some pretty good teams in the last 15 as well (GSW, Duncan led Spurs, Dallas and Dirk, MDA Suns, KB, Shaq led Lakers, even the Boozer, Kirilenko, DWill squad, KD, Russ, Harden, Ibaka OKC) It was before and during the first Super friends made teams and 3 pointers did not blossom like today.
