I'm going to lol so hard if we sign Harden and trade for CP3. Only thing left to do is go grab Capela from the Hawks and P.J. from the Sixers.
In all seriousness though, if we pick Amen or Scoot I would love to have CP3 mentor the dude for a season or two if he's up for the job. Would be much more sensible than bringing back Harden.
Chris Paul has consistently, everywhere, gotten the players around him to a much higher level wherever he has gone. There's zero argument against that fact. In many ways he would be a far better option than Harden if he were amenable to coming here after getting f**ked over, which I doubt he is. Theres no BS with him, there will be some BS with Harden albeit with a higher ceiling if it works.
The amount of people against this and laughing at it shows the sad state of modern basketball analysis. Harden ain't coming here for deep playoff runs. That means the best thing we can extract from a player like Harden at this stage is his experience abd ability to set up young guy. But those things CP3 is better at. CP3 is better at teaching the kids workout and diet habits. He's going to be better at teaching basic defensive philosophy. He's going to be better at teaching in general because CP3 has a history of rasing the levels of young promising guards. I'd rather have CP3 ten times over Harden at this point.
CP3 of 5 years ago? Hells yes. Now? If we acquire either Scoot or Amen and need to teach'em up, okay; but the word that jumped out at me in Iko's article is that the Rockets "COULD"go after CP3. Remember: Not "WILL"But, rather: "COULD"
CP3 will go to the Lakers -- why in the hell would he come here after the way he was thrown away by Fertitta and give up his ring chase? Iko is generating engagement based on team need and fan ego and too many are getting sucked in. Harden makes sense because he dictated the terms of his release here including sending Paul away. While not a perfect scenario for this team Harden makes an infinite more amount of sense when you consider the context of each guys tenure here. Udoka seems to feel like he doesnt need those name brand players though so maybe fans should start looking at lesser hyped veterans.
I would be perfectly content with this off-season if we got those three. If we draft Amen, you could have CP3 start and restrict him to like 25 mpg and make Amen the 6th man playmaker off the bench. Lopez can be the 7th man big man rim protector and floor stretcher to Sengun's playmaking role.
A better contract situation also. 2 years at 30m is better than 4 years at 40m, and im in the camp that would be for getting harden.
