Harden wanted CP3 gone in favor of Westbrook. That’s clear. Whether Fertitta genuinely thought Westbrook would be better than CP3 or not is less clear. Can’t simply go by what he says after the trade went down. Of course he has to present it as something he’s fully on board with. That says very little about his true role in decision making process.
"basketball opts got weak" is the what Tilman told us when he forced through the trade with 2 FRPs and 2 swaps. No wonder Morey left when he got Big-footed by Tilman on the transaction instead of letting Morey do his job.
cant win a title in the league if you wont pay the luxury tax. Even lebron needed a cheapskate like dan gilbert to do it. We probably have a better chance of tilman selling the team than finding another james harden. Those guys dont come around often, we should have stacked our teams with talent, but then we also should have chose the right coach. Dantoni was a proven loser in his stops at new york and los angeles. I wish morey went with silas back then, maybe harden unlocks his off-ball game and is less fatigued in the playoffs. Silas also would have not allowed us to lose to the warriors in game 7 the way that we did, 0-27 from three and no adjustments in a game that determines whether you face a crippled cavs team for the title. Mike should have been fired after coaching debacle. Their is so much blame to go around for a lot people. Harden clearly has the talent to win a title, if he plays the right way. The preseason game againist the spurs gave me hope, he only iso's one time againist aldrige and got a three, the other 2 three's came on off-ball actions. Silas i believe would have been the coach to get no only harden a ring, but cp3 a ring as well. Mike just didnt make adjustments, and in a 7 game series when teams adjust, a great player can only do so much to overcome that
Was that the quote? OK, in that case, it does suggest he was more enthusiastic about executing the trade than Morey and Co. Still looks like Harden was sending signals that the Rockets needed to make it happen one way or the other. I doubt every much that Harden was saying the Rockets needed to try to get Westbrook while also retaining CP3. Would that have even been possible?
Harden wanted to ADD Butler and then Westbrook to Chris Paul. When Morey said that wasn’t possible Harden preferred Westbrook to Paul. Why can’t we take the owner at his word after the trade? Tilman was gloating when the trade looked good. Further what Tilman said is consistent with what Morey said in a separate interview at another time. Tilman didn’t say he “agreed” with the trade, he specifically said that HE pushed the trade through after his own front office was starting to back off completing the deal. Tilman took credit for it while throwing his own front office under the bus! He wasn’t being measured or diplomatic in what he said. I find it so odd that the man that owns the team, has the full ultimate authority on all decisions... goes on television says he forced the Westbrook deal over his front office... and then suddenly when he loses all of his best employees, the owner changes the narrative by leaking self serving bullshit to friends of his and now he gets the benefit of the doubt and we are to question the exact words out of his mouth!... and we are to believe that a player is responsible for the crumbling of the Rockets organization?? Come on, use common sense. Listen to what the owner and GM said before this all blew up and look at the context of when it was said.
Morey-ball wasn’t working. The only good pieces from that era are still on the team. I don’t see this as bad, I see it as trying to retool around Harden. And it appears painful because it is. This whole situation is either about giving it a shot or paying the price if you’re another team. I think our “front office” knows we’re teetering on one of two options and he’s playing his had. Working=Championship You have to adjust things to make them work. We were not adjusting with Morey’s strange thinking.
According to multiple quotes from the GM, yes Harden did want to keep CP3 and add Westbrook to CP3. If you remember Harden was courting Jimmy Butler to ADD to CP3. Morey also has said Harden had been trying to form a “big three”. At the same time what was the owner doing? Complaining about how CP3 was always hurt and was the worst contract in the league. Add it all up... look at the leaks that initially came out and look at the leaks now.... where did they come from?
In your opening paragraph aren’t you admitting that Harden wanted Westbrook over Paul? Do you think Harden would have been fine going into the season without bringing in Westbrook (or a star of equal name value)? I would say the answer is probably no. Tensions between Harden and Paul were well known, and Harden had strongly suggested that changes were needed. The most likely events that fits everything we know is that Harden insisted on a change, Morey was going over the options with Fertitta (and probably Harden too), and Fertitta pushed it through. So, sure, Harden wasn’t fully controlling the whole process, and Fertitta should be blamed for overruling his basketball ops people if that’s what happened, but that doesn’t mean that Harden’s demands didn’t set things in motion.
Can you or someone point me to one of these quotes? Let’s also consider that Morey is not going to throw his star player under the bus and say he wanted CP3 gone. I mean, that’s just not happening, regardless of what the facts actually are.
Too many players, media, and executives past and present playing games in this matter. And now we may have "Mom" playing games too. I'm out of here...let the Rockets implode, I have had enough as a fan. Thank you to the Media, Alexander, Harden, Westbrook, Tucker, MDA, Morey, the front office, and Tillman for sinking our team, the Houston Rockets. To hell with you all. Merry Christmas.
I have multiple times said Harden said he would prefer Westbrook over Paul. The point was Harden wasn’t trying to push Paul out of Houston. Yes I think Harden would have remained a Rocket if Paul had remained a Rocket. So did the Rockets front office that wasn’t a strong supporter of the trade and the GM who in the past said he told Harden the Rockets likely wouldn’t get Westbrook and Harden was fine with it. The discussion of Harden having demanded trades in the past came from Fertitta leaks. It isn’t coincidence that Harden wanted out AFTER Morey is gone.
BTW, am I the only person who saw Monbear and instantly thought of manbearpig from South Park? What does Monbear mean?
I gotchu https://clutchpoints.com/rockets-ne...russell-westbrook-without-trading-chris-paul/ Not to say Harden didnt have a hand in this trade, he absolutely did.
The quotes have been posted numerous times. Also, if Morey wanted to protect Harden he could have not brought his name up or could have said the decision was made entirely by the front office. That isn’t what Morey said, he said Harden wanted to ADD to CP3, once Morey said that was not possible Morey said Harden still supported adding Westbrook if possible. Morey said he told Harden that wasn’t likely and Harden was okay with that. Morey didn’t really protect Harden in that situation. I am sure CP3 isn’t happy Harden favored Westbrook. The Westbrook deal was made because Fertitta wanted it done at all costs. Fertitta said he wanted to take the risk... and Fertitta wanted all the credit when it went well... then when it went south, it was Harden’s fault and Morey was a quitter.
Harden himself gave every indication that he was fully on board the Westbrook trade. No one would have believed Morey if he said that Harden had zero input on the matter. We could take Morey literally, in which case someone (you are alleging it is the owner) is now lying about Harden being the one who demanded that trade happen, or we can believe that Harden did make such a trade demand for Westbrook, in which case the story Morey tells is still consistent with what one would reasonably expect him to say as damage control on Harden’s behalf.
Of course Harden supported the trade for Westbrook, Daryl Morey said as much. That isn’t the question. If Morey wanted to do damage control he could have done a far better job by not mentioning Harden. He didn’t do anything to change the narrative around Harden. He was honest. Of course the owner is lying about Harden demanding the Westbrook trade be completed. The owner is also the one that leaked the bogus story Morey quit because Harden demanded a trade and how Morey quit on the Rockets... and he is the one that leaked negative things about CP3 after the trade... he has a track record of leaking half truths and lies to make him look better and to diminish those he formally employed.
