Shams: Harden has added bucks and heat to “preferred destinations”

This sounds to me like a man having a mid-life crisis. This clearly implies that he no longer wants to be seen as a first option or as the franchise cornerstone, but rather would take a back seat to someone else and be the contributor to that team.

The Rockets have always provided him with very good to great teams. He's had a say in all personnel and coaching moves and how the teams conducts everyday business. Some cases, he's been unlucky with injury to key players, but then there are other times that he hasn't pulled through for the team either (End of Game 5 Spurs (2017), game 6 Spurs (2017), game 6 Clippers (2015), game 5 warriors (2015)).

Maybe he is tired of all the criticisms and all the hate that he gets, after all, the media has made sure to stick it to James and put a magnifying glass on him every single year, even though he comes and performs every freaking year. I mean to me, these are the caveats of you being seen as the franchise player of this team.

I also get that behind that, he is likely tired of Tilman's lose commitment to winning. Tilman has cheapened out way too many times. He finally opened the pocket book this season I guess as a desperate hail mary to keep James happy, but Tilman totally ****ed up what Houston had going. I get that part of it falls on James as well (Westbrook for Paul trade, stupid stupid stupid), but some of it falls on Tilman as well (letting Ariza go and trying to fill in with ****ing James Ennis), or how about not expanding that Westbrook trade to include Jeremy Grant because he was afraid of taxes, or how about the Jamychal/Temple deal that fell through and he blamed Memphis for it.

 

that’s all good news IMO...anything that shows the Rockets slowing things down is good news. Either wait to try to convince him to stay, or wait for a desperate team to give us a great offer.

 

Boston and Denver not in the mix, waiting on Philly. Bucks are set because they don’t have the draft capital. Pretty status quo but nice hearing it from shams whose well respected.

 

According to Shams, the Rockets are not even entering preliminary talks with anyone till Silas gets to win over with his vision. They are not even entertaining any talks or picking up the phone regarding any offer. Validates Woj . Rockets are going to fight tooth and nail to keep Harden long term. The bare minimum the Rockets want i case of a trade, all star, rotational players and future assets otherwise they will wait. Meaning Harden you are of going anywhere.

Stone seems to be convinced he can convince him to stay

 

This is the best possible outcome for this team right now.

 

Chris interview specifically mentioned Arizona departure after the GSW loss.

Was a big loss.

 

Yep Silas is not going to give up without a fight.Harden has way more talent then Lika and look what Silas did for him.

 

I did listen to that interview and remember Chris stating that Ariza was a big loss.

 

I really hope the message is to give us 3 months. At the trade deadline, if we aren’t a place you want to be, we will trade you to a contender. But give us 3 months to prove we are better than last year, and we can make more moves to get even better.

 

Love it! It's the only logical option. Considering the circumstances Stone & SIlas have done a phenomenal job!

 

Do you think Pat Riley would overlook the anterior pelvic tilt and work Harden to death trying to lose that fat?

 

Incase of a trade Rockets bare minimum asking price is all star, rotational players and multiple future assets otherwise they will have no qualms to stand pat. First option is to get him playing and win him over:


The look of anguish on nick wrights face when shams was saying it was hilarious. He saw his buddy moreys chances disappearing in front of his very eyes of getting harden .

 

The not staggering Harden/Wall as much is interesting. That suggests Silas sees the bench as more of a unit, rather than just interchangeable parts.

EGo
Brown
McLemore
Nwaba
Cousins

 

I'm guessing he meant 2019 CP3 playoff performance.

I agree, Clutchfans in general were extremely upset with CP3 before the Westbrook trade. We pretty much knew that he was unmovable, but also understood the value he brought and never envisioned him coming back like he played last year. I never wanted to move CP3 for Westbrook, that trade still kills me seeing how much of a wrench it has thrown into our future. It makes it incredibly important that we don't get hosed in a Harden deal since OKC will get to enjoy the fruit of our shittyness (unless we land a top 4 pick).

 

i think it makes the return we get for Harden especially important. We cannot settle. We have to recoup the assets we lost with Westbrook to reshape our team around a new core.

the worst potential outcome of all of this is that we remain mediocre, without any core assets, and then go into a tailspin in 2024, when our picks start to convey. We can avoid that by keeping Harden, or getting the right pieces to rebuild immediately.

 

@Deuce see, the order of things isn't so clear.

I think Harden not committing to sign an extension was at least one reason why Morey wanted out. I had heard prior to any of this drama that the team wanted to get James to sign an extension. I didn't know that it was so contentious. Obviously there are extenuating circumstances involving ownership but it's not black and white. This is a complete disaster all around.

 

yea I understand that but he’s getting traded 1 way or the other. He’s made up his mind he’s done in Houston- wrong or right he has. Whether it’s not or the deadline he’s out of there and I hope your return is Simmons. They can try and win him over all he wants I just don’t see that happening and outside of Kobe who demanded a trade and then reneged when stars want out- they want out.

 

That isnt true. Yeah he is penny pinching but with getting guys like Wood, Wall and Cousins Rox aint getting no 1 lotto.

You gotta admit Wall, Cousins and Wood gonna be more competitive than Chuck Hayes, Scola and Shane Battier.

 

I think it's pretty clear now that Harden being a diva is the team's biggest problem....AND that the team made the right choice letting Ariza walk.