Here's some Future <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/K_9tX4eHztY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
There are two paths this organization can take with the roster assuming Dwight opts out: 1) Try to reload quickly via free agency. Obviously we coughed up the lotto pick in exchange for getting whooped in the first round, so that asset is gone. And you'll be lucky to be able to dump guys like Ariza or Brewer without having to accept another team's crap in return. But with Dwight, Terry, Smith, and T-Jones gone, that opens up a lot of caproom especially with the league expected to jack up the salary cap. If you can manage to unload Ariza or Bev, that gives you even more space. Then you go after every big name free agent out there and hope like hell you land two of them like the Heat did back in 2010. No, Durant likely won't come here, but it's not crazy to think you could land someone like Conley or Horford. A long shot, but not crazy. If you land one or two big names, then you fill out the rest of the roster as best you can with affordable role players. 2) If you're spurned by all the big name free agents and you're not keen on offering 20+ mil a season to lure someone like Harrison Barnes(I sure as hell wouldn't), then you rebuild. Which means 2-3 years of high lottery picks. And it may even mean dealing Harden since you don't wanna lose him in 2018 for nothing. But I don't see any other alternative. There's no sense in trying in vain to eek out 45 wins a season just to wind up with the 7th or 8th seed or the 13th or 14th pick in the draft. That's where we were back in the Francis era and in the post-Yao years and it lead to periods of 4 and 3 consecutive seasons in the lottery. If Les doesn't wanna stick around for a lengthy rebuild, then sell the damn team and let someone else do it.
Les should hire Ferry as GM, fire Morey. I believe Ferry can build a champion team around Harden at once
I'm really optimistic about the future. I feel like James Harden and the organization are learning the hard way in depth what his weaknesses are and who he needs around him. Harden knows what he needs to improve. He knows that whether he drops 45 points or not, he can not beat the Warriors even without Steph Curry as long as Harden's so atrocious in every aspect of the game where the ball is not in his hands. The team wasn't built well before, it will be built better this time. Morey will improve. Harden will improve. The team's principles will be more refined, and more up to date with today's NBA. We will have shooters. We will bring a stellar product to the table this summer. We will have a coach who is multi-talented, not just defensive or offensive or players' coach. I'm optimistic. However, this series is not over so let's talk more about it later.
He's All Star caliber, but yes I think so. I'm not in the trade Harden camp but that is the level of talent it would need to not be a complete self-harming
Morey is great at finding talent, but it seems horrible at judging chemistry. It's the reason we were able to get to the WCF last year, because of pure talent. But talent can only take you so far, and when you're faced with opponents that are equally talented, you have to rely on chemistry. What's sad is that we were missing 2 "starters" last year and did better than now.
I think what we are seeing is growing pains. Harden has to grow, and this team need young great talent that can score which is doesn't have. It needs a better coach as well. A team this lackadaisical with so many lapses on both ends of the court - it's a lack of discipline and you have to look at the coach at some point.
It has now been 4 complete seasons since the blockbuster deal that brought James Harden here, and reignited the first legit title hopes for Rockets fans since TMac's arrival to pair with Yao Morey had finally flipped all those intangible 'assets' for a soon-to-be superstar just entering his prime Harden would become the foundation upon which the next great Rockets team would be built I remember fantasizing about which of the leagues elite would come join him in Houston to form our own version of the 'Heatles' It was exciting Now all I can think is ... what the hell happened? Assuming the mass exodus of this offseason, including our other franchise 'cornerstone', it's like the last 4 years have just been one big, wasted loop that's led back to where we began, with only 1 WCF appearance to show for it Since 2012 what have we even learned about the key pieces of the franchise? - we still have no idea if Harden will ever become a leader capable of carrying a team to a ring, or even if he will ever become a complete player that brings consistent, competent effort as a defender - we still don't know if GM Daryl Morey's analytic approach is capable of building a roster to complement Harden in a way that can maximize his (and the team's) potential - we're once again looking for another proven, vet head coach to turn a losing culture into a winner, and coax the best from Harden all the time - and finally, yet again, we are embarking on a long-shot offseason approach of luring a superstar to Houston in hopes of building our own 'Big 3' ... only now we have to find 2 of these players bc Dwight is leaving Add it all up, and we finished this year right where we began with James ... barely avoiding the lottery just for the honor of being humiliated in a 1st-round slaughter by a real contender Now comes the real question that's been haunting me since the trade deadline, when we cut/dumped DMo/Lawson/Thornton and tried desparately to move Dwight in order to 'tank' the rest of the season ... Why in the world would James Harden resign with Houston in 2017? Even the wildest pipe-dream fanboy scenarios can't bring 2 legit superstars to join Harden in Houston next year and beyond Like many of you, my only hope for this team short-term is that some mythical bromance with James & Beasley will be enough to lure Durant here in the offseason The problem with that is the basic fallacy that there is something about HOUSTON that appeals to both Harden and Durant If all they want to do is team up together, they need merely wait 1 more year, then hit the market together in 2017 as UFA and have their pick of destinations Durant could simply re-up with OKC for next year on a full Max, but with PO each season This is actually the plan Durant's agent is certainly pushing as it allows him to jump from $25M max per season (2016 scale) to over $30M per beginning in 2017 This is basically what LeBron has been doing ever since he left Cleveland Who's going to turn Durant down if he insists on a similar contract? Certainly not OKC He and Westbrook could give it 1 more run next year in OKC, then both would hit FA together, along with Harden What if the 3 former Thunder decided to make another run together in a far better locale than either OKC or Houston? Both Harden and Westbrook are from the same hometown ... Wouldn't the Lakers be a far more appealing destination for any 2 (or all 3) to reunite? If they can avoid any more dumb contracts this offseason (like Max for Whiteside) and dump Lou Williams, you are looking at a FAR better situation than either Miami or Cleveland had in place when each lured LeBron to his latest super team Imagine this scenario for the Lakers 2017 offseason: - exercise TOs on Russell ($5.6M) & Randle ($4.2M) - add 2016 top3 lotto pick ($6M) ... I'll assume they take Ingram at #2 for these purposes - add another high lotto pick from 2017 draft ($6M) ... I'll assume Harry Giles - trade Lou and renounce SwaggyP, Nance & Anthony Brown The Cap is expected to jump again to somewhere near $110M in 2017 The Lakers could potentially be nearly $90M under the cap for FA That's enough to add at least 2 (and possibly 3) Max FAs Even better, the 4 holdovers (counting only $22M total) would all be very recent, very high lotto picks with star potential of their own - Randle is already one of the few double-double big men in the NBA - Russell was taken #2 to become the new 'face' of the Lakers post-Kobe and was favorably touted as 'the next Harden' entering the draft - Ingram & Giles could become better than either of those 2 If not to keep as the support for the new FA core, at the least those 4 could provide a windfall of trade possibilities to fill out the rotation with the right role players to form a championship team Considering his recent PR disaster with Iggy Azalea, and his complete redundancy in skills/positions with Harden, Russell alone could net the Lakers 2-3 vets in a trade with a team going nowhere, lacking a young centerpiece player, but with plenty of parts very useful to a contender What can the Rockets possibly due with their current assets over the next year to compete with this potential Lakers 2017 lineup: C - Giles PF - Randle SF - Durant SG - Harden PG - Westbrook And this is just 1 potential destination that could hold far more appeal than Houston - Anthony Davis may have tired of losing in NO by then, and be looking to form his own super team elsewhere - Philly may have finally gotten their act together and turned ALL those lotto picks into something - Ainge might finally pull a Morey of his own, with all the flexibility/assets in the world to recreate his KG/Ray/Pierce/Rondo magic again All of which leads me to this final conclusion ... If James Harden cannot deliver Durant this offseason, what choice do we have but to explore his trade market this offseason? Harden has asserted his control over the Rockets ever since he got here, with mostly disappointing results: - I believe his lack of respect/response to McHale's coaching was the primary force behind the early dismissal - His inability to put forth even decent effort defensively in 3 of 4 seasons has undermined the efforts of his teammates to the point that lack of defensive intensity has come to define the Rockets' critical on-court failures during his run - He never found a way to consistently get the most out of Dwight Howard over 3 seasons, and in fact, the animosity between the 2 looks like the biggest factor in the disintegration of the team's chemistry this season - He has yet to find a backcourt mate with whom he excels, and even campaigned to bring in his buddy Ty Lawson with disastrous results - Rumors about a jealousy/ego problem with Parsons drove him to Dallas, whom Harden again campaigned to replace with another buddy in Ariza As a scorer, Harden has proven he is among the super-elite, and belongs in the discussion with the best to ever claim status as a 'go-to' scorer Unfortunately, that is the only sense in which he has proven he is a franchise cornerstone: - As a playmaker, he's more Iverson than CP3 ... the assists are nice, but how many teammates does he make better? - Defensively, he's consistently below-average at best ... at his worst, he is an insurmountable weak link who drags down the entire team - As a leader, his aloof personality and lack of off-and-on-court commitment has left his team a directionless, disinterested mess of personal interests superseding the team's goals - As the de-facto GM (a la LeBron as star-recruiter) he has delivered Ariza, Lawson and JBB ... not nearly enough to date to justify the team's confidence in this role going forward To me, this offseason is Harden's last chance to prove to Les he deserves to be the Rockets franchise player If he cannot deliver Durant (or a similar top 10 superstar) this offseason, I see no other choice but to look for 2 young potential stars in a trade Especially when you factor in that Harden himself may already be making plans to move on elsewhere with his super friends after next year when he can leave for nothing in FA Speaking of which ... wouldn't LA make a lovely trade partner for the Rockets if Harden made it known he was not staying around past 2017? If James and Durant decide they don't want to wait another year, and want to pair up in Lakerland now, Harden would have to request a trade If a Harden trade request comes to pass, I can't think of a better package to rebuild around for the Rockets than D'Angelo Russell & Julius Randle At that point, I'd also go hard after Harrison Barnes as our top FA target to complete our trio of new, young Rockets stars It's just sad to think that we might be back to drawing board again so soon, and without Harden just as he's entering his prime But would you rather be the Knicks, stuck with our own Carmelo Anthony, left with no choice but to watch him pile up meaningless points on a mediocre team going nowhere year after year? If the alternative could be a new, young core of Rockets built around D'Angelo, Randle, Barnes and Capela ... Isn't that better than losing out on Durant, watching Dwight leave, and sweating through another lame-duck season of losing and praying our lone remaining superstar doesn't just walk out the door for good? Doesn't that at least give us Rockets fans hope for a championship future again?
