I willing to give him a last chance next season, but to be blunt, Harden's honeymoon period is over.Repeat performance of this next playoffs series he is out the door.
You can blame D'Antoni for this and that. But you can only hide Harden's defensive liabilities so much. What D'Antoni did was make the Spurs play the Rockets game in going small. Things got tricky once Nene got hurt. Now the only big we had outside of Capela was Montrez. Montrez guarding LMA is a tradegy waiting to happen. So MDA chose to go small with Anderson at the C, which was a gamble defensively but previously gave the Spurs fits on offense. We BLEW them out the water going small a few games back. It was a risky decision that previously worked but ended up backfiring once LMA got hot and Anderson stopped making shots. HOWEVER.....If your best player decides he doesn't want to play and GIVES the other team the ball on offense, no coach in the league can prepare for that. Could you imagine if LMA went out there last night and decided to pass up WIDE open shots? All while carelessly turning the ball over 5 times in the 1st half. The Spurs would virtually NO CHANCE if he their best player GAVE the game away.
Dude D'Antoni got outclassed like EVERY other rocket. It's dumb to "hide" Harden vs the FOCAL POINT of the Spurs offense. Adjusting the starting lineup after a backup gets injured was silly and it cost D'Antoni games 5 & 6. Say what you want but the truth is Harden was horrible in Game 6, the Spurs had the better coach, and they had the better the team. The Rox as a team just wasn't good enough to win it all this year.
I would much rather trade whomever makes dumb ass posts like this. We don't even need anything in return - just addition by subtraction!
I can't believe people are flaming the OP for this... I think it's a legit concern/possibility... One of the following is happening: A) James is great but folds at the most crucial times... and folds bad... B) James is a diva who got pissed at the criticism for the end of game 5 and decided 'screw y'all - i dgaf and I aint shooting..." C) james was just spent (and not from Treasures)... which speaks to his conditioning and getting rest (ie dedication vs partying) D) Point shaving/throwing games has been mentioned... None of these scenarios is good... If you're Les... Harden is a money draw - so dont worry about it, regardless... but if you're trying to build around this guy to win a championship... there is real concern... but hey, if you're just happy to have a great regular season - and collapse in the playoffs... carry on...
Trade Harden And be prepared to become the Minnesota Timberwolves, Brooklyn Nets, NY Knicks, Orlando Magic, Sacramento Kings, LA Lakers, etc. Harden ain't perfect, but he's what the Rockets have chosen to build around. Adjustments have to be made. Remember when Steve Patterson was actively shopping Olajuwon? There were some Rocket fans that were o.k. with that at the time.
Lol, the Rockets are actually a mediocre team that Harden had elevated to the 3rd best record in the league. You do know that right? There are no former all stars, current all stars, or potential all stars on this roster. Like I said earlier, McCollum would've been our 2nd best player and there's no debating that. Nurkic would've been our best big by far, there's no debating that. McCollum shoots over 40% from 3 and averages over 20 ppg. Crabbe shoots over 40% from 3. Nurkic can be a beast. Leonard is a big that can shoot. Aminu and Harkless can defend 3's and 4's. I like Harkless a lot. Give Harden that roster and he'd definitely get them to over 50 wins while Lillard is over there dragging them to 7th and 8th seeds. Matter of fact, they were 11 games below .500 at 1 point during this season with the great Damian Lillard leading their team. They only started winning after acquiring Nurkic. Portland's offense fits what they have so please stop with the narrative that only the Rockets run a system that fits their personnel. Terry Stotts just finished 2nd in COY voting last season too just in case u want to downplay their coach next too. Like I said earlier, thank God you are not the GM. I have no doubt that you'd be crying and complaining about Lillard and wanting to run him out of town if he was here as he struggles to get us into the playoffs as a 7th or 8th seed while playing no defense and shooting mediocre percentages in the playoffs. The grass isn't always greener on the other side.
I'll never forget that we had people that thought OJ Mayo was better than Harden when he played for Dallas...let that sink in...
guys want "winners"...so let's trade Harden for D'angelo Russell or Ben Simmons guys want playoff success...so let's trade Harden for lesser stars that can barely get their teams to over 40 wins guys want to tank, and then we'll just do another Harden type trade a few years from now with our assets or hope that the guys we select with our lottery tickets don't bust and can 1 day be 75% as good as Harden is
It's silly to hide Harden on defense? There are enough videos on youtube that show Harden in "lala land" while his man cuts to the basket for a layup. He is a liability on defense. MDA went You're shallow assessment of the Rockets baffles me. Yes the Rockets don't have any current allstars besides Harden. But what they DO have is one of the deepest teams as for upper level role players. Anderson, Gordon, Lou, Beverley, Ariza ..even Nene, are all VERY good role players. Gordon and Anderson were great in NO just couldn't stay healthy. Overall, we are a WAY better team than Portland. We also have a better coach to compliment our role players that surround our superstar quitter James Harden. Leonard, Aminu, Harkless? I wouldn't trade ANY of them for our core of role players. Outside of McCollum, who would you trade for Ariza, Gordon, Capela, Nene, Bev, Lou, Anderson? There is a reason Portland is always fighting for a 8th seed every year
There is a question that one has to begin to wonder... Why is it that Harden seems to perform so poorly in late-series elimination games?
This is what u don't understand. We are a way better team than Portland because we have James Harden and they don't. Replace Dame with Harden and Harden is easily winning over 50 games with another legit scorer like CJ and a big like Nurkic. I would take both of them over any player on our roster not named Harden in a heartbeat. You think they would've been scraping for the 8th seed with Harden? Hell no. Like I said, the grass isn't always greener on the other side.
Let's put on some reality goggles. This team was pretty much mediocre since the all-star break. Look at their record and point differential. This team was massively successful for the first 2/5ths of the regular season where they seemed to be on Pace for 60+ wins. You remember that part of the season right? It's very simple. The Rockets tried a gimmick offense of putting up a historical rate of 3s whether they are wide open or 5 ft behind the line while being defended. It worked for the first couple of months into the season and teams that matter figured it out. I attribute most of that initial success to the gimmick style offense. After that initial su cess this team was pretty mediocre. I wouldn't be surprised if the team falls back to a 40 something win team next season. You're putting to much weight on Harden being a MVP candidate and 55 wins. This team didn't play like a 55 win team for half the season. Harden was the better player in 2014-15. He had a more consistent shot, quicker feet and actually ran. He just didn't have a gimmick offense where dumping a ball to a man 5 ft behind the three point line who's still guarded would be a worthy enough shot to generate an assist.
Show me a game where Lillard had 13 turnovers? Show me a game Lillard took only 2 shots the 1st half & had more turnovers than points? Both in seperate elimination games. Please answer
