Lol, James Harden out of shape and fat was totally overblown. Pretty sure he wears padding when warming up. You can't tell me the dude who showed up the first game had 44 and 17 was out of shape. Cuz if a fat guy can do that against the best competition in the world, imagine what he could do if he was in shape. Are you telling me hes the best player in the NBA? Honestly if you look at how he played I think he legit gave the team a chance, and just realized they weren't good enough after the Lakers games. He was putting up amazing numbers until John Wall stepped on his foot and sprained his ankle.
Stat padding that leads to victories isn't really stat padding. If he really wanted to chase triple doubles and score 50 a game he could.
“ The Heat and Victor Oladipo have not ruled out the injured guard playing again this season, but a final decision hasn’t been made and Oladipo continues to seek input on how to deal with right knee soreness stemming from an incident in last week’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers, multiple league sources said over the past two days. An MRI of Oladipo’s knee revealed no new structural damage such as a ruptured ACL or torn ligament, Five Reasons Sports Network reported Sunday night. An NBA source did not dispute that report but said additional medical opinions are being sought. Whether the Heat calls it soreness or a sprain is semantics. The larger issue is whether Oladipo, in the next few weeks, feels comfortable playing on a knee that already has been surgically repaired following a significant 2019 injury. That’s an issue both sides are discussing, as Oladipo —with the Heat’s blessing — continues to seek additional medical opinions on the best course of treatment. Both the Heat and Oladipo want to be cautious. To be clear, this is more than a pain management issue. This is also a question about whether he risks further damage by playing on the knee before the soreness dissipates and whether he can be effective if he plays in the next few weeks. Oladipo went a full year and six days between NBA regular-season appearances after sustaining a ruptured quad tendon in that right knee in January 2019. He returned in January 2020 but hasn’t played in back-to-back games. Six days before he injured his knee after a dunk against the Lakers, Oladipo explained the drop in his field-goal percentage since returning from the quad tendon rupture. “I had a lower extremity injury, so I wasn’t able to use my lower extremity for a long period of time,” Oladipo said. “One leg is stronger than the other. I have some hypertrophy in one leg than the other. Working my way back and finding my balance is something I’m still continuing to work at.” Oladipo made clear two days later that he wasn’t injured. But that changed when he fell awkwardly after his dunk against the Lakers last week. The Heat and Oladipo hope he can return at some point before the regular season ends and be available for the playoffs. But that decision won’t be made until Oladipo gets additional medical input and sees how the knee responds to rest and treatment in the immediate future.”
looking more and more like he should’ve taken the 2/50 extension...we should be grateful that he didn’t because we would be starting the Wall-Dipo backcourt until they both expired or were somehow traded
So if Oladipo is out and the Heat have less depth on their bench and that is the rockets actual pick. well... thanks Dipo
It all come. Down to what we do with Kelly Olnyk. Are we going to pay up to resign him? Or if someone doesn’t show him the money he could go like montr es harrel and sign with a contender for the full MLE. Then we get even less in that trade. You have to think of the context fo what we’re doing since this year is essentially a wash on the court. That said Kelly is looking good and a good guy to have on the court or locker room, frankly any of the Miami heat culture guys we bring can help. James harden has been called fat for years, yet in a league where load management is accepted he played several years through of high minutes, historic useage rate, heavy games while leading the league in points, then assists, always reinventing his game. To do that in the marathon of several years leta lone one season takes crazy grit, perseverance, and determination to be great. Harden is not giannis, he is a skill player. If he relied on his athleticism, he wouldn’t be who he is, far form it. Theres a reason the players who goto battle with him nightly, frustrated by his drawing fouls ways, still named him the players mvp over steph. There’s a reason the media darling jimmy butler says harden is the hardest to guard. And the guy you called out of shape dropped 44 and 17 his first night, should the whole league try getting out of shape? The facts just don’t support your narrative. Running harden off screens is like running lebron james off of screens, you’re not maximizing what they are elite at and make them special. This is the guy that had to be talked out of canceling morning shoot around, this is the guy who never misses his own individual workouts and travels with a trainer even if he’s up at the strip club at night just like it din’t matter if MJ was gambling all night. I’m sorry you bought the PR, but it seems morey, MDA were more than welcoming of him back. Harden owned real estate here did, he didn’t rent, even moved his family here. Invested in multiple businesses including the soccer team and then also had a rockets/harden themed restaurants opening this year...this doesn’t sound like someone who was scheming to leave Houston the first chance he gets. But the trajectory changed with tillman after the 2018 season and the facts back that up. Harden isn’t PR savvy, his moms his agents so I think the story lol generally fall on deaf ears and tillmans’ relentless PR power will win out. That’s fine, hardens gone, but I’m not going to pretend the above isn’t true. None of this changes that I’m optimistic about stone despite the trading deadline hick up(yes if we had gotten levert, because oladipo is an expiring contract who was noted to want to go Miami who could’ve signed him outright in a couple months meaning we have the back against the wall with the deadline and no leverage on oppose to a 26 year old with more years to fish out a trade, his 9 games in playoffs show him averaging what he is now for the month of April, 21–6-5, a block and a steal). But we got some good young fellas and wood. Stone and silas deserve more time, they are rookies
Kevin Potter Jr Armoni Brooks Sterling Brown RFA JaeSean Tate Christian Wood KJ Martin Jr This is a Great Young Core who weren't here last year. Rafael Stone and Eli Witus deserve credit in finding Young Talent that are high in IQ and Talent.
Armoni Brooks is going to outplay Victor Oladipo this year. Armoni Brooks Deep 3 Point Shooting Plays in this New Age Basketball.
I looked it up and its an embarrassing thing for the NBPA not to jot all this stuff down. You can find individual articles for each year and i believe James Harden is a multiple mvp form the players, respect. I do think the media is a bit ego centric and too self important when you see the personalities voting, and then what they actually vote for, but the nba needs them to be engaged, create gossip, that sells more than the game.
No doubt, I like this core. I’m not blinded to how we got here, but at the same time that doesn’t make it hard to look forward especially once this year is done. My optimism is stone is finding young talent and getting good value, I hope Tate stays with us a long time, I see KJ Martin as another guy who can be a major role player and if we’re serious about winning this time we need to respect our depth and role players once we get the right star. Wood is one of the best contracts in the nba, Armani and sterling have shown great value and of course you forgot KPJ, whatever the circumstance we got him in, I’m glad we did. Hats off to Stone for these moves and its ok to say that and say we absolutely screwed up the oladipo scenario in just getting him as an expiring with very little leverage, not sure if that was an owner move or stone, but no one is batting perfect. Stone is a rookie gm but looks promising so far. go rockets.
If we miss out on top 4 and we get the Heat pick, Stone swooping in to give the Heat Dipo and stop them trading for Lowry is going to look very smart. Speaking of the Heat, it's crazy that CF seemed to like Tyler Herro better than MPJ when evaluating Harden trades.
I don’t think its crazy that Herro showed some big balls in the playoffs. Played like Jamal Murray with grit and fearlessness. His physical tools can be limiting but MPJ was almost a top 5 and dropped due to injuries. He’s understated in how physical he plays and gets on the boards despite being wiry and from what i understand a raw vegan, go figure. But his scoring and height will make for a special player. I’m not sure what they are doing in Denver but with MPJ, Gordon, Jokic, perhaps Bol Bol they can have one of the most unique skill set lineups in the nba. All four are good or decent with handles, crafty passers, and can shoot. Now they got former rocket to fill in for Murray.
Kevin Potter Jr lol, my spellchecker didn't work. Kevin Porter Jr. Potter Jr is a magician with the ball.
