A bitter retrospective song about two people who need to break up but are holding on to dear life. "And I hope we hang on past the last exit. I hope it's already too late" The best exit is to hold on and hope he changes his mind. Coincidently, this exit also allows him to build value because he's actually playing and he's a top 5 player and everyone is forgetting that. Morey would give up Embiid or Simmons (he can keep Embiid) and every single asset we wanted for him. I don't care what he says publicly.
IF (BIG IF) its over ... the best thing for everyone would be for there to be some understanding that Harden needs to do his thing. Not mope and pout. He needs to drive his value as high as he can. Its a reason why he probably showed up sooner than he wanted to - its dumb to be a nuisance and then your own team gets asscheek deals proposed to them. Report, ball out. Lets win some games and when the time is right you'll get your wish and the team will be left in good position to succeed moving forward. Or James could buy in .. this team has magic and we win the whole god damn thing and laugh about it years from now. Its only day 4 LOL.
from rockets perspective you lay out all your current deals and as get closer to deadline you dangle harden for rental and "go for it" potential like kawhi and toronto. that team got a title out of it .in case of harden.. this team could get theoretically 2.. the list boston milwaukee toronto dallas denver portland warriors clippers miami brooklyn philly can you convince denver to go for it and give up murray? id consider #2 and draymond i dont really want paul george but he will be there. this seems to be the obvious option. if can get beverly and or williams too that would be nice. wall gordon paul george wood cousins bench: beverly , williams,green, tucker
Hardens value will be at its best right before the nba trade deadline and after the Giannis sweepstakes in 2021. Harden will be the next best option to teams losing out on getting Giannis Antetokounmpo.
I want as many '21 and '22 first round picks as I can get. '21 has a ton of guys who profile as solid role player floors with allstar ceilings while '22 will be a year where many expect the usual one and dones along with HS seniors to be coming out. I was laughed at for proposing the following but stand by retooling the roster by trading Harden and PJ and getting Aaron Gordon, Mo Bamba and 6 first round picks over the next four years. Something along those lines would allow the Rockets to stay competive while also building a talent base to compete long term (the draft picks plus the ability to sign a free agent once Wall then comes off the books).
Agree. I expect that Giannis is feeling a lot like AD did at NO and will want to move on to a contender. His brother Kostas getting a ring with LBJ probably sealed Milwaukee 's fate. Star players want rings to validate their careers - in fact I am of the opinion that one of the things that pushed Harden to this point was him watching Dwight Howard get a ring with LBJ. That had to really sting.
