All the Rockets have to do if they do get Harden is to somehow draft Bronny and its a done deal Bron is going where his son is drafted according the the narrative Bron put out to the media It may have to wait couple yrs but its possible if Harden signs a 4 yr deal
Amazing people want VanVleet after his numbers were worse than KPj for most of the season. Stat......VanVleet..........KPj PER............17.0..............16.2 Pts.............19.3...............19.2 TS%............54.0...............56.5 eFG%..........48.6...............52.2 FG%............39.3...............44.2 3P%............34.2...............36.6 Ast%...........28.1...............25.7 TRB%...........6.3.................8.5 TRB..............4.1................5.3 Stl.................1.8................1.4 TOV%..........10.2...............15.8 USG%..........23.2...............24.3 TOV..............2.0..................3.2 Stl%..............2.4..................2.0 Ast...............7.2...................5.7 FT%.............89.8.................78.4 Same sh#t different cow KPj (KPj is just scratching the surface on being a PG) https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/p/porteke02.html VanVleet https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/v/vanvlfr01.html
Lot people gonna hate when Morey locks Harden into a deal to stay in Philly. Lol Harden got to come here to lead some inexperienced young NBA players to the play-in at 34. First round should be interesting.
We don't need another non-defender. Period. He may not be a better player but would much rather have FVV. I'd honestly rather keep the cap space to trade a player into rather than give harden $40 million a season of Tilman's money.
I don't want either of them playing starting point guard for the Houston Rockets, but FVV is approximately a 5x better defensive player than KPJ, and raw assist numbers definitely don't tell the whole story here (and favor FVV anyway).
There is no team in the league that wouldn't want Harden. He's still the best playmaker and PG in the entire league. His basketball ball IQ is top 2 with LBJ. People need to understand Harden isn't the guys he was here. Those days are gone but he's still an elite NBA player. Houston desperately needs a person who knows how to drive a car on this team. This has been the worst team in the league from the point guard position since Harden left. Someone like Green could learn incredibly amounts of knowledge from Harden who actually enjoys teaching. Look no further than Maxey and Hardens relationship. Maxey credits Harden for a lot. They have hired the right coach now if they land Harden and swing a trade for Brown this team is a legitimate playoff team. Harden Brown Green Smith Tari Sengun Garuba That's a solid ass core.
Bc the biggest issue rockets have is someone who can create shots for others and he led the league in assists. What young player free agent out there is better than him at doing that? Also he has enough clout to demand the respect of the young rockets. If we get Victor, harden, green, Tari, Bari and Victor would be lethal. Add to that senguin (who I would want to start but where?) And kpj off the bench! Let's meet at the parade
Harden will attract another player, potentially Brown, if we did what you suggest (waiting for some young disgruntled star) it may first of all never happen, second it would require us gutting our younger talent and BKN picks, so we are in a tough spot, similar to the early Harden years. If you can get a player like Harden without giving up assets, that is huge. All other alternatives are worse than this scenario. Also, by waiting you are going to lose more, we dont control our pick next year, and once you go into 3+ years of losing young players may get comfortable and never be able to flip that switch and become winners. The franchise also looks bad and undesirable. We are in the same tier as Orlando, Sac, Indiana, Cleveland, etc. If a super star or even a star wants to come play on your team, you do it. We had a reputation of winning w longest active playoff streak, now we have a rep of losing badly, we need to turn it around asap or will do permanent damage to the brand. Young players won't even remember when we last made playoffs, as they were in middle school when it last happened. Who else would come here as a free agent and not cost us anything but cap space?
Why would we want Harden? As a bridge PG he’d be great. We need someone who can run the floor. Someone who can distribute the ball, put other players in a position to succeed, especially Jalen Green. Harden isn’t perfect, but he sees the floor better than almost anyone in the nba. He can still shoot at a high level. I don’t think he’s an essential signing this offseason; there are other ways to get a point guard. But he’s got to be near the top of the list to fill this need. The only other available viable option in FA is FVV
If he can be what Jason Kidd was to the Mavs in his finals stint yes I want that veteran version of Harden. What I don’t want is the Denver/Detroit version of Allen Iverson or Knicks version of T-Mac. The fact is Harden is likely done as a superstar #1 option. If he’s figured that out and he’s willing to transition to a veteran version of himself (that to his credit he’s mostly being in Philly already) then yes I want to sign him and pay him a legacy premium he’s probably not worth for the production you are asking of him. The one thing I need him to do better though these next few years is shooting the 3 off the catch and shoot. J Kidd developing as an off ball shooter was what kept him on the court those years and was a big reason why former stars like T-Mac, Iverson, etc. couldn’t extend their careers.
If you are thinking Harden is going to attract other stars I think you are probably going to be sorely disappointed. He isn't quite that guy anymore. He is at that veteran phase of his career where he has to be the guy that calls up the superstar and says "let me come help you win a championship". He doesn't have the explosiveness to be a lead scoring option anymore. If he wants to come back, and he wants to be a facilitator and a shooter for us and retire in a Rockets uniform, that's great if the price is right. Sure hope we're not planning to be paying him nearly $60M for his age 37 season four years from now though. That would be a bad buy. He should be getting paid like CP3 is (plus maybe a little inflation) and should be expected to produce at around the same level Phoenix has gotten from CP3. That would be a realistic expectation for his performance and a reasonable contract for what we'd be getting.
You're right OP but on this board you'll be fighting a lot of nostalgia and a lot of low self esteem for what other players we can get and win with so don't waste a lot of effort on the subject.
Have you seen his role in Philadelphia? He is exactly what you described, that will be his role here.
Harden was assisted on 42% of his made threes this season which was significantly higher than any season since MDA arrived…he shot 41% on catch and shoot threes he started shooting the midrange a lot more this season as well, and I’d like to see him continue to incorporate more midrange into his game as he ages because it’s getting harder for him to finish at the rim…would also like to see him get his floater back…it was deadly in Houston, but no so much since he injured his hamstring
Well it's not singles tennis or golf. NBA assists and defense are more a reflection of who is around you. Assists, like quarterback completion %, depends on others to do their job; push off, get separation, run crisp routes, correct routes, not have vice grip hands, actually catch the ball. Assists in basketball require teammates to catch and make the shot, not have vice grip hands, move, be where they are suppose to be, Example: lob dunk goes as an assist for the passer.....other than Kenyon, nobody cut to the basket much to receive lob dunks. Raptors had a ton of long winged forwards that could complete the task at a high percentage (dunks are completed at a high rate percentage as most baskets near the rim). Siakim, Scottie Barnes, OG, Boucher, Precious, etc. Wembanyama would increase the assist totals of all our facilitators. Regardless of their experience. KPj had 6.2 assists the year before with more veterans surrounding KPj, C Wood shot near 40% from 3 and Eric Gordon was over 40% from 3 that year. ____________________ Defense and DRtg are more about help defense. The guards that have a good rim protecting big man tend to have their mistakes eliminated or altered. When Sengun is your back line of defense.....the guards look horrendous......when Olajuwon is your back line of defense, your guards don't look so bad. I'll take the 6'5" KPj in today's NBA position-less basketball over the 6'1"VanVleet that is 29 years old. Notice how a Wembanyama and better in tune Jabari-Tari will magically make KPj-Green look like all world defenders next season as their length and athleticism help protect that back line of defense. Also if you add Cam Johnson and Torrey Craig as I've mentioned recently.
Harden and Udoka are not a fit. I assume Udoka will prefer a defense first PG and he will try to mimic what worked for him in BOS.
