Read the whole thing, but it is a straw man. No pro Harden returning poster is advocating not looking at what options are available, quite the opposite actually. Literally begging for ANYBODY to lay out what these other options are....and its nothing but crickets.
100% true, however, let's take the knee jerkers and fan base out of the equation.... Based on my memory and without going back to confirm his stats, he's attempted less than 15 fg attempts and has scored less than 22 pts in most of his playoff losses. If you're the leader of the team, if you're the best scorer on the team, heck, one of the best scorers in the league - fg attempts need to be at 25+ at a minimum. Some nights may be more/less efficient than others, but damn, at least try. The reason Harden has the reputation he has is because he doesn't seem to give a crap. Maybe he does. Maybe he is playing his ass off. However, sometimes perception is reality. And the perception is that he chokes when it matters most.
@YOLO just like when the Rockets traded for Russ, i was cautiously optimistic. If the Rockets bring back Harden, i'll likely feel the same way - cautiously optimistic, but little/no expectations to ever have a deep playoff run with him on the team unless maybe he goes back to a 6th man role.
It was stupid from day 1 to trade for a shitty westbrick. In no way is that relatable. The rockets at that point were a win now team that got worse. This is nowhere near that as mentioned over and over and over.
i don’t care if we lose. We don’t have the picks for the next few years anyway. As long as they don’t suck like they do now.
Agreed.... it was a terrible trade for many reasons. However, I was still optimistic that Russ would revive his career with Harden - i prefer to give players/coaches/FO's the benefit of the doubt until they've revealed themselves for who they are. I gave Silas the benefit of the doubt through about half the season this year - after still seeing no improvement after 3 years, he proved he wasn't the right man for the coaching job here. I gave Russ the benefit of the doubt that he would revive his career with Harden. He proved himself as washed and "done", and in all of his stints after that. I gave Harden the benefit of the doubt when he went to Brooklyn with Kyrie and Durant. I gave Harden the benefit of the doubt with Embiid. He's now proven himself to "not bring it" when needed most.
Westbrick revealed who he was years ago well before the trade. It didn’t need a houston uniform to realize that. There’s no such thing as magically transforming a player the rockets were never going to win much more than they did with or without Silas. That’s a product of a full rebuild. Kids don’t win in this league until they learn to later on in the best case scenarios harden was literally the reason Philly won 2 games of the series and one of them was without the mvp. Those don’t get deleted just because they didn’t win game 7. Every one of those games counts
You could see Game 7 against Boston unravel when Harden got the flagrant. All the sir went out of Philly. Embiid stank up the place, too. Maybe they gave it a good run and had no gas lrft. The refs did dick the 76ers in Game 6. I don't know. Oh, the offsesson.
Harden has a year of player option left, right? Is he even going to decline the option and go into FA after this stinker? Is he confident that some team will give him the max?
We're literally still in the middle of the playoffs. The draft lottery has not even happened yet. There are teams that just fired their head coaches that are unsure of what direction they want to take the team moving forward. The off-season is about 6 weeks away. Things are fluid, so YOU are correct that no one on this board will have a direct answer to what direction we should go in since the other 29 teams probably are still forming their plans as well.
People begging posters for alternatives when NBA teams don't even know their future.. just tells you how impatient folks are. Long lost Harden fanboys, uniting once again for a Playoff exit.
Dear Diary, The 76ers lost to the Boston Celtics today. They were level with Boston early in the 3rd quarter, but ended up losing by 24 points. I had always thought that I would want James Harden back in Houston if he took a discount. However, it is now clear to me after that poor performance, the only way I would want him in Houston is if he gave a heavy discount to allow other key signings this off season. If he doesn't accept a heavy discount I don't want him at all. He will not be a positive for the young guys and will still need the ball in his hands to be effective, which he isn't anymore.
Ah yes the same ole i rather watch us tank and lose than get into playoff and lose stance sounds really appealing if u repeat over and over. With a bunch of youngsters now I rather take losing in playoffs over tanking any day of the week.
I already said there is a in the short run and there is a in the long run. In the short run, no darn is given if he signs here or not. But the rational mind still says he is a declining player who is nearing his retirement. It is what it is though. Not everyone or at every point in their life does one have everything one wishes. One selects the lesser evil.
