That's the point.....While Harden isn't truly "off limits" he's effectively off limits because any trade that would be acceptable wouldn't be offered in the first place.
If Harden improves next year on D and more consistent O in playoff, hell no. But if he still the same guy like this year's playoff, oh yes. Find someone who can play D and score well with team ball, not iso.
So who is a clear upgrade over Harden that would be attainable? Who is a "fair" trade to you? It's obvious you think very little of Harden. "ISO chucker" is a comment that stuck out. Maybe the vast majority of people in this thread and all the NBA pundits that point out how good Harden is at his age might be on to something? You have to take emotion out of your evaluation. I can't stand Kobe Bryant but I can acknowledge he's an elite talent. I never hated a team more than the Stockton/Malone Jazz but I gave them the credit they deserve. Harden is nowhere near perfect. And he's still that good. But some people will always see the glass half empty. How the hell did you survive watching the Rockets in the 2000s?
Threads like these make me embarrassed to be a Houstonian. There really are a lot of dumb people in this city.
No, it wasn't. The question was, would you trade one of the best half glasses in the league? I think keeping Harden, adding a key player or two and upgrading the coaching gives us a very viable shot at a title. Give these kids some time. When's the last time one of the youngest teams in the NBA won a title? Has it EVER happened? One year in and some people are ready to pull the rip cord.
I'm so sick of people overstating how bad he is in the playoffs. Little do people realize, James Harden in months March and April of last year put up his same "bad" playoff stats that he did against OKC. In 2013 James Harden ran out of gas after his epic febuary of was posting these stats Mar-Apr: Code: G ▴ GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS GmSc 21 21 37.7 6.4 16.4 .390 2.8 7.3 .383 9.2 10.9 .843 0.5 4.7 5.2 6.3 1.6 0.6 3.8 2.2 24.8 18.6 He carried his fatigue directly into the playoffs and posted this: Code: G GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS GmSc 6 6 40.5 7.5 19.2 .391 2.5 7.3 .341 8.8 11.0 .803 0.8 5.8 6.7 4.5 2.0 1.0 4.5 3.0 26.3 17.5 Hardly a difference. The year before in 2012 he had a great playoffs. Now this season, I'm not making any excuses....But people think he's this terrible playoff player when he's only had ONE bad playoff stretch for his own standards(What he did in the regular season). Now if he plays horrible next year, I have no argument...
would i trade the dude that routinely decides he could give a damn about defense, uhh hell yes but the Rockets wont...maybe someone will actually coach him next season...haha im just kidding...Mchale cant coach
He was playing as a 3rd option coming off the bench for OKC. You really think he was the focal point of playoff defenses when Durant/WB were on the court?
When he destroyed Dallas and Spurs, they just left him open because of Durant and WB ? I remember some amazing clutch shots.
But he disappeared in the finals. Last year we were lucky to get in so it was like we can take w.e we can get. But now it's a different story where you must be on point because a lot is at stake.
Some guys I would at least consider trading Harden for, some basically have no chance if happening at least for now: Durant Westbrook Lebron (actually a chance given his free agency-- if a sign and trade for Harden or some packaged deal gets this done, you do it) Love Chris Paul Griffin Paul George Kawhi Leonard Kyle Lowry Bledsoe Dragic Rondo Klay Thompson Patrick Patterson
Hell no. I wish some of you people would remember how much you learned going from age 24 to 27-30 as a person. If you haven't reached age 30 yet, you shouldn't be allowed to vote. Name one NBA superstar other than Kobe that was at his best before age 30, excluding Kobe. He doesn't even count because we can argue Shaq all day long.
