Sure you do. You want your top performers to stay - you just ask them to modify their behavior... 100m is a huge carrot to stay. No, just thought it would be a fun way to support the site. DD
This. Big difference between 'stars have different standards than role players' and 'stars should be able to do literally whatever they want at all times'.
What I am saying is that the overwhelming majority of coaches would allow Harden to get away with what he has because he produces and puts in the work..... the same with Leonard and George and LBJ and O'Neal and Magic and Karl Malone and Bird. It is an issue right now because Harden's trade request is a big deal going into the season, Harden hasn't handled it well and the Rockets and other teams are leaking half truths for their own particular reasons. Also I don't buy any bullshit about the Celtics wanting or not wanting James Harden, I don't believe anything about the Celtics because from their past trade demands and apparent interest in other players, all the way through their interest in draft players is consistently proven wrong. If the Celtics don't want James Harden it is because they have a young team and are not willing to pay the going cost..... if the article upset you, well all I can tell you is that is the behavior of the overwhelming majority of superstar players.
Well the culture IS changing, I doubt they give 2 craps if some of you don't like it. I personally LOVE It...and yep, they don't care about that either. DD
Want to know why the Jets suck? Because they think they suck. Their players think they suck. Their ownership and front office think they suck. You know who sucks but would never admit they suck? The Spurs. Like any workplace, teams have cultures. Sometimes the culture is what is killing the team. Sometimes (like with the Spurs, Heat, Celtics, Warriors), culture is what attracts talent.
As a fan I don't care if Harden ****s b****es high off cocaine at 5 am. But when he is not moving off ball because he will get tired then I don't like all the partying rumors. Basically all those greats @Nook listed won championship and always showed up in crucial moments and honestly it's hard to say that about James. He still plays very good in playoffs but its a fall off a cliff compared to his regular season bar
Really? So now we are going the semantics route? When do you see them ever being relevant again which is the real point, they have not been relevant since they ran their superstar out of town. I guess their fans can always say at least we got "culture"
Let me know when Harden gets to play with Prime....... Kobe, Wade, Irving, Anthony Davis, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Scottie Pippen, Kevin McHale and Robert Parrish. The best bet Harden has was with a 32 year old CP3 that missed game 6 and 7 of the WCF against one of the 5 best teams to ever play. Had Harden played with the players those other greats he would have some titles. I heard the same arguments against Tim Duncan and even LeBron James until they actually won titles after having great teams around them. The same extends to Karl Malone, he was great enough to win a title but ran into the Jordan buzzsaw.
Which second best player on Hardens teams at the time they were playing with Harden Is better than the second best player on any of those "greats" championship teams??? Rocket River
This makes zero sense. What was the culture when Miami had LBJ, what has been the culture since. Is Butler a culture guy since he burned down Minny and the Bulls on the way out? What did the Spurs culture do to keep Leonard, even after he took the year off with a phantom injury they still tried to sign him, so miss me with this culture talk. The Jets suck because they have no talent and a bad coach, culture aint got **** top do with it. Do you remember the 90's Cowboys, take that for culture.
Along with having LBJ sign with them as a FA and Butler showing his ass in Minny and Chicago. Its funny how everybody forgets that. and this https://bleacherreport.com/articles...t-wolves-for-media-day-start-of-training-camp https://www.twincities.com/2020/09/...r-gave-up-on-timberwolves-and-now-we-see-why/
https://spacecityscoop.com/2018/07/25/rumor-rockets-superstars-trevor-ariza/ According to ESPN’s Zach Lowe, Trevor Ariza was frustrated by how superstars seem to get special treatment compared to the rest of the team. That's from 2 years ago. How many players were reportedly unhappy with our culture from that flurry of reports from a month ago? EG/Austin Rivers/House/am I missing anyone else? You're perfectly justified in believing it's all just leaks for Rockets to save face. I personally believed that probably a week ago and thought all those players were being cry babies and ungrateful of fact Harden carried them. But after reading report after report about how Harden got free reign to do whatever (trade CP3 for Westbrook or trade me - seriously, this something we're applauding?) I've changed my opinion on him a little bit. I don't think you just need to be extremely heavy-handed disciplining him or anything. I just wish we had a coach/management that had the backbone to say things like "when you don't show up on time, your letting down and losing respect from all of your teammates, etc. I think it is possible to build a culture where your superstar buys in, is motivated to be a leader that holds themselves to the same standards as everyone else on the team, and as a result, the teammates enjoy playing with him. Hence, good culture. Why did Jimmy Butler hate Minnesota's lazy, aloof mindset and has thrived in Miami? There are certainly levels to star preferential treatment, and it seemed like the Rockets went too far catering to Harden's every demand.
The gold standard should be winning rings. Celtic and Laker fans don't celebrate 'almost' championships. So many people are so proud of that team that almost beat GSW. I'm happy the team did but if you listen to guys like CP3 that loss hurts and guys like that don't want to hear about almosts. I'd say Morey is a big reason too. He's the one the brought him here and Les is the guy that wanted the team to stay relevant and competitive no matter what...but Morey had his faults, just like Harden. Harden gets blame, sure, and I'm sure after he retires he's going to look back and candidly address where he was wrong and how he could have done things better. Ownership gets blame too. I'm not sure that the last 2 years are actually indicative of ownership though, especially with reports that a lot of moves were made to appease Harden. But the Rockets trying to build a culture should not be seen as a bad thing. Spurs and Heat and Celtics are the 'Culture' teams and they have always been relevant no matter who wears the jersey. I think the Rockets should try building that and if that means they have to move Harden then they have to move Harden. Sure, it might be a long time until they contend again, might not. We didn't have to wait that long after Yao. Nuggets moved on from Melo. Heat moved on from their big 3 and so did the Celtics. We're talking like the Rockets just can't ever be relevant without Harden, as if the franchise should just fold up shop afterwards but stars come and go. I hope Harden buys into what the coach wants to do. If not, then yeah, maybe he has to go for the Rockets to move forward.
