Thanks for the link. As I said earlier Stein is pretty reliable . I think it’s pretty much a formality at seasons end
Even those who want Harden know the cost of getting him is stupid so they dream that he will give us a discount. It's an amazing amount of denial. He's not taking a $1 discount so when you guys make your projections don't forget to cough up $45m of our $60m in cap space. We will have less than $15m remaining after him (slightly above MLE) and never have max cap space again without sacrificing picks to dump contracts. That's the true cost.
The true cost is not being able to sign any of the other mediocre free agents available. Totally good with that.
See what I mean. You guys are locked in fantasy land. You've convinced yourself it's Harden or useless players and there's no other possible path - which is of course, absurd. You don't like them maybe, but you are in the fringe if you believe there is absolutely no other way we can improve but to sign a chubby James Harden to a max 4 year contract at age 34 till he's 38 and making $53m. Daydreaming while it's obvious your plan of Harden and a mediocre free agent would lock us into being a treadmill team. Nightmares about Harden being our only choice. Dreams of him giving a discount and us being able to sign someone else decent. Dreams of him staying fit and healthy ages 34-38. Dreams of Harden being a mentor for the kids. All emotional decisions, so of course you feel good with that. Who wouldn't feel good dreaming about unrealistic expectations? I want Harden too if he stays in good shape for the next 4 years and he gives us a discount and he suddenly becomes a good mentor out of the blue and there is not a single player who can help us win in the FA/Trade market and it results in us being better than a treadmill team. Just think about how ridiculous that sounds. Even typing it made me crack up.
Its not an emotional decision, it is a rational one. It fills a need, and just so happens to be the best player available. Does it have downside? Potentially yes, but the upside is worth it. Still waiting for a viable alternative plan, which, to this day, cannot seem to be articulated by anyone.
Name the alternative players that u think we should sign. and watch folks laugh at you for suggesting it. U have the opportunity to sign one of the best playmakers to grace the court, something we sorely need. Im fine signing harden, we aren't winning it all anytime soon with anybody else we sign in the free agency, might as well get the best person to feed our youngsters the dam ball.
It has the largest downside on the entire market too, but don't let that bother you. I for one am ignoring your demand for an alternative plan that you approve of because my whole position is that I'm ok with everyone else's plan except that one. It's literally the worst plan to give this money to Harden without having drafted Wemby or have another star on a verbal agreement. Your plan is worse than someone's plan I heard the other day of doing nothing but sign 3 cheap vets and throwing the kids to the fire till a better option than Harden emerges. There's PLENTY of improvement this team can do with Udoka while we patiently look for any better option. Players are constantly becoming available and as we're seeing in the playoffs there are so many rumored players that are maybe not exactly as good as Harden but with way less risk and often younger. It's nowhere near as rare as you're making it seem. As I mentioned earlier, you've simulated a panic as though this must happen this summer or we're in chaos. That's just not the reality of things. EVERYTHING has to go right for Harden to be worth his contract even it's first two years. That's a lot of money dude. That's $45m of our $60m. We can patiently fill those slots with two semi-deserving max contracts and open a long term, safe contention window with lots of homegrown talent constantly improving and under team controlled contracts. Look at this point we're just butting heads and obviously you're entitled to your opinion, but have a serious think about it. It's a lot of risk for these last 3 years of suffering it took to be in this position with 2 max cap slots ($60m) and the possibility of dumping KPJ attached to a mediocre first round pick ($18m IIRC). Can you name a riskier player on the market given Harden's physical condition, age, heaviest minutes in his prime among his peers, one of the most fouled players of all time, allegedly loves to party, hasn't been able to get slim for almost 3 years now, finds Houston makes him comfortable, is leaving a winning team to join a team that cannot possibly content for a title this season... I truly can't think of a riskier signing at this moment in time, even among the overhyped FA's. I'm literally rooting for Harden to win the title this season, that's how much I love him as an icon. I just really think it's not the best risk for the franchise right now and I'm so sure that we can acquire him before he retires. It would be absolutely sweet to acquire Harden as the cherry on top of a team that we built that can at least go to the WCF without him so he takes us over the hump. If we sign him, you won't see anyone rooting for him harder than me so I get why this must be an exciting option.
I agree that Harden is a valid pickup who fills a need and that bringing him back is a viable route the Rockets could go. I would even support it, depending on the price. He should continue to be an all-star or borderline all-star caliber player for at least a couple more years. However, I am concerned about paying him around $50M a year for his age 36 and 37 seasons. That could get us really stuck in luxury tax hell right when Green, Smith, Eason, Sengun, etc are all hitting their prime years. Our goal is to win a championship, and we shouldn't lose sight of that. Do you think we can be legit contenders this upcoming season or the one after that if we bring Harden back? Because I don't. That doesn't make it a bad move to sign him, but we need to be wary of negative repercussions following that period. As for alternative paths: If the goal is just to get significantly better next season, and we don't go into it with wild-eyed ambitions beyond that, I do think there are many alternate paths to do that which maintain some cap flexibility by adding good roleplayers to fill some current holes. Here are some guys we could consider acquiring by free agency or trade in some combination of 2-3 players instead of spending that cap space on just Harden: Mike Conley Tre Jones Jevon Carter Grant Williams Bruce Brown Cam Johnson Josh Hart Brook Lopez Mason Plumlee Udoka Azubuike Pick any 2-3 of those guys that fit well together and pair them with a top 6 draft pick, better coaching and some improvement from the young core, and I think we can easily exceed 30 wins, or if everything goes very well, maybe be in the back end of the play-in conversation after the all-star break. And let's be honest, this team plus Harden and a vet minimum guy is probably around the same level, don't you think?
Run it back, add in another 19 yo in place of Nix and the 20 win crew will easily be a 60 win team next year (if you combine it with the last 3 seasons)
I love what Caserio/Ryans did in the draft! They told everyone we don't want to be good, we want to be champions!!! Kudos to both of them for having the cajones to pull the trigger on that trade!! Playing it safe is a sure way of telling everyone (including players) we want to be good more than we want to be champions!! Will they ever get there? Who knows, but we do know they are thinking championships and are not scared to step up to the plate and as a fan thats's all I can ask for!! Harden will immediately improve the offense and unleash our youngsters potential! Will Harden be a solid alpha in 4yrs, who knows, but what I do know is that Udoka,Harden, Green/Jabari/Sengun/Tari along with another good pick this year will make Houston a VERY desirable place to play for!! Oh, have I mentioned no State Tax... It's not just about how much to pay Harden, its who else is coming over for the ride.....stars love playing with stars and if Harden makes one or two of our young pups into an allstar the gates will be wide open..... BamBam: I've got a Championship on my mind and my mind on a Championship!! Go Rockets!!! ....... ....... .......
I'm a Harden fan, and if we were a .500 team already, then adding aging Harden might make sense. But this team won't possibly win a title in the next three years, even with Harden, so I'd rather focus on younger guys with future upside.
I would say, if we get wemby who seems NBA ready, sign harden, growth of jabari sengun green porter and then out sign Jaylen brown next season would make them an immediate contender for championship in a year, harden would be the 4th option and be the ELITE pg, where he don't need to score unless he gets open shots or get hot. Brown and green could score and wemby and sengun as well , so can jabari , so I think 3 years is so much from ur end
Yall really don't want mr . James He's on one right now Ain't nobody better stepping onto this team unless wemby on the way
Who here thinks 36 year old Mike Conley or Tyus Jones SAS tank commander brother is an adequate substitute for Harden?
