i am perhaps the biggest fan of harden on this site but boy all this harden drama only goes to prove why tanking never works.... no infusion of talent in the world helps dumb people... the problem of tanking teams is never lack of talent but lack of leadership and management...talent is always plenty.. everyone is talented in nba...
I love Harden and have been a Harden apologist for over a decade now. At this point, I don't think it's unfair to be skeptical of wanting him back, especially making max-level dollars on a rebuilding team. I'm not ruling out that there's a possibility he could come here and be a positive for the young kids, but I'm definitely not leaning that way. I don't understand the fans who have complete faith in him at this point in his career anymore. Where does that confidence come from?
Harden is not perfect, I can vouch for that. But he will do a return to the city he loves just like LeBron did when he left Miami for Cleveland. The Cavs owner took out a full page add blasting LeBron after "The Decision"......wrote that the Cavs would win a championship before LeBron and the Heat ever will; but LeBron was more than welcome to come back. Harden said his only regret is that he didn't win the city of Houston a championship. Now he gets a reset. That Rockets team reached their peak. The money was over. PJ Tucker wanted $8M to stay while the Rockets were saying pay cut. Only non basketball morons couldn't see that CP3 was too old making too much money. CP3 prolonged his career but eating right.....but how many championships has he won since leaving Houston? And now he got hurt again. Surprise, surprise it happened in the playoffs again. People were asking how will the Sun's play if CP3 comes back? CP3 slows things down, when clearly they play better when things are sped up. Now I see rumors CP3 will probably be shipped out. Harden was not wrong. Teams need to run faster. If you have watched the playoffs you have see this. Here is Harden being a leader: That's what are young kids need. I could go into detail on Harden performing in the Udoka scheme along with KPj and Green, but it would go on and on like War and Peace. I will save it for another day ------------- On another note, why do people say Harden ONLY WANTS a Max deal? Can you specify the quote? Article? I'm guessing he is taking less due to the certainty in the rumors. Having to negotiate a Max deal would definitely present less certainly.
I want to believe in that narrative. I would love nothing more than for a more mature Harden to come back to Houston, help the kids thrive and build up a team that eventually brings a championship to this city. But he has so rarely ever met those expectations as a leader that we wanted him to; why should we start believing in him now? Not sure I agree with most of the CP3 stuff here, but I won't go off topic. I agree with you that the league is getting faster, but to that end, how does adding Harden help accomplish that? He's not a fast player and hasn't been in a very long time. Sixers had the fourth slowest pace of play this season, and you can't blame all of that on Embiid. How does his slower, methodical style mesh with the speed at which guys like Green want/need to play? I want them to play fast, but I don't think Harden is the answer to get there.
Individual "Pace" of Harden over the years 15/16.....98.74 16/17.....101.32 17/18.....98.29 (with CP3) 18/19.....98.06 (with CP3) 19/20.....108.2 (with Westbrook) 20/21.....(Hou...101.04)......(Brk.....99.51) 21/22.....99.49 (Phi...with plop-plop Embiid) 22/23.....96.11 (Phi....with plop-plop Embiid) In that 19/20 Rockets team: Harden....108.2 Westbrook...107.33 Rivers...........110.4 McLemore....109.2 PJ Tucker.......108.9 House............108.7 In that 20/21 Rockets team: KPj.......102.69 Tate.....102.71 KMj.....102.71 C Wood...102.27 Sterling....102.14 Augustin...101.99 House......101.91 Wall..........101.42 Olynyk.....101.02 So basically, who plays next to you and coaches philosophy matters. Doc Rivers stinks and Embiid post ups slow the game. Nash is old school and got booted by the players. 22/23 Team Pace Regular Season...............Playoffs Houston #13 Denver #23 Sixers #27th......................#16 (last) http://www.espn.com/nba/hollinger/teamstats/_/sort/paceFactor/seasontype/3 --------------- Link Pace stat https://www.nba.com/stats/players/advanced?CF=MIN*GE*15&DateFrom=&DateTo=&OpponentTeamID=0&PORound=0&Season=2020-21&SeasonType=Regular Season&TeamID=1610612751&dir=-1&sort=PACE Article talking about Uptempo in game one without Embiid https://www.si.com/nba/celtics/top-...rplexing-defeats-have-become-more-predictable
Body language in the 4th said this, now 45953092 times. We’ve seen this movie countless times I’m sure you still have some folks defending
The 2023-2024 Harden: Refuse to show up and act like a baby Show up with the intention of forcing Phillies hand Get traded to the most stacked team he's ever had Drag them down to a 6 game losing streak after starting 3-1 Blame it on you not being in shape (gee, I wonder whose fault that is) Eventually start playing better and contributing Get hurt for 15-25 games Come back and blame your current play and team chemistry on getting hurt and nagging injuries Ramp up for "playoff Harden" Play like Playoff Harden where you put up great stats in a game or two and then disappear when it matters Complain and blame it on someone else Get upset when no one wants to give you the max
No need to hate on the man who is also the 2nd greatest Rocket of all time. We all know the story on him, and selfishly I never really wanted to see him win a championship without the Rockets, but I'm over it now. The 2018 team was one of the greatest Rocket teams of all time and would have won the championship in most years. Remember the good times and move on. Let this thread die.
The NBA and their crooked referees fixed the outcome. The NBA was basking in the Money generated by the splash brother and the gateway to China San Francisco warriors. Morey exposed the NBA with the third party firm that confirmed the NBA was all in on the Warriors and called the game in overwhelming fashion for the Warriors. Harden would have won the title with the Rockets, but NBA greed rigged it so that the Splash brothers could generate truckloads of moola. Which they did, because Curry reminded every woman out there of their grandson, their ideal son, a perfect husband. His smile swoon even the executives on TV, that just saw dollar signs. The alternative to Curry was an un-trimmed beard, methodical, unguardable fella whom only strippers swooned over.
It's a good reminder to the people (you) who wanted to give Harden the full blown max on what a catastrophe it would've been. Maybe you'll learn.
I liked Harden and the team quite a bit up until the year CP3 was booted and replaced by Russ. Everything steadily went downhill for the team after that. I do remember the good times, but as the saying goes "What have you done for me lately" applies and is embedded in human nature. While what he has done lately is not on a Rockets team, constant thread creation by some bring his antics and disposition in to full view on a regular basis on the GARM. I wish all former player threads were relegated to the NBA Dish forum in large part so I dont have to constantly see the words James Harden over and over and over again. But things are what they are. This thread is but one of dozens and dozens and the folks posting them are not going to quit posting them any time soon.
It's weird to me that a Rockets fan could dislike Harden & enjoy seeing him not performing well right now. Dude played incredibly for us.
This is true, we felt betrayed. I was on board with James coming back but was concerned with his antics. Glad Ime Udoka is running the ship and not us or Tillman.
