He was not a troublemaker by design but a troublemaker nonetheless because he was so coddled.......you grow up or you blame others..... I would choose growing up though.
Maybe he is also a flawed person with a shetty side. He did not give up entirely but this is close to self sabotage as it gets. Mainly because he has no clue about how the market view him.....and he is pretty much viewed as a high end mercenary with no loyalty now with an inclination to party and self entitlement that everyone deferring to him.....or else he will be calling them names on social media. No real sane person would be giving him 4-5 years now anyway. Thank you, Udoka on that one.
My life mantra is "poor communication kills"...but then, so does working with toxic people like Harden and Morey.
He had three generational talents to work with in his prime here and got exactly zero titles. The problem wasn't the Rockets. The problem was James just wasn't good enough.
The context is, he made requests to get into all those situations, CP3, Westbrook, Brooklyn, Philly. He's not just being unlucky. He made his bed but didn't want to sleep in it when things started going south. These are the possible explanations: (1) He is the most unlucky guy. (2) He is the dumbest guy who chooses the worst situations every time. (3) He is part of the problem everywhere he goes. #3 is the most likely because of the way he forced his way every single time.
It's really pretty simple in my view. He was given an under-the-table promise by Morey to give him a certain deal (probably a 3 or more year max) and Morey, being Morey, reneged on the deal when he saw that Harden's open market value was in the tank. He wants his money, that's it.
He requested for those talents. Maybe not with Dwight, but I mean who you pair with a guard a big man right? But for Cp3 and WB, those were both player initiated specifically James and Cp3/James and WB talked first and then they brought it up with mgt. I dunno what the excuse is now Embiid won an mvp. So an MVP teammate still not good enough?
More like Harden being Harden. Sucking ass in elimination games like every year and tanking his own value. Ain’t nobody wanna pay a 34 year old bum ass loser that disappears when it matters most. Not even his former #1 fan Morey. If he was even halfway decent in game 6 Philly would’ve advanced and he prob would’ve gotten an extension. That would’ve required him to not choke though. Game 6: 4-16 FG 0-6 3pt 5 turnovers Game 7: 3-11 FG 1-5 3pt 5 turnovers That’s 5 second round exits in a row now for Jimbo.
Harden had a chance, despite not winning any titles here - hell he couldn’t even get to a finals, of going down as one of the greatest players in Rockets history. Now? He has trashed his reputation so badly with his immaturity and petulance that he is pretty much a punchline for failure - primarily in the playoffs. This is not a good look for him - it’s like someone who got some bad plastic surgery - it just going to get worse.
Isn't this the same player guys like YOLO said he wanted back here? The same guy who just burned another bridge? This is why posters should be accountable for their dumb azz takes. Harden AND Morey need to be out the NBA Thank you Stone for not drinking the Harden coolaid