The answer is yes and barring finding out he's done something horribly illegal he will 100% be retired. Dude is a first ballot HOF player lol and likely head of whatever class he'll go in as and people are asking if he'll have his jersey retired. People mad he didn't want to play with a washed up Wall and Cousins and Christian Wood who can't even stay on an NBA team. Clearly Harden was right, he would have wasted a season playing with that team and he knew better.
You could still retire the jersey and be bitter about his exit/drama around it. Not mutually exclusive though. Also the Spurs series comes to mind where he absolutely did not show up...... There are a few of those clunkers.
He had a pretty bad concussion to be fair, in 2024 he would not have seen the court after he hit his head but those were different times
Yeah, I think Yao got the hometown discount and probably was one of the most beloved Rockets whose career was cut short. Harden had his 8-9 years, 2 WCF, MVP while great but it was not due to him having the longest Rockets tenure. It was those 4 years other than the first 1-2 years in the beginning where he was still a superstar but the team record was not good. The gripe it was not really a long time. But yes, I get that nowadays recently with Haslem and Yao, teams could retire any jerseys from any players that they deem worthy other than winning championship(s) or being great. I would just have specified why those jerseys were retired......for example, Haslem for his service and being the longest tenured guy in history of the Heat..... A sidenote if you will.
Oh yes I think people can feel bitter or betrayed by it. I don't. My take at the time is that it was time to move on from Harden. Not that I hated him as a player but...we were getting nothing out of it and we could make no more moves with him on the team and the Rockets are in a better shape thanks to all the draft picks they've acquired by trading Harden away. I get people were mad and while some of us were excited in the idea of him carrying that team it's clear he made the right decision for his career. Wall was completely washed up and Cousins too and as we saw Wood just isn't an NBA player. I think people should be thankful in the long run because Harden netted the Rockets so many assets for the team to just move forward.
I don't think it is warranted, but Tillman does.... https://www.skysports.com/nba/news/...l always be,base/community truly remarkable." DD
The fact that the poll isn't 95+% Yes is very surprising to me. And honestly it should be 100%. He has been the 2nd best player in Rockets history.
Ya i was THRILLED when he wanted out, we were about to be in nba hell. He was good enough to win 40-45 games by himself which is the worst place you can be. I would have traded him earlier but that wasn’t realistic. He basically saved the franchise with his trade request. I would rather win 20 games with scrubs then 40 games with vets
I think once they retired Shaq's, Marc Gasol's and Haslem's Jerseys, the Jersey retirement lost its initial importance, the same as the HOF Inauguration. At some point Amen and Sengün would deserve a jersey retirement and figurines as well..... I think one should separate figurines, statues, jersey retirements and just put the lesser stars on a mural......altogether. Oh wait.....
Even after 4yrs I'm still pissed at the way he shamelessly sabotaged the organization and forced his way out!! Having said that, I'm in favor of retiring his Jersey! During his time here we were the only team that actually gave The Warriors any real competition, AND if it weren't for a fricken hammy injury to Paul AND Tillman's stupid infatuation with Westbrook we could've had a couple extra Championship banners inside Toyota center!! I don't have to like him as a person to acknowledge how great he was during his time here.... FYI.... glad he's gone though... Go Rockets!!! ....... ....... .......
This. We would not be in the position we are today, with the young prospects we have today if Harden would have stuck around and squeaked us into the playoffs for a couple more years.
There should be a rule that you have to play for the team for at least half of your career to qualify for number retirement. Modern stars jumping teams like hopscotch should not be viewed as an icon for one team.
Hayes played 7 seasons for the Rockets, 9 seasons elsewhere. Moses and Clyde both played way more on other teams. That represent nearly half of the Rockets retired jerseys and all three retired before this century before LeBron made stars jumping teams cool. There's really no point for any hard and fast rules for jersey retirement. Especially not for a franchise as devoid historically of superstars as the Rockets.
Citing past practice does not legitimize the practice. Retiring a player who played only 4 of his 16 seasons with the Rockets does not seem right. Clyde should be retired by Portland, not by Houston.
Hayes was from Houston, Clyde from Houston, Moses was our first great player, but yeah, it is an honor that the org gives out to help itself in marketing. DD
He probably should, but I personally have no feelings towards the guy anymore so it's all good. It shouldn't be anytime soon though.
