I guess it’s possible since Durant is almost certainly leaving. But the Warriors would be nuts to give Klay a max contract.
I wouldn’t mind having Reddick, but he already turned us down once (before going to the Sixers) and I’d rather have a better defender on the perimeter.
I no longer follow the NBA since the rules changed. Just take the center position. You now can win rings without an elite rebounding force aka Hakeem the Dream Olajuwon or Kareem. I could care less if Harden scores 200 points in a game but the Rockets still lose. Basketball to me is inside, mid court and outside. I hardly see that now. The Lakers vs the Celtics. That is basketball to me.
I haven’t quite completely given up on the NBA. I still love my Rockets, but now that they’re out, I likely won’t watch another second of the playoffs. Literally all the rules in the NBA are now aimed at allowing offenses to score more, or trying to limit Harden’s ability to manipulate the rules to his advantage. It barely resembles basketball anymore, and I’m not that old!
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Hate to say it but CKS coaching style is much more like the NBA. He’s trying to set spacing for 3pt game. Too many times they had 3-1 fast break and the shot would be 3 pt shot instead of trying to lay up on the break.
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I will always follow my School. That is not the case for the NBA. I will make an exception for the Rockets. James Harden has not proven to me that he is a leader.
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Amen.
Pippen stated the truth. When Harden wants to score 50 he can. What he doesn’t do is make his teammates better in the playoffs. And that magnifies his mistakes, as infrequent as they are.
GSW showed again last night what team ball can do.
I knew the Rockets were a fait accompli (again) when they lost the very last game of the regular season to OKC. They were up by 20 in the second half and lost. Instead of being #2, they were #4.
Such a typical Houston thing to do - blow the most important game of the season. No sense in watching the inevitable playoff crumble.
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Not really buying this. House was an NBA washout and became a useful player with James. James got Capela $90 million. Faried was on the scrap heap and looked useful catching Harden lobs. Austin Rivers’ career was rejuvenated here. PJ Tucker was respected, but his reputation for what he’s done with the Rockets is better than at any other point in his career.
The only guys James style of play are really bad with are ball dominant players who don’t play D (Lou Williams) or traditional post players, the latter which is almost extinct in the NBA. If you can hit 3’s or catch lobs and dunk there’s almost no one better to play with than Harden.
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I said during the playoffs. Magic, Thomas, Bird, MJ, Wade, et. al…(the group I include Harden in as a player) were vocal and influential leaders who challenged their teammates at crunch time.
I just don’t see Harden taking a court general posture down the stretch. He tries to win games by himself. Noble but futile when you’re playing teams with better talent.
MJ once told Kukoc that he could either start making those 10-foot jumpers or ride the bench the fourth quarter. Bird was also notorious for mentioning potential trades in the team huddle.
Bird told Greg Kite to either take charges against Worthy or start using the women’s restroom.
Even James is known for staring icy-eyed at younger players who lose focus.
I think Paul should have the old man speech with the team. Tell them he didn’t come here to retire and finish in fourth place every year.
Not good optics… I think Paul has a point, but still…
I sm with Paul on this one.
Harden does not have enough help. Magic had four other stars and one of them was on the
second team to keep the scoring up The Lakers’ problem was teamwork
To say Harden doesn’t have enough help is silly. Harden loves to play isolation, sometimes for 10…15 minutes at a time. There are other players that can score. The problem is when Harden goes cold or starts passing everyone on the team is ice cold and out of rhythm.
Harden could wear a ring if he found a better team rhythm and demanded more from his younger teammates for the extra shots.
But Morey-Dantoni style Analytics won’t win a championship. I’ll stake my salary on it.
Golden State has enough firepower to beat us with either Curry or Durant. With both healthy they can win another 5 rings. They create their own rhythm based on the circumstances. And their teammates play focused in support of it.
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Harden is a great player/scorer, but I have doubts that he can lead the Rockets to a championship.
What great players that are NBA championship caliber are being underutilized?
Look at what happened to Ariza after he left. It could just be that he got a year older, but he had a massive dropoff this year without Harden getting him open 3’s.
The only guy that was really better before or after leaving the Rockets other than due to something like aging (CP3 now) is Lou Will. I guess Harrell sort of, but that was more because he couldn’t get the same minutes here with Capela.
This argument also kind of cuts against what happened in the most crucial game of the playoffs. In game 5 Harden got ripped to shreds for not taking enough shots in the 4th quarter. However, he passed out of doubles and got his teammates a bunch of open shots they missed.
Think about this way, the Warriors lost Kevin Durant and swept the Blazers and are at the very least probably even heading into a Bucks matchup and maybe favored by a little over Toronto because of their being banged up. The Rockets without Harden wouldn’t make the playoffs this year.
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You’re exactly right. The criticism about the style of play and it’s potential to win championships is a fair challenge, but it’s obvious that Harden elevates everyone on the floor, because without him, they’re generally a bunch of scrubs, offensively. And it’s also a fact that with the makeup of the team, that style of play gives them the best chance of winning. Chris Paul isn’t going to take any team to the promised land.
When House was contributing, they looked like a championship team. I don’t know what happened to him in the playoffs.
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Word has been leaking out that Uncle Tillman is cleaning house the scouting dept and we know the 3 asst/dev guys that have been let go since the season ended.
The analytics in basketball are bunk.
Rockets need Anthony Davis.
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