Welcome James Harden!

[Ksny13]

I’ve come around to feeling better about Harden as a personality fit and his reputation as a difficult locker room guy. I still worry about his lifestyle and conditioning but that’s a separate issue.

Harden has been criticized a lot but let’s review all of the players he butted heads with over his career:

1. Dwight Howard - notoriously an annoying teammate who Kobe hated and was almost chased out of the league until he accepted his place as a role player.

2. Chris Paul - well documented that he is a difficult, demanding teammate (see Lob City Clippers) and has rehabbed his rep as he chilled out with age.

3. Russell Westbrook - great guy but one of the most frustrating teammates ever

4. Kyrie Irving - not sure much needs to be said here, the guy is living in outer space

5. Kevin Durant - has been at the center of passive aggressive drama his entire career and even killed the vibes in GS who has maybe the best teammate ever in Steph and one of the best team cultures in the sport

Sure, he might still become unhappy and unmanageable in Philly but I feel like he’s taking the brunt of the blame for a lot of failed relationships where both parties are at fault.

I don’t think Harden had issues with Westbrook. The Rockets jettisoned Morey and MDA that summer and didn’t seem to have a clear direction. Harden and WB wanted Lue as the new head coach. But they hired an inexperienced Silas. New owner is a penny pinching jackass who’s only interested in promoting his family business. The realization that Westbrook isn’t good enough for winning basketball games probably didn’t help either. So he decided to leave Houston. But those two were close. And still are I believe.

He didn’t have any issue with KD either. It’s just KD has been coddling the flat earther and didn’t do anything to urge him play home games, which probably disappointed Harden.

Agree with this take. Honestly the only one where JH was in the wrong was CP3. The rest there were major issues.

[Suwanee]

I’ve come around to feeling better about Harden as a personality fit and his reputation as a difficult locker room guy. I still worry about his lifestyle and conditioning but that’s a separate issue.

Harden has been criticized a lot but let’s review all of the players he butted heads with over his career:

1. Dwight Howard - notoriously an annoying teammate who Kobe hated and was almost chased out of the league until he accepted his place as a role player.

2. Chris Paul - well documented that he is a difficult, demanding teammate (see Lob City Clippers) and has rehabbed his rep as he chilled out with age.

3. Russell Westbrook - great guy but one of the most frustrating teammates ever

4. Kyrie Irving - not sure much needs to be said here, the guy is living in outer space

5. Kevin Durant - has been at the center of passive aggressive drama his entire career and even killed the vibes in GS who has maybe the best teammate ever in Steph and one of the best team cultures in the sport

Sure, he might still become unhappy and unmanageable in Philly but I feel like he’s taking the brunt of the blame for a lot of failed relationships where both parties are at fault.

I don’t think Harden had issues with Westbrook. The Rockets jettisoned Morey and MDA that summer and didn’t seem to have a clear direction. Harden and WB wanted Lue as the new head coach. But they hired an inexperienced Silas. New owner is a penny pinching jackass who’s only interested in promoting his family business. The realization that Westbrook isn’t good enough for winning basketball games probably didn’t help either. So he decided to leave Houston. But those two were close. And still are I believe.

He didn’t have any issue with KD either. It’s just KD has been coddling the flat earther and didn’t do anything to urge him play home games, which probably disappointed Harden.

Agree with this take. Honestly the only one where JH was in the wrong was CP3. The rest there were major issues.

Yeah Harden played a big part in the CP3/WB trade. But like I said in the previous post, CP3 looked completely washed the season before. Had he been playing like he has in PHX, he and Harden would probably be still playing together with a ring or two already.

[rocketsfan100]

It wasn't reported too that ownership forced Morey to trade for Westbrook? or is my imagination?

I just looked this up and it looks at least partially true. Rockets Owner said management got weak during negotiations, but he pushed them to make a deal as he thought it would help bring a championship.

There's another quote from Morey saying that the trade negotiation was intense and that he owes it to the Owner to not give up too many assets to protect the future of the team.

It looks at the very least that Morey didn't want to offer all the picks, but Tillman pushed him. I didn't see any quotes that he didn't want to trade Paul for Westbrook, but not sure anyone would say that directly anyway.

Here's the link to the Owner's quote-

https://rocketswire.usatoday.com/2019/10/02/rockets-owner-tilman-fertitta-tells-final-hours-of-paul-westbrook-deal/

Here's Moreys quote about it being intense and balancing now vs future-

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/rockets-daryl-morey-calls-trade-for-russell-westbrook-the-most-intense-of-his-career/

It is true. Morey wanted to run it back and give the Harden/CP3 duo one more chance. But Tilman stepped in and forced the trade. It’s one of the reasons Morey decided to jump ship after the season.

But to be fair, the year before CP3 looked completely washed. Majority of the Rockets fans including me welcomed the trade. Who knew… Gets to show you how much us fans know, regardless of how knowledgeable they claim to be…

Tillman publicly disrespected Morey by calling the Paul deal the worst contract in professional sports. Then went on to sack Dantoni the second most successful rockets coach ever as well.He wanted Morey out to. That’s when Harden had enough. Tillman is a plague

[M2J]

Gonna be hard rooting for Harden to get foul calls.

But Harden and Joel are IMO the best at drawing foul calls in the league, and that's going to be a huge deal on this team. Early penalty will be another way to help Maxey and Harris get points as they get into the paint. Good free through percentage team too, especially without Drummond

[Ben]

Gonna be hard rooting for Harden to get foul calls.

But Harden and Joel are IMO the best at drawing foul calls in the league, and that's going to be a huge deal on this team. Early penalty will be another way to help Maxey and Harris get points as they get into the paint. Good free through percentage team too, especially without Drummond

SO hard. I've spent SO much time over the past years showing friends video evidence of Harden's ridiculous flopping. And here I am rooting for him. If there's any consolation, I suppose it's that recent reffing reforms have limited some of the most egregious moves that he used to pull, so liking him may be a bit less morally ambiguous than in the past.

[agiaco]

Cheering for a guy on your favorite team isn't very hard

[FireMorey]

Should the Sixers sit hm through the AS break to give the hamstring extra time to heal?

[sixers4real]

Should the Sixers sit hm through the AS break to give the hamstring extra time to heal?

SIXERSWIRE, USA Today.

“Him (Harden) and Paul were here today and I had good talks with both of them,” said Rivers. “We’re gonna form our plan and as far as health for both and then go from there.”

Rivers is also not worried about Harden having to practice with the team before a game. As soon as he is cleared in terms of his hamstring injury, the Sixers will throw him out there and they will figure it out from there.

“The practice part probably won’t matter as much as the health,” Rivers added. “Let’s say he’s not ready to practice, but ready to play. We’d play him anyway. When you do trades this time of the year, there’s many times you put a guy on the floor with zero practice time. You just throw them out there and you’re gonna have to figure out how it goes. The moment he’s cleared to play whether we have practice in front of that or not, we’re just gonna throw him out there.”

Harden and Millsap will have their next chance to debut on Tuesday when the team hosts the Boston Celtics.


To me, that sounds like a Tuesday debut if he’s healthy, but I think he is. Then one game in Milwaukee.

Then, him, Jo and Maxey will fly to Cleveland for ASG

[eyeatoma]

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[FireMorey]

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[Murray_17]

So,they're gonna be presented tomorrow but no press today?

[Stanford]

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[Arsenal]

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It's the smart move, although it sucks having to wait.

Need him 100% in the playoffs.

[FireMorey]

Yes, there is no reason to rush it and he makes it worse.

[Stanford]

Is James Harden also scared to play in Philly?

[Negrodamus]

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Perfect opportunity to integrate with the rest of the team. Honestly, hold Embiid out of the All-Star game with this wrist injury.

[Murray_17]

Yeah is the right move, even in case it's just for optics

[DHM]

I bet it’s through the all star break. Lol. See ya in April James.

[sodmoraes]

HArden´s 3s off the dribble are so much quicker than MAxey´s. MAxey will get there, but at the moment the difference is pretty big.

[ProcessDoctor]

So he’ll likely debut 2/25 @ Minnesota.

Would’ve really liked having him against Milwaukee on Thursday. We’ve been able to win without him though so it’s cool.