So what were Morey’s original Harden intentions heading into the offseason?

[HotelVitale]

So what did Morey want to happen? James opt out and leave? I don’t know, Morey is the biggest Harden fan. Was he really going to offer him some sort of contract for 2 or 3 years? If so, even if Harden’s inexperienced representation kind of flubbed things and jumped the gun, couldn’t Morey have still offered whatever for a 2nd year on top of the opt in salary? There’s something so unnecessarily incompetent and emotional on both sides about this whole stinking mess.

I've always thought it was much simpler than that: Harden was expecting open arms and checkbooks, and Morey was like 'well we'll happily give you what the market's giving you.' Which he kinda knew was nothing.

I get why Morey would do that--it's business and no one should be out there paying guys huge cuz of vibes, and Harden really had ZERO market. On the other hand I don't get now knowing how that would make Harden feel and anticipating it. Makes me think that Morey just stopped caring that much about Harden after the PO--he clearly wasn't their second star and was miles away from being a title-winning lead guy, and was only going to get worse as a scorer and initiator. He probably didn't think the whole 'Darly Morey is a liar' thing was coming but also was probably fine with letting Harden go down that road somewhat. Maybe thought he could talk him into a super favorable 2-year deal but was also already prepping for that cap space route next summer.

[rzzzzz]

I've always thought it was much simpler than that: Harden was expecting open arms and checkbooks, and Morey was like 'well we'll happily give you what the market's giving you.' Which he kinda knew was nothing.

Well that whole Houston deal is kind of interesting. Was Harden really thinking he was going to get the golden home coming? Did the new coach really come in and change the club’s intention, or was volunteering to end the charade merely his first marching order from the FO?

[HotelVitale]

I've always thought it was much simpler than that: Harden was expecting open arms and checkbooks, and Morey was like 'well we'll happily give you what the market's giving you.' Which he kinda knew was nothing.

Well that whole Houston deal is kind of interesting. Was Harden really thinking he was going to get the golden home coming? Did the new coach really come in and change the club’s intention, or was volunteering to end the charade merely his first marching order from the FO?

Maybe a little bit of both, though I never bought HOU rolling out the red carpet for him from a team perspective. But I think a key thing here is that most pro sports players have little self-awareness in their day to day lives, it's not part of player life. They're out competing and grinding every day, that's their job and that's the culture of sports they've been part of for years and years. They're elite physical competitors who have gotten massive amounts of attention for that for years; not everyone goes around saying 'i'm the absolute best' but they do have to constantly be confident and focused and think they can do anything and beat anyone. I get why Harden wouldn't really have brain space for questions about how much HOU wants him or whatever else, it's a totally different world from what he was focused on.

Players also usually have agents and confidantes who understand leverage and possibility better, and I think Harden probably hasn't had enough people like that in the past couple years. He's been walking around with confident prove-yourself mindset and no one's been in his hear saying 'listen you are the best, bro, you're a killer but...' and having him adjust to the realities of being older and losing some steps.

[sweetlou23]

Check out the podcast with Redick, Igoudala and Evan Turner. It is illuminating on many different levels. Does anyone here honestly think that Morey did not break his word with Harden?

[Stanford]

Does anyone here honestly think that Morey did not break his word with Harden?

[the_process]

Check out the podcast with Redick, Igoudala and Evan Turner. It is illuminating on many different levels. Does anyone here honestly think that Morey did not break his word with Harden?

Oh come on. All three of them are little *******.

Anyway, I don't believe Morey lied to Harden. He is "trying" to trade him. He didn't promise to give Harden away.

[sweetlou23]

Check out the podcast with Redick, Igoudala and Evan Turner. It is illuminating on many different levels. Does anyone here honestly think that Morey did not break his word with Harden?

Oh come on. All three of them are little *******.

Anyway, I don't believe Morey lied to Harden. He is "trying" to trade him. He didn't promise to give Harden away.

They had a deal to get around the CBA. Harden was supposed to get paid. Morey or ownership decided to renege on the deal and not pay Harden like they said they would. Harden cannot come out and say, hey they said that they would pay me because its against the CBA. I'm not judging ownership. They are doing what they think is best for the team or their pockets. Its business. But, I would hope that folks who are as knowledgeable about the NBA as you are are not that naive. Maybe its just willful blindness.

[sweetlou23]

Check out the podcast with Redick, Igoudala and Evan Turner. It is illuminating on many different levels. Does anyone here honestly think that Morey did not break his word with Harden?

Oh come on. All three of them are little *******.

Anyway, I don't believe Morey lied to Harden. He is "trying" to trade him. He didn't promise to give Harden away.

They had a deal to get around the CBA. Harden was supposed to get paid. Morey or ownership decided to renege on the deal and not pay Harden like they said they would. Harden cannot come out and say, hey they said that they would pay me because its against the CBA. I'm not judging ownership. They are doing what they think is best for the team or their pockets. Its business. But, I would hope that folks who are as knowledgeable about the NBA as you are are not that naive. Maybe its just willful blindness.

[the_process]

Check out the podcast with Redick, Igoudala and Evan Turner. It is illuminating on many different levels. Does anyone here honestly think that Morey did not break his word with Harden?

Oh come on. All three of them are little *******.

Anyway, I don't believe Morey lied to Harden. He is "trying" to trade him. He didn't promise to give Harden away.

They had a deal to get around the CBA. Harden was supposed to get paid. Morey or ownership decided to renege on the deal and not pay Harden like they said they would. Harden cannot come out and say, hey they said that they would pay me because its against the CBA. I'm not judging ownership. They are doing what they think is best for the team or their pockets. Its business. But, I would hope that folks who are as knowledgeable about the NBA as you are are not that naive. Maybe its just willful blindness.

They investigated for just that possibility on two separate occasions and found nothing. So no, there was no CBA circumvention deal. If there was any hint of it, Silver would have thrown more charges at the Sixers than the Feds at Trump. They already doled out the biggest tampering fine in history on the Sixers plus forfeited two 2nds, and that was just for talking to PJ Tucker early, aka what everyone does.

[M2J]

Oh come on. All three of them are little *******.

Anyway, I don't believe Morey lied to Harden. He is "trying" to trade him. He didn't promise to give Harden away.

They had a deal to get around the CBA. Harden was supposed to get paid. Morey or ownership decided to renege on the deal and not pay Harden like they said they would. Harden cannot come out and say, hey they said that they would pay me because its against the CBA. I'm not judging ownership. They are doing what they think is best for the team or their pockets. Its business. But, I would hope that folks who are as knowledgeable about the NBA as you are are not that naive. Maybe its just willful blindness.

They investigated for just that possibility on two separate occasions and found nothing. So no, there was no CBA circumvention deal. If there was any hint of it, Silver would have thrown more charges at the Sixers than the Feds at Trump. They already doled out the biggest tampering fine in history on the Sixers plus forfeited two 2nds, and that was just for talking to PJ Tucker early, aka what everyone does.

When the report that clear they came from hardin's camp about a month ago stated that he knew the team didn't feel comfortable giving him a long-term deal last offseason came out. Everything made sense.

He got 2 years instead of one for more money. No team had money to give him last year if he tested free agency out just like no team had money to give him this year if he opted out. He was upset about it and Morey tried to correct it by building a better roster with Hardens friends. By December Harden was already acting out by floating in the Houston rumors, because he didn't willingly take that lesser deal.

There was definitely no promise from the Sixers to give him more money. Except to say that they would have had he played better. I also think they would have given him continuous short-term deals

[Jailblazers7]

It is very possible to leave a business meeting with each party interpreting the meeting differently. I’m sure Harden thought he had a solid guarantee & Morey thought there was an understanding that situation/performance would determine the next deal.

[Decipher]

I am a Nets fan who also enjoys watching the Sixers so don’t take this as a shot at Philly

Harden knocked back a 3 year, $161 million contract with us before forcing a trade & then signing a discount deal with you guys

Trying to assign normal logic to his behaviour is a fruitless task

[M2J]

It is very possible to leave a business meeting with each party interpreting the meeting differently. I’m sure Harden thought he had a solid guarantee & Morey thought there was an understanding that situation/performance would determine the next deal.

Possible, but I don't believe that to be the case here. Again, Harden was floating rumors all year

[rzzzzz]

So now we get a reasonable “story” about Harden’s team’s Rockets quotes last Xmas and how that situation fell apart.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10092128-stephen-a-smith-james-harden-talked-himself-out-of-rockets-max-contract-in-nba-fa

The man misses being the offensive focus/league scoring champ more than winning a ring.

[bball4life]

Check out the podcast with Redick, Igoudala and Evan Turner. It is illuminating on many different levels. Does anyone here honestly think that Morey did not break his word with Harden?

Oh come on. All three of them are little *******.

Anyway, I don't believe Morey lied to Harden. He is "trying" to trade him. He didn't promise to give Harden away.

They had a deal to get around the CBA. Harden was supposed to get paid. Morey or ownership decided to renege on the deal and not pay Harden like they said they would. Harden cannot come out and say, hey they said that they would pay me because its against the CBA. I'm not judging ownership. They are doing what they think is best for the team or their pockets. Its business. But, I would hope that folks who are as knowledgeable about the NBA as you are are not that naive. Maybe its just willful blindness.

I don't think this is what happened. I'm sure they talked and Morey said they would absolutely negotiate a multi year contract before the next season. Harden probably interprets a new contract as a max deal because he's delusional. And so by default he claims Morey lied.

Well, Harden was disappointing in the playoffs again, and did not play worth even close to a max offer. The Sixers weren't even allowed to discuss a new contract with Harden yet when he chose to exercise the player option. What that tells me one or more of a few things happened. 1) He heard through unofficial channels (his agent, someone in Houston, etc) that Houston would take him back but probably only for 2 or 3 years at 30M per year or something like that. 2) He realized all on his own that the Sixers weren't going to offer him a 4 year max contract. He was probably expecting a similar level offer to come from the Sixers 2 years at 35M a year with a third year option or something similar (which is what he is worth AT MOST now) 3) He realized zero teams he'd consider going to needed a PG OR had cap room to sign him outright.

So ultimately he took the guaranteed 35M (which was the same he would have made in a hypothetical Houston signing) and a lot more than taking the vet minimum to play in LA or Miami or wherever.

So this means: Money matters more to him than a championship shot. He has some self awareness to the realities around him but still wanted to force his way somewhere. Apparently he was not in tune to the new happenings in the NBA that teams will no longer bow down to the players, particularly players at the end of their productive careers. So now he's in a pickle.

He can try and collect paychecks and fake injuries or play like crap or whatever and force his way out during the season. I think he knows this will not work because he will have so little value if he does that, that the Sixers would be better off just letting his contract expire, OR use his expiring contract in a deal with a team not named the Clippers to bring back value from elsewhere in the league.

So I anticipate he will actually play at a similar level as last year for the Sixers. Then there is a chance of moving him before the deadline to another team, or him playing it out for the season (he may like Nurse, etc).

This will not be resolved quickly. He will have to actually live up to the contract he chose to accept literally months ago or he will never get another big payday again. He may not anyways as he has poisoned the well one too many times IMO.

[Jammer]

Does anyone here honestly think that Morey did not break his word with Harden?

Exactly.

Not a member of this board, but some things had to have happened that have not been stated publicly.

After Harden turned down a max contract from Houston, forcing his way to Brooklyn,

and after Harden turned down a max contract extension from Brooklyn, forcing his way to Phili (when Durant was hurt and Kyrie was not playing home games),

Harden declined a $47.6 Million option that summer, and signed a 2 year contract for $33M with a 2nd year player option for $35M.

It's illegal to promise the next contract, but there is no way Harden leaves $14.6M on the table without an expectation of a payback the following summer.

Heading into this summer Morey declined to return Harden's or his agent's calls in June.

Now, no one came out and said that there was a prior promise, because if there were, Phili could be fined like 5 1rst Round Picks, but there had to have been some sort of agreement for Harden to give up $14.6 Million. The "fix" would have been to sign Harden to a contract in July, for some # and years. When Morey declined to return Harden's calls in June (a message could have been gotten to Harden's camp, it happens all the time), Harden just exercised his option at $35M and said get me the hell out of here. Someone (Ownership or Morey) changed their mind. It's that simple.

If the NBA were to really investigate this and Harden came out and said he had a promise that would be the last thing the Sixers need. He spared them, by simply saying that there was a promise to be traded, but realistically it's a much bigger betrayal.

[Tony Franciosa]

Does anyone here honestly think that Morey did not break his word with Harden?

Exactly.

Not a member of this board, but some things had to have happened that have not been stated publicly.

After Harden turned down a max contract from Houston, forcing his way to Brooklyn,

and after Harden turned down a max contract extension from Brooklyn, forcing his way to Phili (when Durant was hurt and Kyrie was not playing home games),

Harden declined a $47.6 Million option that summer, and signed a 2 year contract for $33M with a 2nd year player option for $35M.

It's illegal to promise the next contract, but there is no way Harden leaves $14.6M on the table without an expectation of a payback the following summer.

Heading into this summer Morey declined to return Harden's or his agent's calls in June.

Now, no one came out and said that there was a prior promise, because if there were, Phili could be fined like 5 1rst Round Picks, but there had to have been some sort of agreement for Harden to give up $14.7 Million. The "fix" would have been to sign Harden to a contract in July, for some # and years. When Morey declined to return Harden's calls in June (a message could have been gotten to Harden's camp, it happens all the time), Harden just signed for one year and said get me the hell out of here. Someone (Ownership or Morey) changed their mind. It's that simple.

If the NBA were to really investigate this and Harden came out and said he had a promise that would be the last thing the sixers need. He spared them, by simply saying that there was a promise to be traded, but realistically it's a much bigger betrayal.

He didn't leave $14m on the table. Your own math shows that. Declined $47M, signed for $68M. He came out ahead, so let's not act like he was doing us a favor.

[Stanford]

Does anyone here honestly think that Morey did not break his word with Harden?

Exactly.

We do not agree on this.

[zaz102]

I'm not sold on the lying.

Why would Morey lie about trading Harden quickly? I'm sure Morey wants to trade him as quickly as possible too and I can't imagine James being so ignorant about Morey not trading him for what's been reported. If anything, I would think he would tell LAC to pony up unless this is all a show to force his way to LAC without then giving up good pieces.

Or if you think the trading quickly thing was a cover up for Morey promising a max contract, then what was with all the Houston talk in the middle of the season?

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[HardenGoat]

I almost think Morey had to renege on the big contract. The league was watching like a hawk . Everyone knew there was a handshake deal when he took the discount and that alone changed the dynamics going forward. Morey probably got an inside tip, an NBA watergate was looming.