The James Harden Thread (2019-20)

[TheGOATRises007]

Should have resisted asking for CP3 to get traded.

Might cost him a ring.

Rockets would be scary good with CP3 right now.

[JordansBulls]

Should have resisted asking for CP3 to get traded.

Might cost him a ring.

Rockets would be scary good with CP3 right now.

If he is playing definitely so.

[freethedevil]

Should have resisted asking for CP3 to get traded.

Might cost him a ring.

Rockets would be scary good with CP3 right now.

Hopefully harden and kawhi's gming don't prove costly

[Dupp]

Should have resisted asking for CP3 to get traded.

Might cost him a ring.

Rockets would be scary good with CP3 right now.

Hopefully harden and kawhi's gming don't prove costly

Hardens will and kawhis won’t unfortunately.

[GSP]

Should have resisted asking for CP3 to get traded.

Might cost him a ring.

Rockets would be scary good with CP3 right now.

Hopefully harden and kawhi's gming don't prove costly

Hardens will and kawhis won’t unfortunately.

They both will TBH. Houstons issues are obvious and are as gimmicky as ever but Lac has no rim protection or ball movement. Their lack of playmaking talent is glaring

[Dupp]

Hopefully harden and kawhi's gming don't prove costly

Hardens will and kawhis won’t unfortunately.

They both will TBH. Houstons issues are obvious and are as gimmicky as ever but Lac has no rim protection or ball movement. Their lack of playmaking talent is glaring

Sure but I think clippers can easily overcome their floors and win it all. Don’t think any team can beat them bar the Lakers. They’ll continue to play down to teams and continue to win.

There’s anything close to a warriors type team anymore so the team to win it this season don’t have to be perfect to win it. Every team is floored.

[CKRT]

Should have resisted asking for CP3 to get traded.

Might cost him a ring.

Rockets would be scary good with CP3 right now.

In hindsight, yeah. I don’t think the wrong choice was made at the time. Chris looked absolutely washed out there when he was with the Rockets last year and it looked like the constant injuries had got to him. No one could’ve predicted there would’ve been a 4 month layoff for him to stay healthy.

Not to mention Russ looked insane pre-pandemic. This isn’t the same guy right now.

[Doctor MJ]

Should have resisted asking for CP3 to get traded.

Might cost him a ring.

Rockets would be scary good with CP3 right now.

I don't think it actually did cost them a ring. I think the reality is that the Rockets would have come back with their Harden-Paul-Capela core and there's every reason to think that at least one of the LA teams would beat them regardless.

With that said, if the Rockets get their clock cleaned the rest of the way against the Lakers, then Harden asking for Paul to be traded absolutely looks foolish.

The moment it happened I said a lot because I thought it was so interesting. The immediate thing was just how damning it was of Paul's personality - and that hasn't changed. Paul asked to join Harden's team and then couldn't find a way to actually make Harden not hate him. That's pathological crap right there, and we now have a sense of how Blake Griffin felt back on the Clippers.

But as a star, you absolutely never want to demand your co-star gets traded unless you can be very confident you can do better without him, and there was no good reason for Harden to think he could do better with Westbrook instead of Paul. It's understandable that he may have thought otherwise, but there were all sorts of reasons to think otherwise, and those reasons, to this point, still hold.

And now Harden's likely to be a in a very awkward position. He may soon be in a situation where his good GM & coach are gone and his wannabe-badass of an owner puts fools in their place while he nickels and dimes the team itself. Granted the owner may have ruined everything anyway, but Harden seems likely that he's going to become an afterthought going forward if he stays in Houston as the man, and if he switches teams he may really not go well for him with the hyper-me-first game he's honed over time on the Rockets.

[Pelly24]

Should have resisted asking for CP3 to get traded.

Might cost him a ring.

Rockets would be scary good with CP3 right now.

I don't think it actually did cost them a ring. I think the reality is that the Rockets would have come back with their Harden-Paul-Capela core and there's every reason to think that at least one of the LA teams would beat them regardless.

With that said, if the Rockets get their clock cleaned the rest of the way against the Lakers, then Harden asking for Paul to be traded absolutely looks foolish.

The moment it happened I said a lot because I thought it was so interesting. The immediate thing was just how damning it was of Paul's personality - and that hasn't changed. Paul asked to join Harden's team and then couldn't find a way to actually make Harden not hate him. That's pathological crap right there, and we now have a sense of how Blake Griffin felt back on the Clippers.

But as a star, you absolutely never want to demand your co-star gets traded unless you can be very confident you can do better without him, and there was no good reason for Harden to think he could do better with Westbrook instead of Paul. It's understandable that he may have thought otherwise, but there were all sorts of reasons to think otherwise, and those reasons, to this point, still hold.

And now Harden's likely to be a in a very awkward position. He may soon be in a situation where his good GM & coach are gone and his wannabe-badass of an owner puts fools in their place while he nickels and dimes the team itself. Granted the owner may have ruined everything anyway, but Harden seems likely that he's going to become an afterthought going forward if he stays in Houston as the man, and if he switches teams he may really not go well for him with the hyper-me-first game he's honed over time on the Rockets.

I'ma be real the CP3 attitude stuff feels like BS to me. They almost went to the finals in 2018, he just got injured. It seems like CP3 and Jimmy just don't tolerate BS. CP3 has the best IQ in the entire game, it's way better than Harden's. Harden just doesn't strike me as a winner in some ways. I wonder how Harden and Ben Simmons and Kat and Wiggins would've liked playing with Michael Jordan. Like toughen up lol. That's why it's so gratifying to see one of my favorite players (Russ) struggle and the 76ers be chillin' at home.

[Doctor MJ]

Should have resisted asking for CP3 to get traded.

Might cost him a ring.

Rockets would be scary good with CP3 right now.

I don't think it actually did cost them a ring. I think the reality is that the Rockets would have come back with their Harden-Paul-Capela core and there's every reason to think that at least one of the LA teams would beat them regardless.

With that said, if the Rockets get their clock cleaned the rest of the way against the Lakers, then Harden asking for Paul to be traded absolutely looks foolish.

The moment it happened I said a lot because I thought it was so interesting. The immediate thing was just how damning it was of Paul's personality - and that hasn't changed. Paul asked to join Harden's team and then couldn't find a way to actually make Harden not hate him. That's pathological crap right there, and we now have a sense of how Blake Griffin felt back on the Clippers.

But as a star, you absolutely never want to demand your co-star gets traded unless you can be very confident you can do better without him, and there was no good reason for Harden to think he could do better with Westbrook instead of Paul. It's understandable that he may have thought otherwise, but there were all sorts of reasons to think otherwise, and those reasons, to this point, still hold.

And now Harden's likely to be a in a very awkward position. He may soon be in a situation where his good GM & coach are gone and his wannabe-badass of an owner puts fools in their place while he nickels and dimes the team itself. Granted the owner may have ruined everything anyway, but Harden seems likely that he's going to become an afterthought going forward if he stays in Houston as the man, and if he switches teams he may really not go well for him with the hyper-me-first game he's honed over time on the Rockets.

I'ma be real the CP3 attitude stuff feels like BS to me. They almost went to the finals in 2018, he just got injured. It seems like CP3 and Jimmy just don't tolerate BS. CP3 has the best IQ in the entire game, it's way better than Harden's. Harden just doesn't strike me as a winner in some ways. I wonder how Harden and Ben Simmons and Kat and Wiggins would've liked playing with Michael Jordan. Like toughen up lol. That's why it's so gratifying to see one of my favorite players (Russ) struggle and the 76ers be chillin' at home.

Rule of life: Saying "I'm not going to tolerate your BS" to the boss will typically get you fired. Paul's issue specifically in Houston is that he wouldn't stop acting like the boss even when he was very much NOT the boss. Also, the inability to recognize that you need to change your approach is very much a type of pragmatic emotional intelligence, and I think very clearly Paul has shown himself to be piss poor at this.

I'd also say that I think it's pretty clear what it feels like to be on the receiving end of Paul. No matter what you do, there's always some little thing that he thinks you should have done differently, and this is going to annoy pretty much anyone who isn't looking for a mentor. People have to be open to feedback before you give it otherwise you're as likely to make things worse as make them better, and if you make them worse, that's on you and a reflection on your own weakness in emotional intelligence.

Don't sell this stuff short. The art of being the smartest guy in the room and being 1) likable, 2) helpful, and 3) confidence-building is incredibly valuable. Things would have gone differently for Paul if he were better at it.

Re: how would have liked playing with Jordan? I can tell you with a certainty that Jordan would not have tolerated Paul telling him what to do. Again, much of the problem here is that Paul's not Jordan. When you're the alpha of the team you can get away with, say, being abusive, much of the time. Paul joined a team where he'd never be the alpha and never understood he needed to adjust.

Re: Simmons/KAT/Wiggins. These are all guys way worse than Paul. You need to stop thinking of the Harden situation as analogous. If Harden were Wiggins, Houston would not have kicked Paul to the curb.

Re: 76ers be chillin' at home. As is Chris Paul.

I want to be clear that I'm not saying that Paul's suggestions to Harden were wrong or that Harden couldn't possibly be better if he listened to outside advice. Just saying, acting like an alpha when you're a beta IS an attitude problem. If you aren't adjusting your approach to the power dynamics of the room, you're setting yourself up to get slapped down.

[GSP]

This isn't legacy defining. We all the type of player Harden is specially in the playoffs and do or die games. He's just not that guy. He just got outplayed on both ends in a game 7 by an undrafted rookie

Next season he will be averaging 33-35 points a game again and the same ppl will say he's playing at a level or higher than prime Kobe/Wade and the same ppl will look like morons after the playoffs like every years. **** is like clockwork lmao

After Houston gets clobbered I'm interested in what happens with him and the team

I think dantoni is gone. Wonder if they still keep microball and Russ

2/11 shooting in a critical game 4. Got 20 free throws but was completely passive after every double

Now we're gonna see the same Harden fans calling him arguably the best player in the league disappear when he lays an egg during elimination like most of his career

[Heej]

Not gonna lie he seemingly disappeared for stretches but that dude is still unguardable af man. Any time they had single coverage on him he'd shift his defender and get to the rim and draw a foul. Even on guys like AD and Danny Green lol. 20 FTs is something he earned. I just think Houston is terrible at taking advantage of 4 on 3s and Harden isn't very good at orchestrating it and stringing out the double so his teammates are in the right place

[MyUniBroDavis]

Not gonna lie he seemingly disappeared for stretches but that dude is still unguardable af man. Any time they had single coverage on him he'd shift his defender and get to the rim and draw a foul. Even on guys like AD and Danny Green lol. 20 FTs is something he earned. I just think Houston is terrible at taking advantage of 4 on 3s and Harden isn't very good at orchestrating it and stringing out the double so his teammates are in the right place

Bron kind locked him up a few times this series tho lol

[evilpimp972]

Not gonna lie he seemingly disappeared for stretches but that dude is still unguardable af man. Any time they had single coverage on him he'd shift his defender and get to the rim and draw a foul. Even on guys like AD and Danny Green lol. 20 FTs is something he earned. I just think Houston is terrible at taking advantage of 4 on 3s and Harden isn't very good at orchestrating it and stringing out the double so his teammates are in the right place

Seems like they guarded him pretty good.

[MyUniBroDavis]

Not gonna lie he seemingly disappeared for stretches but that dude is still unguardable af man. Any time they had single coverage on him he'd shift his defender and get to the rim and draw a foul. Even on guys like AD and Danny Green lol. 20 FTs is something he earned. I just think Houston is terrible at taking advantage of 4 on 3s and Harden isn't very good at orchestrating it and stringing out the double so his teammates are in the right place

Seems like they guarded him pretty good.

They werent guarding him 1v1 though (i asshme from the other games inmissed most of this one) its more of overhelping and rotating like hell, or flat out doubling

[evilpimp972]

Not gonna lie he seemingly disappeared for stretches but that dude is still unguardable af man. Any time they had single coverage on him he'd shift his defender and get to the rim and draw a foul. Even on guys like AD and Danny Green lol. 20 FTs is something he earned. I just think Houston is terrible at taking advantage of 4 on 3s and Harden isn't very good at orchestrating it and stringing out the double so his teammates are in the right place

Seems like they guarded him pretty good.

They werent guarding him 1v1 though (i asshme from the other games inmissed most of this one) its more of overhelping and rotating like hell, or flat out doubling

That has happened to every ATG scorer though, but all of them had DIFFERENT ways of scoring, not only spamming Pnr every time

[MyUniBroDavis]

Seems like they guarded him pretty good.

They werent guarding him 1v1 though (i asshme from the other games inmissed most of this one) its more of overhelping and rotating like hell, or flat out doubling

That has happened to every ATG scorer though, but all of them had DIFFERENT ways of scoring, not only spamming Pnr every time

I mean harden be isoing lol if theyre gonna hard double to force the ball out of his hands u cant expect hkm to iso against two people

His off ball game is weak tho

[evilpimp972]

They werent guarding him 1v1 though (i asshme from the other games inmissed most of this one) its more of overhelping and rotating like hell, or flat out doubling

That has happened to every ATG scorer though, but all of them had DIFFERENT ways of scoring, not only spamming Pnr every time

I mean harden be isoing lol if theyre gonna hard double to force the ball out of his hands u cant expect hkm to iso against two people

His off ball game is weak tho

Okay then he can do something else, like playing in the post, or move without the ball. Like I said, they doubled every ATG, Harden gets it at halfcourt because he is known for not wanting the ball back when teams do that lol

[MyUniBroDavis]

That has happened to every ATG scorer though, but all of them had DIFFERENT ways of scoring, not only spamming Pnr every time

I mean harden be isoing lol if theyre gonna hard double to force the ball out of his hands u cant expect hkm to iso against two people

His off ball game is weak tho

Okay then he can do something else, like playing in the post, or move without the ball. Like I said, they doubled every ATG, Harden gets it at halfcourt because he is known for not wanting the ball back when teams do that lol

How would him playing in the post even work tho thats not his game lmao

[evilpimp972]

I mean harden be isoing lol if theyre gonna hard double to force the ball out of his hands u cant expect hkm to iso against two people

His off ball game is weak tho

Okay then he can do something else, like playing in the post, or move without the ball. Like I said, they doubled every ATG, Harden gets it at halfcourt because he is known for not wanting the ball back when teams do that lol

How would him playing in the post even work tho thats not his game lmao

That's my point
And btw they had success playing him in the post even last game that resulted in an open shot.