Amick: Harden expands his list of preferred destinations to include Blazers

[Norm2953]

Sooner of later the accountants in Seattle will have something to say about paying $80+ Million
for Dame/CJ is nuts

[Napoleon7]

by the way, according to Quick, Olshey has flat out said CJ isn't available in any Harden trade. He's untouchable. He was untouchable for Paul George; likely the same for Kawhi and Jimmy Butler; and now untouchable in a Harden trade

I haven’t been on any bandwagon to move on from anyone, but if NO said this then he needs to be fired. No matter what he might feel...to acknowledge publicly that CJ is untouchable is terminal...



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[HoopsFanAZ]

As others have said in this thread ...

The reporting done that quoted past Jason Quick writing was INACCURATE. Quick has clearly addressed that his quotes were taken out of context by another writer regarding anything going on currently. So, no, Olshey did not talk about CJ being "untradable" in the absolute or in regards to Harden.

[DusterBuster]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

Dude wants out. Judging by conditioning, I think he’s trying to eat his way out of Houston...

[DusterBuster]

If you saw the presser, then Wall’s comments, it’s entirely possible Harden doesn’t play another game in Houston after tonight.

That said, he’s making a trade harder on Houston with what’s a clear half-ass effort nightly now and letting his conditioning get to Raymon Felton levels of fat...

[Sinobas]

If you saw the presser, then Wall’s comments, it’s entirely possible Harden doesn’t play another game in Houston after tonight.

That said, he’s making a trade harder on Houston with what’s a clear half-ass effort nightly now and letting his conditioning get to Raymon Felton levels of fat...

Hopefully he doesn't have alcohol issues like Kemp, whose career feel off a cliff at around age 30.

[DusterBuster]

If you saw the presser, then Wall’s comments, it’s entirely possible Harden doesn’t play another game in Houston after tonight.

That said, he’s making a trade harder on Houston with what’s a clear half-ass effort nightly now and letting his conditioning get to Raymon Felton levels of fat...

Hopefully he doesn't have alcohol issues like Kemp, whose career feel off a cliff at around age 30.

Yeah, this seems to be a pretty brutal season for everyone involved. It doesn't sound like anyone is enjoying it and it's taking a toll on everyone already... For guys who were already unhappy or just prone to having an unhappy disposition (like your Kyrie's and Harden's), it's just going to be that much worse.

[JasonStern]

Remember when we were willing to add picks and prospects to CJ to trade for Harden?

[DusterBuster]

Shams reporting that Rockets are down to two teams offers for Harden, Nets and Sixers, likely with him going to Brooklyn... Says a deal could be completed quickly.

Not hard to imagine the Blazers probably didn't bother making a strong offer to the Rockets given how James has conducted himself through all this. He's seemingly become more of a headache than he's worth, while he's undoubtedly an upgrade from a pure talent perspective, not sure his baggage gets the Blazers any closer to competing than they where they already are at.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

Shams reporting that Rockets are down to two teams offers for Harden, Nets and Sixers, likely with him going to Brooklyn... Says a deal could be completed quickly.

Not hard to imagine the Blazers probably didn't bother making a strong offer to the Rockets given how James has conducted himself through all this. He's seemingly become more of a headache than he's worth, while he's undoubtedly an upgrade from a pure talent perspective, not sure his baggage gets the Blazers any closer to competing than they where they already are at.

I think Harden is due for a rude awakening when he realizes that other winning teams are not going to cater to him like the Rockets did. One of those "you don't know how good you have it until you lose it" situations.

If Harden came to the Blazers he might be the best player on team but in terms of leadership he would still be second fiddle to Dame and expected to conduct himself accordingly. No special treatment, no more kid gloves, he would have fewer of the privileges and freedoms that he enjoys now being the main man in Houston.

Good teams hold their stars to the same or even a greater level of accountability than the rest of the players, you can see the flaws in not doing that with the Clippers right now. Yeah its a star driven league and you have to cater to them somewhat, but pretty much anywhere Harden goes will likely be a step down in that regard.

[Sinobas]

Kanter has been better than Nurk this year, and he's cheaper. Kanter kills it on the boards and inside. And while Nurk may be better defensively inside, he turns the ball over more and has a hard time finishing, which detracts from the theorhetically "misses" he's creating with his defense.

[Sinobas]

The Rockets may not want CJs contract.

[HoopsFanAZ]

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/261167/Rockets-Plan-To-Keep-James-Harden-Away-From-Team-Until-Trade-Complete

The trade should happen, soon.

[DusterBuster]

He just got traded to Brooklyn. No word on for what, likely Kyrie going out since he's been a similar pill for them.

[DusterBuster]

Scratch that, apparently Kryie stayed in Brooklyn.

[HoopsFanAZ]

We can all relax, now. CJ is safe. It looks more and more like he will play out his contract in Portland.

Depending on what Houston does with their incoming players, they got some value out of the deal. Depending on the quality of the picks and pick swaps, they have taken out a second mortgage on their roster. Rebuild. Good job by them to get it done and for what they got. It will be interesting to see their next moves.

[Roy The Natural]

We can all relax, now. CJ is safe. It looks more and more like he will play out his contract in Portland.

Depending on what Houston does with their incoming players, they got some value out of the deal. Depending on the quality of the picks and pick swaps, they have taken out a second mortgage on their roster. Rebuild. Good job by them to get it done and for what they got. It will be interesting to see their next moves.

I think Houston got utterly fleeced. But it's whatever. Houston got ZERO value in players, and potentially 2 good picks... or 2 garbage picks. I would've done CJ+4 picks in a heartbeat, but that's just me.

It's kind of whatever though. I'm getting disillusioned with this team more and more every year. We just feel so..... passive all the time. The team's basically doing the same thing for the past 7 or so years... hard to get excited when you know the upside is basically 2nd round fodder and you're trotting out a bunch of corpses of once good players over young guys with upside.

[Epicurus]

Change is always good. LOL!

[HoopsFanAZ]

We can all relax, now. CJ is safe. It looks more and more like he will play out his contract in Portland.

Depending on what Houston does with their incoming players, they got some value out of the deal. Depending on the quality of the picks and pick swaps, they have taken out a second mortgage on their roster. Rebuild. Good job by them to get it done and for what they got. It will be interesting to see their next moves.

I think Houston got utterly fleeced. But it's whatever. Houston got ZERO value in players, and potentially 2 good picks... or 2 garbage picks. I would've done CJ+4 picks in a heartbeat, but that's just me.
...

The Houston roster is not good. There are names ... but are formerly injured stars. Some useful role players. Christian Wood was a good pick up in the offseason. Oladipo is valuable IF healthy ... They get picks back. BUT, "fleeced" is exactly what could prove out.

I think we're on Eric Gordon and P.J. Tucker watch. Tucker wanted an extension and got nothing for playing out of position. Gordon is 32 and on a 4-year contract that is big enough to trade but not crazy money. If they're clearing the decks with short contracts, he's next up.

[Sinobas]

That's the end of that.....one less power in the West I guess. I wonder what the Blazers offered if anything. I know teams generally don't like to trade stars within the conference. But now we have another "super team"