Powerful subject line! Haha

As for Harden, it is okay if it is over in Houston. We all should know that they aren't gonna win with him as the best player.

I thought the initial deal to bring him to Houston was a bad one. I thought he was unfit to any team's best player. I'll accept that he ended up being a lot better scorer than I thought he would be.

Outside of that? Dude is a joke superstar. He ain't winning as the best player on a team. I don't trust him to be the template for a team culture...*looks around*.

I don't want him being the guy who has to play lights out every night to win cuz he went to Houston already having 'come up lame when it matters most' on his record with his 6th man role with OKC. And then he's just added onto that legacy repeatedly since then. How man dog performances has he laid down only to seem totally fine to be out and about chillin just after? I want some Lil Mac lost 3 times on PunchOut sad music for at least a little while!

I d@mn sure don't want him being a fake GM that some team has to consult on free agents and trades. And if a teammate says 'hey mane, wassup on that bullshiiiid' when he's not being a pro, he's gonna go in a back office somewhere and cry to get that dude out of town? Lame.

And now that the team is basically done contending, I damn sure don't care about Houston trying to trade him to some team where he could win and then act like the Rox organization was the problem with his career the whole time.

>https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/30528130/james-harden-houston-rockets-breaking-point
>
>James Harden and the Houston Rockets are at a breaking point
>play
>5:48 AM CT
>Tim MacMahon
>ESPN Staff Writer
>
>THE HOUSTON ROCKETS' culture in the James Harden era, which
>bridges two owners and now four head coaches, might be best
>summed up by a former staffer's three words:
>
>"Whatever James wants."
>
>Unless they were on the front end of a back-to-back set, it
>was essentially a sure thing that the Rockets stayed overnight
>-- or even an extra day -- after games in Los Angeles, Phoenix
>and other road cities that rank among Harden's favorite
>stops.
>
>If the Rockets had two or three days between games, it was a
>good bet Harden would call for an off day and charter a
>private jet to party in Las Vegas or another city. He always
>gets an excused absence from the first practice after the
>All-Star break for the same reason.
>
>"Just James being James," those currently within the franchise
>say. But these circumstances are drastically different than at
>any previous point of the perennial All-Star's eight-year
>Houston tenure.
>
>And the Rockets considered it good business to do what Harden
>wanted to keep a historically elite player happy. But when
>Harden tried to rush the Rockets to trade him in recent weeks
>despite the lack of an offer that they considered fair value,
>it wasn't the annual ultimatum for improvement. It was
>something more.
>
>By leaving the Rockets twisting in the wind while camp opened
>with little communication, Harden made his absence the focus
>of rookie head coach Stephen Silas' first days of practice.
>And by blowing off the NBA's COVID-19 protocols, partying
>maskless during the pandemic and boasting about it on
>Instagram, Harden revealed what could come if he doesn't get
>his way.
>
>"Yeah, he's going to act up," a former Rockets staffer said.
>
>"He's never heard 'no' before."
>
>
>After eight All-Star seasons with the Rockets, James Harden is
>pushing for a trade out of Houston. Michael Reaves/Getty
>Images
>MULTIPLE ROCKETS OFFICIALS acknowledge that the entire
>organization has been "complicit" in the culture that has been
>created over the past eight years.
>
>"We knew who the boss of the organization was," a former
>Rockets assistant coach said. "That's just part of what the
>deal was when you go to Houston. The players, coaches, GM,
>owner all know.
>
>"I don't blame James. I blame the organization. It's not his
>fault. He did what they allowed him to do."
>
>Yet there is not a consensus among current and former Rockets
>officials and staffers that empowering Harden to such extremes
>was the wrong path. The Rockets were trending toward NBA
>irrelevancy before Harden's arrival in Houston, missing the
>playoffs each of the previous three seasons.
>
>Former Rockets general manager Daryl Morey took a calculated
>risk in projecting that the reigning Sixth Man of the Year
>would become a bona fide superstar when he shipped Kevin
>Martin, then-rookie lottery pick Jeremy Lamb and a package of
>NBA draft picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Harden. The
>Rockets haven't missed the playoffs since, the only franchise
>that can make that claim.
>
>"If they have multiple days off, everybody knows: James is
>going to fly somewhere else and party. But he's going to come
>back and have a 50-point triple-double, so they're OK with
>it."
>Member of Houston's 2019-20 coaching staff
>Houston hasn't accomplished its ultimate goal during its run
>with Harden, advancing to the Western Conference finals twice
>but never past that point. But the brilliance of Harden, the
>2017-18 MVP and a top-three finisher in the balloting four
>other times over the past six years, provided Houston
>realistic hope of contending that only a handful of teams have
>each season.
>
>He's also one of the sport's most durable stars, routinely
>ranking among the league leaders in minutes and often playing
>through injuries such as sprained ankles and shoulder bruises
>that would cause other players to rest. All these things made
>it easy for the Rockets to look the other way when it came to
>Harden's hard-living lifestyle.
>
>But the lack of discipline and attention to detail hasn't been
>OK with Paul and Russell Westbrook, ultimately leading to
>breakups between Harden and those two stars.
>
>The peak of the franchise's Harden era came during Paul's
>first season in Houston, when the Rockets had a league-best 65
>wins during the regular season and built a 3-2 lead over the
>Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference finals. But
>the Rockets lost the last two games of that series with Paul
>sidelined -- "a hamstring away" is a phrase that will forever
>haunt Houston fans -- and the chemistry between the
>ball-dominant co-stars blew up the following season.
>
>One of Paul's biggest beefs, sources said, was that Harden
>basically opted not to participate in the Rockets' offense
>when the ball wasn't in his hands, sometimes barely stepping
>over half court while spectating when Paul had the ball.
>Harden quickly tired of Paul barking about his concerns, which
>included lobbying coach Mike D'Antoni to implement more
>structure and movement in an offensive system that revolved
>around Harden's isolations, sources said.
>
>Rockets management believed those issues could be ironed out
>and wanted to run it back with the Harden-Paul duo last
>season. Those plans changed as soon as Westbrook became
>available.
>
>Harden insisted the Rockets get the deal done, saying he'd
>demand a trade if they didn't find a way to bring his
>childhood friend and former OKC teammate to Houston, sources
>said. The Rockets paid a price that was considered steep at
>the time -- Paul, 2024 and 2026 first-round picks, and swap
>rights in 2021 and 2025.
>
>Sources said Westbrook frequently expressed his displeasure
>during the season with not being able to "play my game," as he
>put it. There were questions about the Harden-Westbrook fit
>when they were pushing to play together again, including
>D'Antoni privately expressing his concerns, sources said.
>
>Those concerns were quieted, internally and externally, when
>Westbrook thrived after the Rockets' switch to small ball
>opened up the floor. He averaged 32.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and
>7.0 assists per game while shooting 53.1% from the floor over
>a two-month span before the coronavirus pandemic halted the
>season.
>
>HOUSTON'S CASUAL CULTURE appalled Westbrook. In Oklahoma City,
>despite the fact that he enjoyed the same sort of superstar
>privileges as Harden has had in Houston, the Thunder operated
>with the discipline of a military unit under Westbrook's
>watch. The Rockets were a stark contrast, especially last
>season under D'Antoni, who was never known as a disciplinarian
>and who was a lame duck in the last year of his contract after
>extension negotiations infamously fizzled twice over the
>summer.
>
>Westbrook didn't tolerate tardiness. With the Rockets,
>scheduled departure times were treated as mere suggestions by
>Harden and others.
>
>"Nothing ever starts on time," a former Rockets staffer said.
>"The plane is always late. The bus is never on time. ... It's
>just an organized AAU team."
>
>On one occasion in the Florida bubble, Harden waited to get
>his daily COVID-19 testing until just before the Rockets' film
>session was scheduled to start. When he wasn't on time,
>Westbrook barked, "Start the film! Start without him!"
>D'Antoni explained that they'd just have to start over when
>Harden arrived, which didn't do much to calm Westbrook.
>
>Whether Westbrook or Harden wanted out first isn't clear, but
>they no longer wanted to play together, a season after the
>Rockets mortgaged their draft future to make it happen.
>
>Morey, the man who negotiated that deal with owner Tilman
>Fertitta's approval, made his exit before either star asked to
>be traded. Rafael Stone, who was promoted to general manager
>after Morey's resignation and move to become president of
>basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers, was left to
>deal with the messy aftermath.
>
>As one high-ranking Rockets source told ESPN in November, the
>franchise was "willing to get uncomfortable" by going into the
>season with disgruntled superstars on the roster. The Rockets
>ended up trading Westbrook just before camp opened, sending
>him to the Washington Wizards for John Wall (fresh off a
>two-year injury layoff) and a protected future first-round
>pick, an admission that the previous offseason's deal to
>acquire Westbrook was a disastrous decision.
>
>But Houston has its heels dug in regarding Harden, refusing at
>this point to consider an offer unless it includes a young
>franchise cornerstone and a bundle of first-round picks and/or
>promising players on rookie deals. Sources say Harden, who had
>been singularly focused on trying to force his way to the
>Brooklyn Nets, has indicated to the Rockets that he would be
>agreeable to a trade to the 76ers or other select contenders.
>
>After the Rockets let it be known they would not be swayed by
>unhappiness, Harden delayed his arrival to camp, instead
>choosing to hang out with rapper Lil Baby -- gifting his
>friend a Prada bag stuffed with honey buns, a $100,000 brick
>of cash (aka a "Honey Bun") and a Richard Mille watch worth
>well into six figures for Lil Baby's birthday -- while leaving
>Silas hanging.
>
>Harden reported to the Rockets on Dec. 8, a week after his
>teammates, tested negative for the coronavirus for an
>NBA-mandated six consecutive days and finally practiced with
>the team on Monday. He had a "good conversation" about
>basketball strategy with Silas, according to the coach, who
>had minimal communication with his point guard until that
>point. But Harden has yet to speak to the media since his late
>arrival to training camp, a violation of NBA rules.
>
>The Rockets hope Harden, who played 21 minutes in Tuesday's
>preseason victory over the San Antonio Spurs, will be
>professional as they patiently explore the trade market,
>searching for a deal that wouldn't doom the franchise to a
>long, painful rebuild.
>
>"You can't get mad at your kid if you let him eat candy every
>night and then suddenly one night you don't and they throw a
>tantrum," an ex-Houston assistant coach said. "You're the one
>who let them eat candy every night.
>
>"The Rockets turned the organization over to James, and now
>they have to live with the fallout."
>
>