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2022-23 Houston Rockets Thread - One More Season of Suckage

BigOrange1

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HtownHorn

HtownHorn 14663

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38 minutes ago, Ignatius said:

Love the Gordon trade. There’s a big difference between 18 and 28, but the bigger thing is that the Clips are only two games away from giving us another entry into the lottery. Slim odds, but still….

Yeah, but if they can manage to stay healthy for the final stretch of games, we ain't picking at 18 either. It was a great roll of the dice though, as was the trade to get back two OKC 2nd rounders, while shedding two bad multi-year contracts. Now, the Rockets only have 2 more multi-year bad contracts in Tate and Porter, though they can just cut Porter and get out of that contract.

I would like to see the starting lineup at

Christopher, Green, Martin, Smith, and Sengun

with the bench being Eason, Washington, Garuba and I guess Kaminsky.

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Wulaw Horn

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55 minutes ago, TonyTexas said:

Or at least top 2. Scoot would be a nice consolation prize. 

Certainly fills a need at 1. Then you use the cap to get the best 3 available (or 4 and Smith play 3?) and that’s a pretty good starting 5. Probably 2 years away from being a top tier team if they can develop and have a decent coach. 

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Wulaw Horn

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19 hours ago, HtownHorn said:

Going to be hilarious when we have the #4 pick, and still wondering if Green and Smith were the right picks over others in their classes.

I mean, that obviously won't be awesome.  I'm on record as saying (at time of and sticking with it today) that neither was the right picks, that it should have been Mobley and maybe a trade down for Ivey.  

It doesn't really matter if they were the perfect picks or not though. Between those guys, Sengun, our LSU guy this year and picking #4 or whatever that should be 5 rotation caliber players with 70M to spend. That should be a playoff team today and a title contender in 3-5 years if the guys develop. 

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BigOrange1

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i have no issue with taking jabari in 2022.  that was thought to be a three person draft and we had the third pick.  up until the morning of the draft it was thought that jabari was going to be the #1 pick so his sliding to 3 felt like a major get.  now with the benefit of hindsight, maybe there was someone else who should have been the pick, but given all the information available at the time of the draft i feel like every GM in the league would have taken jabari at #3.

i wanted mobley in 2021.  i thought it was clear that he was going to be a star on both end of the court.  green has had his ups and downs, but has flashed enough for me that i am still hopeful that time and competent coaching will unleash his full potential.  if he reaches that, he's going to be a very good player and it will make not having mobley much easier to swallow.

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HtownHorn

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Rockets insider Kelly Iko said that it's about 70% that Harden resigns with the Rockets this offseason. If we somehow luck into the 1st pick, I could see Harden coming back, especially if we bring in the Boston coach or Snyder. Could also see the Rockets making a strong bid for Draymond Green, if everything else listed happens.

That would be an ideal off-season, and the Rockets would likely be a play-in contender probably closer to 6th than 10th.

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Bevo

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7 hours ago, HtownHorn said:

Rockets insider Kelly Iko said that it's about 70% that Harden resigns with the Rockets this offseason. If we somehow luck into the 1st pick, I could see Harden coming back, especially if we bring in the Boston coach or Snyder. Could also see the Rockets making a strong bid for Draymond Green, if everything else listed happens.

That would be an ideal off-season, and the Rockets would likely be a play-in contender probably closer to 6th than 10th.

Harden would be a super role model for a young team. And Draymond Green is a dick. But, I guess it would be great that we would win a lot more games - just not the ones after late nights at the strip clubs.

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Wulaw Horn

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13 hours ago, HtownHorn said:

Rockets insider Kelly Iko said that it's about 70% that Harden resigns with the Rockets this offseason. If we somehow luck into the 1st pick, I could see Harden coming back, especially if we bring in the Boston coach or Snyder. Could also see the Rockets making a strong bid for Draymond Green, if everything else listed happens.

That would be an ideal off-season, and the Rockets would likely be a play-in contender probably closer to 6th than 10th.

Not sure if serious my man- but a team of:  Harden, Green, Smith, Green, Sengun with Eason and Wemby coming off the bench is a title contending team man.  Maybe not in year 1 but in year 2 or 3.  Year 1 I'd say that looks like a 5 seed to me.  Better than everyone in the west except Denver, a healthy Phoenix (if such a team actually exists) a healthy Clippers (see phoenix) and Memphis.  That team should win 50-55 games.  

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TonyTexas

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5 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

No Quin Snyder. Atlanta was smart to lock him up. Maybe after Lillard's 71 points, people will stop with the Tate's defense is really good bullshit.

Sengun is the player taking the heat for last night’s defensive fiasco. Silas benched him in the 3rd Q, never to return. 

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HtownHorn

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20 minutes ago, TonyTexas said:

Sengun is the player taking the heat for last night’s defensive fiasco. Silas benched him in the 3rd Q, never to return. 

Silas is a fucking moron, and Sengun has the 2nd highest defensive rating of the regular rotation behind Eason. Sengun also has the most defensive win shares on the team, followed by Eason and Smith.

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HtownHorn

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4 minutes ago, Tylerocks said:

Things seem to be going well over on Polk St.

 

Silas singling out Sengun on a team full of people that don't play D is ridiculous.

Benching him while still only down 5 is hilarious.  
I know we want to lose and I know Silas isn't the guy, but what a fucking dipshit.

 

Silas is just waiting for Porter to return so he can run the offense through him, even though he sucks at it. Meanwhile, Sengun will become an afterthought. The Rockets needs a complete reboot of the organization, but the dumbass owner likely will not do it.

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HtownHorn

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21 minutes ago, Irieguy said:

Just checking in to see how the Sengun > Wembanyama argument is going? 😂 @HtownHorn

Sengun is the best player on a "NBA" team in his 2nd year. Sengun was the best player in the best Euroleague his last year there. Wembanyama is playing in a Euro equivalent of the G-League, and is already making demands to any team that drafts him. There have been many guys that were supposed to be awesome, and only Lebron lived up to that hype. Giannis is likely the best player in the game, but he wasn't considered the prodigy that Wembanyama is. Let's see if Wembanyama can stay healthy playing 70+ games a year with 270-pound athletes knocking the shit out of him.

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Irieguy

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7 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

Sengun is the best player on a "NBA" team in his 2nd year. Sengun was the best player in the best Euroleague his last year there. Wembanyama is playing in a Euro equivalent of the G-League, and is already making demands to any team that drafts him. There have been many guys that were supposed to be awesome, and only Lebron lived up to that hype. Giannis is likely the best player in the game, but he wasn't considered the prodigy that Wembanyama is. Let's see if Wembanyama can stay healthy playing 70+ games a year with 270-pound athletes knocking the shit out of him.

Let’s see if Wembanyama can shoot better than 45%. Because Sengun couldn’t do that in the month of February.  He’s regressing. 😂

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billfromlaketravis

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23 hours ago, BigOrange1 said:

dude, they're gonna fire silas as soon as the season ends.  it's going to be ok.

He made it past the All Star Break which many of us didn’t expect. I think Drunk Face Paint Tilman has sold his soul for Victor. He needs the shittiest Coach possible to bring it home. 
 

In all seriousness, beware of the dead cat bounce. Rockets can Silas, and promote John Lucas. Players love Lucas so they play their hearts out for him and the Rockets go on a winning streak and lose the worst record in the league. Because that’s exactly what would happen. 

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BigOrange1

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long piece from the athletic in regards to the potential reunion with harden this summer:

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James Harden, the Houston Rockets and an undeniable bond that refuses to go away

Sam Amick and Kelly Iko
Mar 1, 2023

Should James Harden and the Houston Rockets embark on a new beginning this summer — nearly three years after their breakup that was both messy and misunderstood — it will be a reunion born out of what so many believed was their ending.

The deal to Brooklyn that finally went down on Jan. 13, 2021, was already done, with Harden heading to the Nets in a blockbuster involving four teams, three first-round picks, four first-round pick swaps and players. But Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta, whose unabashed love of all things Harden was no secret during their three and a half years contending for titles together, had a message to share with his soon-to-be former franchise centerpiece on his way out the door.

“You’re always welcome back here,” he told him in so many words during a goodbye phone call between the two.

But more than two years later, with Harden focused on his championship pursuits with the Philadelphia 76ers these days and the speculation over what he’ll do in free agency already in full swing, the more important part about that final Rockets conversation was what came next. Harden, sources with knowledge of the situation say, made it abundantly clear the feeling was mutual. There were no promises made that day — on either side — but everyone who was part of those final Harden days in Houston knew there were strong indications he’d be back, specifically, in the summer of 2023.

Fast forward to the present day, and the whispers about a Harden-Rockets reunion are louder than ever. Never mind that this Harden-Joel Embiid iteration of the Sixers looks as capable as ever of winning the whole thing, or that the Rockets are in the midst of the worst three-season stretch in franchise history.

This possibility, which was born out of those parting talks and first reported by ESPN in late December, is as strong now as ever. Sources, who like all of the other sources in this story were granted anonymity so that they could speak freely, have told The Athletic Houston is widely expected to pursue the 13-year veteran point guard if, as is expected, he declines his player option for the 2023-24 season. And even more surprisingly, sources with knowledge of Harden’s outlook say he’s as serious about a possible return now as he was when he left town.

As free agency situations go, this is about as unique as they come. It’s puzzling on paper, what with Harden still looking for his first championship and the Rockets looking like the league’s least likely collection of players capable of helping him in that mission. But Harden’s ties to the Houston region, and to the Rockets organization for which he played in those eight-plus seasons, run deep in the kind of way that simply can’t be forgotten here.

This isn’t LeBron James returning “home” to Cleveland in the summer of 2014, when he left Miami to join a Cavs team that featured a 21-year-old Kyrie Irving and had won just 33 games the season before — especially considering Harden’s hopes for his first championship remain unfulfilled and James already had two titles at that point. But there are common themes between the two situations worthy of exploration. And if you talk to the people who know Harden best, who lived through all the acrimony and angst that came with his Rockets exit, this isn’t the negotiating leverage play so many assumed it to be.

Depending on how these next few months go for the Sixers, and how they handle his contract situation in July, the prospect of Harden heading back to Houston is real in ways most couldn’t have imagined when he left. One of the game’s greats, this 33-year-old former MVP and 10-time All-Star who (along with back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokić) is one of two players averaging at least 20 points, 10 assists and six rebounds this season, is proving he has plenty of elite basketball left. But where does he want his next hoops chapter to be, and what factors will matter most when the time comes to decide? Even Harden himself may not know at this point.

To the untrained eye and the majority of the outside world, the split between Harden and the Houston Rockets was a culmination of internal turmoil and off-court antics, the apex of frustration fueled by years of trying — and ultimately failing — to reach the NBA’s pinnacle of success.

For the eight seasons that defined the union between Harden and the organization, joint efforts to get over the hump had proven futile. What was once deemed a noble cause upon his arrival in 2012, the never-ending pursuit of a championship had become an obsession that had resulted in copious amounts of roster turnover, most notably a nasty breakup with future Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul, an uncanny trade for Russell Westbrook, a resulting precarious stylistic shift to small ball and an unceremonious postseason exit at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

In the wake of the Daryl Morey and Mike D’Antoni departures that sparked the mass exodus, Harden’s final days and weeks in Houston were widely seen as acrimonious. And the optics surrounding his part in it all weren’t pretty.

There was his choice to party in multiple cities — and do so publicly, no less — during a global health scare. He reported late and out of shape for training camp. There were tension-filled practices, clashes with coaches and teammates. The widespread belief was Harden’s moves were intentional power plays, boss moves made as a way of holding the organization hostage and facilitating the exit strategy of his choosing.

But in spite of everything that transpired, this was a situation unlike any breakup in NBA history involving a star player and a franchise. There was no bad blood between the two parties, just a collective feeling of disappointment. Instead of having it turn into an arduous, drawn-out saga that absorbed most of the season, Harden’s exit was a streamlined process from start to finish. The former MVP had made it clear he wanted to be traded during the preseason and Houston’s braintrust obliged, keeping him abreast of developments on that front.

By the time the dust had settled by mid-January, Harden’s list of serious suitors had been whittled down to the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers, two Eastern Conference teams desperate to break the ceiling and launch themselves into the upper echelon. He had armed himself with agents Jason Ranne and Chafie Field of the Wasserman Media Group to assist in the process and maintained dialogue with the Rockets brass.

At the 11th hour, the Nets emerged as the clear frontrunner for Harden’s services and more importantly, it was a path the Rockets were comfortable going down — allowing the franchise to recoup precious draft capital and flexibility that it had lost over the last few years. It was far closer to an amicable split than bitter divorce — an annulment, if you will. The sense was, in the closing moments of Harden’s time in Houston, that the door for a potential return was still open. Harden had to leave to try and achieve his dream of winning a championship but this was by no means a goodbye. It was more of a “see you later.”

The Philadelphia 76ers

Amid all the evidence Harden might be planning a return to Houston, here’s the part where his situation gets so fascinating: According to a high-ranking Sixers source with knowledge of the team’s operation, they are “unconcerned” about possibly losing him this summer. This confidence, it seems, is rooted in the belief that only Philadelphia can provide the two things Harden holds most dear: A chance to contend for a title, and maximum earning potential.

When it comes to the former, this Sixers group that fell in the second round to Miami in last season’s playoffs after landing Harden from Brooklyn last February is looking more legitimate than ever in these past three months. They’ve won 27 of 36 games since starting 12-12, with the Harden-Embiid duo that Sixers president of basketball operations/former Rockets executive Daryl Morey dreamed of when he so doggedly pursued his former Rockets star playing at its peak.

It all began in training camp, when that candid conversation between Sixers coach Doc Rivers and Harden that was recorded for NBATV went viral.

“I ain’t the president no more,” Harden had said to Rivers in a reference to his old Houston days.

The point, in essence, was that he was willing to take a secondary role for the betterment of the team. Five months later, with Embiid averaging career highs in points (33.0), shots (20.6) and field-goal percentage (53.2) while playing his way onto every voter’s shortlist for MVP, Harden has followed through on what he and Rivers discussed that day. And then some.

It has been quite the under-the-radar transformation, with one of the best scorers the game has ever seen becoming a pass-first playmaker while remaining elite along the way. Yet despite the fact he’s leading the league in assists (10.7 per game), averaging 21.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, and is on track to have the second-best true shooting percentage of his career (.620), the spotlight hasn’t shined nearly as bright in his direction.

Most notably, Harden — who missed 14 games recently with a right foot injury — missed out on the All-Star Game for the first time since 2012 (coaches voted for Boston’s Jaylen Brown, Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan, Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton and Milwaukee’s Jrue Holiday for East reserve guards). Only he knows if it’s the sort of thing that plays a part in his free agency calculus, but power dynamics among star players are always easier when the accolades are being shared.

You get the sense those are all reflections for another time, and that Harden is locked in on this push to win it all. In that regard, things are going well in Philly. But what scenarios might make it the most likely he’ll leave? It seems to be anyone’s guess. Maybe winning it all makes it easier for him to head for Houston, with that championship burden lifted. Or maybe the Sixers get to the NBA Finals, showing just enough promise to make him want to stay and finish the job. And why, as is the case, do some key Sixers players privately believe that Harden may make this Houston reunion a reality? These are questions for the summertime.

Some of the personal dynamics have changed during Harden’s time in Philadelphia, too, with former Sixers owner and close friend of Harden’s, Michael Rubin, selling his shares of the team in June. Rubin, who still has a prominent presence in the Sixers space and frequently attends home games, was widely known to have played a major part in Harden’s desire to play for the Sixers.

Meanwhile, Harden’s choice to hire a new agent has been seen by some sources close to the situation as further confirmation of his Houston ties and free agency desires. He is now represented by Troy Payne, a former senior sports marketing manager with Adidas who is partnering with agents Mike Silverman and Brandon Grier to lead Equity Basketball. Payne, a lifelong friend, worked side by side with Harden as his business partner and Adidas representative for the entirety of his near-decade relationship with the company. Between the familiarity with Harden and the Rockets organization, the bonds are strong there.

As Harden tea leaves go, though, this much we know above all else: The money— to no one’s surprise — will matter a great deal. And if Harden is going to stay with the Sixers, one can safely assume he expects to be rewarded handsomely for his recent sacrifices both on and off the floor.

When he signed his two-year, $68.6 million deal with the Sixers last summer, Harden chose to make $14.5 million less than he could have this season in order to help the front office add to the team’s depth (specifically, P.J. Tucker and Danuel House Jr., two familiar faces and key members of contending Rockets teams). That move would later play a part in the league’s choice to conduct a tampering investigation, though Harden was later found to have done no wrong (the Sixers were penalized two second-round draft picks when it was determined that they engaged in free agency discussions with Tucker and House Jr. prior to the time when it was permitted).

For Harden’s part, the choice never sparked the kind of media praise showered on Kevin Durant when he made a similar move to  Golden State in 2017. But it was vital nonetheless. And as Harden admitted to The Athletic’s Joe Vardon in early October, he doesn’t believe he was given the proper public credit for the choice to leave money on the table for the betterment of the team.

Beyond the financial terms of that deal, though, it was lost on no one inside the Rockets organization that the chosen length of Harden’s most recent contract happened to coincide with the summer in which Houston’s salary cap space opens up like the Gulf of Mexico. In the eyes of some, it was as clear a sign his plan to return was still in place. Still, the Sixers have the inside track here on the financial front if they’re willing to go all in on Harden’s mid-30s (and beyond).

While Philadelphia can give Harden a five-year, $272 million max deal (starting salary of $46.9 million with eight percent raises), other teams with max space are limited to four-year, $201 million offers (starting salary of $46.9 million with five percent raises). Considering the dearth of teams with that kind of room (the Rockets, Orlando, San Antonio and Utah) and the fact this will likely be Harden’s last chance at a long-term max deal, it seems the boardroom component looms large here.

But the basketball part of the calculus, it seems, is where the Sixers have the most reason to be confident about holding onto Harden. After all, this all-time great who has yet to win a title wouldn’t leave their elite squad for the worst team in the league, would he? Believe it or not, the signs remain strong he just might.

The Houston Rockets

For the Rockets, bringing Harden — one of the franchise’s most decorated players — back into the fold at age 34 might be seen as a gamble, but it’s one the organization should be willing to take, especially if he’s able to continue this elite combination of playmaking and scoring.

From an emotional standpoint, sources with knowledge of his thinking continue to maintain that while Harden’s head and focus are on winning a championship with the 76ers, his heart will always be in Houston. It’s a comfort zone, his safe space.

For starters, it’s the city where he’s lived the longest in his adult life. He continues to have strong ties to the community, in addition to his family and other extensive relationships throughout the area. His nonprofit, Impact 13, aims to improve the quality of life in areas like education and financial freedom for disenfranchised youth and women.

As a businessman, he’s also intertwined with the city. He’s a part-owner of Major League Soccer’s Houston Dynamo. He’s also the owner of Thirteen restaurant, one of the most vibrant and popular destinations in town. In a lot of ways, Harden is Houston. And Houston is home.

“My family is here — my mom, my sister, my brother — so this is the place I would call home,” Harden told Haute Magazine last year. “I feel like this city deserves for me to still put my stamp on it even though I’m no longer playing here. I’ve got to find ways to continue to do that, and I will.”

There’s the more existential aspect of his past Rockets life, too, all those creature comforts he enjoyed in the Harden-centric ecosystem in Houston and that didn’t travel with him to Philadelphia.For all those years — the eight consecutive playoff berths, two West Finals appearances, one MVP season and eight All-Star appearances — Harden had an unofficial agreement with his Rockets bosses. So long as he showed up and showed out, he’d be free to bend the rules when it came to well-chronicled off-court style.

“It was the place that allowed him to truly be him,” one source close to the situation said. “They embrace the clubs, the private jets to Vegas, the lack of conditioning. … So they were like, ‘No, you go.’ As long as you put up 30, we’re good. That was not any other place he’d ever been. … He loves that place. It was the place that allowed him to truly be him.”

To that end, sources say his relationship with Tilman Fertitta and his son, Patrick Fertitta, remains strong. Patrick has worked closely with his father as a liaison between ownership and management for years. On the court, the ties remain as well.

During the offseason, Harden spent a considerable amount of time working out with the Rockets’ young players. Sources say Harden is extremely fond of their collection of talent, notably second-year guard Jalen Green.

“I’m proud of him,” Harden said of Green following a surprising December loss to Houston in double overtime. “He has not only lived up to expectations, but he is coming into his swagger every single game. … His aggressiveness from last year has carried over to this year. He’s been attacking the rim, shooting his shots and playing with a lot of confidence. As a young guy, if you have confidence, you can learn all the other things. …As long as he continues to put the work in, he’ll learn game-by-game, season-by-season as he continues to grow.”

The Rockets season has been a disaster thus far, with the team on course to owning the league’s worst record for three consecutive seasons — or in other words, the post-Harden era. Between a slew of injuries, a lack of offensive cohesion, a disappearing defensive act and a coaching staff struggling to put the pieces together, it’s been months of head-scratching, finger-pointing and collective frustration on multiple fronts. But still, hope remains.

For a roster this young, it’s become apparent there’s a need for quality veterans. Eric Gordon (a close former teammate of Harden who’s open to rejoining the team in the future) privately and publicly bemoaned Houston’s lack of experience around the youthful core for months, before being traded to the Los Angeles Clippers last month. But for what it’s worth, the front office plans to address those deficiencies in free agency.

“Putting ourselves in a position where hopefully one, the guys currently on the roster get a better sense of what it takes to win,” Rockets GM Rafael Stone told The Athletic in a recent interview. “And then two, we’re able to supplement them with some people who have experience in doing it and more know-how, and that, that ends up being a good blend. That’s a really exciting prospect for everybody in the organization.”

Houston’s roster to-do list is lengthy at this stage of their rebuild, which is either a positive or negative trend depending on your point of view. This group needs balance. This group needs two-way wings, shooting and a defensive presence in the middle. But more importantly, they need an elite point guard.

The Rockets are the worst team in the league at taking care of the ball, coughing it up nearly 17 times a game. Harden’s 3.15 assist-to-turnover ratio is bested by only the likes of Chris Paul, Tyrese Haliburton and Fred Van Vleet among starting point guards, none of whom are having better scoring or overall offensive seasons than him. Defensively, Harden’s been a positive as a 76er according to Cleaning the Glass, an interesting twist in the narrative against him in that respect. Harden would be nothing short of a godsend for a group lacking in self-confidence, organization, structure and swagger.

From a locker room perspective, potentially inserting Harden during a pivotal offseason could have positive long-lasting effects. Sources close to Harden highlight 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey as an example of the veteran’s mentorship and leadership, taking the young talent under his wing and retooling his mindset, propelling a third season worthy of Sixth Man of the Year honors. It’s also no coincidence Embiid’s best seasons have coincided with Harden’s arrival in Philadelphia. His presence has meant everything, even if it’s gone surprisingly under the radar.

This isn’t the same Harden that for years operated in a heliocentric system both mentally and schematically. Somewhere along the lines, whether it was him realizing the wear and tear of averaging or flirting with 30 points a night, the rising talent of players around the league or a juxtaposition of the two, Harden’s mentality shifted. One source with ties to his Rockets days described him as “incredibly driven.” He’s now in his Chris Paul/Phoenix Suns era, a highly talented player willing to defer to fit in more and amplify others as opposed to making everyone fit around him.

“He’s one of the best point guards in the league right now,” one source said. “Without a doubt. That’s a big step towards winning.”

Players like Green and Jabari Smith Jr. — another player Harden is fond of — would benefit greatly from his tutelage, although they’re some tiers below Devin Booker and Miles Bridges. The former would require a significant jump from his second to third season akin to Booker, but Harden would undoubtedly improve Green’s efficiency, making him a more lethal off-ball weapon while still giving room for him to spread his own wings with the ball in his hands.

As plausible and perhaps even likely as a potential Harden and Rockets reunion appears to be, a few more factors can’t be ignored.

Sources close to the process say the Rockets are confident they’ll land a meeting with Harden should he declare for free agency as expected, but what comes next? For nearly a decade, Harden was used to a certain level of freedom and control, both on and off the floor. Would the Fertittas and Stone be willing to go down that path again? If this Harden 2.0 version is here to stay — and by all accounts, it is — haggling over semantics seems less important.

“He wants to play basketball and wants to win,” one source with the team previously said. “If you can’t handle that, you’re in the wrong business.”

Morey and the Sixers, meanwhile, have evidence this new-and-improved Harden can lead and thrive in Philly. So is this pressure being applied by the Houston possibility merely a negotiating ploy, or a true sign of his affection for the Rockets life? There is, it seems, a blurring of the lines between leverage and love.

“Everything in this league is leverage,” one source close to Harden said. “But that doesn’t mean he won’t go to Houston.”

Conversely, Harden will have a lot to consider by the time July rolls around. What the Sixers do in the playoffs, and how that leaves him feeling about what comes next? How healthy are the partnerships with Embiid and Rivers?

Did Sixers management put the full max on the table? What does the rest of the Rockets roster look like, and can they somehow find a way to go from cellar dweller to contender in one season? What does the rest of Harden’s market look like beyond the Sixers and Rockets?

The answers will come with time. And depending on what happens this summer, we’ll know if that final phone call between Harden and the Rockets was plot or prescient.

 

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BigOrange1

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so last night was pretty great for the rockets:

1) the spurs won their second game in a row to go up 3 wins over the rockets ahead of the upcoming back to back games against them.  just don't win both of those games and i think the rockets will end up finishing behind the spurs.

2) the mavs win and clippers lose, putting the clippers into the 7th spot.  the rockets get their pick this year so long as it isn't top 6.  right now that pick stands at #17, but it falling into the top 10-12 is absolutely in play right now.  the clippers are 0-4 since they signed westbrook and their next five games are @ sacramento, vs. memphis, vs. toronto, vs. new york and vs. golden state.  the clips are currently in 7th, but are only 2 games ahead of the #11 seed lakers.  trading gordon and the milwaukee pick for the clippers pick may end up being a stroke of genius.

  • Hook 'Em 2
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BigOrange1

BigOrange1 6433

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only have swap rights with brooklyn this year.  highly, highly, highly unlikely that comes into play.  we have our own pick and then the worse of the clippers/okc pick.  that one is lightly protected (top 6), so we're very likely to get it.  could fall anywhere between #10-20.  

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billfromlaketravis

billfromlaketravis 11447

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On 3/3/2023 at 10:08 AM, BigOrange1 said:

so last night was pretty great for the rockets:

1) the spurs won their second game in a row to go up 3 wins over the rockets ahead of the upcoming back to back games against them.  just don't win both of those games and i think the rockets will end up finishing behind the spurs.

2) the mavs win and clippers lose, putting the clippers into the 7th spot.  the rockets get their pick this year so long as it isn't top 6.  right now that pick stands at #17, but it falling into the top 10-12 is absolutely in play right now.  the clippers are 0-4 since they signed westbrook and their next five games are @ sacramento, vs. memphis, vs. toronto, vs. new york and vs. golden state.  the clips are currently in 7th, but are only 2 games ahead of the #11 seed lakers.  trading gordon and the milwaukee pick for the clippers pick may end up being a stroke of genius.

Gordon trade keeps looking better and better. Jury is still out on Stone, but this could become a nice indicator. 
 

My gut feeling is we miss on Victor and take Scoot. 

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HtownHorn

HtownHorn 14663

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6 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

What’s the deal with Washington- when is that thing going to start to maybe convey?  

We traded that pick to get Sengun.

We have Milwaukee's pick, but have the ability to swap with the Clippers.

Next year, our pick goes to OKC (top 4 protected) but can replace that with Brooklyn's unprotected 1st.

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HtownHorn

HtownHorn 14663

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5 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Gordon trade keeps looking better and better. Jury is still out on Stone, but this could become a nice indicator. 
 

My gut feeling is we miss on Victor and take Scoot. 

Stone is useless, because the organization is abysmal. He did ok with the draft, with Sengun being his best pick, the rest of his picks have shown serious flaws. Then he went and gave extensions to Tate and Porter when there was absolutely no reason to do so.

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