I have been one of the biggest supporters of Harden. I still do think he can be the best player on a championship team, or maybe a 1A/1B kind of situation if we were able to get the right role players around him. Not only that, I am typically against trading superstar players for draft picks since the draft is such a crapshoot and you just hope that one or two of your picks might pan out. Trading for Westbrook was and is a mistake. It doesn't help that he is one of my least favorite players in the NBA, but he just does not fit. All of that said, it feels like we are moving backwards, not forwards. Harden is 31 and his decline as perennial top 2 MVP player is coming. We have little to no draft picks. If we hold on to Harden and continue to get bounced in an uncompetitive second round, our rebuild is going to be painful as we don't have any easy way to do it. I'm not saying we should, but since this conversation is inevitable during every offseason- what do you think?
For starters, Tillman needs to let Morey do his job, hire a new coach, get rid of House, EGo's and RoCo's contracts for players that better fit this roster, and try to salvage any picks you can get in the process. I like House, but he's let the team down 2 years in a row. Last year, fine - first time playoffs jitters. This year, he was a key piece and couldn't keep it in his pants and got himself kicked out. EGo is too streaky and last couple of years, it's not the good kind of streaky. RoCo for as good of 3-D guy he is, he is a terrible on the ball defender and was proven over and over again in the playoffs. For a team with no rim protection, this is unacceptable. If Russ can go back to his 2-3-month stretch he had before the pause, he can work. But if he's Playoff Russ, we're in for another rough season/playoffs.
