Obviously in a rebuild you trade away the other players on the roster that can return draft picks / younger players. You wouldn't keep Ariza, Bev, Gordon since they have positive value and can easily be moved. I would wait one more year anyways, and some of those guys will be on their last year. The lakers are just an example of the type of deal I would explore next summer. Yes, a 22 year old James Harden who ended up being the center piece of a franchise is an extremely rare find. A 28/29 year old James Harden who has displayed his peak and his abilities in the playoffs against a team who is disciplined and doesn't foul / in a league that officiates differently in the playoffs is not as valuable. Never said we are guaranteed to find another 22 year old Harden, I think it's almost time to start looking at the odds of actually winning with Harden as the best player or try to maximize a return given the information you now have. We aren't talking about a pre-championship Lebron James, where you know he is the best player and you need to build around him. We are talking about a player coming into his 9th season in the NBA and understanding his limitations and recognizing his peak. We have a good owner and a good GM, I don't think we would be in mediocrity for long.
If you trade aharden might as well fire Dantoni too. At this point I'd be ok with it because I don't believe in James Harden. And I think that he might bolt to play with another star when his contract is up anyways. I'd trade him to LA for a top lottery pick (preferably this year's if they end up top 3) and a few of their good young players. Then let LA get Paul George and see if they can win a ring together and let magic feel good for a couple years.
I have no hope Les will spend money,. Harden deserves better. Pair him up with Magic Johnson so i can see him win a ring as a leader, and not a ring chaser. This is why i want Russell, and Brandon Ingram, plus their 2017 and 2019 first rounder, throw in mozgov for harden and gordon. We should keep the young guys like dekker and onauku, and be like okc( circa 2012). I think D'Angelo Russell has some harden-lite potential, and we can use that 2017 first rounder on fultz and make him our new pg
I want to keep dantoni, i think his system is perfect for players like d'angelo russell and fultz, brandon ingram could also benefit playing under jeff bzedlik and becoming a god defensive wing
We did not lose because of Capela, or Beverley, or Gordon, or cause we lost Nene or even overpaid/under achieving Ryno or inconsistent Louis. Those guys are role players. They played well enough and contributed enough at different times. They're role players cause they're not consistent but to say they're not talented? You've gotta be kidding me. We lost cause our leader didn't lead. The supposed MVP/ best player in the league and this series couldn't capitalize on an old ass/injured Spurs team with their best player missing. Instead James got schooled by a soon to be 40 year old Manu running on fumes and a guy that barely made the cut. It would be the equivalent of JET Terry getting the better of Steph Curry. James had and played with another Superstar. He actually brought his A game and did everything he could against Portland while Harden was getting handled by Wes Matthews and calling reporters weirdos since he was frustrated. What's most frustrating is not the fact that we lost. It's how we lost and who we lost to. A blowout in game 6 at home against the Spurs without 2 of their starters and their best player/MVP candidate. We got blown out by SA's B squad when we fans legit thought we could beat them even when they were fully healthy before the series began and even the fair share of the media picked us to win the series. For good reason.... we have a lot of weapons. You put Westbrook, Lillard, McCollum, Greek Freak, Derozan, Wall, Thomas, Hayward or any other similar main option in the same position as Harden heading into the 4th quarter of game 5 and OT they would've capitalized. More than half of them would've finished the series at home and led them to the WCF. NONE of them would've thrown up a pathetic gutless dud like Harden did tonight. Seriously, old ass Ginoboli and a guy that barely made the league that started 8 games all year and averaged 6 points 2 boards and 1 assist. I think I'm reasonable and forgiving but this has happened over and over and over again. So many blown opportunites. Inexcusable man.
Brother you know we're not going to trade Harden. It's just unrealistic. The only thing I see us doing is to add another all star.
Westbrook was up 3-1 in a series with Durant and didn't win. Hayward has been swept. Lillard and MCcollum swept. Derozan swept. Greek Freak donzo. Wall and Thomas playing to see who's going to lose to Cleveland. James embarrassed himself but damn man these other cats haven't done much. In addition, MDA embarrassed himself, Ryno embarrassed himself, Capela couldn't catch a ball or dunk, Gordon was awful, Lou was planning a threeway vacay, and the squad showed zero toughness as a unit. There's enough blame for everyone.
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah.... Heard "I'll bump this again" many times before regarding Harden's immaturity/TO's/bad defense. You make sure to keep your 1-year-on-the-forum roll going, and please please please bump this thread when you prove us all wrong....
Without the opposing teams 2 starters and their best player? Playing against scrubs? Let's flip the script here. What if Harden was the one that sprained his ankle and didn't play Q4 and OT of game 5 and out for game 6 and Bev was out. Kawahi is fully healthy and he puts up the same performance as Harden and blows two golden opportunities. Does that happen in your wildest imaginations? Hell to the mother****ing NO!
Newsflash basketball is a team game and you're making it about 1 guy. This isn't a movie, everyone has to show up to win in the playoffs. MDA got his ass handed to him in games 5 & 6. Aldridge and Gasol was allowed to shoot over chairs because D'Antoni was too stubborn not to play his bench. He wanted to guard premier post players with Harden? He wants to play fast, uptempo for 48 min with a 7 man rotation?The role players that did play didn't show any fight either. James put on a crappy performance and will be embarrassed by the basketball world today and rightfully so. But leave Kawhi out of it. Kawhi doesn't get blamed for anything even when the Spurs lose. When the Warriors spank the Spurs in 5, no one will criticize Kawhi, they'll just say the Warriors were a better team. Unfortunately for us, the Spurs have a better team and coach than we do this year.
The Spurs even with Tony Parker and Kawhi were not a clearly better team than us. The Spurs without Parker and Kawhi were definitelty not as good as us. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
lol, so you'd trade Harden for Dame, a guy who has never even been to a game 6 in the 2nd round and is a worse player than Harden...
harden and ryan for the best we can get, and we can get a lot with those 2, A LOT! harden proved what he is in this game. no team is coming closet o gsw or cavs, why try with harden as the main guy? let those 2 duke it out in the finals, while we go looking for the next superstar. morey is good at finding talent. trade harden and ryan, everyone else stays. mda a good coach to get a team some playoff experience. after they go after a better coach.
Yes Lillard in a MDA ran system would be incredible. I'm not shallow enough to bring up his playoff woes, because I'm smart enough to know Portland hasn't been in a playoff series where they weren't a serious underdog. The ONLY series they won was against us, and he outplayed Harden that series. Most of all, atleast we know we're getting a MAXIMUM effort from Lillard. We know he's going to try his hardest and not mail it in in a elimination game.