Right now the entire league cannot picture Harden as literally anything other than a guy who holds the ball 90% of the game, the entire offense is built around him and he operates exactly as he has for the past few years in Houston.

I don't know if that's right or not, but I've never seen anything happen like this before.

I feel like I need to go watch ASG tapes or something to see what Harden plays like on a team with other stars that's not built for the singular purpose of iso Harden. Like, how did he play when he was 6th man with Westbrook and Durant? Did he cut ever? Spot up? or did they all just take turns going 1 on 1

D'Antoni didn't just develop Harden.

He literally broke him by turning him into a damn monster movie.

The last 7 posts on this thread are gold (well - 72o's fine but .. w/e .. not hating).

When my posting is up to the excellence par of tchaz's liking then I know I really did well.

Thanks old sport!

Friday 1030pm is PRESEASON BASKETBALL Kings vs. Blazers on ESPN

#CantWait

Woatbrook is wearing #4 which is what he wore in h.s.

Yeah, BUT the question I have is can he have the impact of a top 5/10 player if he plays the way he did many many years ago? He was very good in OKC and great his first couple years at HOU, but it wasn't until he turned into whatever he is now when top5/MVP Harden began to emerge. If he's magically changed into a 2nd banana or at least less ball-dominant, will he be as good? I'm not so sure.

Lately I've been having my doubts about players who are literally everything for their team. There are outliers ofc, but when we're comparing people to Lebron and to a lesser extend peak Steph, you probably shouldn't be making comparisons at all because they are massive outliers.

The late vibe suggesting that Harden has fit/culture problems is strange to me

Actually if you look at his game and some of the skills he has developed over the years, I can't imagine the amount of craft he must have put in to reach that level, strikes to me as anything but a cancer but I guess Russ may have spread some of his onto him

Elgin baylor, nique, george gervin, harden .... The great scorers who couldn't play team ball.

Bol looks pretty sweet iyam:

Fully expecting the Hornets to offer 10 unprotected first round picks for Harden.

Very nice. His shot is pretty much unblockable.

Yeah, but he could also be a hunchback.

Bol Bol if he never got hurt in college would've been like the third pick. Or at the very least top 5 WITHOUT QUESTION.

quad bike incoming

This and the fact I don’t think harden is popular amongst stars is why I think the market is pretty tepid

The popularity contest thing sounds stupid but 100% what very often drives trades is a star pressuring and advocating for one. Connections ties friendships that’s what helps make them happen often. It’s not that harden is the leagues arch enemy he just doesn’t have a jokic or Embiid actively pushing for him. Only ones that are are his boys in Brooklyn. Too bad Brooklyn can only offer an expiring contract a median level starting C and Bitcoin Andrew Wiggins

The age isn’t great but you do anything you can in this league for a serious title window. Harden gives you a serious title window. That’s what everything is about at the end of the day

I wouldn’t give up a top tier prospect of course. But someone like Jaylen brown? I would drive that dude to the airport myself for harden if I were a Boston fan

I see Michael Porter Jr hype here all I’ll say is I think his value is pretty high as is and his medicals are still a very legit concern. Harden/Jokic is an all time level offense I’m not passing that up for an unvaccinated rich mans tobias Harris

For Philly Embiid gives you a very high defensive floor. Harden gives you a very high offensive floor. Even though you wish you wouldn’t have traded JRich if you have harden that team can win a title

I think his long-term medicals might be a concern, but the ones that dropped his stock came from the Clippers, and they said he'd never play again.

Calling him a rich man's Tobias Harris doesn't do justice to his skill-set or just how historical his rookie season was on a per-minute basis. If his shooting isn't real than his value is definitely overstated, but if it's not? He put up elite efficiency numbers from all three levels despite having a higher percentage of his shots contested than most 20% usage guys.

I get the concern that it was a fluke of a season, but I think it would be a massive, massive mistake to just assume that given what he put up on the court. I mean, if there were no injury and he put those numbers up as a 20 year old rookie, how would we have judged it?

20/10 on .533/.422/.833 per 36 as a rookie when most of your minutes came without their best playmaker on the floor is impressive. Doing this while coming off a major injury and basically no competitive BBall since high-school, then being an impact player in the playoffs despite getting roasted on defense. Giving that up for a player who has in his 10 year career never went further than you went last year just seems weird to me.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...state-warriors\

Curry wants to retire a Warrior.

Hornets fans hate to see it.

Probably great news for them. Jordan would’ve picked up Steph at the nut worst time, when he would still be commanding a massive contract but a shell of his former self.

Yeah, but that’s what the Hornets do. Now the plan is ruined.

ESPN 100-51 Rankings

#81 John Wall
#75 Duncan Robinson
#73 Bojan Bogdanovic
#72 PJ Tucker
#55 Christian Wood
#54 Lonzo Ball

holy **** they finally have DDR correctly. too bad he's not on the raps anymore because there'd be a week of TZ content, and i would not hold be holding back on the slander.



can't believe this **** is behind the paywall. nba rankings are such low hanging fruit. this isn't zach lowe breaking down plays in 3000 word articles

lonzo ranking is bizarre. not sure he cracks deans top 100, and espn has him at 54 for some reason

Apologies if I missed this posted but DAME