James Harden Holding Out

[SHAQATTACK]

Danny playin hard ball

waiting on James to beg his way on to the celtics

[Phantom255x]

Danny playin hard ball

waiting on James to beg his way on to the celtics

Lol I bet you both sides aren't even thinking about the other at all right now. Probably weren't a month ago too.

[RodyTur10]

Whatever happened to players honoring their contracts? Harden gets paid extremely well and fully understood the terms of his deal. I want to see teams putting their foot down on these trade demands by star players. You sign a contract, live with your choice and honor it. If the team sucks, make an effort to improve your teammates and the team culture.

Those days are over for sure. Players now view their rights as equal to that of the team, for better or worse.

That meaning if a team can trade or cut a player for whatever reason they want then a player can similarly demand out.

It doesn't work that way though. If they want that right, they should ask for it in their contract, or the players association should make it a point in the next CBA. As is, you sign a deal, you have to honor it. If I were a GM I'd put my foot down and the heck with the consequences. Teams make huge investments building their franchises around these guys, who then just selfishly decide to skip town for greener pastures whenever things don't go their way.

It's still better than what's happening in European football. There agents rule the business.
When you want to sign a player you need to pay his agent as well. For instance, when a team gives a player a 120 million contract then automatically they'll receive a bill by the player's agent who wants a commission you'll need to pay at like 5-10% thus an additional 6-12 million for his services to allow you to sign this football player.

Jorge Mendes the best football agent earned 118 million last year by negotiating 1,18 billion in player contracts. Not only that, these agents controll the market. When a football club wants a player they'll contact the agent whether he can pursuade the current club to sell the player to them. Or when a player is unhappy, his agent will tell the club that he wants his client to be traded and gives them a shortlist of teams who are interested. If a club is unwilling to fulfil the wishes of an agent, it's likely that other clients of this agent won't sign or resign with the club again.

 

[CelticsElite]

The Houston Rockets have opened up trade discussions on James Harden with teams beyond the Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets.

"They're starting to gather more interest in both the Eastern and Western Conferences," said Adrian Wojnarowski on ESPN.

More teams are becoming comfortable with trading for Harden without an assurance he would commit long-term.

"One thing is for certain: Houston would like to get this done sooner than later. This is a pall over the entire organization...

"They've got to find the right deal. This is too important for the organization long-term. They have a checklist for what they would like in a deal. You don't always get everything you want in one of these trades, but they have to really maximize value. That's going to be a really good young player and draft picks, at the very least as the comb the league.

"They're looking at three-team scenarios. Perhaps a particular team doesn't exactly have the player they want but they can help go get that player in a bigger deal."

[CelticsElite]

Spencer Dinwiddie‘s partial ACL tear further reduces the odds of the Nets and Rockets working out a trade involving James Harden this season, in the view of Matt Young of The Houston Chronicle, who notes that Dinwiddie and his $11.5MM salary likely would’ve been a key part of any package Brooklyn could put together.

Dinwiddie’s injury doesn’t mean he can’t be traded, but it significantly diminishes his value, since he can reach free agency in 2021 and may not play another game on his current contract. Still, ESPN’s Zach Lowe suggested during his Monday episode of The Lowe Post that the Dinwiddie injury doesn’t really change the Nets’ and Rockets’ outlook for Harden, since the two teams had made no progress toward a deal anyway.

“Spencer Dinwiddie’s health did not make or break the Nets’ ability to get James Harden,” Lowe said, per RealGM. “It’s unclear to me, frankly, if those teams have had anything resembling a serious conversation about James Harden. Let’s make that clear. I don’t sense that there’s been hardly any traction there at all. And maybe the way the Nets started had them thinking ‘Why are we messing with this?'”

Here’s more on Harden and the Rockets:

Harden, who has averaged 39.0 PPG and 12.5 APG on .595/.500/.920 shooting in his first two games of the season, has provided the Rockets with a reminder of why it doesn’t make sense to trade him for “50 or 60 cents on the dollar,” writes Kelly Iko of The Athletic.
The Rockets will remain shorthanded on players until Wednesday and haven’t been able to conduct a full practice in about a week, but P.J. Tucker doesn’t think the team should view that as excuse for a slow start, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. “It’s our jobs to play basketball. This happens,” Tucker said. “Guys go down with injuries, guys go down for being sick, guys go down for family issues. You miss guys all the time. It just makes it next man up. It’s an opportunity to go out and play.”
Stephen Silas reportedly wasn’t Harden’s first choice when the Rockets were searching for a new head coach this offseason, and his hiring may have even contributed to the former MVP’s decision to request a trade. However, Harden likes what he has seen from Silas so far, as Mark Medina of USA Today writes. “He did a great job,” Harden said of his new coach after the team’s first game on Saturday. “Very confident, knew what he was drawing up and knew where to put his guys at

[colincb]

HOU has enough leverage that the BKN poo-poo platter was never a possibility even before Dinwiddie went down.

[Tr1boy]

He really looks out of shape. Minimal effort on D end last night

[Moranis]

He rarely has a bunch of effort defensively in part because he takes on such a heavy offensive load.  Hard to go full bore on both ends of the floor all game long.

[SHAQATTACK]

He really looks out of shape. Minimal effort on D end last night

he has the giant bootie growing like ol Sully .  A mini Round Mound

[Roy H.]

He rarely has a bunch of effort defensively in part because he takes on such a heavy offensive load.  Hard to go full bore on both ends of the floor all game long.

I think that sometimes we use this as a justification to excuse lack of effort.  Did Jordan, Pippin, Hakeem, Robinson, Duncan, KG, etc., coast on one end of the court?

[nickagneta]

He rarely has a bunch of effort defensively in part because he takes on such a heavy offensive load.  Hard to go full bore on both ends of the floor all game long.

I think that sometimes we use this as a justification to excuse lack of effort.  Did Jordan, Pippin, Hakeem, Robinson, Duncan, KG, etc., coast on one end of the court?

Spot on, Roy. Some great players definitely use the excuse of needing energy on offense as an excuse for not giving it their best on defense. The best players play both ways to the height of their abilities, not saving energy just for one side of the court.

If Harden has this attitude, it's no wonder a team led by him hasn't won a title yet.

[gouki88]

He rarely has a bunch of effort defensively in part because he takes on such a heavy offensive load.  Hard to go full bore on both ends of the floor all game long.

I think that sometimes we use this as a justification to excuse lack of effort.  Did Jordan, Pippin, Hakeem, Robinson, Duncan, KG, etc., coast on one end of the court?

Not many players in the history of the game have shouldered such an offensive load. In your list only MJ could claim to.

I do think it’s an excuse though, given Harden played perfectly acceptable defence last year while carrying a huge load on offence.

[BMark]

He rarely has a bunch of effort defensively in part because he takes on such a heavy offensive load.  Hard to go full bore on both ends of the floor all game long.

I think that sometimes we use this as a justification to excuse lack of effort.  Did Jordan, Pippin, Hakeem, Robinson, Duncan, KG, etc., coast on one end of the court?

Not many players in the history of the game have shouldered such an offensive load. In your list only MJ could claim to.

I do think it’s an excuse though, given Harden played perfectly acceptable defence last year while carrying a huge load on offence.

On last's year's "micro team", he covered the least effective offensive big man on the other team, presumably to save energy for offense.

[Moranis]

He rarely has a bunch of effort defensively in part because he takes on such a heavy offensive load.  Hard to go full bore on both ends of the floor all game long.

I think that sometimes we use this as a justification to excuse lack of effort.  Did Jordan, Pippin, Hakeem, Robinson, Duncan, KG, etc., coast on one end of the court?

Not many players in the history of the game have shouldered such an offensive load. In your list only MJ could claim to.

I do think it’s an excuse though, given Harden played perfectly acceptable defence last year while carrying a huge load on offence.

And MJ took a lot of plays off as well.  He didn't go full bore, especially defensively, all game long.  He certainly locked it down during key possessions, but this idea that those guys didn't take a bunch of plays off, coast during large portions of the regular season, etc. just isn't borne in reality.  It is certainly more today, though even Jordan didn't have the load of Harden offensively.  Jordan didn't bring the ball up the floor.  Jordan at his absolutely peak managed 8 apg (that would be a terrible output for Harden).  During the titles he was more in the 5.5 apg (the first 3) and down around 4 apg (the second 3). 

And the game is just different today.  I mean Wilt played 48.5 mpg one season.  No way he could do that today and that is with the much improved medicine, training, etc.  The guys are just bigger and stronger today, and that is more grueling.  They obviously don't get hit as much, but there is just a different level of physical strain. 

[Phantom255x]

The thing I feel people are missing is that a Harden trade will also cost us defense (in the form of Jaylen or Smart). Even if Harden helps the scoring, it won't matter much if we're giving up 110+ a game anyways especially during the postseason.