John doesn't fully address Harden by name, but you can tell that's who he's talking about when he says 'Certain guys 1 through 15 aren't buying in', the 'Me me me' stuff and 'You want to jump off a cliff after 9 games? C'mon man' statement. I know Harden was trying to get out of Houston before the season and the frustration of not playing well through 9 games is only making things worse, but like I said, it's easy to tell who he's talking about here (which is a snippet of both Harden and Wall, BTW):
Wall takes shot at James Harden
- Thread starter UKRuppster
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I am on the Wall bandwagon over Harden....but how in the world did any GM not see Wall and Harden would not co-exist well in style of play. Add to it, Harden appears to have put on quite a bid of bad weight....it's a dumpster fire.
Also, I don't have NBA League Pass nor do I follow the NBA as closely as some here undoubtedly do, but I do find it kind of funny that Wall, a guy who is just coming back after a year and a half away from the game due to serious injury, and Christian Wood, a player largely unproven coming into this season, are both playing quite a bit better than Harden this month. And yes, I know it's a small sample size of 5 games. But Harden's been pretty awful thus far in January (17.8 PPG on under 40 percent shooting overall, 27.3 percent from three).
Westbrook wanted out of Houston and Wall wanted out of Washington. Both are under equally terrible contracts with Wall not having played in a year and a half before the start of the season and with Westbrook being an inefficient stat padder that not many guys like to play with, so the only really obvious way for both teams to move on was to swap them out for one another.
Wall's actually done better in Houston from an individual standpoint. Westbrook is doing terribly with the Wizards, who have funnily enough played quite a bit better without him thus far.
Eh. The Rockets got crushed by the Lakers two straight games and Wall is having to deal with drama from Harden that he didn't really cause. If he did get high after the game before his press conference to try and forget about these things, I wouldn't exactly blame him lol
He frequently looks this way for some reason. I doubt that he is but this has been mentioned often.
After rolling through Patrick Beverley, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook and now an unhappy John Wall, one thing has become quite clear: NO point guard enjoys playing alongside Harden.
That’s not James Harden, that’s Rick Ross averaging 17 a game.
Kinda sad looking at Harden. He looks like a homeless man now. Good thing Terrance isn’t still with the Rockets. 
I kid I kid
I kid I kidHarden coming out like another spoiled entitled privileged NBA player.
He is coasting through games and not trying to adapt. He is trying to force the trade
He didn't get what he wanted and now is pouting like a child.
He is coasting through games and not trying to adapt. He is trying to force the trade
He didn't get what he wanted and now is pouting like a child.
Wall seems like a leader in this situation. The Rockets have to unload Harden, unbelievably toxic.
Honestly.. it's Harden and Kyrie at the top of that mountain, and I don't think anyone else is even that close, even guys like Durant or Lebron..
Those two are absolute team cancers. But the rest of your superstars are generally OK.. Kawhi, Embiid, Jokic, Murray, Booker, AD..
Kyrie is a complete joke of a person and a teammate. Just a total POS.
Harden can't get along with anyone anywhere he has been. If someone doesn't bow down to him he throws a fit and wants that person gone.
Harden looks like he wants to be on My 600 pound life.
Can't disagree. Can't stand either of them at this point. They are by far the biggest culprits of why people hate the NBA, IMO (Aside from Lebron but that's cause he has 100,000x the exposure)... Hardens style is terrible and unwatchable most of the time, and Irving.. IDK if Irving even likes basketball. He just doesn't care. He's now just taking games off cause he feels like it.
The Wall / Westbrook trade was made because both wanted a change. Also, on Houston's side, they did it to try and keep harden as he stated "He preferred Wall over Westbrook", whom he had just ask for the year before. Also, just in case Harden left (which they knew was still a great possibility even trading for Wall), they would have something.
I know about this because I wanted to see SVP after the Bama game and get his reaction (he says we suck btw)
you gotta feel for Wall and Cousins a bit
Harden's production is down about 20% and he throws the entire team under the bus saying they aren't good enough to compete
you gotta feel for Wall and Cousins a bit
Harden's production is down about 20% and he throws the entire team under the bus saying they aren't good enough to compete
K Time, I have only watched Harden very sporadically. Enough to know he's a deadly shooter and scorer. And I haven't watched him and Wall together at all. But I was wondering why Harden's and Wall's styles of play don't work well together? I thought maybe Wall would be a willing passer and sometimes driver that might compliment Harden's game.
Harden has to have the ball in his hands at all times. He’s not a guy that scores off assists.
Do you think the team is better with Harden playing that way - I mean it seems he's one of those superstars where whatever is best for him could be best for the team - or do you think the team would be better if he would play off the ball a little more?
Harden isn’t going to concede the way he plays for the betterment of the team. It’s not who he is.
Thanks. Didn't mean to try to try make you my personal NBA educator. I just haven't watched enough to understand much about it.
Harden is one of the more selfish players I've even seen. While he does rack up assists at times, he HAS to have the ball in his hands in order to be effective. Otherwise, he either stands around and pouts or just doesn't know how/where to move without the ball. While Harden can be and has been an effective scorer, he does it as much by volume and because refs give him every call and thus put him on the FT line a bunch.
At times he's made an effort on defense (although he's never been a good defender) but lately he's not even pretending to play defense. All he does is jack up shots and then half-heartedly jogs back on defense. I've never liked his game. It just doesn't mesh well with any player who doesn't want to just spot up on the 3-line and wait for James to dribble the air out of the ball with the hopes that he'll pass it to him for a jumper. His game does not make anyone else any better.
At times he's made an effort on defense (although he's never been a good defender) but lately he's not even pretending to play defense. All he does is jack up shots and then half-heartedly jogs back on defense. I've never liked his game. It just doesn't mesh well with any player who doesn't want to just spot up on the 3-line and wait for James to dribble the air out of the ball with the hopes that he'll pass it to him for a jumper. His game does not make anyone else any better.
Aside from Harden so far Stephen Silas looks like a terrible coach . PJ Tucker and Nawaba didn’t score a single point last night and they were in the starting lineup. He refuses to change his rotation . At this point Ben Mclemore should start over Nwaba. Woods can’t be the center he is getting abused down low so Boogie should start and move Woods to PF.
I think the answer to both of those questions is yes. Keeping the ball in Harden’s hands has been successful for Houston. If CP3 doesn’t get hurt that one year they most likely beat Golden State and go to the Finals.
But he could definitely stand to play off the ball more especially if he has another good player alongside him. What’s the point of having CP3 if he’s only gonna be a spot up shooter?Guys have to adjust to playing with him. He’s not gonna adjust to playing with them. But Houston enabled Harden, and now he’s trying to pout his way out of town.
I think you're going to see him moved in 48 hours. The fact that Wall called him out, and EVERYONE knows who he was referring to... this has to get fixed asap. We might even have to just take Brooklyn's 3 first rounders and cut ties.
I love Boogie lol that was gold, screw Harden
Here's what Boogie said if anyone's interested. I think it's a great response, calling what Harden said completely disrespectful to the other players in the locker room:
I know someone who was part of the S&C department for the Rockets, Harden is a nightmare to deal with, insanely talented though couldn't give two flying Fs about anyone except himself.
Boogie pretty much said as much in his press conference today, and added that it's been going on since the start of training camp.
The Suns won't trade Booker for Harden and I strongly doubt Denver would trade Murray for him, either. Houston would be lucky to get Simmons, Maxey and picks from Philadelphia at this point.
Pretty sure he's been tanking to get traded, look at how fat he has been in recent pictures