Rockets: James Harden’s late arrival exposed problems with media outlets | FYF Sports Debates

Hey, SFYF Sportsman, it's Lamont. We back with another podcast video. I got a lot of information for you guys today. I just got an interesting take on what's kind of been going on in the NBA. Primarily about James Harden and the Houston Rockets. Just a crazy situation over there when we see the monster trade with Westbrook and John Wall. But I just wanted to dive in deep on that. Really give you guys another perspective on it. What I think is going on with the Houston Rockets and what they should do moving forward in the future if this new superstar pairing does not work out. Before we get started today, make sure you guys like, comment, and subscribe. Hit the notification bell if you haven't done so already. We are grinding. We are almost to 20k subscribers. We're inching along to 17k subscribers right now. Appreciate all the support. Appreciate you guys liking, commenting, sharing the videos. Appreciate all the donations that are poured in to support the channel. 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Appreciate everybody that watches from Facebook, from the website, from Spotify and Apple. I mean again all of those views, all of the support helps and helps make this channel grow. So appreciate to all the subscribers. But today I wanted to talk about James Harden and the Houston Rockets. As we all know the Houston Rockets just traded former MVP Russell Westbrook for John Wall of the Washington Wizards. I think this was a very intriguing trade because obviously you know Russell Westbrook you know for as good as he is with regards to shooting efficiency he ranks dead last in the NBA and I think if you're looking to build a championship team your superstar player the guy that takes the most shots cannot be that inefficient. I think that's a big detriment especially from the mid-range a guy who can't space the floor. He's limited offensively although he's still great in his own right. So although Westbrook has his own flaws John Wall also presents his own issues as well coming off of the Achilles and ACL tear back-to-back. He in his own right was similar to Russell Westbrook not a very strong mid-range shooter not a very good three-point shooter. They're both great at attacking the basket but they are both ball dominant got ball dominant guards that need the ball in their hands to be effective. So it's gonna just be curious how this trade works out. There are rumors circulating out there that this is who James Harden preferred. They say James Harden preferred to have a John Wall on this roster as opposed to a Russell Westbrook but it's hard to even say if those reports are factual because based on what's coming out of Houston right now they're saying that James Harden has been radio silent. He didn't show up to the teams of first individual workouts. I mean that's not something to really raise your eyebrow that happens with a lot of the stars in NBA. A lot of the stars in NBA missed the first second and third days of training camp for whatever reasons a lot of times it's excused. Like I said so until these details come out with regards to James Harden and I know them for fact I don't want to really play into that and allow that to kind of sway how I feel about what I'm gonna be talking about today but it is something to keep your eye on so you want to keep your eye on that. It looks as if the Houston Rockets are trying to do everything they can to make James Harden happy but that's something that's been consistent with this Houston Rocket team ever since James Harden has gotten to the Rockets. Ever since he's gotten to the Rockets the Rockets have done went above and beyond to create a roster and create a team that James Harden is happy with and unfortunately that still hasn't amounted that has not amounted to winning basketball at least with regards to winning championships. They found a lot of success in the regular season they found some success in the playoffs but with regards to winning championships which is what that's the ultimate goal they fell short time and time again most recently last year getting put out by the Los Angeles Lakers a team that went on to actually win the championship so they failed to get over the hump even though they've had a large number of superstar players on that roster great coaches in that organization a great front office they still have not found a way to get it all put it all together to become a championship team and I wanted to talk about it from the aspect of when we look at the large volume of superstar players that James Harden has played within the past all right so we know he started his career in OKC he started his career at OKC playing alongside Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook he was a six-man on that team and he thrived in that particular role now when OKC failed to pay him when when they failed to you know agree to a contract of a few extra million just to keep him on that roster James Harden then looked to sign elsewhere he ended up signing with the Houston Rockets where he kind of exploded onto the scene as a superstar of the league and kind of surprised everybody but you know in this particular era in this day and time we all know that it's going to be extremely difficult to win with one star player so the Rockets immediately sought out they immediately sought out bringing in superstar talent to surround this guy with you know the first star that they bring in is Dwight Howard they signed this guy out of free agency from Los Angeles Lakers and you know from you know on paper it looked as if it could be a great pairing I mean you have a dominant big one of the best most dominant bigs of this particular generation you put that with a Russell I mean a James Harden I mean you got great role players on that team as well guys like Lou Williams and Montrez Harrell and you would hope you would hope that that would be enough to get you over the hump but with Dwight Howard's multiple back injuries and just inconsistency not just from the bench but just James Harden himself in the playoffs that team would never was able to get over the hump it ended with a very messy feud between Dwight Howard and James Harden where it was reported that both of those guys had went to management asking if they could trade the other player so again it just became messy in the end no one really knows that the true or accurate story but what we do know is that the Houston Rockets with their star player James Harden and they got Dwight Howard up out of there you know so when obviously not bringing Dwight Howard back you have to bring in another superstar so the Rockets you know mortgaged everything they mortgaged everything and they they make a massive trade to the Clippers they make a massive trade to the Clippers for superstar point guard Chris Paul and when you make that trade obviously you know you don't just make that trade not just to be average you make that trade to win championships you know and it started off it started off great you know this team this team was one of the only teams to take that that dynasty Golden State Warrior team to seven games they came extremely close to putting that team out and then unfortunately Chris Paul goes down with a hamstring injury in 2018 game 7 of the Western Conference Finals well we all know what happens the Golden State Warriors pull away with the win after the Houston Rockets throw up 27 three-point shots miss you know miss all of them and find themselves bounced out of the playoffs with no real floor general on the court and then again that that right there you know and it seems like losses fuel the fire in a lot of these problems that we see going on with the Houston Rockets because after that loss contentions grew and and then we hear reports that Chris Paul requested a trade which Chris Paul came out and said that wasn't true then it was reports that came out that James Harden gave the Houston Rockets an ultimatum said it's either me or him you got to choose one and this is the second time the Houston Rockets cited the second incidents where the Houston Rockets cited with James Harden and they ended up trading Chris Paul getting Chris Paul up out of there so now this is you fail with two superstar players the organization now has agreed to trade Chris Paul out to bring in another superstar player in Russell Westbrook so they make a massive trade for Russell Westbrook also mortgaging more of their future to first round picks as sending Chris Paul to OKC bringing in Russell Westbrook right now again on paper the roster looks great all right and even you know even even if we look back on the 2019 season the season was going along great the Rockets were one of the more efficient teams Russell Westbrook was having one of his best years Mike D'Antoni and that organization had went with the analytics they traded Clay Capella and they were playing small ball they bring in Robert Covington and the Rockets looked like a force to reckon with even in the NBA playoff bubble defensively the Rockets look long they look fast they were the number one rated team going into the playoffs a lot of people had this team potentially beating the Los Angeles Lakers the way they were playing all right but you know in a seven game series against some of these great teams especially the Lakers they just simply got exposed they did not have the size and speed to compete injuries to Eric Gordon and just a lack of depth on that team kind of caught up with them and it just didn't work out in the Russell Westbrook era I mean and you're talking about a MVP in Russell Westbrook who averaged 27 7 and 7 all right but they again another another exit in the playoffs fuels the fire fuels the contention tension amongst the team and now we find ourselves in another situation where rumors are surrounding this team and now we have two superstar players that have been rumored to say they both want to want to trade out of the Rockets James Harden was reported to have wanted to trade to the Nets which Kevin Durant came out and said that was false but then you have Russell Westbrook where it was reported that he came to the team and said he wanted to be traded out of the organization as well so again loss losses in the playoffs bred more contention and then the Rockets find themselves in another peculiar situation trying to determine what do we do do we trade both do we trade one or the other and again they cited with James Harden they said they want to try to work it out and they end up trading Russell Westbrook for often injured John Wall because as reportedly stated Russell Westbrook or James Harden would prefer to play with the John Wall I'm not particularly sure how that's gonna work or how Steven Silas can make that happen but again he has problems on his hands and he has major problems on his hands he's dealing with often disgruntled superstar player that finds he finds problems or fault in any superstar player that he plays with because as soon as Chris Paul left he had major success in OKC taking a team taking the team in the Oklahoma City Thunder to the playoffs and that same team almost put the Houston Rockets out of the playoffs taking them to seven games so so so again is it is the problem all of these other superstar players is it was it Dwight Howard was it Chris Paul was it Russell Westbrook is the blame gonna fall on John Wall if this doesn't work out again but we're talking about he's on his fourth superstar pairing and he's still on the Rockets I think it's gonna come to a point where the Rockets will need to say you know what out of all the changes we've made out of all the players that we brought in and out of this organization and we still haven't had success the only thing that remains consistent in these losing patterns that we have is James Harden he's the consistent he's the consistent piece in all of these epic failures you know we can point we can point to multiple incidents we're in the playoffs he's came up small in the fourth quarter in that game 7 in 2018 against the Golden State Warriors easily talk about you know we can easily talk about how he was not able to lead that team and prevent them from chucking up you know a record number of three-point shots which ultimately cost them the game and again we know that this is their style of play but they were missing all of those shots and and we were talking about you're talking about a series in game six and seven they they had double-digit leads you know even in that game seven where they were chucking up all of these threes they had a double-digit lead and they can't hold on and they give that lead up and they find themselves bounced out of the playoffs again again when we when we talk about this Houston Rocket team we talk about all of the players coming in out of this organization the one thing that remains consistent has been James Harden all right and so now we have to really look at James Harden the same way I talk about Carmelo Anthony you haven't won anything you're going you're going on ten years in your career you've had some great individual seasons you you you know statistically statistically when we're talking about the individual side of basketball you're offensively unstoppable no one can stop that step back he draws a high number of fouls he's very creative when he drives he knows how to use his physicality he's gotten better on defense at least give an effort on the perimeter and he's one of the best better post defenders in the NBA I mean individually individually James Harden has definitely shown himself to be elite but as a team player he's shown himself to be a complete bum because the Rockets have given him a number of winning scenarios in which he has failed and now it just looks even worse because we see a guy like Chris Paul when he leaves ultimate success third in the MVP voting bringing a team to the playoffs that had no business being there Dwight Howard goes to the Lakers they end up winning the championship all right we have Kevin Durant who moved on I mean we see we have Kevin Durant when he left OKC he's now what a lot of his teammates now are finding success all right the ultimate indictment on James Harden the ultimate indictment on James Harden will be this if Russell Westbrook has ultimate success in Washington this year if he can get that team along with Bradley Bill to play great in that Eastern Conference if they can make a they don't even have to win a championship they can make a strong playoff run and be highly competitive in the East I think that's all gonna be an indictment on James Harden all right because multiple time and time again we've seen all of these star players who play with James Harden have a lot of success when they leave playing with James Harden so I think the Houston Rockets need to be put on notice I think they need to be put on notice I think I think this year if I'm in the Houston Rockets front office this is this is the last year and I'm giving James Harden one more year to prove himself because you got to think of what the Houston Rockets have sacrificed not just to keep him on that team but also to keep him happy they've traded star players they've let foot players leave they've mortgaged their future they've given up a high number of draft picks all for James Harden just to keep him happy on top of the fact that they offered him a hundred and three million two-year extension which will ultimately make him one of the highest paid players in the NBA ever grossing over 50 million a season in two in for two seasons in a row and he turned that down I mean you're putting the Houston Rockets in a very peculiar situation you're putting them in a very peculiar situation again if I'm the Rockets and this is my personal opinion this is the last year this is the last chance that James Harden's get gotten because you got to think of what you've mortgaged and what you've put around them and it's still failed and the only consistent piece whether it's the coaching changes I mean there's been multiple coaches in there from D'Antoni to Bickerstaff you know it you know I don't know what they can continue I don't know what they can do going forward but I think that if it doesn't work this year you have to get rid of James Harden as great as he is as great as of a player as he is as great as he is in that community if you're looking to be a championship team James Harden is sliding deeper and deeper into that same basket of players that I've put in Carmelo Anthony in great individually but you can't win championships with these guys all right and at the NBA level and one thing you'll learn the higher level of basketball you begin to play you know when the higher level of basketball you begin to play one thing that you'll understand quick you'll the one thing that you are you will understand quickly is that it's extremely hard for one player to beat five it's extremely hard for one player to beat five what I mean by that is everybody needs help Jordan one man couldn't beat five individually in the in the in the late 80s Jordan was probably the best player in the league individually but he couldn't beat the Pistons he couldn't beat the Celtics he couldn't beat the Bucs one man will never beat five in the NBA not when you're talking about championship caliber teams and so you have to you know is James Harden a type of player I mean are you going to be able to bring in a coach that can convince them doing less is more you know are you gonna bring in a coach that's gonna accentuating and accelerate the roles of others around James Harden giving them more confidence to do things so that this team isn't so heavily relying on James Harden to score the ball and be the offensive juggernaut that he is I mean these are all questions to come but I think that the coach there Steven Silas is as innovative as he was in Dallas he's the right coach for the job he can figure it out but again I think I think with the injury history that John Wall has I think the door is open for a lot of people to point to blame to John Wall if things go south and I think that's that's the problem with making this trade because you you you're trading for a guy that's been extremely damaged goods with regards to you know being an NBA caliber player and I think you I think you're just opening the door for James Harden to be even more disgruntled if they find themselves back in this situation next year which I predicted they will be with the early playoff exit with even more questions and answers but I want you guys to let me know what you think about James Harden and Houston Rockets what do you think about this particular trade what do you think the Rockets should do moving forward if you are a Houston Rocket fan what do you think they should do moving forward because that the door the championship door is closing you're talking about James Harden he's 31 years old going on 32 I mean he maybe only has two maybe three years before you know you know before you we start to see that downward turn you know before you know not everybody is built like LeBron James you know not everybody's gonna have that slow downward trajectory usually when you hit that 34 35 age in the NBA we see a sharp downturn in production James Harden is gonna have to figure it out very soon but like I said you guys let me know what you think about this in the comments I would love to hear from you we obviously gonna be talking about this in our live stream because we really need some answers on what the Houston Rockets are doing by making this trade what do they hope to get out of it and and with the new coach Silas there he has a lot of work on his hands trying to figure out how to put not just a winning team onto the court but a team that's gonna keep James Harden happy because it seems like every year we look up he's disgruntled with something in the organization hey it's FYF sportsman another great podcast episode again like I said before appreciate all of the support for the channel we are continuing to build continuing to grind got a lot of new things coming for the channel in 2021 we're gonna be expanding the platform to to audiobooks to to Apple music to Spotify all of these platforms are gonna now be opened up to FYF sports so make sure you stay tuned with everything that we have become but we appreciate the support thus far we're gonna continue to grind make sure you join our live streams man this is a topic right here this would be a great topic for one of our live streams so if you want to chop it up in the live stream about James Harden if you're a Houston Rockets fan if you disagree with my take if you feel that these other guys were all the problems make sure you hop in the live you chop it up with us and we can kind of go from there just so we can kind of pick each other's brain and if it comes down to a live debate obviously the $25 cash after is there for anybody who wants to take on the challenge hey but if FYF sportsman has been another great you know it's been another great podcast video