Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
For the NBA Houston Rockets, this week’s big question is “Where is James Harden”?
As the professional basketball team is practicing for an upcoming season, the team’s feature player remains AWOL. Recent reports have seen the 31-year old 6’6” bearded scoring machine in both Atlanta and Las Vegas.
After the Rockets acquired James Harden from Oklahoma City in 2012, the Houston Rockets have been a consistent playoff team. They have been in the playoffs every season since Harden came to H-town.
Unfortunately, the team has not advanced to the NBA Finals during his eight years with the franchise. During last season, the Rockets finished fourth in the NBA’s Western Conference and lost in the second round of the playoffs to the eventual champions, Los Angeles Lakers.
The James Harden years with the Rockets have been quite good, but the team can never quite get to the finish line. Though expectations have been dashed in Houston, a number of other NBA cities would be happy to have a James Harden-type team in the playoffs every season.
Right, New York???
The Houston Rockets have literally attempted to build their franchise around this gifted scorer who has been an 8-time NBA All-Star who also won the league’s MVP trophy in 2018. The team’s ownership and fans have embraced “The Beard” as the hairy face of their franchise.
Why not? Harden has led the NBA in scoring for three straight seasons by averaging over 30 points per game in each of his last three years in Houston. Harden gets to the free throw line more than any other NBA player and converts 86% of his attempts.
Harden’s prolific scoring prowess reminds me a bit of San Antonio Spurs legend George “Iceman” Gervin. During his playing career during the 1970’s and 1980’s, Gervin needed the basketball in his hands (like Harden) to be most effective.
Both James Harden and George Gervin have career scoring averages over 25 points per game. Gervin’s teams (like James Harden) were consistent qualifiers for the playoffs but never won a championship during his Hall-of-Fame career.
Unfortunately for both players, there is only one basketball on the floor but there are four other players on the team.
Winning games during the regular season is much easier than winning a grueling seven-game series in the playoffs as teams can develop a strategy to thwart the opponent’s star players. The other four teammates can’t be expected to start playing a different style after 82 regular season games of standing around watching their primary scorer take most of the shots.
In Houston, the Rockets have tried and failed to build a championship team around the high scoring James Harden. Among the prominent teammates who have come and gone during the Harden years include center Dwight Howard (three years), point guard Chris Paul (one year), and last season’s pairing with former OKC teammate Russell Westbrook (traded to Washington after one year in Houston). The Rockets made the playoffs each season but never advanced to the championship round.
There’s a new sheriff in town, too. The Rockets were sold to Houston entrepreneur Tillman Fertitta three years ago for a whopping $2.2 billion. The businessman (who also owns the Landry’s Restaurant chain and the Golden Nugget Casinos) wants a winner in Houston, but he also wants the team’s payroll to be in-line with revenues, too.
Tillman Fertitta’s business segments (including the Houston Rockets) have been hard hit by the pandemic of 2020. This man isn’t accustomed to losing big money.
A few months prior to the new owner taking control, James Harden agreed to a new contract which gave him a 6-year $228 million ($38 million per season) which now has two years left on it.
Last year, the Rockets’ payroll was over $124 million (#10 in the 30-team NBA). With the pandemic causing a cancellation of home games for the final third of the season and the playoffs, the Rockets likely lost quite a bit of money last season.
With another pandemic-limited season starting soon, the Rockets appear to be ready to clean house and start over – with or without James Harden.
The team’s general manager, Daryl Morey, left for Philadelphia. The contract for Coach Mike D’Antoni was not renewed, and he has become an assistant for the Brooklyn Nets. Guard Russell Westbrook (whose contract paid him $38.5 million last season in Houston) was recently shipped to the Washington Wizards in exchange for John Wall (whose 2020 salary exceeds $40 million) and a 2023 first round draft pick.
For a team trying to pinch pennies, the recent “Westbrook-for-Wall” move was a bit curious.
This now brings us back to James Harden.
At 31 years of age, James Harden’s clock is winding down on his chances to win an NBA championship. He knows it, and, more importantly, his mother knows it, too!
Harden apparently wants out of Houston in a bad way. He and Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant have been dreaming and scheming about finding a way for Harden to join Durant and guard Kyrie Irving in the Big Apple this year.
James Harden now has the attention of the Houston Rockets. “The Beard” has been a no-show for the preseason camp in Houston. On Monday, he was spotted partying in Las Vegas.
His new head coach in Houston, Stephen Silas, said, “As far as timetable, there is no timetable, as far as I know. And it is a setback. You want your best player to be here.”
This isn’t really hard to figure out. There are two factors at play right now.
First, let’s get the scoop about James Harden’s intentions directly from his Mom (Monja Willis). In a recent interview, she said, “He is doing what is best for his career. He has worked hard every time he suited up for his job, giving 210 percent. He ask(ed) for a chance to get a ring, that’s it. Anyone in their right mind in this bus(iness) would want that.”
The other factor is a little stickier. The Rockets’ owner, Tillman Fertitta, is (gasp) a Republican supporter of President Donald Trump. In today’s NBA, that is the social equivalent of the owner having Cooties. Another report stated there was a “revolt” on the team over the owner’s political preferences and several players want to leave.
Something tells me that Rockets’ owner Tillman Fertitta is ready to grant some Christmas wishes to any malcontent basketball players on the squad.
With another year of financial losses ahead due to a lack of fans at home games, the Houston Rockets’ owner can afford to “blow-up” the franchise and either cut or ship-out any unhappy campers without fear of a significant fan backlash for the next year or so. The team will gladly take future draft picks (which come with lower salaries) than overpaying for expensive and oft-times mediocre veteran players.
In the case of the team’s biggest star, James Harden has pretty much sealed his fate in Houston with this juvenile preseason stunt. If the Brooklyn Nets don’t offer the Rockets a trade deal as good as that coming from any other NBA team, you should expect James Harden to be traded soon.
Instead of Brooklyn, James Harden might find himself living in a colder climate and playing for a much worse team than he had in Houston. At least he will have his beard and $38 million per season to help keep him warm!