00:00Ramona Shelburne wrote a piece on Friday about James Harden and his departure from L.A.
00:06And this one's a little different than the other ones from here and Philly and Brooklyn.
00:12I don't think I'm missing anybody where he essentially demand demanded his way out of those places.
00:19Like he, you know, I mean, hell here he put on a fat suit for like three weeks to, you know, he gorged himself to get out of here.
00:27Yeah, he kind of, he did a wildcat strike too.
00:30He was out there and he quiet quit.
00:33That's what the kids call it these days.
00:35He was out on the court.
00:36He was present, but he wasn't actually doing anything.
00:39Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:40He, a guy who averaged 34 a game or whatever for the past three or four years was all of a sudden averaging only 17 a game.
00:46It was amazing.
00:47How does that happen?
00:48This part was the interesting thing, I think, here locally.
00:52Talking about the trade.
00:53Harden's representatives began gauging which teams might be interested in him, trying to get ahead of potential trade discussions.
01:00Harden was interested in reuniting with the Houston Rockets, sources say, a natural fit because their point guard, Fred Van Vliet, had torn his ACL before the season.
01:10But the Rockets showed little interest in their former MVP.
01:14Cleveland did, however, and they go on to talk about how the Cleveland trade came to be.
01:18Obviously, the Rockets part is the part that we're interested in here.
01:20James Harden ended up getting traded for Darius Garland, who's been an all-star, so it wasn't going to be a nothing trade.
01:28It wasn't going to be like a Carlos Correa trade where you're just giving him a token prospect to take a salary off of somebody's hand.
01:35James Harden is still a really good basketball player at the age of 36.
01:39During the Clippers have been a much better team over the last month or two than they were to start the season.
01:45James Harden has been a huge part of that, and yet they still moved on from him.
01:48So, understanding, Seth, the Rockets probably would have had to give up something of substance, you know, maybe like Tar Eason and one of the picks or something like that?
01:56Well, yeah, what about with the matching the salaries and everything?
01:59Yeah.
01:59It would have been, yeah, it would have been a lot.
02:01You might have thrown, they might have been throwing Fred Van Vliet in there for that purpose.
02:05That's what I was wondering.
02:06Yeah, for salary purpose, Fred Van Vliet would have made, I mean, obviously it would have made sense.
02:10Not that, I mean, it's obvious, they're two different types of players and two different, you know, a true point guard versus James Harden, which I'm not throwing shade at him or anything.
02:20No, no, no.
02:20But they're just, they're different.
02:23Well, Harden's a much better player, but they're different players.
02:26Well, there's talk with Harden that he's agitating for a contract extension and things like that.
02:30But I would have been, I can't believe I'm saying this, depending on what the package is, obviously, you know, if you're giving up some significant pieces and it changes the calculus, the thing with Harden and coming back here has always felt like it's been less about what you'd have to give up and what he would mean in the building culturally over there.
02:48Yeah.
02:49At least with fans, I think that's true.
02:50I think this is the part where, you know, Udoka's done a great job of focusing on rebounding and he's a defensive-minded coach, et cetera, et cetera.
02:58Like, at some point, especially in the NBA, can you break the mold a little bit with a player like James Harden who doesn't fit the mold, but by virtue of everybody else operating a certain way and him being that wild card that does the James Harden thing, that can be beautiful at times.
03:18That was like Ginobili with the Spurs.
03:20Everybody fit the mold in San Antonio, except for Ginobili, who knows what the hell he's doing at any given time.
03:26That's a perfect amount of chaos added to the structure.
03:30And I can look, as frustrating as it is at times to watch James Harden dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, wait, wait, wait, wait, pass, with Kevin Durant on the floor, that's enough.
03:40That's more structure to your offense than you have right now.
03:43Hell yeah, it is.
03:43Just by virtue of, even if it's frustrating to watch, even if you get annoyed with it or whatever, Harden's a really good passer.
03:51Yeah.
03:51And when he's got Shane Goon and he's got KD and he's got options, that form of basketball can be pretty damn effective.
03:59Yeah, dude.
04:00It's a dimension with his scoring output itself.
04:02Absolutely.
04:03No, he can shoot.
04:04He's led the league in assists.
04:06Not in the conventional way that a normal point guard point guard would, because he does so many other things.
04:12But yeah, I think you put it best, Seth.
04:14Like, whatever it would be with James Harden orchestrating the offense, you would actually look like something's being orchestrated.
04:19As opposed to right now, where it is just so careless and haphazard, it's tough to watch, man.
04:26And of late, and I know they've been winning more games of late than they were.
04:30They had a bad stretch there, and they beat OKC on Saturday.
04:33No shaky old just Alexander.
04:35But it's just so hard to watch, and they're so lazy and careless at times with the basketball, too.
04:39Now, Harden is lazy and careless at times with the basketball, as well.
04:42But he's going to get 12 assists to go with that.
04:45I guess the biggest problem, though, again, is that, all right, the challenge for this team was,
04:50how do you take that next step in the playoffs?
04:52They're going to be a good regular season team.
04:53How do you take that next step in the playoffs?
04:55And with Harden, ultimately, continually, consistently, he fails in the playoffs.
05:01It would have been an awesome shot in the arm for the second half of the season.
05:07But we would still have those same questions of, all right, what shows up in the postseason?
05:12Yep.
05:12So, Textin, would you have done a James Harden deal?
05:16Should the Rockets have been more desperate at the trade deadline,
05:19and should that desperation have been James Harden?
05:22Should the – this is a good segue, actually.
05:24Should the Texans have been more desperate at the trade deadline to do some things with their team
05:28that might have put them in this game on Sunday instead of the Patriots?
05:31Yeah, you're thinking back to, okay, CJ's child, obviously, yes, in the playoffs.
05:37But I do – I give him a break partially.
05:40I partially give him a break in that if you watch the Seahawks, hey, Sam Darnold wasn't doing anything spectacular,
05:48but they did have a rushing attack versus the Patriots.
05:52In the Texans game, they did not have a rushing attack whatsoever versus the Patriots.
05:56And it puts that much pressure on a young quarterback who's pressing and who isn't operating that well,
06:02and he ends up making decisions that are still his decisions to own, and they're his fault.
06:07But the degree of difficulty was that much higher because, okay, you didn't have a Brees Hall, perhaps.
06:13You weren't aggressive in the offseason with the offensive line.
06:16If they had been as aggressive as teams like Chicago, for instance, would it have been different?
06:22Yeah, I think – I don't know if CJ – I don't think he would have seen – it's not enough to say that, oh, yeah,
06:26CJ would have been looking like the MVP of the league.
06:30But there's – it's a lot easier environment to operate in when you can at least lean on the rushing attack.
06:35Yeah, they're going to have to make – I mean, obviously, they're going to need to do some shopping and free agency,
06:39and they've got plenty of draft capital to go address some of these needs.
06:42And I think, yeah, running back is a huge need.
06:44The interior of the offensive line is a huge need.
06:47The secondary – if we're going to the defensive side of the ball,
06:50I think when Kamari Lasseter went out, even for just a few snaps in the Charger game,
06:57you've got to feel for what it looks like when you lose either Stingley or Lasseter.
07:00The safety position was a – like was just – next to Kalen Bullock was just this rotating, you know,
07:07poster of faces out there.
07:09So I think if you're starting to put your shopping list together, that's the shopping list.
07:12What will be interesting to see, Seth, is free agency comes before the draft.
07:17So if they're going to shop big at one position, what's that going to be?
07:23You know, what do they feel more comfortable filling with a possibly expensive veteran
07:28as opposed to using draft capital?
07:30I think, like, the most consistent thing you could do, the safest thing you could do,
07:35but also make a huge impact is for interior offensive line.
07:38Yeah.
07:38And, I mean, go back to that Patriots game.
07:42You know, Titus Howard ends up having to play off at right tackle because Trent Brown is injured.
07:47And, yeah, you end up having Jarrett Patterson at left guard.
07:51I know they like the progress that Jake Andrews has made at center,
07:55but there's better players out there immediately.
07:58And Jake Andrews can continue to develop as the center, but with – as a backup.
08:03That there's – I would really like to see them be aggressive there.
08:07And running back is always dicey because, okay, we talked about this earlier.
08:12How much are you going to pay for a running back on his second contract?
08:15And when you're already also paying Joe Mixon right now,
08:18I would be 100% gung-ho over Kenneth Walker III.
08:24And am I buying hot or whatever?
08:27Yeah.
08:28But he also runs – he runs the way the defense plays.
08:32He's got a very swarmy element to him where he breaks a bunch of tackles.
08:38He fights for extra yardage.
08:40He has – he's a bigger, brawnier version of Woody Marks
08:45because Woody Marks has a lot of swarm to him too.
08:48But he's not as thick as Kenneth Walker III is.
08:51So I would – like right up the center line of the offense,
08:56interior offensive line and running back, that's what I want to focus on right now.
08:59You know, we talked earlier about the, you know, signing, you know,
09:03the signing of Kenneth Walker or somebody like that.
09:08And, you know, it had become a trend two years ago in free agent.
09:11The 2024 free agency class, which I count Joe Mixon as being part of,
09:16because, I mean, he essentially was like a free –
09:19they were going to cut him, the Bengals,
09:20and the Texans duked him a seventh-round pick to then get him and extend him.
09:25Saquon Barkley, these are the signings that were made.
09:28Saquon Barkley was the offensive player of the year,
09:31and I know he didn't have as good a season this year as he did last year.
09:33Nobody did on the Eagles.
09:35Josh Jacobs has been really good for the Packers on a second contract.
09:39Derrick Henry has been outstanding for the Ravens on, I think,
09:42a third contract for Derrick Henry.
09:44Yeah.
09:45DeAndre Swift was good for the Bears this year.
09:47You know, it's worked out for a lot of teams.
09:49Well, that game last night was very much the reason that you can talk all you want
09:56about how the running game doesn't matter as much anymore.
10:00The Seahawks don't win that game without Kenneth Walker.
10:02Well, maybe they do, but it's not an emphatic victory without Kenneth Walker.
10:07That's right.
10:07But when it comes down to being able to win in multiple different ways in the playoffs,
10:13then running back at any one of those specific instances,
10:17that's the thing that gets you to a championship game or helps win you the championship.
10:22You can talk about how they don't matter as much as they used to, etc., etc., etc.
10:26The Texans are very much in that category of team now where you draft a running back
10:31in the first round, you pay for one in free agency.
10:34People say, yeah, I get it.
10:36It makes sense.
10:36That's a missing piece that can take them over the top.
10:40You draft a running back when you're a horrible team,
10:43then you invite all of those same questions and problems.
10:46They're like, okay, great.
10:47You've got a good rushing attack.
10:48Yeah, it really doesn't do all that much for you over the course of a regular season.
10:54But in those key and specific games like this versus really good opponents
10:57and really good defenses, sometimes it can be the only thing that matters.
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