THREAD:

So I’ve been thinking about this. This stretch kind of vindicates those of us who were saying early on that this could’ve been a 3 or 4 seed, an opinion met with much mockery and derision. https://twitter.com/fabsrubio/status/1355711260462100484

That opinion seemed to be completely rebutted by those two dismantlings at the hands of the Lakers. But it became clear pretty shortly after that James was tanking those games as a self fulfilling prophecy. So I don’t know that there’s any value in using them as a litmus test.

One argument might be that the team composition has changed, and it’s that composition which has led to this resurgence ie: Oladipo is better for this system than Harden. I disagree there.

While Oladipo is a better defender than Harden, he isn’t All-World anymore and we’ve seen the past few years that Harden can be a plus defender when engaged. He’s been a part of some very good defenses. (2018 and the bubble pre-Lakers series.)

You might argue that the offensive system can’t work with Harden’s off-ball laziness and ball stopping but I have an issue fundamentally with any argument that posits that your offense would be worse with James Harden on it.

So ultimately I do think he didn’t give these guys a fair shot and they could have done some damage. But you know what? I’m completely over it and feel no anger. In fact I feel happy seeing clips of him with Durant and Irving. He deserves to play with other elite players.

And while maybe this Rockets team could’ve been pretty good with an engaged James Harden, the ceiling wouldn’t have been anywhere near as high as the Nets’. And he doesn’t have time to waste in saving his legacy.

It’s really the rare case where it worked out for everyone. James gets his shot at a title. The Rockets have a future. And the fans have a product they can actively root for and be excited about in the present.