James Harden was closely linked to his previous crew Houston for months earlier than he picked up his participant possibility with Philly, and it appears all of the rumors weren’t cap.
The Rockets opted to signal Raptors level guard Fred Van Vleet in free company over the summer season.
But new head coach Ime Udoka admitted there was a choice being made between FVV and Harden.
“Nothing against James,” Udoka told ESPN, “but Fred is just a better fit. I coached James in Brooklyn. He’s one of the smartest players I’ve ever been around. The words ‘Ime doesn’t want James’ never came out of my mouth. It was, ‘Let’s look at the best fit.’ If we want Jalen and the young guys to take the next steps, we need them to have the ball. As for me saying I don’t want James, that was never the case. It was about fit.”
As nicely as Udoka confirming there was some fact to the Houston rumors, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith citied sources in regards to the state of affairs that unfolded over the summer season.
He defined that the Rockets did actually supply Harden a four-year max contract, however Harden’s message to the franchise put them off welcoming him again.
“I got tipped off last week by a very reliable source about something that happened in Houston a few months ago,” Smith mentioned on ESPN’s First Take.“The Houston Rockets have been speaking to James Harden, excited about bringing him again after Ime Udoka was introduced in. James Harden, that is what I’m advised and I haven’t confirmed it with him [Harden], he truly talked himself out of a max-deal as a result of he went in there speaking about how he wished to return to being the scoring champion.
“Ime Udoka and the Rockets thought ‘No, we ain’t trying to have that here. We’re building something a little bit different.’ Had he come in there and said the right things, they would have given him a max-four-year deal. He talked himself out of his own max-deal.”
Since then, Harden has change into more and more disgruntled with the Sixers entrance workplace workers since they haven’t traded him like they promised.
As a small protest, the 10-time All-Star didn’t present as much as media day or the primary day of coaching camp, however has since joined the crew for apply.
Likely as a result of he doesn’t need to lose hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in fines.
READ MORE: Sixers React to James Harden Showing Up to Training Camp
Source link
