The Rockets expected James Harden would be “all in” when they opened practice yesterday. When he didn’t show up, they expected him to go through an an individual workout in their facility later in the day. When he didn’t show up for that…
Houston is throwing up its hands.
Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle:
Stephen Silas on James Harden's absence, schedule: "There is no timetable, as far as I know. It is a setback. You want your best player to be here."
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) December 7, 2020
Silas said he did not know if James Harden is in Houston. https://t.co/w5kPpPpOBu
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) December 7, 2020
I’m starting to think Harden might not want to be in Houston.
The Rockets are facing disaster. An unhappy star can cause major disruption. Houston already had cultural issues, and that was with Harden regularly playing great basketball. Patience for his approach, poor defensive effort and ball dominance only diminishes if he’s not putting in work with the team.
It’s still unclear whether Harden is just prolonging his personal offseason for extra partying because he knows he can get away with it (not great) or this is the start of an extended holdout because he wants to force a trade (even worse).
But it’s telling that the Rockets are no longer treating Harden’s arrival to training camp as imminent.