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The Houston Rockets pushed the Warriors to seven games in the 2018 West Conference finals, giving Golden State its biggest playoff challenge since 2016 in the process. And they did it without star goalie Chris Paul for the last two games in the series – two losses.
So you can understand why James Harden thinks his team does not need to chase LeBron James into a free agency this summer.
"We were in the semifinals of the finals," Harden told the media after accepting MVP honors of the regular season for the first time in his career. "I do not think there is a room to bring or take away, we are great with what we have, our main goal is to improve, improve and do what we do."
Harden also pointed out the acclimatization of veterans like Paul, P.J. Tucker and Luc Mbah at Moute – all in their first year with the Rockets – as a reason to believe that Houston could be even better in 2018-2019.
The Rockets were one of the many teams related to James this offseason. The NBA's outstanding player four times is still technically under contract with his home town of Cavaliers, but may withdraw from the final year of his contract with Cleveland to become the most wanted free agent of 2018. Houston should be creative to release James in Texas – his maximum contract would start at $ 35.1 million for 2018-2019 – but there are a handful of roads that general manager Daryl Morey could take to get there.
Finding the space to add James means exploding the rockets as they currently exist. Harden does not see the logic in that, and he makes a strong argument. This Houston team led Golden State 3-2 in the final stop before the NBA Finals when Paul was lost for the rest of the year with a thigh injury. This took the team's No. 2 offensive option and a grotesque defender out of the mix, and while Eric Gordon helped his scoring burden, Trevor's 0-12 shooting performance Ariza in the seventh game showed how the Rockets needed their veteran leaders to score the touchdown in the biggest game of the season.
A healthy Paul could be the difference between Houston organizing a championship parade in June and watching the finals of the house. Rather than dismantling a perfectly good suitor, Harden would rather dismiss it and see what the Rockets have instead.
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