https://youtu.be/YPrwJlGedRY
With his recently-completed tradement, the James Harden era of Houston Rockets basketball is over. I’m not about to write out a whole long eulogy for it (or did you think I’d be too stupid to know what a eugoogly was?*), I’ll leave that to someone who consumed Rockets games on a more regular basis than I, but I can for sure at least write an epitaph:
“They might not have won a championship, but they sure did hit a lot of threes.”
Farewell, Harden. Enjoy Brooklyn, and all that that entails. I’ll still be over here hanging out with the true diehard Rockets fans who are getting ready for the next era of Houston Rockets basketball: the Mason Jones era!
I was kind of hoping that it would be the start of the Christian Wood era, since I’m a big fan of that dude and remain perpetually butthurt that the Bucks gave up on him, but no. Recency bias is a very big problem for me, and I just got done seeing Jones score 24 with my own eyes, so he gets the era. The fact that Wood also scored 24 is of no relevance to me, since I didn’t make a vid for it (now’s a good time to announce that Wood is, sadly, way too good for my channel at this point).
I was also kind of hoping that it would be start of the Bruno Caboclo era, but it turns out that he got waived so that the huge trade could go through. DAMMIT. Two years away from two years away, my ASS. He’s ready NOW.
Anyway, I was really impressed by this showing from Jones, so impressed that I felt compelled to give him a whole era of his own. Anyone else getting Eric Gordon vibes? I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing, probably good since Gordon was actually a good player once upon a time, but those are definitely the vibes I was getting. Something about the shooting form, I think. With Harden out of the way, it goes without saying that there will be a few extra touches available, and Jones is now poised to take full advantage.
*See, I can put ill-fitting pop-culture references in my work, even if they are a little dated. Bill Simmons, if you want to hire me for whatever sports-writing venture you’re working on right now, just hit me up, preferably in the form of a large Patreon donation