“Some of these players do not like James Harden” -Brian Windhorst

I don’t know why this article is suggesting Harden is the favorite. Based on what? My sense is that Giannis has been in the lead for some time. Really strange.

Also, that there are some players who aren’t a fan of how Harden plays is not a surprise at all. It is not at all what a purist would want to watch. Everyone knows that.

It’s misleading for Windhorst to take that, if that’s all it is, and present it as if Harden is personally disliked by his peers.

 

Translation: ultimately I’m not voting for Harden and will take little shots at his the next two months to make sure he doesn’t win by twisting the narrative.

 

LOL, no kidding!

 

Well, he voted for Kawhi in the Westbrook MVP season. I expect Lowe to side with Giannis this season.

 

There is no love lose between Lowe and the Rockets. He has taken some shots at them that they didn’t appreciate and as far as I know, still aren’t happy about.

 

In the basketball community Lowe is a MAJOR influencer. So when he take stances on things there are ripple effects.

 

We shouldn’t expect any different from Lowe. Great columnist but he’s a born and bred east coast guy, Connecticut raised lives in New York. Former criminal and court reporter turned “NBA “expert”. I’m sure he breaks out in a rash and hives when he hears the words “Houston” or “Texas”.

 

Damn, can you say what those shots were?

 

What shots are you referring to?

Lowe is honest about what he likes and doesn't like, and has been generally complimentary about what the Rockets accomplished last year and what Morey has done during his tenure. He clearly has a lot of respect for our front office.

 

Lowe speaks highly of Harden, there is no way he will take shots at him.

he is as fair of a reporter as there is.

 

Yep, I have no idea where that is coming from.

 

This. He’s made it clear he isn’t a fan of FT watching and said the Dwight years were almost unwatchable because of the FTs, but he loves Morey and speaks highly of Harden often.

 

Windy trying to convince others Harden is a runaway to get contrarians to sway towards Giannis imo. Windy is Lebron's childhood stalker so he can't have Harden stealing Lebron's thunder. A younger Giannis in the East is less of a threat.

 

Interesting. I have been listening and reading Lowe for years, can't remember any "shots" he's taken at the Rockets outside of the usual stuff that gets said about them.

 

If you say so.

He has taken a number of shots at the Rockets and Daryl Morey in the past which hav not been forgotten.

 

Lowe pretends to be very impartial, but it's obvious he's gaga over the warriors. He has some insightful opinions, but like Bill Simmons, I take everything he says with a grain of salt. We all know BS is a Boston homer, but at least he has the balls to admit it and not hide behind fake impartiality.

 

Care to give the examples? This entire offseason he’s said OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN I wouldn’t be so quick to write the rockets and Daryl off.

He also speaks highly of harden very often. I listen to almost every Lowe post podcast... so I would like to know when I missed it

 

http://www.espn.com/espnradio/play?id=26037750

BW = Brian Windhorst
TM = Tim MacMahon
JM = Jackie MacMullan


BW: Going into All-Star weekend, the media & ESPN, there was a lot of excitement around James Harden. He's on this incredible streak. The media really wanted to talk about James Harden. One thing I found out, not all the players wanted to talk about it and not all of the players are thrilled with the way things are going with him. I think they all respect him & his mastery of the game is worthy of praise. I don't want to give away too much because some of this is captured for a feature on ESPN later but I will ask Andrew to back me up: guys on camera were...how would you describe it Andrew?

AH: Feisty. Pretty willing to speak their mind.

BW: No one is saying this guy stinks. They all recognize he's awesome but there is a real irritation with at least a segment of the players who are irritated that they think he gets away with traveling, big foul baiting, don't like he plays isolation. Harden is sensitive about this. He was sensitive with Rachel Nichols. I went to his interview session & he was there too.

TM: Rockets organization is sensitive as a whole about it. The Rockets are sensitive about me thinking they're sensitive about it. A long discussion with someone over there yesterday, "He's being asked these questions, how do you want him to respond?" OK! I'm not saying he's wrong to feel defensive about it. He's putting up 40 points per game & carrying an injured Rockets team to wins and being subjected to criticism. I don't blame him for being a little feisty but the most revealing thing that came out of Harden's mouth during All-Star weekend wasn't to the media but to Steph Curry. Steph is wearing a mic for NBATV. Whether he forgot & said this or because he knew he was wearing a mic, he's talking to Budenholzer. He brings up out of the blue talking to James and what James said.

BW: I'm confused as to who said what.

JM: Harden told Steph thanks for the compliment, I don't want to play this way but I don't have a choice right now.

TM: Yeah, Steph is paraphrasing what Harden told him.

JM: I think the reason he is sensitive, it's one thing for us(media) to criticize him. It's another thing when your peers do it. Scottie on The Jump.

TM: Kobe stung him.

JM: What Kobe said, I don't feel like that's a critical statement. James knows that. I don't feel like Kobe was criticizing. What Pippen said is different. I'm at times critical of the way he plays but not now. You can't be. Chris Paul isn't himself, Clint is still out. They were 21-10. From 14th to 5th in the West. I can't argue. It is by necessity. We did say a few weeks ago when Chris & Clint come back, let's see how Harden plays then. If this continues, then there's a right to criticize but up to this point, not sure what other choice he has.

TM: That's the point he made with Rachel & during All-Star availability. They started practicing again yesterday. James was given the day off. We talked to Chris Paul & was asking stylistically, how do you see this? He was pretty evasive & noncommittal about it. With Clint, I think there will be less iso and more PnR. The Rockets need Harden to carry a historically heavy load. One, he's great. James Harden going iso is the most efficient offense in the NBA when you look at the numbers. Two, CP3 is not capable of being the guy he was a year ago even. He has not had the same juice all year long. Last year, if he got switched onto a big, it was an automatic bucket. That's not the case. Harden's had to not just because of injuries to CP3 but CP3 is no longer playing at a superstar level. That's a long term problem.

JM: If I'm Mike D'Antoni, I'm going to Eric Gordon or more PnR for Capela. We all know when it comes to the postseason, if you keep playing this way, we'll double & triple this dude and make everyone else beat us.

TM: D'Antoni talks about wanting to get him down to 35 but that's easier said than done. CP3 had a couple 35 minutes game before the break and that can't happen. 32 is an absolute max.

BW: This reminds me of the 2015 Finals. Love was out, Kyrie got hurt game one. LeBron played preposterous hero ball for the last 5 games. He was putting up numbers Harden is. He was going like 12-37. They got it to six games. After the games, LeBron was like this is not how I want to play but have to play it. He almost won MVP on a losing team because of it. No one was going this is ridiculous basketball, he's being a ball hog. He's doing what he had to do and was the Cavs only hope. They won the first 2 games of him playing that way. One reason there is a push back to Harden doing the exact same thing is because of the perception he has an edge because of the officials. He gets away with travels or touch fouls. You can see frustration in the players. We have guys running around with hands behind their back. You saw Curry where he traveled and put up the 13. Guys are actively...that annoys players. When Andrew & I were interviewing the Rising Stars about Harden, "He's a great player but gets away with traveling." "He's a great player but it helps when the refs help him out." I don't know if that's fair or not but that's part of the burden he has. That said, if the vote was taken today, I think he'd run away with MVP. The media is fascinated by his scoring.

TM: You can make a case for Giannis & Paul George. He's scoring at a rate we haven't seen since Wilt while carrying a team that had it's two next best players miss long stretches. The Rockets take on whining about fouls drawn & the walks, if it's easy, have your star do it. This is the step back legal by NBA rules. If it's easy, have your star do it 12 times a game. If it's easy to get those calls, go get them. He's not hanging out with officials. Rockets think he doesn't get as many calls as he should.

JM: The other blow back is we've made the Warriors the darlings of NBA media. Everyone on that team has a microphone in their face. They've become the standard by which everyone is held up against and they play a vastly different style than the Rockets. The extra pass, the assists, ...the Rockets have been dead last in assists the last 3 years, is that right? Pretty sure they were last year anyways. We're also talking about a different style.

TM: Let's not act like Harden isn't one of the best passers in the league.

JM: Not saying that. Most incredible thing he's done is the long stretches of baskets he's got unassisted.

BW: This is what I would say is interesting players vs. media. I wouldn't say the media celebrated that but the media tracked it, fans were fascinated & sold some way as he's doing everything for his team. Players were like you gotta be kidding me bro. Play team basketball.

TM: The point of the game is to win.

BW: Which is Harden's point.

JM: That's Kobe's point though. It's not sustainable in the postseason and he's right, it's not.

TM: Guess what? If Capela & CP3 are out, nothing is sustainable in the postseason. They'll get their ass kicked in the first round & go home.

BW: This MVP race is an ideological race. You have people on one side fascinated by Harden's ability to score & carry his team. He has the narrative on his side of this Chamberlain streak. Just like two years ago he was on the wrong side of this narrative when Westbrook got the MVP over him when Westbrook was chasing Oscar Robertson. His team wasn't as good but he was carrying the team & got the triple double average and the Durant revenge tour. Where as Harden's mastery was incredible & by all rights, could've/should've won the MVP but didn't have the story & his team was better. This year, we have Giannis. He plays an old school style of basketball. Very much team oriented. They have the best record. Harden has the better story. I think Harden will win it but it's an ideological clash.

JM: We haven't even talked about Kawhi Leonard. He's having a MVP year.

TM: Misses too many games.

JM: In terms of pure basketball, he's the best 2-way player.

TM: Paul George & Giannis.

BW: Paul George is having one of the best 2-way seasons I've ever seen.

JM: That's Kawhi every year. Missed games will cost him. I think you can make that argument every year for Kawhi.

TM: I would say Paul George is playing better than Kawhi. He's a DPOY candidate.

BW: Harden is 3rd in steals.

TM: I'll say this about Harden. I won't compare Harden's defense to Paul George or Giannis. They are far superior but the days of saying he's a huge liability, no he's not. The Rockets are crappy defensively but not because of Harden. He's up there in deflections, steals, elite post defender. Do you want to get Harden isolated one-on-one? Absolutely, just not in the post. You can't say he's one of the worst defenders in the league anymore. It's just not accurate.

JM: You have to be careful about deflections & steals as a measure of a great defensive player. You're talking about a player gambling more than he should in times when they shouldn't.

TM: Milwaukee is #1 (defensively) & Giannis has a lot to do with that.

 

I don’t remember any real shots he’s taken since the year harden didn’t make any all nba teams