[Media Conspiracy] Who ordered the hit on James harden?

This. The people who really matter (coaches, players and real experts) all know he’s the best offensive player in the game.

 

Van Gundy was saying that Harden is the clear MVP so far this season on live national TV!

Van Gundy needs to get with the program and follow this CFs posters narrative!

 

Alright, I took the bullet:

Of course The Ringer somehow turns the Thunder losing into a pro-Westbrook/Thunder story.

Here's the top item of the column, btw:

OH GOD NO NOT LEBRON WHY GOD WHY DON'T MAKE THE LAKERS SUFFER NOT THE LAKERS THEYRE SUPPOSED TO WIN EVERYTHING

 

the circumstances were different though. Curry was with Nike but Nike did not see his value when his contract was up in 2013 (when he still was a good but often injured potential all-star and not MVP-level). Nike could have matched UA's offer which was under 4M but chose to pass on him. It was easily the biggest mistake Nike has made in the last 10 years of course. (link)

Harden though was already a star when his contract was help and Adidas came in with a huge godfather offer of 200M (maybe more?) and Harden left Nike. Huge difference.

Nike let Curry go - Harden left Nike.

Also I do not believe for a minute Nike didn't have any influence whatsoever in having their 2nd biggest star (KD) going to the same market as Curry to help diminish Curry's hold over Silicon Valley.

 

From that Ringer Article Completely unnecessary and disrespectful after a HUGE XMas Day win...while they fawned over Kyrie's 33 shots.

Winner and Loser: James Harden
No matter what state the Rockets are in—currently, they’re seventh in the Western Conference—coach Mike D’Antoni still has James Harden. Chris Paul was out for the 113-109 win against the Thunder with a hamstring injury, leaving Harden with only Eric Gordon—who continued his season-long funk, scoring 17 points on 18 shots—new addition Austin Rivers, and Gerald Green in the backcourt.

Harden was Houston’s offense Tuesday, lighting up Oklahoma City’s second-ranked defense for 41 points, seven assists, and five 3s. It was ironic watching Harden carry the struggling Rockets solo against Russell Westbrook, the iconic “do everything myself” point guard of this generation. Westbrook is slowly shedding that reputation as he defers more to Paul George. But with injury issues mounting in Houston, it could become Harden’s reputation this season. —O’Shaughnessy
​

....so, let me get this straight. He's saying Harden is part Loser because he has to be the whole offense "ironically" like Westbrook, but "ironically" these guys never called Westbrook a Loser in his MVP year, whenever he won a big game like Harden just did.

That article is clearly crafting a narrative to use more that Harden is like Westbrook, and the media will act like Westbrook has figured it all out like Harden should, and disregard that WB learned from Harden....unbelievable.

 

lulz ... I had same take, above. You're much more concise and precise.

 

the BBS double post craze continues...

 

People who watch ESPN or other similar outlets are much more likely to know about the step back travel than this.

 

I looked at the authors of the article rn - I used to listen to a fair amount of podcasts last season - ringer included and Haley and Paolo dislike Harden as much as the next person. Needless to say anything written by them will have a negative bias toward Harden no matter what Harden may do

 

THIS. Also look at how they are on PG13's tip. He has playstation shoes releasing every week. Guess who he's signed with?. Nike. He has been in the MVP conversation as well. AD is also with nike along with Irving, and I think Ben Simmons. I also think Embiid is with Adidas someone correct me if wrong.

 

Embiid was with Adidas but he recently signed with UA

Giannis, AD, Simmons, LeBron, PG, KD, Russ, Irving, Devin Booker are all Nike. I don't know who else is 'Nike' but under the Jordan brand outside of Paul and Melo.

NOW - what I am planning to follow is what happens with Kawhi if he doesn't leave Toronto (or maybe if he does) he left Jordan brand to be the face of New Balance last month. Will he get similar treatment in the upcoming seasons if he stays out of LA? Or maybe if even if he is in LA will there be a narrative of "bright lights cant handle pressure" created ala Dwight Howard

 

LOFs. If it wasnt for that stupid video, this would have never been a thing.

 

Who cares! Harden, D’Antoni, and Morey basically broke the NBA. That is, they have done smarter things ala no-tanking, efficiency in Harden’s bag of scoring tricks, 7-second offense, layups and 3’s. You name it. People be mad!

 

Interesting, great point

 

Just wait until New Balance takes over.

 

People don't like Harden because his game isn't pretty. It looks like he is taking advantage of the rules - he cheats, he initiates contact, he travels on his step back, he flops, etc.

Why is all of a sudden happening to Harden more intensely?

The answer is simple - let's put it this way, would he be getting this attention if he was averaging 25 ppg?

 

When you're one of, if not the best player in the NBA you get fans and haters alike. The fact that the bandwagon is growing on both sides tells me the whole NBA has turned their attention to Harden and rightfully so. He's playing like the best player in the NBA right now by far.

 

I think Harden could go a long way in shutting up this narrative if he had a MVP-like postseason. His career playoff numbers aren't shockingly bad, but they aren't MVP-harden like. And ppl can't forget that game 6 vs SAS either. ****, he could've had a monster game 7 last year in WCF and that alone might've changed this narrative (12/29, 2/13 3pt) tbh.

I know that Harden is very self-aware regarding the playoff performances as well. No particular reason, but I have confidence we will see MVP-Harden this postseason.

 

Another possibility is Lebron's people. I have never had any doubt in my mind that several of the popular tv personalities receive hoards of gifts from Lebron's team (Shannon Sharpe being the shamefully obvious one), and we saw how Wade/Lebron reacted to Melo being permabenched.

 

It had to have been LeBron's people. I noticed KD has been getting a lot of hate from media as well. It didn't start until he said LeBron's environment is toxic. Now talking heads out here wondering if KD is overrated. The man doesn't have to play with LeBron. I'm sick of the media trying to force people to LA and when they don't go. They get diminished in some way. Just watch, when AD becomes impossible to acquire they are gonna pivot to "Ad is injury prone anyway" "could he have really helped LeBron", "is AD overrated".