[Rant Sports] James Harden Needs To Improve His Relationship With Media by*John Raffel

James won't talk to me today!!!!!! WAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

James Harden's only responsibility is to play the best basketball he can, and get the Houston Rockets in the play-offs. He owes nothing to any reporter.

 

so why is it so hard for harden to just put in 5 min and do the freakin thing?

look, people are missing the point here. the point is, interviews are not going away, and it's the only way for fans to connect with the players, and fan/player connection is important for the league and for the team. beyond wins and losses, connecting with fans give fans reason to be emotionally invested in the team and the players, and that's good for the game. and let's face it, the NBA is built on its stars, its personalities. and in these interviews, the more insight the players can provide, the better. we'd like to know what happened out there, what went wrong. and we as fans that support the team deserve at least that much. fans are in it with them and are emotionally invested in these guys' performances, like it or not. and like you said - it's not that hard to do them.

can you imagine the meltdown on this board if jeremy had skipped out of the interview after the game tying air-ball earlier in the season against miami? can you imagine the names that would've been thrown at him if that had happened? but people are giving harden a pass for not being able to face the music...

i personally don't care either way. tough loss... move on. we've got parsons and lin and mchale doing post games anyway. it just doesn't reflect well on him as the face of the franchise, like it or not.

 

I don't know but I'm guessing he was using an IPAD when he copied and pasted the article. Sometimes the IPAD puts an asterisk in place of certain charecters.

 

This is incorrect. The NBA requires it's players and coaches to be available to the media for purposes of publicity for 45 mins prior to and after games and has levied fines in the past to players that dodge the media.

For example...

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/12357856

Players are part of the NBA, which is still a profit-making corporation. Part of a player's job is to not only play on the court, but to also be an ambassador of the sport.

Being an ambassador means there are behavior and conduct rules, as well as rules regarding publicity, promotion, and yes, interviews with the Media.

Harden can keep trying to dodge the media, but at some point he'll be facing financial penalties if he doesn't learn that it's part of his job.

Frustrated or not, loss or not, if you're a face of the franchise and the Media wants to talk to you, then it's your obligation to do so.

 

If Lin did this then I would imagine that the same people who are chastising Harden right now are the same ones who would be saying "Oh it's just one time. "

And why wouldn't we give Harden a pass the guy is putting up 26/5/5 and we wouldn't be sniffing the playoff race without him. For all I care he can skip every post-game interview if he plays like that.

 

Harden doesn't really have a strained relationship with the media as far as I know. He makes himself available most of the time.

A number of players have not always appeared after every game, including Olajuwon, Bird, Jordan, Pippen, Francis and I am sure many others.

Harden is quiet when it comes to the public, but he is a very intense personality and takes loses poorly.

 

even more important it's relationships with the teammate. Just like the Harlem Globetrotters the job doesnt end on the court, you have other obligations.

Imagine someone at your workplace just skipping out while everyone else sticks around. If it happens enough, you're gonna grow to resent him/her. I know it happened in the Mets clubhouse, David WRight got annoyed Jose Reyes and others would just skip out after tough losses, leaving the media to bombard him.

 

Seemed like Harden and Parsons were rubbing each other the wrong way that game.

 

does anyone know if it's in his contract that he has to do a certain # of post game interviews?

 

only lin knows how to rub parsons the right way

 

The NBA media rules are that ALL players and coaches must be available for media interviews for 45 mins before and after EVERY game.

This is required and not optional.

 

Harden did not fulfill his NBA obligations, he was appropriately called out for it, it was a one-time thing, and we move on.

But to discuss his personality and who he is as a person based on this one-time thing is just dumb. Everyone's had a bad day at work. Get over it self-important journalist.

As for the media interviews, I don't blame the NBA. Most of the time it's canned responses, but it at least it still serves as publicity and promotion for the team and sport to giving media outlets something to write about. Ultimately it's an entertainment business.

 

Crap thread is crap thread. Thanks for nothing OP

 

I think this is only the 2nd time this season Harden ditched the media session after a game.

I just think it doesn't help with the comradery of the team if one of your star players ditches the media session and leaves their teammates to explain bad losses. If you want the limelight when things are good, then you should be man enough to face the media when things are bad.

 

The media is owed nothing. That's reality. Harden can be a jerk all day long and let the fans decide what they think of him.

 

This is a little extreme, no?

 

Me and my girl were at the game and even she said around the end of te 1st quarter that harden was pissed and not in a good mood. The guy is as competitive as they come sorta like Kobe Bryant he hates to lose and sometimes will force things. But that's what the great ones do mj had this problem early also. Sure james should har made himself available for a few min, but at the end of the day who cares. If rather have my leader and superstar be so mad after a lose that he's disgusted with himself and the way the team played and had to get out of there.

Hardens a stud and he will lead us to the promise land one day he's that good and players with his talent and drive always come out on top. I'm glad he was mad and left its better than having that player who jokes around after loses to the media.

 

He's there after every single game. Does this guy even pay attention to the Rockets or what? This game was the one exception ALL year that Harden didn't make himself available. smfh

 

Just because you're mad and upset doesn't mean you ditch your responsibilities. Lin and Parsons were upset, and they stayed to do required interviews.

Real Champions lose with class:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyLm3BpW1mg

 

is the writer one of the posters on this forum? Only somebody like that could post something so stupid and insignificant.