A look in the mirror and James Harden discovers a leader

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/spo...hp?t=c86a520539438d9cbb&cmpid=twitter-premium

By Jonathan Feigen, Houston Chronicle

February 17, 2017 Updated: February 17, 2017 10:03amNEW ORLEANS - James Harden, the point guard for one of the NBA's most speed-loving teams, likes to go slow. He prefers to look around and assess the situation, often meandering his way up the floor as if he was about to skip a rock across a pond.

This has long been his way, his natural inclination when circumstances in life demanded or even just suggested examination and introspection.

"From the time James was in high school and at Arizona State, he has always been a big believer in the process and letting himself go and doing the process, patiently finding his way," said Rob Pelinka, Harden's long-time agent.


So with the tatters of the Rockets' disheartening crash of last season around him, Harden stepped back, assessed the damage and plotted his way out of the wreckage.

He did not quite blame himself, but he sought to change, to grow.

"I had to look in the mirror at myself this summer," Harden said. "I had to get better. I had to figure things out."

Harden did not play poorly last season. A season after he was the runner-up for the MVP he believed he deserved, he averaged career highs of 29 points, 7.5 assists and 6.1 rebounds, becoming the fourth player in NBA history - joining Mount Rushmore caliber stars Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan and LeBron James - as the only players to ever average 29 points, seven assists and six rebounds. Yet, it was an entirely dissatisfying season.

ROCKETS

• 
  
  
• 
• 
• 
  Three-pointers: Takeaways from Rockets' loss to Miami

The Rockets had sunk to 41-41 and a five-game, first-round playoff exit. Harden had increasingly felt responsible, if not for the fall last season, for lifting his team and franchise this season not only out of that mess, but towards the league's elite. He had exceled, but he had to grow.

"He knows the responsibility this organization has given to him," said Irving Roland, who has worked with Harden through the off season and is now a Rockets player development assistant. "Being the face of the franchise, you have seen his maturation process. You've seen him becoming a leader. You see a more positive aura. He's grown."

Long driven by ambition to be among the league's greats and to grab all that comes with it, Harden moves easily through the All Star weekend madness. He shrugs off having his instantly identifiable beard filling billboards.

 

"It's there. You take it for what it is," Harden said. "There is some good, some bad. The business aspect, off the floor, meeting with partners making sure everybody gets a little bit of me, and then spending time with fans, … I'm blessed. I couldn't ask for a better situation."

He meets easily with executives from the companies that signed up to have him represent them. He will start Sunday's game, voted in for the first time, but accustomed to the role and spotlight.

Yet, when he followed last season determined to re-assess the "process," as Pelinka called Harden's move to be among the NBA's elite, he came to view his success only as measured by team success, and sought out the most driven influence he could find.

Harden turned to his childhood idol, Kobe Bryant, conversations Harden described as routine for him. But this time, Harden was more ready than ever to be pushed.

Bryant said they talked about studying the game relentlessly to understand how each player is impacted by an opposing defense and Harden's control of the offense. But then, they got to the quality that mattered - and likely defined Bryant's career and Harden's rise - most.

"He's gotten to a point in his career he's had enough," Bryant said. "As players, we get to that point where this is the most important moment, this is the season. I want to win the championship now by any means necessary.

"When you're younger, you have the mentality of 'OK, I'm going to go out there and try to win it. If it doesn't happen, it can happen next season.' He's gotten to a place where, 'You know what, we're going to get this thing done and we're going to get it done now.' I think that determination comes with growth.

Harden, Bryant said, developed a raging desire to win, to not perform, but to compete and defeat. Harden will still celebrate in ways Bryant did not. Bryant didn't shimmy. Harden does not show ferocity as with the Bryant jutting-jaw expressions. If anything, when most determined, he is his most straight-faced. But Bryant saw the drive he needed to see.

"It's pure determination to understand this is the utmost importance," Bryant said. "For an athlete, it's a life or death type mentality to where nothing else matters. Second place doesn't matter. Third place doesn't matter. Conference championships doesn't matter. That's the aggression he's playing with. That's the determination I see."

Harden said their talks were influential, but "nothing new.

"I have a good relationship with Kobe," Harden said. "I always talk with him. I pick his brain. He's been through tough times in his career as well. He knows adversity. He knows how to bounce back. That was one aspect of what we talked about.

"We're different leaders and obviously, we have two totally different games. But the way he attacked the game and got it done, there's things I take from that."

Harden became determined to lead the Rockets as he could not when uncomfortably sharing the job with Dwight Howard.

"He's been great letting us coach him, being in the locker room, being a guy on the bench cheering for his teammates, taking them out to dinner," Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni said. "He's done very well.

"You have to hug, too. This game is a game of emotion. Sometimes, emotions take over. You have to let it because if you're not emotional in this game, you need another line of work. But he's been really, really positive."

Harden organized the summer player training camps and retreats in Las Vegas, Miami and Houston, sessions the off-season additions Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson especially still describe as crucial. He has shown Bryant's tough-love style with young players, especially Clint Capela and Sam Dekker, but also celebrates their success like a rookie at the end of the bench.

"He has been a lot more of a vocal leader than I expected," Anderson said. "He just cares. I've played on teams with guys who are big-time players and they just seem to just care about themselves. They're not much of a leader in any sense. They just worry about what they can do. James has had such a great year statistically; I know that he does care about how he performs. He wants us to win. He wants us to come together. He's been very verbal about how we can get better.

"He's the first one to compliment you. He's done such a great job honing in on Clint, making sure he knows the right things to do. He gets on Clint quite a bit because he knows the potential Clint has. He's the first one to jump on Clint and the first one to compliment Clint. Same thing with Sam. Sam has such great potential. James knows that. It does help when you know James is going to come back around and compliment you when you do something well."

Harden's work ethic had always been evident. When arrived in Houston in 2012, he believed in leading by example, the style of the Thunder stars at the time. But when he became determined to drive the Rockets this season, he found his style and his voice.

"That's a part of being a leader," Harden said. "You have to find ways to get to your teammates, make them feel loved, make them feel happy, make them feel you're all in it together."

A great deal came together around him. Mike D'Antoni, a coach Harden trusted from their time together with USA Basketball, became the Rockets coach and put the ball and Rockets' offense in Harden's hands. The Rockets, unable to sign a max contract free agent, locked up Harden with a four-year, $118 million contract, exhibiting faith in him to hold the fate of the franchise.

"A player is always grateful when an organization makes a statement like the Rockets made to James," Pelinka said. "I got the sense that his focus was less about the business of basketball and more about the game. He got down to a place of the sacredness of the game and dedicating himself to it. His mind was not on the business of basketball when he got to the inner sanctuary of basketball and let me come out and be the best version of myself next season.' We're seeing it. It worked."

Stunned initially by the move to point guard, Harden returned to Los Angeles and told his childhood friend Troy Payne "I'm going to average 12 to 15 assists. He was really locked in. The franchise rewarded him and made him the franchise player. We just got in the gym."

Harden has had his best season. His 15 triple doubles this season is one more than Hakeem Olajuwon's franchise record going into the season for a career. He is the only player ever with multiple 50-point triple doubles in the same season. His five 40-point triple doubles tie Robertson's single-season record.

Harden's 11.3 assists per game lead the NBA and his 29.2 points per game is third. Robertson is the only player to ever average 28 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds for a season. Harden has scored or assisted on an average of 56.6 points per game, .2 off Nate Archibald's NBA record.

"He has a strong, desperate desire to be successful," Rockets player development coach John Lucas said. "He's always had an old-school game, but I hadn't been around him like I was Kobe and LeBron (James). He's right there. I didn't know his mindset was so strong.

"I always bragged that I haven't seen anybody close to me as a Rocket point guard. I can't say that anymore. And he's not even close yet to what he's going to be."

None of that, however, least of all the numbers, is how Harden now measures himself. He knows his statistics, but success has become about something greater.

"I'm so caught up in trying to win games and focusing on bettering my teammates," Harden said. "I had to look in the mirror. It was about being a leader for my teammates, getting on the phone, getting everyone together. It was about getting my mind and body right. It was about giving the game everything I had."



Jonathan Feigen
Houston Rockets Beat Reporter, Houston Chronicle