[SI] The Beard: James Harden Untangles His Life And Game

I can't believe his beard is granting interviews now -- talk about something that needs untangling.

 

media conspiracy

 

Wait, Howard refused to come out for the last second play High PnR for Harden, which sabotaged a chance to tie? Twice? Anyone remember that?

"Tensions between Harden and Howard, simmering for years, boiled over. Howard wanted early post feeds from Harden; Harden wanted high ball screens from Howard. In the final seconds of a two-point loss at New Orleans in December, Harden waited for a screen from Howard that never came, and his subsequent drive was swallowed up. Then, in Dallas in April, it happened again. "
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And have we decided this quote was Beasley?

A player who joined the Rockets midseason eyed Harden and Howard, taking opposite routes out of the locker room. “When you come here,” a veteran counseled, “you have to pick your side.” It was up to a 36-year-old interim coach, J.B. Bickerstaff, to manage the mess. Interventions backfired.​

 

best part of that article:

When he deconstructs his pet play, he frames his face with his hands, as if peering into an imaginary TV. “Clint sets the high screen, so I know the guy guarding me is gone,” Harden begins. “I’ve got a big in front of me, one-on-one, and I’ve got my head up trying to figure out who is going to come open. My first read is Clint for the lob. My second read, if one of their defenders sucks in, is the corner man for three. My third read, if no one leaves a shooter, is to go all the way for the layup. But if somebody rotates over, I’ll swing it, and try to get the three that way. It’s all decided in a split second, but it’s never predetermined. It seems fast, but when it’s happening, it’s so slow in my head.”
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James be like

 

Yes, and the vet referenced I'm pretty sure is Terry

 

hmmm...I read that as the midseason addition said that. Maybe it was Terry saying it about the situation of others coming in midseason.

 

I don't think you read the quote correctly. The mid-season addition was describing being counseled by a veteran to choose sides

 

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James forgot to add, "And while surveying all those options, I pray no one strips the ball from me or I dribble off my foot."

 

ok....makes sense. You think they were talking to Beasley though right, paraphrasing in the interview what he was told. Or just straight from a convo with Terry again, saying something about counseling Beasley.

nm...sorry to derail thread a little.

 

Yes. Its all good, Rox related.

 

Phenomenal article. Really great stuff in there. If you haven't read it, make sure to take some time and do so.

 

Harden cares a lot more about winning than some ppl here think. imo, he's done more than any other star in the league has done for their franchise this season. It sucks for him and other great players in this era when ****bois like GSW/Cavs team up to create superteams and screws over everyone else.

 

“It’s incredible how his mind works,” D’Antoni says. “He’s very aware of who’s happy, who’s unhappy, and why.” Harden will never unify a locker room with impassioned oratory. But at point guard, he can control his teammates’ emotions in a more pragmatic way, through their touches. One reason Harden leads the NBA in turnovers, D’Antoni believes, is that he forces passes to players he’s worried about.​

 

Last spring Morey interviewed several prospective head coaches who could overhaul Houston’s abysmal defense. So it goes in coaching searches. Organizations look to minimize their weakness rather than maximize their strength.

The Rockets knew they’d be panned for supposedly neglecting their D, but they were lining up behind their Beard. “Let’s not put a boat anchor on Secretariat,” Morey concluded, during a staff meeting at the end of the search. “Let’s double down.”​

 

Trading for Lou Williams is peak "doubling down."

 

This goes back to the conversation about our outlier status. Instead of trying to match Golden State in terms of style of play, and well-rounded shot selection, Morey has bucked convention and said, "**** it.....we can't beat 'em straight, so let's try and change the rules." Launching 3's at an historic rate is definitely one way to turn the Warriors (and the league, by proxy) on their heads. Every move he's made this season has been in conjunction with that line of thinking, and the first step was bringing a coach on board that not only agreed with that line of thinking.....he wrote the damn book on it. While it's frustrating that we have clunkers like last night (more often lately), it's still exciting to know that if we somehow catch fire in the playoffs, and can shoot at even just a 37.5% clip from 3, we'd be damn near unbeatable.

 

The "clique" that @Codman alluded to many times.

A player who joined the Rockets midseason eyed Harden and Howard, taking opposite routes out of the locker room. “When you come here,” a veteran counseled, “you have to pick your side.”

 

Leadership, at least the vocal variety, does not come easily to Harden, which is why he watches videos of Atlanta-based motivational speaker Tim Elmore for cues. “I have to open up,” Harden says. “I can’t be up here. I have to be one of them.” He stops plays at practice to review the angle of a screen with Capela. He invites second-year center Montrezl Harrell to dinner on the road. And after an overdue summit last summer, he touches base with Beverley daily. “You know what makes San Antonio so good?” Beverley asks. “They have the talent, but everybody has talent. What makes them different is they have their life in order. Guys like me and James, we didn’t have a lot growing up, and this was a chance to go all out and get it. But he’s got the money, the cars, the fame. He’s seen all that and done all that. It can just be about winning now.”

 

I found this interesting
It might have been easier if Harden and Howard just threw punches—or at least posted subtweets. But they are both non-confrontational by nature, so Harden stewed in silence, often ducking out of Toyota Center before he had time to stretch or ice. He even drifted apart from Beverley, his closest friend on the team. “He was just ... distant,” Beverley says. “The losing was really hard on him.” At Artesia High and Arizona State, in OKC and Houston, Harden did nothing but win. After shootarounds last season, he routinely parked his Bentley across from the arena on Clay Street and vented to Scott Pera, his high school coach who is now an assistant at Rice.