Does James Harden care more about winning a Championship or winning the MVP trophy?

I just sent him a text.....awaiting response.

 

Individual awards mean a lot to him, but he also cares about winning a championship. If we're being real, he has a much better chance of winning an MVP than he does a championship this year...the Rockets just aren't a championship contender, not with this roster. Every player would want to win an MVP if they could...it does a lot for a player's legacy and perception.

 

Real men don't wear fitted hats or throwback jerseys either.

 

IMO, Harden still has a very real chance at MVP. He might even be the favorite if we're going to assume that Pop starts resting Kahwi for the final 3-5 games of the season if 1st seed is out of reach or if they take 1st seed and GS has no chance of catching up.

I could make the argument that Harden being the MVP has a tangible value to the team in the sense that we could start getting the Boguts / Deron Williams type guys during buy-out season.

 

Truth is, how is it affecting the team? We are probably the #1 team when it comes to relying on our star. Take Harden away and you'd probably have 5 guys staring at each other, jacking threes and unable to be competitive. It's nice and all that he's putting up big numbers but at what cost? MDA may seem like a genius, but he's not. He put the ball in Harden's hands, roles are defined and James took it from there. I'm really wondering if Morey, Leslie and Harden's band of brothers (agent, shoe company etc.) all just looked for the best way to make Harden look good stats wise...

There's no doubt Harden is a great offensive player and what he's done this year is worthy of praise, but I think we all have been biased and should be honest that there's still a few players who deserve it as much or more. I personally don't want him to win it, to keep him hungry. Kawhi Leonard right now looks like front runner, not WB nor Harden and definitely not Lebron. Durant looked like one before his injury.

 

Hmmm, would he prefer the seks or a just get a bj?

 

Championship more, but he knows winning MVP is more possible.

 

Text back with a pic pls.

 

Neither.

 

You act like Harden cares about any of this

he seems like the kind of player that just plays and whatever comes comes

 

I always love a good armchair-psychology thread

 

He cares about dat big booty

 

Does Harden want to win the MVP? Yes
Does Harden want to win the MVP at the expense of a Championship? No
What does Harden want to win more, MVP or Championship? Championship
Will Harden playing at an MVP level give the team the best chance at a championship? Yes

I would LOVE for Harden to win the MVP. There is a sense of pride in that. To have a Houston Rocket win that award means something.

Now, Westbrook is chasing stats AT THE EXPENSE of his team. That is an example of the problem. Not Harden.

 

If he could wish for and get one or the other, I have no doubt he would choose the championship trophy.

And I am not saying he's so team oriented that he doesn't care about individual accolades. I'm saying the accolade of being a superstar of a championship team is a more valuable individual accolade to him. And I'm fine with that. It's no different than any other superstar. He is certainly less selfish than a person like Kevin Durant or Lebron James.

Bottom line: Harden playing at the level of any regular season MVP ever is a MASSIVE plus for us. It's having an asset that can not be paid more than $30m/season but producing $50-$60m/season worth of wins on the court.

If we're asking hypotheticals, I think a more interesting question is whether Harden would prefer to have a high chance of winning the trophy with another superstar, or a low chance of winning it alone. I know many will automatically assume it's the second, but you then also have to ask yourself if that's what's kept him so loyal and committed to the Rockets. If it's the first, then awesome.

 

I think Harden cares about trivial awards relative to rings compared to other players at his level(Kawhi, Curry, Durant, Bron, etc).

Obviously just an opinion based on one significant observation. He stays in games he has no business in playing due to massive leads because he wants that one extra assist which results in 10 straight three pointers forced by James Harden passes.

I just don't see someone like Kawhi giving a ****.

 

He wants to get triple doubles at the expense of indivudal games. That has been proven at the very least. I don't think it's a significant jump to conclude that he values trivial things like awards and stat combo breakers relative to other superstars.

 

I don't think Harden is stat padding "at the expense" of winning a game. Not at all. Has he assist/rebound hunted late in games while they were ahead and wrapped it up? I would say yes. And many players do that. But he isn't doing it "at the expense" of a game or when a game is in doubt.

 

The team literally lost a 20 point lead(can't recall the exact number) due to Harden trying to go from assist # 9 to assist #10. In fact, I believe this situation happened multiple times this season.

 

So if Harden is passing to open teammates in the flow of the offense this is bad? He is the PG, that is the offense. What game was this? Maybe we don't lose the 20pt cushion if players make their shots.

I haven't seen the Rockets lose a game where I felt Harden was playing outside of the system to chase stats.

 

All I know is James can't afford to rest because even with huge ass leads, Rockets can lose it very quickly. Hence why u still see harden in some games.