Or his stans conjuring up stupid regular season stats and saying stuff like “greatest offensive player of all time” when you repeatedly watch him meltdown in the post season. james biggest flaw was his attitude and mentality
Yes, he seems incredibly childish and narcissistic. But let's be honest -- if he plays against Portland and they win, and then keep on winning, and he stays in Houston, this wave of vitriol will disappear like it never happened.
His Houston legacy .... Will endure for decades in countless black-light stains left on countless dimly lit 'private' booths in the VIP lounges of every major Gentleman's club from the greater HOU area And in the bank accounts of the countless young ladies James has selflessly 'sponsored' as they dance their way thru college A legendary philanthropist really
Ya both are right here I think. If Harden starts balling it and the Rockets start clicking this regular season out of some miracle, I'll enjoy it and try to forget about this off-season but in the back of my mind I'm going to be thinking of the inevitable playoff unraveling.
Harden is one weird cat. He is also one of the best pure scores this league has ever seen. Easily in the top 50 of all time players.
Harden is toxic to his fan base. Recency bias? Or: people never complain about bad stuff before it happens.
His biggest flaw is that he couldn't beat the Golden St. Warriors in a series, But no one in the West did for 5 years.
You’re probably right, but I don’t see that happening. This seems like too toxic of a situation for the team to be successful, especially with all the new players.
He had other opportunities such as the Spurs without Kawhi or the Blazers or when KD went down. The other issue is that many times superstar players do fail to win a ring and get eliminated in the playoffs to a objectively more supurior team talent wise but that superstar still goes down swinging. Harden during elimination games gives into to the double rather than trying to move off ball and escape it. He just stats getting a visiablly depressed look on the court with his head down and just starts walking and standing everywhere during key quarters in elimination games.
Legacy wise, he has the chance to turn it around. Winning games cures lot of things, including narratives.
What was everyone else's excuse. As for "going down swinging" Warriors were 16-7 vs Rockets during this span going 6 & 7 games in series in different years. The Warriors went 44-10 vs rest of the West with only OKC taking them 7 when Russ/KD blew a 3-1 lead. If we're going to crucify Harden for losing don't leave out the rest of the mighty Western Conference who got their asses kicked (40-7). The Warriors dominated the West and it wasn't competitive. Harden's peak came during the Golden St. Warrior dynasty and they were just too tough to beat. I'll give you the weirdo Harden game vs the Spurs, I still don't get that one (reminds me of the weird Kobe game vs Phoenix) but it was still Golden St.'s world in the West and everyone else was just living in it.
Harden is suddenly hated because he suddenly turned his back on this town. The fanbase isn't toxic, they are reactive. Given all of what Harden has done over the last month or two, most of the reactions seem pretty justified. The only thing toxic in this is Harden's attitude.
I'm starting to think that those "weird" games from stars... you mentioned Harden and Kobe, but LeBron has had plenty, Kawhi last season... games where it seems like players are throwing the game or laying down are forced to keep a narrative or to shame the player or are blackmailed or are part of quid pro quos. Unlikely, but that's where my mind goes.
Harden could salvage his legacy so easily. I know this sounds like a complete fantasy and total hell for James Harden, but. . . . 1) Accept $100 mill contract extension. (Painful, I know.) 2) Say "Sorry everyone, it's 2020: I was tripping for a minute." Problem solved. Hero restored.
