That wasn't until later in the season though. he started the season off motivated due to all the defensive drama and the horrendous loss to portland. This season, where's the motivation not just from him but everyone else? I don't know if he's essentially calling it quits but seemingly could be more of a sense of complacency by him and much of the team coming off a WCF appearance.
that shouldn't be the case at all, especially for a player who places himself amongst the elite in the game.
The problem with Harden is that he's a Robin. He needs a Batman to truly succeed. In OKC he had two Batmans in RWB and KD and sometimes that wasn't enough to mask his deficiencies as a basketball player. See game 1 of the Finals vs Miami when OKC won but Harden complained about not getting enough shots and his subsequent disappearing act the rest of the series while the two Batmans brought it every night. So in a sense he can be exposed as a frauden if you can't cover up his weaknesses, which are glaring.
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/250e527bb1/james-harden-s-unorthodox-pregame-routine Sure.. why not record another commercial
What a load of nonsense. Westbrook disappeared in the Spurs series and was woeful. Harden and KD were the ones that brought it every night. He "disappeared" in the finals because he was guarded by LeBron while having to defend him on the other end. Harden can be a Batman. He's one of the best closers in the League. The problem is we have no Robin(s). There's no second or third options on this team and that's a huge problem Morey has continually failed to address.
Of course Harden can fill the Batman role if needed. The issue is whether he feels MORE COMFORTABLE in the Robin role. Would he prefer someone else to be the leader on the court? I think he would.
Agree with that. Harden is a reserved low key dude. The way people talk about him on here you'd think he was a headcase like Rondo & Cousins on the court or Dwight, Malone off it. He just isn't a natural born leader like Kobe, LeBron or Jordan. That's why it's on Morey to surround him with high character guys. This team clearly needs more Draymond Green's.
Kobe has a lot of positive traits but I don't recall there ever being a case made for him as a leader. Literally no one he has played with aside from Derrick Fisher has ever "followed" Kobe. He sets the tone and carried his teams for years, but he wasn't leading his teammates.
Kidd just called his players that go to strip clubs before games "young guys learning to be proffesional." Basically calling Harden unprofessional. Harden should listen from a champion.
so you saying green has "high character"? lol. and you know that how? first it was "harden never has had coaches to teach him defense". now its "he doesnt have enough good character guys surrounding him"? and you even said its on morey. lol. way to cuddle your hero. let me tell you sth. if harden (or any nba star) needs that many conditions to be successful, then he's got no hope to lead his team to a championship.
Ppl questioned Lebron before he won his ring his 2nd year in Miami with Wade and bosh. I'm just saying. They questioned kobe till Pau came to LA. Jordan wasn't thought of as anymore than a ball hog till they got Phil and he taught him how to lead and trust his team. I don't know if Harden is a good leader or not but everything we here is that he is trying. He was the team leader of a great group of guys last summer that included the mvp in curry and everyone said James was the leader and was good at it. I think you nailed it on the head. Harden has yet to play with a true robin, dwight is a good player but he is very inconsistent in his offense and unfortuny offense is what makes u a star in this leage. As Charles Barkley puts it "they didn't pay me to play defense they paid me to score a lot of points". I link it to the clippers imagine cp3 and deandre with no Blake? That's the rockets except cp3 is prob more suited as a robin than harden only because he's not a natural scorer, great leader though. They would struggle to win more than 45-50 games, would be a good team but not a legit threat. No imagine James Harden and Dwight with Blake Griffin? That's a legit championship contender with JH as the batman and Griffin as the robin. Let's keep dwight and try are hardest to aquire a legit robin scorer to play next to JH and DH and see how far we can go. Last year was special because James played at a level only done by maybe 25 players In the history of the league it was awsome stuff. Dwight was a monster in the playoffs and harden despite what some claim had a very good playoffs and actually outplayed curry by a large portion in 3/5 games in the wcf. This team can go into the playoffs as a 5 seed and make noise as is we're just missing that next stud that would really cement us as a true favorite. If we played the clippers first round as a 4-5 matchup I think we win honestly but either way u gotta play San an or GSW 2nd round no matter if your 3-8 doesn't matter. Honestly I think would rather play GsW more than San antonio in the 2nd round. Spurs imo opinion have low key been the most impressive team this year even though GsW went 24-0 to start the season. They are really scary and I think look like the real favorite out west.
You are correct with that if you need all that to win your prob not the guy. What I say is let's get another real Allstar scorer next to Harden and see how he does, dwight doesn't count he's never been a real offensive force since his last couple years in Orlando and even that was sketchy. Doesn't have to be Durant or paul George but sombody of the likes of a klay Thomson or jimmy butler. A guy who's an Allstar but not a superstar. I think if you get him a player of that caliber with dwight then Harden can take this team were we want it to go. Right now even if he's playing like last year on both sides 1st half of the season as u like to put it I still think the rockets are a tier below GSW and the Spurs. I do however think they could beat the clippers again and even give OKC a run for there money 50-50 imo. That's just how good JH is imo. At his best he's easily a top 3 talent in the league imo theres just not many players that can get 30/7/7 efficiently like him but also handle so much of the load. The rockets really do ask him to do a lot more than any player not named lebron. I still think he plays winning basketball and is a winner time will tell if he's a leader off the court tho, so far I admit it's not so clear. Imagine having JH/ butler/DH? That's a damn good team that could give any team a run for their money because of the pure talent on the court. We need to give these guys (JH and DH) another big time player and see what can happen. GSW have curry/klay/green Spurs have KL/LMA/Duncan Okc has KD/RW/ibaka Clips have cp3/Griffin/Jordan Cavs lbj/Irving/love Hou JH/DH something's missing that the other teams I just named are not and that's two 20 ppg scorers.
