You can't judge good leadership by wins and losses alone, that's just shows lack of any critical thought at all.
Good leaders lead by example. They don't start the season overweight. Good leaders are self-aware. If you're overweight, own up to it and get in shape. Don't deny that you're overweight. Good leaders inspire their teammates. They don't have the 2nd most important player quit on them.
They also don't tell everyone in the media that they are too tired to put in the effort on defense. The list goes on with James Harden.
Is that really what the quote said? Or are you adding a bit to it? I'd like to see that quote, you should post it. It's a little unreasonable not to believe the league leader in total points scored who is near tops in the league in minutes played is somehow lying that he is tired because he's what lazy? Don't you think that's unreasonable? It's also a little silly to blame a guy who was injured (According to Kevin Mchale) coming into the season for being overweight. Im trying to figure out why to you guys Daryll Morey, Les Alexander, and all of our players and coaches bare no responsibility its only Harden who's a bad leader. I don't know it all seems a little contrived like targeted hate. I know some of you guys hate Harden but boy you guys really have a tough time logically explaining why.
I'll make it easier, forget about what this specifically says about his effort....but tell me what type of leader sits there and talks about how he plays so many minutes and therefore shouldn't be expected to play hard on both ends of the floor. What kind of leader looks around to see what other people are doing as a guage? Its not about that, Kobe, Lebron, Curry etc don't give a crap about what others are doing and what is expected...they hold themselves upto a standard which is why they have others follow.
Lebron asked for less minutes last year and wanted to rest. What you guys are saying makes no sense and has nothing to do with leadership. Lebron wasn't even leading in the league in minutes and points. It's just made up biased bull****. On top of all of that from your own quote it clearly says that HE WAS ASKED, lol. Again you are having a hard time explaining this and you have to make things up to make it make sense. It isn't working.
You're comparing Lebron James...the most complete player in the history of the game that has done everything on both ends of the floor...repeatedly...been "The entire team" a number of years...to wanting a cut down on his minutes towards the latter end of his career...to James 25 year old get me a pg so I don't have to do much (oh-wait..) Harden. Make stuff up? I just told you what he said. Who cares if he asked? You need to let go of you hardcore James Harden fandom and look at it objectively. You just proved me right, a quote straight from the mouth of Harden and isn't valid because "he was asked." So if James didn't like dwight and thought he was a dip**it, and admitted it...he would be vindicated because he was "asked?" Your logic has so many holes in it bro.
I don't think anybody is saying there's not plenty of blame to go around... this season was some of the worst coaching I've ever seen... but as for James... I'll be honest - I don't like the dude. I think he's a narcissistic ass... If you're gonna go around telling people you're "the best player in the game..." then you can't meltdown like he did in the last game against GS the year before, you can't set an NBA record for turnovers, and when asked about a shortcoming, you can't reply "those that matter don't mind and those that mind don't matter." When James first got to town, he seemed like a good guy... even had that nice team building pregame ritual with Lin and Parsons... now the dude doesn't even take the team bus? What kind of leadership is that? It seems to me that after he got his max deal, his fat shoe contract and started banging a Kardassian... the guy got a little too full of himself... The guy just has this whole aloof demeanor he walks around with... DMo tries congratulating him after the big bucket against GS - and james pushes him off and walks away... Maybe he's the nicest most hardworking person on the planet - but that ain't the vibe I'm getting... and before anyone points out that MJ, Kobe and Bird weren't the nicest and most social guys... they got something Harden doesn't - rings!
It's very simple. Last year, Harden, motivated by the Olympic experience, puts in consistent effort for most of the year. The Rockets play well even with DH missing half of it. This year, Harden comes into camp overweight, goes back to loafing on defense. Team is mediocre. You guys act like it's a wild idea that if your best player brings it every night, the role players/supporting players will play harder=play better. Playing harder doesn't exactly add talent, but it maximizes whatever talent you do have, which is adding talent. Don't take it from me, you can google it, former players have talked about how important effort is on the team when you're the best player. Look, maybe Harden doesn't have the drive some of these other guys have. Maybe he does. But people have to start holding him accountable to see if he does. If he can't be your guy, you need to bring in someone else so Harden can be second fiddle. What we really need is the Draymond Green-Curry dynamic where Green is the heart & leader, but Curry is your best player.
I see people blaming coaches, players, harden, leadership but in the end, it's MOREY who is the culprit of all these problems. Morey simply doesn't know how to build a team. He also has a huge ego and is hell bent on his stupid philosophy. He is convinced 3 + layups will win championship. Coaching, defense, chemistry and all that is useless in his eyes. It's clear by the way he thinks we will win the chip. "3 superstars will win us a championship" mentality just further proves this guy doesn't know how to build a proper team. If Harden is surrounded by all-star talents like GSW or Cavs did with Lebron and Curry, he would look a lot happier on the court because we'll be winning more games. He'll look like a better leader in eyes of many automatically. The coach will look competent and the whole outlook of the team is different. The key is in putting guys around your star that will enable them to succeed. When you put poor players that don't fit in your system like Brewer, Lawson, TJones, Ariza (with his brickfest) it's gonna look bad on paper and bring down morale. No matter what Harden says, it's not going to stop Brewer from bricking layups or Dwight Butterfingers turning the ball over in the post. In the end, Morey has to use his "stats" to put players that compliment Harden. I think the only player that has really complimented Harden in the past couple years is Beverly and he always give full effort every game, even on bad nights. Those are the kinds of players we need on this team.
Good leaders would also play on a bum ankle the entire season and playoffs, without it ever getting right, without so much as a beep from them....oh wait Harden did that. Look, Harden can definitely improve his leadership skills, there is no denying that - he isn't a perfect player, nobody is. It's just that some on here seem to want to blame EVERYTHING that was wrong with the Rockets this season on Harden - and that is unfair. At least Harden said the right things, IMO anyway. He said that this season was bad but that struggles are what make you a great. Don't quit when the going gets tough. That is the spirit you need if you want to lead - that is where some other greats have taken their motivation from. At least he didn't give up or quit on the team at the end of the season. He is young enough and still has time to improve as a leader. Blaming him for the 2nd most important player quitting on the team, who btw is a seasoned vet himself, one who still considers himself a true superstar and one who happens to be the highest paid player on the team is somewhat ludicrous. Maybe that 2nd most important player should have at the very least tried to lead the team the way Harden did (you know that bad leader so many keep talking about) and maybe that bit of extra leadership would have made a difference?!
I agree with this. When the Clippers lose I don't hear anything about leadership. When Westbrook couldn't even make the playoffs without Durant I didn't hear anything about leadership. Our team has just flat out not been well-built. They all got hot at the right moment last season and overachieved. We're seeing regression to the mean here.
Exactly. This thought process is sort of all over the place. The two topics about Harden in the title alone are completely unrelated IMO. Even with bad leadership (and I'm not 100% sure its as bad as it looks, or can't improve), his free agency has little to do with what we've seen from a leadership perspective. Point being... the OP is all over the place here. Let's take it one day at a time, and one topic at a time.
Well, I kind of write these at my work desk when I should be working so I suppose it would come across 'scattered'. In short. I think we need to target guys who know coming in that this is Harden's team and Harden would benefit from that.
He will probably never shave off his beard due to copyright, trademark issues He needs to shave it off though to start from scratch, and it does not make him look like a homeless with beard and millions It would show his teammates resolve and change
Knowing the toxicity this man brought to the table behind the scenes this season makes it very tough for fans. We rooted from a team with its hands tied behind the back with no real chance or hope this season. Just sad,,,, very sad,,,,
shhhhh, be quiet or you'll get inundated by the Harden nuthuggers with stats that clearly show he is the messiah. lol
