This is so stupid. You are making up a Diva angle when in fact THEY ARE A TEAM! They respect each other, they talk to each other. When have you seen drama in the locker room? SHOW ME!
We may be reading him wrong here - he may be calling the team out as just as much as they are falling into 1 on 1 ball with Harden there- they don't need to all mimmic his style of play, nor should they. They can still run their sets when he's in to get better shots, they are not sheep.
Harden is still our best player, yeah we have got some good wins without him, but mostly he is our closer, we nearly blew it today without him. and he passes the ball, it also helps if other players move without the ball like they did today.
Et tu, chandler. chandler is the leader of the team, has tenure and is the best all round baller. superstars can call their teammates out without making it too personal. chandler the superstar!
It's a maturity thing for Harden. Plain and simple. For all of the high basketball IQ and talent he has for the game, he still has moments where his pride and overconfidence cause him to try to do things he can't and shouldn't do, at least not in this offense. He knows that holding the ball the trying to attack a set defense is not a good way to play but he still wants to prove that he can be that big time player that hits the big shots. He overestimates himself way too much at times. I don't think MJ could ISO ball that much and be successful and he is the greatest ever. Once he gets that maturity (seriously hoping), he can really be an amazing top 5 player in this league. We've seen it so many times before just never consistently over a long stretch. We've seen this team thrive with Harden way more than we've seen this team falter. I think it's okay that Parsons said that to the media. It's obviously something the coaching staff is trying to fix in Harden's game as well so it shouldn't be a surprise. And now is probably the best time to do it with Harden out and after two impressive wins against good divisional teams in which the Rockets won without Harden. There is no doubt that we are going to need him, especially in the playoffs. But hopefully, Harden will see how well the ball moves and the flow to the offense from the bench and back to starting when he gets healthy. Honesty, I think he has been doing pretty well with going away from isoball recently. He does have some lapses of trying to ISO and hero ball but the lack of it recently is promising all the same.
very valid point except harden has missed quite a few games this year. Harden is a very good player but he is not great and mentioning him with kobe is a joke. He is a poor man's melo if you wanted to use that comparison. He bails out on defense all the time when he gets switched to a post. He just makes half hearted attempts at a steal taking himself out of the play. The ball holding is okay to a certain extent but when he holds it down to 3 seconds then just fires it to beverly from 26 feet out is ridiculous. At least drive and draw the defender away from the shooter a little. It is true that the last two games there was literally close to zero "stickiness" as mchale likes to call it.
how many games has he missed? like 6? I would also say I am not convinced Parsons is blaming Harden with that statement. Maybe Parsons is suggesting the team just becomes stagnant when Harden gets the ball, waiting for him to make a play.
I think some people are reading WAY TOO MUCH into his comments. All he is saying is that, with Harden out, we have to work harder to score, pass it around more, less one on one BECAUSE none of them can score one on one like Harden can. It takes a certain kind of someone to read Harden hate into what he's saying
Harden does need to realize that he doesn't need to do it all by himself. There are times, when James gets the assists, but he hasn't been able to make his shots. Lin needs to handle the ball more along with him. Jeremy is a scoring PG too, but he is a better passer than Bev. He also gives us another scoring weapon in the backcourt. Harden's shooting percentage will improve when he gets open looks. Once he is able to do that, he will be able to get to the line with ease IMO.
I think the issue is that with Harden in the game, other players tend to stand around more to let him iso. Problem is that when Harden passes the ball to someone else, no one seems to know what to do but iso as well. Plus there isn't that much time on the clock left. Harden has to do two things better. 1. He needs to create more on a consistent basis for his teammates to get them involved in the game. 2. He needs to find ways to be the spot-up shooter a bit more and let other players handle the ball in the first 3-3.5 qtrs, and thus save his energy for defense and crunch time.
i think the win just shows how deep our team is and should be, i had an idiot try and tell me that Lin was better than Harden
Harden is the best player on this team and a great one-on-one player. Every superstar player in the NBA is a great one-on-one player so I don't see this as just a problem with Harden.
he is right. harden plays with the team pretty well for 3 quarters, but late in the 4th its all harden. players really develop and learn to trust each other through experience in the clutch. there will be failure and the calling of heads from a given player but- if im going to keep some core pieces on my team, they need to learn to trust each other, and this will come through failure and success. im not saying dont let harden be the closer, but whenever a teammate is hot or there is a man open- pass the ****ing ball. (not with 4 seconds left on the clock) we have a team with a lot of talent, but there are still some trust issues late in the game. and we have lost a lot of close games in the final minutes. this has to change before we make the playoffs. we have a chance to make some noise in the post season, we need to play more team ball. harden going out and the team stepping up is nothing new in the NBA. this happens all the time when a star player gets injured, i think the difference is that harden does not always play like a superstar. this kind of young team plays better together, as opposed to relying on harden night in and night out. BTW let the PG take in the ball, **** the point forward BS
Considering parsons has more starting experience/has performed better in the playoffs, sure I think he has the right to call out harden's game. The only reason people get so frustrated by Harden's game is that we can all see there are nights where he can play like a top 20 player in this league. It's just he doesn't have that win-at-all costs go-hard mindset of a Westbrook or a Lebron. I'll admit he'll never be the athlete those guys are on defense, but he is crafty strong and skilled in his own right. Plus if he works a little harder on his conditioning/build he could develop into a superior athlete. All it's gonna take is dedication and motivation to change his mindset. However, I believe he can work towards one day playing at an all-star level
