That Dallas rant is from a superficial hater's POV. Now I'm no Harden apologist and I was very critical of his time in Houston, especially the early years where he refused to do the intangibles that don't show up on the box score. But the Harden and Dwight experiment just failed. These two stars didn't complement each other well, and their egos weren't mature enough to play to their strengths. It doesn't always work out. We got rid of McHale. Everyone cheered. McHale was terrible. His coaching philosophy was "clap clap play harder". CP3 era worked well until CP3's body collapsed in the playoffs when we needed him the most. We nearly knocked out the greatest dynasty of all time. Unfortunately, CP3 was a corpse that couldn't play and we gambled on Westbrook. The small ball analytics looked good, but COVID wrecked the season when Westbrook was finding his stride in the system. After that, we had to rebuild and shipping Harden was the right move. Harden was never the problem in Brooklyn. That was all Kyrie. The Nets could've won it all. A freak accident knocked Kyrie out of the playoffs when they were about to crush the Bucks who later went on to win the title. Then Kyrie went all anti-vax crazy and the team imploded. Harden was right to get out of that. Philly stop was going well for Harden. The team was championship worthy, but Embiid choked in the playoffs. Embiid is constantly injured in the post-season and didn't play at an MVP level. Harden at this stage in his career can't carry a team. They could've reloaded and tried again, but personal beef happened. Harden gets **** on too much by the media. Not every superstar is going to win a ring. Harden has been close multiple times, but his prime overlapped a GOAT dynasty. There's so much irony of the Mavs announcer calling Harden a cancer, too. Kyrie is the biggest cancer in the league and he's on that roster. Kyrie left a championship team because he wanted to be the man. He gave up in Boston and made his way to Brooklyn where he refused to compete because he's a conspiracy theorist. He nuked Brooklyn and ended up in Dallas where they missed the playoffs. Every front office that Kyrie has passed through has been relieved to get rid of him.
James does not deserve to be piled on like this by the media. They've got more hatred for him than players who beat women. For a player who supposedly is not even very good and only scored by flopping, he sure does get a lot of blame for teams not winning a championship. It blows my mind how he gets the blame for the sixers not beating the celtics, and the rockets not beating the warriors. Basically it all boils down to ring culture. If you don't win you're nothing more than a decent player by media and casual fan standards.
The problem isn't rings bud. Is Dame getting the same type of rhetoric? It's him dipping for the past 4 years the moment he faced adversity.
and not only that, the mavs according to some reports from media members have their own little harden in the making in luka doncic. Luka has been a diva and quiet as its kept has forced the mavs to fire rick carlisle, asked for dennis smith jr to be moved as well as porzingis, and depending on who you ask was very angry about playing with kyrie last year when the mavs collasped down the stretch. Which is why bill simmons and a few others were saying is "Luka the next star player that will ask for a trade". Luka has pretty much all of the faults that harden has, bad on defense, hogs the ball.. which arguably forced brunson away. Argues with refs and doesnt sprint or give full effort unless he has the ball, but yet no one calls it out. Harden should just embrace the villian role, because no matter how he tries to alter and adjust his game the media and casuals outside of maybe houston will never like him
thats not true, harden was hated by the media when he was in houston and all he ever did was make the playoffs and ensure at least a second round appearance. So please lets not start this, harden in 2016 averaged 30/7/7 and didnt make a single all-nba team. Remmeber when we first hired dantoni how the media was saying that it was not gonna work. Just like they said cp3 and harden was not gonna work. Harden has been hated pretty harshly by the media since the 2015 wcf vs the warriors. It also didnt help that a viral video of him not playing defense early in his rockets career pretty much ever prevented him from making all-defensive team in the future, even when he gotten way better in stats like post defense and deflections. Yes harden has his faults as a player, but to sit here and act like harden was some kind of thug that deserved all the hate he got is not even remotely true.
To sum it all up, Hardens issue is his unwillingness to adjust in his “system”. He is his own worst enemy.
I dunno about that other stuff but this announcer just spitting facts. He didn't insult James Harden he just summarized what Harden has done these past couple of years.
Your post just sounds like an apologist and doesn't really contradict anything that announcer said. Harden feuded with every other superstar he has had, it's not just about the tandem not working out it's about Harden fighting with his costar no matter if it's Dwight, Cp3, Russ KD or Irving. Embiid he didn't have any beef with him but he bailed on Embiid too. Harden was also the problem in Brkn both him and Kyrie were the problem. Their feud started when Harden came to camp fat and out of shape. This is after he spent the end of season playing injured. He doesn't give a **** about anyone except himself and shows no commitment or remorse, spends his time partying after games even when they get destroyed how's that for optics? No wonder the media ***** on him. Harden wasn't right to get out of anything, he was the one who asked those teams to take him in and he bails on them a year after that team spent resources to get him. Clippers were so dumb they got fleeced by Daryl Morey Clippers gonna Clip..
Probably by not partying and doing low contact exercises? All 3 of them were injured James the only one fat and out of shape. Harden was health enough to go around Europe with Lil baby but too injured to watch his diet? Don't gimme that bull. This is the main issue with Harden apologists you can't defend the guy when he spends all his off time in clubs and parties.
Lots of NFL commentators have trashed Zach Wilson without a problem. Harrison's issue was with using the word "garbage" and, more importantly, trying to egg a current NFL player into agreeing with him on live TV. And it wasn't social justice warriors that forced the apology - it was the players banding together and pressuring him as a fellow former player that is part of their brotherhood. I don't know that all the teammates Harden has alienated and thrown under the bus over the years are going to really care to do the same here.
It's the spin that the Mavs announcer puts on every situation that is entirely out of context. The only feud I recall was between Harden and Dwight. They did not get along towards the end of that era. Harden and CP3 was a mutual breakup when CP3 couldn't hold up his end of the bargain. Harden never had personal issues with Russ or KD, he was able to recognize that situation wasn't working. Harden was annoyed by Kyrie because Kyrie was a selfish dumbass. Sure, Harden has his faults and I recognize that. He took no accountability and showed terrible leadership in the McHale years. He never committed to defense until his prime was over. He is lazy off the ball, tries to rely on ISO too much, and is too predictable on offense. He wants to win a ring but never worked on his flaws. While I'm no fan of his off-court activities such as partying at clubs after big losses, he never caused drama, legal trouble, and is extremely charitable. But that doesn't win over the media like Curry and his traditional family life. The sad thing is his legacy and reputation would be entirely different had he won a ring in Houston. Harden has to be one of the unluckiest superstars. An inopportune injury to his costar and a rigged game 7 against a stacked team robbed him of one championship. Again, another freak accident knocks his team out of the playoffs when they look poised to make the finals. Then his MVP costar that's frequently injured in the postseason chokes and personal issues get in the way.
