The post by @Duncan McDonuts was fine. There is some truth to the rant from the Mavs guy, but it feels like he got his information from popular media sources instead of from the viewpoint of a person who looked into Harden's history, further. - Harden clashed with Dwight because Dwight's ego wouldn't accept just being a rebounding, defending rimrunner. Dwight tried to be Orlando Dwight, and that failed. - Harden had arguably the most basketball success with CP3, but CP3's body just couldn't hold up. - I don't think Harden ever had a problem with Russ, on or off the court. I feel like things would be cold between them, but they seem cool with each other as members of the Clippers, so...idk. - Harden singlehandedly kept BKN afloat and got them to the playoffs while Durant was injured and Kyrie turned up the "I'm a headcase" to 100. I don't think he had beef with KD. - No beef with Embiid, and he even bought him a rolex when Embiid won MVP. But Harden took a paycut to make the 76ers more competitive, and any hush-hush deal he had with Morey (and he definitely had one) never materialized. Pissed off, Harden wanted out. Is Harden to blame for any/all of these shenanigans? Absolutely. But let's not pretend like he had a perfect situation for all of his basketball stops along the way to LA, and acted like a bratty diva for no reason whatsoever.
Absolutely agreed. For all the negativity placed on Harden, the Mavs literally have the two most Harden-like players on their roster, in terms of personality. You've summarized Doncic well. And if one thinks "a mercurial star guard who seemingly does whatever he wants and gets away with a whole bunch of extracurricular stuff at the detriment of the team" describes Harden, it doesn't. It describes Kyrie Irving.
He never caused drama? Bailing on teams? Repeatedly demanding trades? Randomly not showing up for practice? Complete disinterest in elimination games when things don't go his way? Just not shooting the ball because he's pouting? Calling out the GM that did everything for him? Repeatedly asking to play with his besties who then get tired of him and then asking for new besties, repeatedly costing his teams endless assets and draft picks? Really no drama? This whole "it's everyone else's fault" thing is ridiculous. He had one season of bad luck (Chris Paul injury). And even that year, there's no telling if the Rockets could have won either games 6 or 7, given both Paul and Harden's history of choking, GS's history of winning, and the fact that GS had overall dominated the first 5 games despite being down 2-3. Otherwise, he routinely creates his own problems by being unable to get along with his teammates or needing to "be the system" or sucking in critical postseason games or demanding trades every year when Yr 1 doesn't win him a ring. Even Lebron and Curry needed multiple years to gel with their teams to win titles - they built and improved and got better year by year. Harden gives it one full season, alienates everyone, and then bails looking for new superstars to play with. It's only a matter of time before Leonard and Paul get sick of him too. I think Harden's legacy will be the superstar that the fans tried to make the most excuses for. No one in NBA history has had more excuses made for him. No matter what happens, it's always someone else's fault. I particularly like holding out for atrade, then coming into training camp out of shape, then pouting for a few weeks before forcing a trade, and then having a nagging hamstring injury all season because he was out of shape and didn't put in any of the work that every other NBA superstar does is considered a fluke injury.
The fact that he needs a perfect situation to not complain or have excuses made for him is the single most defining aspect of James Harden.
Also worth noting that none of these players that demand trades tend to win anywhere they go. It worked out for Kawhi, but before that, Kevin Garnett was probably the last superstar where it worked out (and Shaq before that). Things weren't always perfect for Jokic or Giannis but they stuck with their teams and kept building until they won. Curry, Duncan, Durant, LeBron, Dirk, etc - none of them required being traded to some kind of perfect situation to win. Some used free agency, but none demanded trades to make it happen. Even Kawhi didn't demand a trade to a particular team - he just wanted out of SA. EDIT: It appears Garnett didn't want to be traded. So that would make the list of winners in the last 30 years or so to be Kawhi and Shaq.
and yes their was a double standard with the zach wilson thing. Colin Cowherd and Bill Simmons can go on tv all day trashing each and every black athlete they want without saying an apology. But as soon as the "big bad black man" says something about the blue eyed blonde haired qb it becomes a problem. Lets also not forget how the media came and attacked kendrick perkins for saying that nba voters were biased, which if judging by the lack of all-nba selections that harden has recieved over his career it would be a justified argument. Perkins and ESPN were forced to apologize. The criticism involving athletes seems to only go one way. people say harden has beef with players but yet cant name me a player he has played with that has trashed him. Ariza, Pual Reed, Cam Thomas, Bruce Brown, Nik Claxton, Tyrese Maxey, etc have raved about harden as a teammate. So im not seeing harden being hated by nba players like the media is trying to project, the players voted harden for mvp 3 different times.
-Dwight was promised he'd be part of the offense, that was the reason he signed with Rockets in the first place. If he was told he would just be told to rim run he wouldn't have signed with the team. I can't find the link now but I'm sure anybody who was following the Rox would know about it. Regardless, Dwight Def had a blame there but so did Harden who feuded with him, right? Why can't Harden give Dwight a couple of post ups just to make him happy? Dwight and Harden failed which isn't rare in the NBA but them feuding is the first red flag for Harden. You are saying Dwight ego couldnt take being a rim runner but why can't Harden's ego take having a costar to share the ball with? His "I don't play a system I am the system" explains his mindset very well. Steph Curry don't say that crap and he has given 5 rings to GSW. -Harden and Cp3 not working out is again, not rare in the NBA. But them feuding points to Harden's character cuz Chris Paul is known as one of the hardest working and most professional players in the NBA. He is even known as the point God (although he is also one of the biggest chokers but w/e). Plus it's not like you can blame CP3 in their beef, he was just telling Harden he should move off the ball more and share the ball. Is Cp3 wrong? Lol. -For Bkn and Philly, the point is Harden asked to be traded to those teams and he got his wish. Those teams used their resources to get him expecting him to be committed to their cause. If he bails on them 1 yr after the trade how do those teams react and are treated? They got scammed by Harden. -You are just doing what the other poster said and adding reasons why Harden did what he did. It doesn't really contradict anything that announcer said cuz at the end of the day, everything that dude said regarding Harden's actions are the truth. Harden is indeed a bratty diva. I dont know how else to describe someone who demands a trade to a team, comes to camp out of shape and then wants a trade immediately when the going get tough.
Everyone were all mocking him during the All Star draft. KD took Gobert over him you think he loves Harden yes or no? Chris Paul had a very public beef with him Irving Def took it personal after Harden left them I dunno man is that enough? I named you 4 lol.
turner sports and tnt probably made them say that. You have to remember harden doesnt even do interviews with tnt since they named him shaqtin a fool mvp in 2016 'here is what durant said about harden a few months ago https://fadeawayworld.net/kevin-dur...f-the-most-influential-players-in-nba-history here is cp3 talking about that 2018 rockets team. just this year as well players get in disagreements on the sidelines all the time, last season udonis haslem and jimmy butler almost got into a fist fight on the sidelines, the heat ended up making the finals that very same year and this was last year as well. Does it seem like harden and kyrie hate each other
Harden seemed to have no problem sharing the ball with a co-star(or leading star) in KD in Brooklyn and Embiid in Philly. CP3 might be hard working and professional but to act like none of his teammates have feuded with him or disliked playing with him is completely wrong. It just happened in Phoenix. CP3 is not the easiest person for teammates to get along with. That's a fact in NBA circles and I just mean personality wise. H As for BK and Philly, the point might be he got his wish to be traded to those teams but just like what Dwight expected when he came to Houston, both the team and the player have expectations. In BK, he had a right to expect Kyrie to show up and play yet Kyrie then torpedoed that team with his decision to not just get the vax and play. How did Philly get scammed by Harden? It's literally the other way around. The dude left money on the table to re-sign with Philly presumably because Morey let him know they'd make it up to him this off-season. Morey apparently reneged on his word and so Harden got upset and wanted out. Talking about being scammed. Man what? Listen Harden has more than his fair share of faults and blame he deserves (especially the way he left Houston-not the reason but the way) but to just throw it all in without context is being either unaware or disingenuous. How is he a bratty diva? Most stars in the NBA are diva's. Luka is a diva. Kyrie is a diva. KD, Russ, Kawhi, etc. They all are. Bratty because teams don't hold up their end of the bargain and he decides to leave? C'mon man.
In that sentence, it was meant in a sense of non-basketball related drama. I never made excuses for Harden's shortcomings. He's not a perfect player, and has had ample opportunities on championship worthy teams. But to blame the every situation on him for being the common denominator is lacking any context. Correlation does not equal causation. Other than Dwight or Kyrie, which other teammates is Harden not getting along with? Every other teammate has had plenty of positive things to say about playing with Harden. The CP3 breakup was hard, but everyone wanted CP3's corpse gone. Harden didn't force CP3 out. Harden left Houston because he didn't want to waste what's left of his career in a rebuild. He left Brooklyn because one co-star threw a conspiracy tantrum and his other co-star supported it. Any sane person would want to get away from that. In Philly, it was broken promises from the front office. Would you work for a boss that sabotaged you? Are you kidding? LeBron and Durant are poster children for finding their perfect situation to win. LeBron went to Miami and teamed up with 2 other stars in their primes to win. His Cleveland championship was a stroke of luck that Golden State collapsed. Durant joined the dynasty that knocked him out. Giannis wouldn't likely be in the conversation if he didn't injure Kyrie. Jokic's championship is deserved. Harden's biggest problem is his prime overlapped the GOAT dynasty that he nearly knocked out if the league didn't rig game 7.
Other players in the league like LBJ and Giannis mocking him isn't anything new. The hate for him has been on for a while and it's low hanging fruit being hit by all parties. Chris Paul has had beefs with other players before. That speaks as much about CP3 as it does re. Harden(I will admit as far as the Rox situation, I blame Harden as much or more than I do CP3 but to act like CP3 is some super teammate and angels is ridiculous). Kyrie should have taken it personal because HE was the one that screwed up the Nets and James was tired of that mess. You know it had to be bad when James spoke up against him because the supposed leader KD wouldn't say anything about how Kyrie was messing up their season. Now do Russ? Oh no issue there?
Man I don't know how Harden always find the wrong thing to say nowadays lol. I don't think a fanbase of a team with a closing window want to hear about how he needs 10 games to warm. That would be the last thing I want to hear. He might be right, he's probably rusty, but no one wants to hear that right now. Should have just said something like "I need to play better and I will." and left it at that.
I hear you but if that fan base watches the games and watched last night then they'd see he was farrrrr from the problem. There are issues with Ty Lue. There are issues with none of their "all-nba defenders" being able to defend or even slow down Luka. There are issues with Paul George and his play/shotmaking over the past few games. Their center being unable to rebound efficiently, etc. They have other issues beyond James and they need to sort that out. Their fans and others are on this narrative of "oh three game losing streak since James got there" but they ignored the **** teams they beat for their wins so far this season. They weren't necessarily great before he got there. I do think they will fix things and get it together over the next month or two and then go on a roll later in the season.
Harden is not a clear superstar anymore, and not even a clear All Star every game....... His words hold no weight now.......he can hold franchises hostage....nobody cares ......there are only so many desperate teams left. I like Father Time on this.
Lebron and Durant both left their teams in free agency when they were no longer obligated to them. That's every player's right and does not make them a problem-child. Neither b****ed or demanded out during their times with the teams they had signed contracts with - they simply did their best and never complained about their situations. (Until Durant this past season and he's unlikely to win anything in Phoenix) Again, in the last 20 years, complaining and demanding out has worked exactly once: Kawhi going to Toronto for 1 year.
