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Houston Rockets Notebook: James Harden’s Plan to Shut Up the Haters
- Updated: October 2, 2016
The ongoing character assassination of James Harden, former All-NBA player, still doesn’t sit well with anyone in the Houston Rockets organization. Last spring, Harden was famously taken down a peg by a cadre of sportswriters (and fans) armed with selective stats, memes, influence and ballots.
Harden, the former MVP runner-up and league’s second-leading scorer—who before that day was on a three-year streak of exclusive membership as one of the game’s top 15 players (third team 2012-13, first team 2013-14 and 2014-15)—was nowhere in sight on the 2015-16 All-NBA teams. A closer look at the press release revealed his current standing: “Other players receiving votes.”
Granted, he received 106 points. For comparison’s sake, Stephen Curry, a member of the All-NBA First Team, earned 645 points.
The message was clear: The media were no longer buying what Harden was selling.
“We know peak James Harden is recognized by the players as the best player in the league two years ago, so players know what’s up,” Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey told B/R. “So for whatever reason, I’ve never understood it. People like to generate random negative narrative about James. I’ve never understood it.”
Will 2016-17 be his bounce-back year? There’s a strong case for it, and the Rockets.
First, Harden seems genuinely inspired by his growing legion of critics.
“I get motivation from anything,” Harden said during Rockets media day last week. “I mean, when’s the last time that happened? Somebody averaged 29, seven and six and they didn’t make any [All-]NBA team? But motivation, that’s it. You just gotta be better. You don’t blame anybody, you don’t criticize anybody or what should have been done. You look in the mirror, look at yourself and say be better for next year. That’s it.”
But what will “better” look like for Harden?
More points? More assists? More rebounds? Cutting down turnovers? Winning more games? Making players around you, ahem, better?
The starting point is obvious if you’ve followed the infinite stream of memes and GIFs depicting Harden as blindly floating around the defensive end.
“It’s white noise because I’m more than capable,” Harden said. “I know that I can play defense. I’m one of the best players in this league. Like I said, last year was a blur. Things were happening so fast, and we all go through it in life. We all have bad days, bad years, who doesn’t? But it’s the bounce back that makes you stronger.”
Harden says he was “in the lab all summer” to ensure he didn’t report to training camp out of shape like last year. New assistant coach and lead defensive strategist Jeff Bzdelik worked with him one-on-one over the offseason to …
