“Harden is going to have a hard time getting a former teammate to introduce him in his Hall of Fame induction.“. They were the words of an anonymous and retired NBA player before the shooting guard’s transfer to the Sixers became official. A phrase that perfectly defines another chapter in the career of a historic player who, however, leaves behind a mountain of corpses in the form of enemies (within the limits of the word) that he already accumulated when he remained faithful (within the limits of the NBA) to some colors, and that grows as the air changes. As if they were not few, and of enormous magnitude, those that he left in just under a decade in Houston; in case putting Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving against him was not very daring. Just in case, just in case…
Harden’s career it is what it iswithout conditions or buts, without the possibility of unnecessary elevation or, of course, undervaluation exercises. Harden is, and always will bea legendary player, one of the greatest offensive talents of all time. And also is, and always will bea man who has fallen prey to his own shortcomings, who has never corrected what prevented him from advancing towards the rings and Olympus and who has had, it is obvious, a huge amount of egomania and narcissism that has ended up marking his career to unsuspected limits. The player who won the MVP in 2018, three consecutive Top Scorer titles and went on to average 36.1 points in a single season (the highest figure since Michael Jordan in 1986-87) is the same one who has signed and fired teammates at will, has been capricious and has been permanently opposed to assuming a different role the one he loved.
In an NBA in which everything is possible or, rather, almost nothing is impossibleHarden has broken barriers once unbeatable, has personified the most boring part of the current game (the one with the 3-pointers, the baskets in the zone and the eternal possessions) and has broken marks and records one day in and another too. He is an indivisible part of an era of evolution, not of involution; he is also the greatest rival of one of the greatest dynasties in history, those Warriors of the three rings and the five Finals. But it’s nothing morebecause his teams have reflected what he himself was, they have remained on the path that led to their definitive place in history and have fallen prey to their own mistakes. And all this without being able to beat the most important rival: themselves. Just like Harden, that he has always collided with limitations that he has self-imposed.
The never ending story
Harden has always been in the eye of the storm because of his habits, his poor work ethic, his constant visits to clubs striptease and a host of others manias (to call them in some way) that have been attributed. In 2012, after winning the Best Sixth Man award, he was used as a scapegoat for the Thunder’s loss in the Finals, in which he averaged 12.4 points (16.8 in regular season) and less than 38% in field goals (almost 50). In the Rockets, Harden emerged as the leader of a new project that also featured corpses that Harden faced to a greater or lesser extent: Jeremy Lin, Kevin McHale and Dwight Howard were the protagonists of the first phasesettled by a Conference finals in 2015 (4-1 against the Warriors, of course).
Before the second phase, it was obvious that the team needed something more to compete and Daryl Morey signed Mike D’Antoni, a man who always innovates, and that happened at the speed of Seven Seconds or Less to the slowness of the new system, which aimed to dethrone the Warriors: 55, 65 and 53 wins the following years, with a loss to the Spurs and, twice (and again) to the Warriors. Chris Paul arrived to perfectly adapt to the shooting guard, defend, play without the ball and demonstrate his immense quality and his propensity for injuries, in the fifth game of those Western finals that were the greatest opportunity for the Rockets since they had in their ranks that almost deity that Hakeem Olajuwon represented. However, there were no excuses: the Rockets managed, without Paul, differences of more than 20 points in the sixth game and, in the seventh, they missed 19 triples in a row to fail with that one immovable plan that ended up being their undoing.
Things did not change the following year, with a defeat, this time in the semifinals, after tying the tie at 2 and without an injured Kevin Durant. 4-2, goodbye to options and discussion behind the scenes with Chris Paul, who left at the request of a Harden who requested the arrival of Russell Westbrook, whom he wanted to evict a year later, after being eliminated in the Orlando bubble. Two consecutive betrayals of two players that he himself had requested. And, without that being enough, not happy with Westbrook’s departure, he asked for his own, which he forced ad nauseam and ended up getting more out of heaviness than out of the Rockets’ desire, now without D’Antoni, without Morey. and with a Stephen Silas who knew absolutely nothing about the subject nor had he spoken to a player who showed little or no loyalty to an entity that had given everything for him and today collects the crumbs of a failed project.
Embiid, new partner or new victim?
Harden came to a project that was created, within the parameters of the era of empowered players, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. They were the ones who arrived, the ones who did not jump on the court in the first year (Kyrie 20 games and Durant none), they threw Kenny Atkinson behind the scenes and dedicated themselves to managing everything as they pleased. To do what they could with Joseph Tsai, the owner, to choose Steve Nash to do rather little in a coaching position that they consider more of an obligation than a necessity and to be the referents of a project that he aimed (at the moment, I don’t have won) the ring. Harden was a last minute guest. And the shooting guard soon assumed the role of point guard and assured that he would do everything to win. Until that everything It has been too much for what I was willing to give.
Kyrie did not get vaccinated, Durant threw everything and, when he was injured, it was Harden who got it do guitar solos. The shooting guard, in a physical form that was far from what he was in his best years in the RocketsI noticed a lot back to backs, he arrived at the last quarters tired, he was not comfortable having to pull the car alone, he did not agree with Kyrie’s decision not to get vaccinated and he was lost in a city where everyone is, New York. And in Philadelphia Morey threw him while in Brooklyn there was no longer D’Antoni, Nash’s assistant last year, when an extension in the seventh game of the Conference semifinals left Harden without a ring that he has never won. One of the (many) pending subjects for him. Wishes fulfilled, second forced transfer in a year and goodbye to the project of the big three. One that, despite everything, always had two stars and never had three. In the end, just 16 matches for the trio with a 13-3 record. An association so ephemeral that we cannot even ask ourselves that about what would have happened if…
And now comes the jewel in the crown. A dream quintet with him at point guard, Tyrese Maxey (whom the Sixers have refused to include in the trade), Danny Green, Tobias Harris and Joel Embiid. And the doubts of a new partner who needed another star… but perhaps not one of the 33-year-olds, who has a long history of bad habits, of mistreatment of his colleagues and that, on top of all that, he’s far from his best. It’s possible (even likely) that he’ll meet the Nets again in the playoffs, and his indifference to what he just did is directly proportional to what he’s shown to what he’s shown in the past. Doc Rivers did not want Harden, Embiid is another difficult character who will not want disputes for the leadership of the team, of his team, and everything has happened because La Barba has wanted and because of the likes and dislikes of a manager, Daryl Morey, who has put aside his usual statistics and has pulled a player he loves always and for everything. This is how things stand for James Harden, who begins his next great adventure with many doubts and a reputation hanging by a thread. It is up to him to change that. We will see.
