James Harden had too much power in Houston, and he abused it — Shannon | NBA | UNDISPUTED

too

much

power

, scale balance who has been covering professional sports for 40 years, said all the great coaches, general managers and owners said that superstars win games and you want to have as many of those guys as possible and you realize that When you get one of those guys you're going to have to seed them or you're going to have to make a lot of their demands and it seems to me that it takes a special type of person to have

power

and not abuse it and it seems like a true statement to me. It seems that James Harden realized he had the power yes and he

abused

it well you know what they're not going to say no to me so let's stay a couple more days so I can kick him a little Honey let me stay a couple of days to to be able to hang out and go to this city and do that, and what happened was and look, now it's starting to come.

That's probably why Chris Paul, that's probably why Russell Westbrook had a problem. Well, this story says that they definitely had these problems, yes, so now we're starting to see why something doesn't add up, you want a guy, your best friend, everyone kicked him from knee high to a grasshopper and all of a sudden, he. like he wanted out before

james

hardly mentioned anything about dating chris paul bounce uh dwight howard bounce so now you're starting to see that had a lot to do with it and jump I saw you last night I know look here I'm not I'm not saying that James Harden, the training warrior, but I can say that he did not work a single day, not a single day he carried at least 10 extra, right, yes, let's give it to him, I said he needed to be like Lebron or have a Giannis or Dwight Howard type. body, but this is ridiculous, James, I mean, you are.

He hasn't even raised his hand to trim his beard. He had the big, bushy Kendrick Perkins beard that worked well and I think what happens is when you look at it you see James.

harden

has led the league in scoring for three straight years, look at the trip, he can go get you a 50 point triple-double, he's in the MVP discussion every year, every year, das, das, das, you give, you give, you take, take, take and now. Suddenly he says, well, I have nothing else to take, you have nothing else to give, I want to go and they are in line, the problem is that the rockets have everything they have. done in the last eight years, yes, they are trying to win a title for themselves, but they gave in to James Harden's demands and now they have nothing left to give, so now what do they do?

He says, well, you guys don't have anything. nothing more to give, they can't bring in more players, no one else wants to play with me, they will take me out of here and if I'm the rocket, I'll hold on, James Harden is starting the season. skip, I know you don't want to take away superstar players, but I'm holding on because James Harden is basically because he is the way he is, he's diminished, he's diminished the value of what you can actually get, that's a superstar. Superstars usually control young players and draft picks, look what he got, look what a festive game they gave up to have a vacation and you want to give away James Harden for a bag of pennies and a loaf of bread, no, bro , that's not happening, but James Harden you wrong on this, bro, hey, you're a phenomenal talent, but you're wrong about how you did it, okay, I heard everything you just said, the Houston rockets have fallen every time deeper into what I call the James Harden trap because it's tough.

Hate, it's hard not to love, right, Daryl Mori just left Houston and left a full page ad thanking James Harden for changing my life, said Darrell Mooring, he's a game-changing talent, we've never seen anyone score the ball since the perimeter like that. James Can, we've never ever seen anyone get to the free throw line the way James does and make his free throw picks more than anyone else. History simply breaks the record every year. We've rarely seen a more durable player than James Harden. up there, but James is really up there, he just doesn't get hurt, he'll play through any minor ankle sprain and shoulder bruise and he takes a fair amount of punishment at the rim, as you know, you realize he's been there for eight years.

In Houston they have made the playoffs all eight years and are the only team in the entire league that has made the playoffs in that period every year, even obviously the Lakers in LeBron's first year missed the playoffs and had missed them . I missed it before, but I say it just happened to everyone, everyone had a bad year or something even golden, well they had the worst record in basketball last year, so only Houston can say, hey, we made the playoffs eight times in a row. lebron obviously lebron has earned the right to dictate within the confines of the lakers maybe a practice schedule a day off i'm sure he does also i'm pretty sure lebron isn't late, i'm pretty sure he is, I'm pretty sure, if they say the bus leaves at first step to win at all.

The teams I've covered are rule number one and you've told me this many times: you have to be on time and it's offensive to you as a team leader if someone is late because they're taking money. your pockets because ultimately that's why you're going to lose a playoff game because that lack of discipline can carry over to the right, which is why russell westbrook, according to the espn story last year, completely fell apart with

james

because he was just perpetually late for bus, plane or movie session after a while, he drove Russia crazy because that Oklahoma City thunder operation was militaristic, if you will, yes, he was on time or paid the fine , and in this case there was a bubble incident that has been written about. an espn piece where russ shows up on time for the movie session he's in the playoffs here we go and guess who's late because he scheduled his greed test right before the movie session starts well that's just a blatant put down in the districts absolutely so so russ gets offended to the point where he yells at dan tony the movie starts, it starts now and dan tony says i can't because i'm going to have to watch it again do you want to watch it twice because i'm going to have to?

Show James the same things I'm about to show you and Russ is just throwing his hands up and that seemed to be the beginning of the end. Jump, the thing is you love your leaders, which worked so well in New England. Jump. it's that tom was on time, tom did it the right way, jump, you can't let your leaders be so undisciplined and then expect everyone else to fall in line, they'll just take away your cute, they're cute, it's okay, so all the day off stuff rescheduling on the trip, you know, all of a sudden, James will take it if you have a day off on the trip, I'll take a private flight to Las Vegas and party for one night.

I'm fine with that from time to time. because the point in the article was that he would come back the next night and give you what you point out, a 50-point triple-double, okay, I'm okay with that, I'm okay with the days off in Los Angeles. where you say if you're not back to back, obviously, let's spend the night and stay one more day in Los Angeles, right, because it's the, it's winter, let's stay there, let's stay in Phoenix for one day, there's really no way to win in Los Angeles in Phoenix. Okay, I got it, but I'm fine with all that.

Now back to LeBron versus James Harden. LeBron earned the right to dictate some off days and practice schedules, but LeBron has rewarded him by leading teams to 10 NBA Finals, no no. eight or six or four ten, right and he won four out of ten, that's a reward, that's earning the right to have that power you talk about, right, James Harden got the Rockets even though he reached eight consecutive plows, the led them to zero NBA finals and obviously didn't win any NBA finals, led them to two Western conference finals and what happened in both finals happened with James Harden, as great as he has been during the regular season, as hard as he played on defense last year in In the regular season he was in the top three in deflections and fumble recoveries last year, all of that added to what many Western Conference finals from that first year remember against Golden State in 2015.

In In the closing game, he scored two of eleven. the court oh for three of three and had an NBA record 12 turnovers 12 turnovers this is all the money on the table really was that was the Golden State game, yeah, the one that dribbled with his foot at the end of the game, yeah Okay, so we have two, there are too many here for me to even get through, but remember the classic Spurs closing game? There's no Tony Parker or Kawhi Leonard playing for my Spurs in Houston in a closing Game 6. they lost by 39 points and James in that game had six turnovers, shot two of 11 from the floor and two of nine from three, okay, that's what it is and then the 2018 western conference finals, this is the closest the franchise came to greatness with James.

harden

remembers that they are up three games to two largely because of chris paul the right third and then chris paul right on the schedule as often as it has happened to him too often that he pulled his hamstring and came out fine on the start, that was the fifth correct game and so six and Seven James goes alone, they end up winning the fifth game, yes, they put them up three two, they are up three to two in the sixth game and Seven James was a combined minus 32, he shot six of 25 from three combined in those two games and then Well, the seventh game he lost like 24 25 right away, he did well.

I'm showing you that he hasn't lived up to the power that's been given to him, so he's gone through four head coaches. This article says he got Kevin. mchale was fired and you want to talk about coming from a disciplined system kevin mchale was a superstar for a Celtics team you love featuring larry joe bird yeah and you don't think they were on time of course you don't think they were disciplined you don't think that they did it the right way and again cp3 fell apart because he got tired of james because james, when he knows it's chris's turn, according to chris, james would just stand in the middle of the court and say "okay" and he was just nonchalant and and and watching the entire offensive possession well, that's it, but that's his thanks, he doesn't, he needs the ball because it's not like he's cutting, it's not like he's setting screens for someone else to get an open skill, he will just stay with his leg on the three-point line okay, it's your turn, I'm going to sit here, that's why he needs the ball, so if he doesn't have the ball it's not like he's a great player without the ball No, he's not like Stephen Curry or Clay he's constantly moving, he's not sitting at the back door, he picks someone else to get the ball, he's like, well, I'm going to do my thing, hey, he'll call someone over. put a selection on it, jump, I just think the thing is like I said, it's different. than football because obviously you have your superstars, but like I said, the abuse of power is a special type of person who knows that I have this power, but I'm not going to abuse it and it seems to me that James Harden knew he had that. power because he had seen them give in to his every demand and the musketeer is difficult the more you give the more they will take so you gotta put my girlfriend, say boy I gotta put I gotta put a limit on what I give . because most people don't put a limit on what they take, very few, almost no one will, yeah, so what did the rockets do?

We gave up everything to get your boy Russ, yeah we gave him four n-n-n-c-p-t three so we ain't got nothing left to give so they say you ain't got nothing left to give him nothing a boy I wanna go there okay then it's you? Held hostage by James Harden, who by the way is not a free agent, he has two years left on his contract plus an option of almost 50. It's a lot of money and he is obviously now giving an increasingly longer list of destinations for trade demands. I'll go here, I'll go there, the latest is Miami, there's the Sixers, obviously, there have been x others, right, um, I just don't know how that's going to happen because I don't think you'll like it.

Sixers, I don't think they want to trade any of those stars and by the way, I saw them both last night, doctor, you know it came early, they look very good too, they will be very good, they will be a force and a factor miami has an established culture how are you going to fit james into pat riley's culture in miami? I don't understand that patty patty delaying any flights, no, come on, because she remembers that she wrote this book about lebron. how he wanted to stay nice for thanksgiving and pat like no, we left, that means you're on the plane too, okay, I don't know how you'd do here and you can't, how many of you young players , they give up? to get james you're going to give up bam and hero, well well now you're starting over with just james and what, yeah right I'm looking at what I've given up and what happens in a year when he's upset. with me when I am not precise regarding the demand now I have given upbam I gave up tyler hero I gave up draft picks yeah that's what got them in trouble they gave up everything and now he wants out like this Now where do I go?

Yeah, because what happened, wait, what happened to skinny James, right? Before the bubbles tell you he got in shape because you know we're going to win a championship, we feel good, that's a small ball, where did that guy go? I look like that guy ate skinny James Skip, he didn't look good last time The night James Harden hasn't been working on an appearance, yeah, I thought his performance looked good, he didn't look like he was pouting or He played well as usual, maybe he injured a rib because that shirt was sticking out too

much

. a bit beyond what he normally does, ridiculous, no I'm with you on that one okay, ultimately I blame the team owner for this because the buck starts and stops at his desk so it will set the tone that James is going to have. able to take advantage of it, so for years it was less Alexander in Houston, now it's Tillman Fertitta and I hate to put the onus on them because they probably did when they bought that they have little to no knowledge of what's going on here, but It still starts from the top, well, Alexander had skipped his credit, now he had one from Keem Elijah, so he knows him and you know at one point he and Elijah were fighting here, but they made peace and everything worked out, so he.

He doesn't skip, I think the thing is when you get into this business you have people around you that help you understand that James Harden, Kevin Durant, Lebron James, they get certain privileges that other players don't get and you have to accuse a little bit . give in to some of their demands, that's fine, but when you give in to every demand of every whip, skip the article that says every personal decision was made by James Harden, the travel piece, wait, you mean to tell me that James Harden is going to determine yes or no, if we don't have a thanksgiving game, what time do we practice and what time do we eat, yes, and Christmas and the flight schedule, everything will be fine, so here is my solution for them, this is my advice for them and I'm going to To talk about a guy that you know and love, Aaron Rodgers, yeah, what was the big change in Green Bay?

They finally decided that we can't let him run the entire franchise, so we have to take back some of the power and some of the influence, okay? How do we do it well? We are going to choose the next head coach after Mike McCarthy. We're going to pick a young head coach that we really like and think he can be a star. You will choose him and they will consult you and we will not call you, we will call you only after you have signed and sealed and the big explosive report is in the stands about Aaron.

I got a call from management saying, “Hey, I just want to let you know what we have.” a new young head coach, we'll skip it like he started, remember what the quote was, aren't you the problem now? You remember it started a couple of years before when Alex Van Pelt, his quarterbacks coach, got fired, and then he consoled him and he was furious about it and he said, look, you would have thought they would have, you know, conferenced with me or talked to me. considering the relationship I had and how good it's been, pla, how well I've been playing and how well I've been playing.

Well, he had been training the position, so they did something you can't do in the NBA. The Green Bay Packers went straight into the draft and moved up in the first round to take another quarterback with the 26th overall pick. They took Jordan. love, right and the message was sent to Aaron, you are on the right clock and you can argue right now that that choice was made short term and short term because there may have been hope that he would relight the fire under arrest, right? uh yeah yeah I took the power back now because it looked like I was about to win the MVP, it's like taking my power back, okay, but they're like, hey, maybe it worked out well, maybe just having that kid sitting there on the quarterback room looking up. his shoulder off the bench maybe propelled him back into a disciplined, focused mentality, you know, a blocking mentality that they didn't have for the last one, you can't, you can't do that in the NBA, that's why I tell you I can't have to someone behind James ready to take his job because it just isn't working out.

What are you going to do? You have Patrick and you argue and all of a sudden you draft Shaq, I mean, it doesn't exactly work out well, but but. there's a way to take the power back and just say like or group it that's how it will be and crack down and change the rules and say you're under contract and you're going to have to like it now, now you can make a d like a.d was that year he was stuck in New Orleans, that's the problem with this league, that the superstars can then just pout, quit, well, one thing he can't do, you know?

That's another thing I noticed, skip, is that when they take that you know James Harden has a healthy payroll. I don't know if people know this, but James Harden likes the pretty things that Richard looks at and and and and uh lambos and ferraris and he has you know that he and you know he has a nice little payroll that he has, you know some kids in college, you know it was a number, so James Harden doesn't miss a check, he doesn't miss a game when you make that kind of money, he probably makes three, four, a thousand dollars a game, yeah, if you're not missing it, that's fine, so what did I watch last night and did I watch most of the Rockets game?

I saw a team that believe it or not. I think he can be a little better than last year's team Yes, I'm a great cousin of Demarcus Yes, and last night he seemed good to me Can he stay healthy? It looked good. He has lost weight. He looked good. It looked like he was ready to go. He was on form, wasn't he, I've never been the biggest fan of John Wall, but I liked how he looked last night with James. It seemed like he was more willing to be the point guard, like obviously with James and Russell Westbrook.

It's like your turn is mine. Your turn, my turn, I'll tack this way and then you'll attack there because this is the thing, although skip russ is like why do I concede? how can I consider you? I'm an MVP like you, yes, I've quit. I have three years in a row of triple doubles. I don't have to concede anything to John Wall at least. He might like John. You don't have any MVP, bro. Yeah, you've never led the league on the scene. I love what John said. I don't know if it came from his heart, but I saw his post-game and he said I'm the point guard.

I can't be thinking about scoring 30 or 40 points. Well he scored 30 and 40 points in his career during a bad team, obviously in washington, well maybe now at 30 he's 30 and demarcus is 30. maybe they'll say okay let's try to make this work again. I'm not saying this is a championship team, I think it's a little deeper and a little better than last year, I do two skills, but you remember the old school point guards, they were into magic and stuff, skipping not score 50 points, I think the magic run could be like low 40s, that's because it was about getting you know, 7 15 16 17 assists, yeah, but now these two point guards who pose as points come out with the anticipation of trying to score 50, 40, 50 points and well, if I get five assists, it's a pretty good game, so it's a different mentality. but for me, this is this article, you know, I don't want to take everything on face value, it's valuable, but it didn't paint a very flattering picture of how James Harden has conducted himself over the last eight years in Houston.

Final thought, Daryl Mori left that. announcement on his way back to Houston now I'm starting to look back because Daryl is a shrewd operator, maybe that was, so to speak, his parting gift to the franchise, as I'm going to continue, I'm going to empower him even more to James, you changed. my life and it will make James feel good, then he should be God here, right, that's what players usually put out ads when they've been thanking the organization for a while thanking the fans. I don't remember a president to g vice president doing that thanking Player in particular, I can't say in any sport that I've heard that I'll be very interested to see how much Daryl would ultimately give up to get James, maybe not much, maybe he'll be happy with what he has. because they know he's going to know, like you said, superstars cause a problem, he has to be out, so we're getting pennies on the dollar, but if I'm the Houston Rockets, no you won't be, you'll take less than you , which uh milwaukee gave up to have a real vacation, you'll take less than that by james harden, no, oh, absolutely not, thanks for watching, you can subscribe here to get the latest from the show and make sure you see more of the best. clips from

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