[The Athletic] James Harden discusses the NBA ruling that his step-back is not a travel

I.D.I.O.T

Absolutely great stuff from Harden here.

 

James Harden, Mike D’Antoni ready for step-back debate to end
Jonathan Feigen Houston Chronicle


With the NBA seeking to better define what is and — when it comes to James Harden’s much-celebrated and debated step-back 3-pointer — what is not a travel, Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni happily said the discussion should be over.

That would be fine with Harden.

“I’m tired of hearing that’s a travel, from coaches, from other players, from haters, fans, whatever you want to call it,” Harden said. “Embrace it. It’s going to be here for a while, whether it’s from me, whether it’s from somebody else that I pass it along to or that work in the gym and create and try to impact the best game in the world.”

Harden laughed initially when asked about the NBA announcement last week after the Board of Governors meeting. But he emphasized that he was ready to change the subject.
“It shouldn’t have been a point (of discussion) at all, period,” Harden said. “The moves that I do and I create are not travels or the referees who get paid a lot of money and are the best at what they do would call a travel. Any of my moves that I do on the perimeter have never been called for a travel. I don’t understand where this whole traveling thing comes from, just because it looks awkward or it looks different from what the world is used to, that’s called being a creator, that’s called changing the game.

“So, live with it. Hopefully, your favorite players will start doing it, too.”

The NBA clarified the language on traveling violations and specifically on gathering the ball, the trigger Harden’s step-back 3-pointer. The change is only to have a specific section of the official rule book define the “gather” of the ball, though traveling will be “a point of emphasis” this season.


“They — which is great — made a point to tell every head coach that is not traveling,” D’Antoni said. “And it’s not traveling. Hopefully coaches will quit complaining and people in the news will understand that is not traveling.

“Every once in a while there is one. But his move, his patented move, is not a travel. It’s defined in the rulebook and it’s not. It’s not a travel, which is good.”

Harden’s use of his step-back 3-pointer helped him lead the NBA in scoring the past two seasons, averaging 36.1 points last season. The overhead video of an instance when he did get away with a travel, back-pedaling to a 3 against Ricky Rubio and the Jazz, helped inspire much of the discussion about the move in general. But when done correctly, the move was misunderstood, not impermissible.

The NBA announcement this month specified “A player who gathers the ball while dribbling may take two steps in coming to a stop, passing or shooting the ball.”


Still, the NBA said it would launch “an aggressive education plan.”

“It never was (worthy of) a discussion,” Harden said. “I mean, who created that it was a travel?”
Years earlier, Harden had similarly heard from fans and others that he was traveling on a Eurostep, complaints that ceased as it became more widespread throughout the league. That also included two steps after gathering the ball, but was nowhere near as unusual as rapidly stepping back to take a 3-pointer.

“Now it’s like a cool move to do, right?” Harden said.


D’Antoni said there will likely be more travels called in the NBA this season with the league making it a point of emphasis to call travels, especially on the split steps to start drives.

“There are other points we have to clean up that are traveling, and the NBA is going to try to do a better job,” D’Antoni said. “When you take off after the catch, the splits or you move your pivot foot, all that stuff that happens all the time, they’re going to try to get all of them. They’re going to change the mechanics of how they look at it. Some habits have to be broken. Every team is guilty of it a lot.”

Harden’s step-back 3, however, won’t have to change. Whether conversations about it end remains to be seen, but that is one change he and D’Antoni would welcome.

 

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