fair enough, but so what? you're just attacking McHale the person . . . how about his argument that James is not yet quite there as a leader? evaluate his argument on its merits, not on your personal dislike for MacFail
MDA is a better coach and fit for Morey's offensive philosophy than McHale not doubt. McHale does have good points about Harden's overall leadership and Harden does need to continue to improve in this area. Harden has improved it appears some in leadership this year but it needs to continue to improve (leading by example by hustling on both ends of the floor, cutting down the TOs, etc.)
Where did you hear this? Was it in a book or newspaper or what? I always thought he played hard in games I saw.
What is he basing this on? It's not like he's in the locker room. Being a leader is more than just yelling at your teammates out on the court and playing angry, Kevin.
Actually, he was attacking McHale the player. And he's right. It's well documented that McHale gave up on Fitch. That's a player/leadership thing. Bird wasn't a huge fan of McHale. Where McHale did give great effort on defense, Bird called him a black hole on offense. Anyhoot...I like McHale more than most here. I was surprised to hear him sound somewhat bitter like that. James leads just as much as champions like Wade, Nowitzki and Curry do/did. Yes, I'd love to see him fockass on defense, so others will follow him more like they followed Bird, who wasn't gifted on defense. But, sheesh, obviously Wade, Nowitzki and Curry have proven that you can win without being a leader in effort on both sides of the court in the classic sense of the word. But man, why does Harden attract such vitriol that Wade, Nitwitz and Curry don't. And then we have Nash the Leader, too. anyhoot, not that fun of an argument for me. I'm out. Maybe read this thread later, when it hits 14 pages, and I'm bored.
His opinions are biased, and I don't know that someone that had their leadership and effort questioned is the right person to claim that leadership is something someone is born with, and the inference being that Harden wasn't born with it and will never have it. There are very few "great leaders". Is Chris Paul a leader? Is Russell Westbrook a leader? What about LeBron James?? For years I heard that LeBron melted at the biggest moments in games? What about Steph Curry after the playoffs melt down last year? Is Kevin Durant? Does James need to be better in transition defense? Absolutely, but that isn't really "leadership", I can find flaws in almost every single players game, that someone can label as leadership issues. Honestly it all sounds like an excuse by McHale because he is bitter that the Rockets did the opposite of what McHale advocated, and the Rockets are on pace to win 57-58 games. Let me ask you this........how about a situation where a team is coming off of a terrible season, loses their all star center, gets a new coach.... and the best player on the team is asked to carry a bigger load, the best player on the team meets with and practices with his teammates during the summer.... the best player remains optimistic about the season.... and the team is on pace for 57-58 wins........ that sounds like "leadership" to me.
at the same time you believe he's a complete leader as of this moment? If so, what are you basing that on? it's not crazy to believe harden still has plenty of room to grow as a leader
I hate it when people disqualify someones arguments because their bias towards the person making the argument. With that logic none of us even deserve to have opinions because we didnt win a championship.
I remember it being discussed at the time, and later I saw an interview with KC Jones where he discussed the issues with McHale..... FWIW the player with the best leadership traits on the Celtics of the Celtics (if you believe Larry Bird and Red Aurbach) was a player that no one talked about... a reserve named Jerry Sichting; who used to lead the second unit during practice and regularly beat the first unit with Bird and McHale.
Every single "leader" in the world has "room to grow"..... let me know when McHale starts questioning the leadership of other players as good as Harden.
We have Egordon as a play maker, the problem is harden wont defer. I dont disagree we need more play makers but Harden doesn't always let play makers be play makers when he is on the court with them.
Meant to respond to this one. Remember that I never accused you specifically of doing that. I also havent taken a position on mchales claims yet
I think they're bullshit and very lazy. Anyone who's been watching knows James plays D now and their is no question he is the leader; the team and coaches look at him in that manner. He's also embraced it and came into camp in great shape. very passive aggressive and honestly who cares what he says, he failed with harden.
Yes, Harden does those things sometimes. But you cannot seriously make an argument that for him to be the leader of a championship team, he has to be the most flawless player in the history of the game. Which is what he would be. If Harden was a good defender and turned it over only 3-4 times while still dishing it out 12, scoring 29 on 19 shots and grabbing 8 rebounds, we would be discussing whether he is the greatest player to ever play the game. It's NOT true that if we don't win it all, it's because of Harden. The totality of what James Harden does - including turnovers and defense - is equal to the best player in the world this regular season according to the same people who crown the best players every year. Can he be better than the best player in the world? Sure, he can improve. It's the least of my worries though. And McHale is not the person who has the key. He rode Harden and Morey to a few good seasons then when he had to do some actual "players' coach" coaching, he failed. He had Dwight and Harden, and he couldn't motivate Dwight to do what's best for the team. That was HIS job. That's what coaching players is about. Instead he acted like the shitty high school teacher who blames students for not learning. We need to put better players around Harden. That's what we need to focus on. He is doing more than his part. It's not on him, it's on the front office. Get us an elite defensive player who is respectable on offense. That's what we need.
He didn't say anything I disagree with. His point about the turnover issue is true. Harden turns it over and a lot of times he never shows up on the tv screen again until he's getting the inbound pass after the other team scores. The turnovers in general are a major sore spot. He has too many of them, he doesn't put in enough effort after them and he doesn't seem to hold himself accountable for them either. It's also interesting that he fought McHale on playing off the ball.
Give me a list of other players that McHale has questioned the leadership of? I will save you the time of digging for it....... you won't find many. So the idea that Harden can improve as a leader is irrelevant, anyone can improve their leadership. Do you hear McHale questioning the leadership of all the other elite players? Of course not, because that isn't what McHale was doing.... he was taking shots at Harden. McHale was taking passive aggressive shots at Harden and the Rockets.... I wonder why?
