Houston Rockets: James Harden Must Let His Game Do The Talking

“Pretty bad” is a tad mild when considering James Harden‘s defense; however, numerous synonyms can encapsulate his defensive demeanor: lethargic, non-existent, laughable, etc. During the Houston Rockets’ media day on Monday, Harden decided to take a light approach when discussing his defensive woes.

Although the saying “actions speak louder than words” has become a hackneyed adage, it certainly holds true. Often times, people’s faulty speech fails to coincide with their efforts. A prime example of empty talk is when Harden alleged that he is the best basketball player alive. If the so-called greatest player in basketball plays defense like he just woke up, then I’d hate to see how his fellow NBA players perform.

Perhaps Harden had forgotten that defense is part of the game. Let’s remind him, shall we?

I wrote here how Harden remained absent-minded on the defensive end throughout the FIBA World Cup — which prompted ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla to join in on the maligning of Harden’s defense, or lack thereof. Defense is more heavily predicated on heart and effort than it is on skill, and Harden proved that he’s capable of playing lock-down defense during his tenure with the Oklahoma City Thunder; however, as illustrated in the video above, Harden has been outright lazy on defense with the Rockets.

Perhaps now that videos of Harden playing porous defense have permeated social media sites, Harden will amend his attentiveness on his least favorable side of the court.

Nonetheless, James Harden isn’t the only player who needs to step up in order for the Rockets to contend in the Western Conference. With the departure of Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin, and Omer Asik, Houston’s second unit has been relegated into a state of depletion.

The unproven and inexperienced players the Rockets acquired — which includes Troy Daniels, Kostas Papanikolaou, and Donatas Motiejunas — will fill up their new look on the bench this season. All of them must perform adequately in order to provide relief for Houston’s starters; otherwise, James Harden and the rest of the starting unit will have to elevate their (already deficient) performances simply to make up for the feeble bench unit.

With Parsons and Lin gone, Harden remains the only player on the Rockets who is adept at creating plays for himself as well as others — yet his increased workload on offense may tamper with his aspirations to improve defensively.  Although, according to James Harden, Houston should have no fear, for Dwight Howard and the Beard are here. The two star players believe that Houston’s disadvantageous offseason transactions won’t affect them in the slightest.

Recently, Harden reinforced Howard’s sentiments that Houston’s All-Star duo is proficient enough to optimize the Rockets’ title chances, and that there’s no need to worry about the interchangeable role players who simply fill out the roster.

Needless to say, Harden may find trouble validating his view points this upcoming season, which entail that he will in fact perform like the NBA’s best player by ameliorating his defense and co-leading the Rockets to a successful playoff run. Should the Beard return to the defensive ace that he was with OKC, Harden may catapult his name straight to the top of the MVP’s ballot next season. 

Harden, though he seems to perceive himself in a lofty light, made comments regarding his “pretty bad” defense which may indicate that he’s willing to be accountable for his defensive shortcomings. After all, isn’t there another saying that states “the first step to solving a problem is recognizing that it exists”?

According to Jonathan Feign of the Houston Chronicle, Harden has shown reluctance in addressing his weaknesses to the media in years prior, so the fact that he’s recognizing them now suggests an epiphanous inclination towards improving defensively.   

Despite the fact that James Harden has expressed a variety of incongruous thoughts in years prior, there would be no better year for the Beard to equalize his speech with his effort on the court than the 2014-15 season. Time is ticking.