Houston Rockets: James Harden’s priorities are in the wrong place

Amid several recent interviews and stories, James Harden revealed a hierarchy of priorities that should concern fans of the Houston Rockets.

In an attempt to promote the latest iteration of his Adidas signature sneaker, the Harden Vol. 4s, James Harden has spent some of the final weeks of the offseason making the rounds across the media landscape.

There was an article by Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck. GQ sat down for an interview with the reigning scoring champ. A radio appearance on 97.9 The Box done over a month ago has continued to make the rounds. What the three have in common is a distinct message put out by the Bearded One regarding an MVP trophy he believes is rightfully his.

"“Once the media, they create a narrative about somebody from the beginning of the year, I think they just take that narrative and just run with it the entire year,” Harden said on The Box.Speaking to GQ: “You can’t tell me that a guy whose team was a 14-seed at one point last year, and ended up a four-seed with everything that was going on—so many injuries—and who went on a 32-game 30-point streak, eight 50-point games, two 60-point games in one season…and all the talk was about [Giannis Antetokounmpo]? There’s no way.”"

Harden isn’t completely off base with his assessment of the voting process for the league’s highest individual honor. Once the media attaches itself to the storyline of a player, it’s awfully difficult for any challenger to unhinge that grip.

His argument loses quite a bit of steam, however, given who claimed the 2018-19 MVP over him. Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t just lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a league-best 60 wins last year. His 27.7 points, 12.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game were numbers not seen since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975-76.

The Bucks were the No. 1 team in terms of point differential at 8.9, more than two points ahead of the second-place finisher. They were the only team to rank inside the top-five in both offensive and defensive rating, elite marks spearheaded by a superstar not looking for the praise of climbing out of a hole he dug for himself — as Harden did following an 11-14 start.

More concerning than Harden’s unwarranted discredit of a historic season by the Greek Freak was the frightening accuracy with which he recounted the highlights of his career-best season, almost as if the wasted MVP-caliber numbers were the only loss suffered a season ago.

For the second consecutive postseason, the Houston Rockets were bounced off their home court by the Golden State Warriors. The wound was only salted more in the absence of Kevin Durant from about the two-minute mark of the third quarter in Game 5 until the Dubs closed out the series two nights later in Game 6.

It was another disappointing shortcoming that was enough to stoke a fire in the stomach of Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta. One would think it’d do the same for Houston’s leader as well.

Yet here we are, less than a month from the start of a new season with the previous one having ended over three months ago, and Harden’s biggest concern seems to be that of which only he is affected by.

Harden’s greatness has come to be a staple of the decade, but while contemporaries in a similar position have all enhanced their legacies with championships — LeBron James, Stephen Curry, et al  — Harden still lags behind with numerous postseason flameouts on his ledger.

Having recently celebrated his 30th birthday, Harden is well aware of his basketball mortality and the unknown of what lies ahead as he inches closer to the end of his Hall of Fame career. He knows that to truly be grouped with the likes of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade at his position, a signature title run is necessary.

That conscious recognition of what’s required from him is what makes his MVP rant all the more baffling. Harden wants to win a championship, and he wants to do it in Houston, but his recent words paint a completely different picture, one that won’t do any favors to the self-obsessed image he’s painted for himself if the ultimate prize continues to elude him.