Photo Credit: AP Photo/Craig Lassig
James Harden Reportedly Struggles With Criticism By Rockets Teammates
In the 2018-19 season, James Harden had the second-longest streak of 30-point games in NBA history, second to only Wilt Chamberlain. During that span, Harden averaged 41.1 points per game.
On top of that, he lead the Houston Rockets to the playoffs, averaging 36.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 2.0 steals. But ‘The Beard’ did not win the MVP award and finished the voting in second behind Giannis Antetokounmpo. Worse than not winning the MVP though, was yet another early playoff exit for ‘The Beard’ and his Rockets.
This past season, after a relatively slow start, Harden was back to leading the league in scoring with 34.3 points per game, only to see himself being eliminated in the second round fo the playoffs again.
James Harden is a full-blown superstar and actually already has some very impressive career accolades. He’s a six-time All-NBA Team member, an eight-time All-Star, a three-time scoring champion, an assist ‘champion’, and an Olympic gold medalist.
But he wasn’t able to win an NBA Championship or lead his team to the Finals as the go-to-guy in his career, yet.
This has various reasons; First and foremost the tough competition in the Western Conference (Warriors first, now Lakers), but also Harden’s style of play and him lacking to evolve his game.
Additionally, Harden does not appear to be very receptive to criticism from his teammates. According to a report by The Athletic, Harden struggles with being held accountable by his teammates, even it is Russell Westbrook.
A large chunk of the angst, however, stems from a lack of accountability, sources said. During the January locker room meeting following a home loss to Portland, Westbrook, who was leading the meeting, went around the room indicating what was wrong and what each player needed to do to fix the losing streak, starting with himself, sources said. When it came to Harden, however, he wasn’t as receptive to criticism as other teammates, sources said.
