Before the Los Angeles Clippers’ game against the Dallas Mavericks last week, Mavericks broadcaster Brian Dameris took some time to address James Harden by absolutely destroying the former MVP in a two-minutes long monologue, while laying out why Harden isn’t The Beard, nor the system, but the problem.
“Because listen, I get on my knees every night and pray for someone to believe in me like [former Rockets GM and current Sixers GM] Daryl Morey believed in you.
You wanted a certain coach, [the Houston Rockets] brought in Mike D’Antoni. You wanted to play a certain style, they played it. You wanted Dwight Howard, they brought him in and got rid of him when you were tired of him.
You wanted Chris Paul, they brought him in and got rid of him when you were tired of him. They brought in your old friend Russell Westbrook.
You want to go to Vegas on off days? They looked away. You wanted the team to stay over so you could go out at night, they changed the schedule—and it didn’t work.
And you know what, you said… I see the bright lights of New York. I want to go there. My old pal Kevin Durant. It’s gonna work, the big three—and all after one year you wanted out.
You realized, “oh my gosh! I took this guy for granted, the guy that believed in me. I want back with Daryl Morey.” They traded Ben Simmons for you—how did they pull that off?
And you know what? You went there, and you got a partner [Joel Embiid] who got the MVP. He won the MVP, and what did you say afterwards? You said, “they didn’t hand me the reigns.” You’re the point guard! You were holding the reigns!
And what did you do when you had the reigns? You scored 9 points in Game 7 against Boston, you blew a 3-2 series lead. So they fired their coach, not good enough.
You broke up with the guy that believed in you again, you said “the bright lights of LA! That’s where I want to go! Let’s see if that works.”
Listen James, have you ever had those friends who had bad roommates? Over and over they complained about their bad roommates: “this guy’s terrible,” “the bad roommate here,” they never thought to be self aware enough that THEY’RE the bad roommate! They’re the problem!
Hey James, YOU’RE the PROBLEM! If this doesn’t work this year, in this system, with this team, then you’re gonna go and point fingers at everybody else and then you’re gonna go back home and you’re gonna start swiping right for another team, and there’s not gonna be anyone left.
Because James, you’re not the beard, you’re not the system, you’re the problem.”
The clip went absolutely viral and millions of fans agreed with Dameris’ take. Dameris’ broadcaster, Bally Sports Southwest however apparently did not feel the same way, and deleted the video.
Now, James Harden himself shared his perspective on Dameris’ rant in an interview with Bleacher Report:
“I didn’t even hear exactly what he said, but people were telling me he was going in on me. He doesn’t know me or the situation. That would be f–ked up if I went at him and started being disrespectful to him, but I can’t. They don’t know anything. They just go off what they see on social media or hearsay.
I don’t know exactly what he said, but I pay that s–t no mind. … I do a really good job at ignoring the noise because it doesn’t affect me. It’s just people talking. I guarantee that if you put whoever is talking in this situation, it wouldn’t be beneficial for them. That’s my mindset, but my focus is getting wins.”
