Rockets star James Harden has been testing a new one-legged, step-back three-pointer during several open runs this summer, seeking new ways to innovate his game for the upcoming season, Tim MacMahon of ESPN writes.
“I’m always trying to be creative,” Harden said. “I’m always trying to get better — at basketball, life, businesswise. I’m always trying to find ways to be impactful. With basketball, you have to be creative. This is my 11th year, and every single year I want to get better. I don’t want to stay the same. You’ve got to find ways to keep growing.”
The Rockets struck a major trade to acquire star guard Russell Westbrook from Oklahoma City this summer, sending away multiple first-round picks and pick swaps to sacrifice their future for a championship. Harden appears to be locked into having the best season of his career, hoping to capitalize on the team’s massive potential.
“I’m not sure; it’s something that I work on,” Harden said when asked if he’ll use the one-legged, step-back 3 this upcoming season. “But you know how Mike [Jordan] has his fadeaway and Dirk [Nowitzki] has his one-leg and [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar] had the sky hook, I want my step-back to be one of those moves that last forever. So when I travel around the world and I see little kids that [say], ‘Hey James, I got a step-back!’ — I love to see that.
“It’s me being a creator and me being an innovator and paving the way in basketball in my own way, doing it how I want to do it, and that’s what it’s all about. As a little kid playing in these parks, that’s what I imagined, that’s what I dreamed of. Now it’s coming to reality, so it’s pretty cool.”
There’s more out of the Western Conference tonight:
- In addition to testing a new lethal move, Harden recently made the decision to donate in excess of $240K to renovate basketball courts in Houston, as relayed by Ben DuBose of The Rockets Wire (Twitter link). This isn’t the first time he’s given back to the city of Houston, with the 29-year-old donating $1MM in 2017 to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.
- Jack Winter of Basketball Insiders ponders whether the Kings are finally bound to make the playoffs after 14 years of missing the tournament. Sacramento sports a young nucleus of De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield and Marvin Bagley III, combined with the veteran help of Harrison Barnes, Trevor Ariza, Dewayne Dedmon and others. The team finished with a 39-43 record last season, nine games behind the eighth seed Clippers.
- While the 2018/19 Most Valuable Player race between Giannis Antetokounmpo and Harden was close, Harden believes the media created a narrative that cost him his second MVP award, he told 97.9 The Box. “I had a [season] for the books, but it’s out of my control,” he said. “Once the media creates that narrative about one person for the beginning of the year, I think they just run with that narrative until the end of the year. I don’t want to get into details but all I can do is control what I can do and I did what I was supposed to do at a high level. Only a few seasons anybody ever did that. I can’t control that, all I can control is coming back next year and winning a chip.”
I think Harden really should have won MVP last year. I don’t know if we’ll ever see another player put up 36/7/6 over a full season.
He finished in 2nd place in 3 of the last 5 years. Once behind Curry, once behind Westbrook, and last year behind Giannis. And of course he won it after the 2017-18 season. He will probably finish in the top 2 of the MVP voting for the next 3-4 years as well.
Harden should have won the MVP if and ONLY if the award was given for scoring.
Giannis was DEFINITELY the MVP last year, no if’s, and’s OR but’s.
So then Curry didn’t win his two MVP’s only for his scoring?
People insist on holding James Harden to a higher standard just like they did 10 years ago with LeBron James so he didn’t win the MVP every year.
A lot of people hate on James Harden cause of his ability to draw fouls, but I never hear anyone talk about how many free throws per game Kobe Bryant used to get on those rip-throughs on his jumpers. If the refs call it, it’s part of the game. And it’s part of the game where elite players excel. Harden isn’t near my favorite player to watch, but he is very effective and deserves so much more credit than he gets.
I wonder when he sees his little fans, if he realizes that they aren’t playing defense either because they’re copying him!?!
You would think someone who was so butthurt over coming in 2nd in the MVP race would actually work on improving his atrocious defense, instead of claiming there was some big media conspiracy!!
Maybe if he did that, and you know God forbid, he actually became a two-way player, like the MVP, MAYBE, JUST MAYBE then the media wouldn’t write such narratives..
The media and former and current players hate his game, because again, he doesn’t play defense whatsoever consistently, he dribbles entirely waaaay too much, he moans, groans, complains, and whines entirely way too much for and against calls, and last bUT certainly not least, James Harden tries to revolve his game around manipulating the refs. He consistently pushes off, he travels, and he flails his body like he’s having convulsions or a seizure solely just to try and draw a foul at least six to seven times a game..He just plays an incredibly cheap, bogus, and unentertaining brand of basketball..
James Harden is immensely talented, and he could truly be one of the top talents to ever play the game. He just focuses on all the wrong things. He needs to stop worrying about manipulating calls, he needs to stop solely focusing on hisself, and he needs to start focusing more on improving those around him wearing the same uniform!!
He also needs to become a lot more efficiebt, and stop wasting his energy pointlessly dribbling for such long periods. I think he would discover that in doing so, he would have a lot more energy for the defensive side of the game..
Instead of worrying about being the master of some inventive shot, worry about winning. Worry about your teammates and building chemistry, and actually focus on figuring out how to win a title and take advantage of the Warriors losing KD, Iggy, Boogie, and Klay..
Until Harden is able to get his mind set on the right things, and until he starts becoming accountable for Houston’s failures, he won’t ever win a title..
Man what a rant you had there! Look all is opinions but to me a fact is that Harden is one of the best players ever, he is great & he is right many years he could have won the MVP with the season he had… but unfortunately for him last year any hoop fan would know that Giannis was the right choice, also Westbrook when he won it & the 2nd of Curry, goodness knows why they gave Curry the 1st but that just another thing. So he is been unfortunate to only win it once, he probably deserves to have 2-3 but always lost against a player that just had a better season. About his defense is not that bad is just ok, which is all you want from your star player, actually he has improved with his defense but never known an MVP awarded for defense & he has been a very worthy MVP winner. About winning a ring, man, all he can do is play great entertaining ball as he always does & if he wins great for him, if he doesn’t nothing for it dude. Many more great players haven’t won one, so not biggie really.
Happy birthday James Harden!!!