The dialectical and outstanding war between Houston Rockets star guard James Harden and Texas outfit Kevin McHale reached the level of personal insult on the part of the franchise player.
After learning that McHale, as a new TV analyst on the NBA TV network, said he was not “a leader” within the Rockets, because he had no ability to hold that responsibility, Harden responded harshly by calling him a “clown” “.
In addition, the player pointed out that the way in which extécnico referred to him reflected the type of person he was.
“Honestly, the best thing about it is clowning,” James said after Saturday’s training with the Rockets at the Toyota Center. “I did anything and everything he asked me to do on the field. I’m trying to lead this team every day since I set foot here in Houston,” he added.
The opposite of the image expressed by McHale, who praised the class and talent of Harden as a complete player, but lacked the ability to become a leader that the rest of the players could follow and respect in the field.
“It would be nice to remember that McHale never taught me as a coach anything valid that would allow me to be a leader,” Harden said. “But I’ve done a great job.”
Harden summoned the reporters to ask the whole Rockets franchise directly and give them their assessment.
“The organization, my coaches, can ask any of those guys how I’ve worked really hard every day to improve, obviously as a basketball player, but to be a leader as well,” Harden stressed, who said he did not like the way McHale used his name.
“I do not usually come and go on social networks with anyone or with interviews, but I’m going to defend myself, and there it is, it shows the type of person which is, “warned Harden.
McHale’s comments, which questioned Harden’s ability to be a leader after running for more than three seasons with the Rockets, were made during a debate on the NBA television channel about the potential of the teams facing the new season that begins this month.
McHale also praised the Rockets’ big signing to get base Chris Paul, whom he said was a great acquisition that could help a lot and he has the qualities of being a great leader.
The Rockets exenturer was fired in November 2015, despite being in only 11 games played in the 2015-16 season after signing a four-year, $ 12 million contract.
The Rockets, who had reached the Western Conference finals last season, lost to the Golden State Warriors, were convinced that McHale was the coach to continue rebuilding the team.
However, McHale lost the support of the wardrobe, headed by Harden, and that was what in the end made the executives decide his dismissal.
Harden, who has always denied that he was behind McHale’s dismissal, believes that the bitterness about his departure from the organization played a significant role in the criticism now being directed by the Rockets ex-driller.
“Of course, I had nothing to do with it,” Harden argued. “I’m just here to do my job, to compete at the highest level I can.”
Harden said he did not understand how when McHale was with the Rockets he would tell him, face to face, all the good and great player he was and now he was no longer serving.
“I’m not that kind of person, I do not work that way, since I always go head-on with a single truth and much less go through the television to say the opposite,” stressed Harden .
The Rockets star agreed with the analysis of the exentrenador of the Houston team as to the validity and importance of the acquisition of Paul and his status as a leader without prejudice, which will help him to be a better player.
However he also claimed that this type of interaction will go both ways since he expects Paul to benefit from the contribution he makes in the field.
“Of course I need to lean on everything that makes me better,” Harden said. “But Paul also thinks the same way when it comes to progressing as a player.”
Harden, an All-Star in each of his five seasons with the Rockets, was especially bothered by McHale’s criticism of the work he has done to become a better leader.
The Rockets ‘escort regularly reads leadership books with Jason Biles, director of Rockets’ performance rehabilitation and associate athletic trainer.
Harden, who recruited Paul to join the Rockets, regularly organizes team outings and offseason activities such as the volunteer minicamp Houston players played in the Bahamas this summer.
Meanwhile, Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni did not want to get into the controversy and simply told the experience he has experienced since joining the Rockets.
“All I can do is talk about my experience, and it’s been incredibly big,” D’Antoni said. “Obviously, I got Coach of the Year last year for him and the other 11 guys on the team.”
D’Antoni recalled that everything he asked – sometimes “too much” – to Harden to do in the field he fulfilled with matrícula and between both always there was a good chemistry, which seems at the end lacked with McHale.
