{"id":23018,"date":"2021-01-16T03:32:22","date_gmt":"2021-01-16T04:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=23018"},"modified":"2021-01-16T05:57:45","modified_gmt":"2021-01-16T05:57:45","slug":"harden-hits-rockets-with-final-massive-whack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=23018","title":{"rendered":"Harden hits Rockets with final massive whack"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Harden<\/a> used his final interview in Houston to say his team wasn't good enough.<\/p>\n

He has a whole new message now he's in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Harden sees a roster that features Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, a coaching staff that includes a coach under whom he became the NBA's leading scorer and an opportunity to win the title he still lacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just add that all together, and it\u2019s like, that\u2019s a legit chance right there,\u201d Harden said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a no-brainer for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE NBA NEWS:<\/strong> NBA world goes crazy over LeBron's 'legendary' shot<\/a><\/p>\n

The Nets acquired Harden from the Rockets on Thursday in a blockbuster deal that's reunited him with Durant, his teammate in Oklahoma City. He could play for them Saturday if all the players in the deal, which also included Cleveland, pass their physicals in time.<\/p>\n

The trade was completed just two days after Harden's final game with the Rockets, a blowout loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Following the game, Harden said: \u201cWe\u2019re just not good enough … I love this city. I literally have done everything that I can."<\/p>\n

Harden said he wasn't being disrespectful to his former teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been there for a very long time. I\u2019ve been through all the ups and downs with that organization and I wasn\u2019t disrespectful towards anyone," he said. "I just made a comment that the team as a whole wasn\u2019t good enough to compete for a title and at this stage of my career where I am now that\u2019s what I would love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Harden praised the Rockets for working with him to get him to his favored destination and said he regretted his comments that he said were out of character for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the ultimate goal was to get somewhere where I can compete and here I am in Brooklyn,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Harden said as he evaluated the Rockets after their loss to the Lakers in the second round of the playoffs, he determined they weren't good enough to beat the NBA's best teams. General manager Daryl Morey and coach Mike D'Antoni weren't going to return and Harden didn't believe in the roster left behind.<\/p>\n

D'Antoni ended up joining Steve Nash's staff in Brooklyn and will help mold an offense that now features three of the NBA's top scorers.<\/p>\n

Harden, like Durant and Irving, will have to give up some of the offensive opportunities he's had before.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/BrooklynNets\/status\/1349718772098109442?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still plenty of shots to go around, there\u2019s still plenty of opportunities to make plays to go around, but it\u2019s not going to be in the same format that it was before where they were largely the No. 1 focal point,\u201d Nash said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be much more spread between the three of them and they also have to make their other teammates better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harden insists he can do that, saying his playmaking ability is underrated. The three-time scoring champion averaged about 20 shot attempts in Houston but also led the league in assists in 2016-17 and was averaging 10.4 in eight games this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as I\u2019m making my teammates better, it doesn\u2019t matter about the points,\u201d Harden said. \u201cI think everybody knows that I can score the ball at a high clip and that\u2019s where the sacrifice comes in at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harden added that salary and status were more important earlier in his career, but said winning is at the top of his list now. He said he will do whatever it takes to do that in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

It might take, at least on some nights, going from being the main man to a No. 3 option. That seems OK with Harden \u2014 as long as the Nets are winning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t predict how it\u2019s going to go,\u201d Harden said. \u201cKyrie might score 10 possessions in a row. KD might score 10 possessions in a row. Like, they're more than capable of that and I\u2019m fine with that because we\u2019re going to be winning and it\u2019s going to be good."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Harden used his final interview in Houston to say his team wasn't good enough. He has a whole new message now he's in Brooklyn. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23018"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23018"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23020,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23018\/revisions\/23020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}